Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 March 1880 — Rail Rosd Oevs. [ARTICLE]

Rail Rosd Oevs.

[Delphi Timea.j As briefly announced iu the Times of last week, preparations are being made to change the Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago from a narrow to a standard gauge. Part of the work, the widening of embankments, etc., is now progressing. Estimates of the cost of widening the bridges have been made: ties are being contracted for, and the work of layiug the iron widj be| commenced promptly on the flrst of April. The new rails will be of the best steel, weighing fifty-four pounds to the yard. In remodeling the road bed, the trestle-work between this city and Pittsburg will be filled, as well as others on the line. The bridges across the Wabash and Tippecanoe were constructed wtth a view to the possible widening of the trac t, and will not need remodeling except a portion of the approaches, which must be built anew. The trestllng at the south end of the Wabash bridge was built by the old Chicago and South Atlantic Company, and will r quire only the widening < f tire stringers. It is probable that the new rails will be laid on the outside of the present iron, the new ties being used only for joints, halfs and quarters, the present ties to be utilized for the remainder. In this manner the traffic of the road will not be interfered with during tho sixty days which it is expected will be required to complete the work. The Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago railroad by this change, is placed upon a solid financial footing. Work will be at one • begun on the extension of the line from Rensselaer to Dyer, and thence to Dalton. Illinois, where it intersects the Chicago and Western Indiana, and passes over that track, a distance of about twenty miles to Chicago. Every dollar of the money necessary to change the gauge, build the extension and equip t ie line is ready, and the road will be completed by the first, of January,

1881. This the Times is enabled to state positively, and the people interested can feel an assurance of its correctness. The prospects of the line hence to Indianapolis are equally encouraging. An elccticn will be held in Clay and Washington townships. Hamilton county, one week .rom Tuesday, for a tax of two percent., and there is no j doubt of the result. A meeting of the i citizens of Monroe township this j eouuty, was held yesterday to deter mine upon the location of the line through that township. The result we have not yet learned, though it is probable an election will be ordered there foi some time this spring.— The officers of the company confidently predict that the work of grading will be commenced simultaneously at different points by the first of May, and that the line will be coin pleted and thoroughly equipped within a year from that date. In this connection, the following speculative purgrnph from the Indianapolis Journal will be interesting: A majority of those who are interested iu the building of a railroad from Indianapolis to Delphi rather favor cutting loose entirely from what is known as the Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago road and make it an I. ami D. road, dependent upon its local business for its,existence. The road as now surveyed would be' seventysix miles in length, and passes thro’a productive country, and in traversing that distance would interfere but little with the business of any parallel tines. Friends of the project fear that extending the road to Chicago would incur a burdensome indebtedness which the business of an additional road so near to existing Chicago lines could rot cany, and that it would result in a bad investment, finally dropping into poverty and bankruptcy.— This belief certainly has strong marks of wisdom. Too many parallel lines arc death to railroad in crests.”

From the preseutjprospects, the line from this city to Chicago will becom- • ulcted first, and the through line from Indianapolis to Chicago be dependent upon the successful promptitude of the Delphi and Indianapolis management. Tile following extract from a lengthy article in the Indianapolis Journal, detailing the scheme for the completion of the old Chicago and South Atlantic road, will provide an inkling of the influences which have combined to cause the proposed change: “Eastern capitalists arect nsidering tne project with much favor, and it is believed that the requisite funds can be raised to push the work to completion. Some difficulties are be overcome at the north end, growing out of complications with the narrow gauge road between Delphi and Rensselaer, but it is believed these troubles can be harmoniously adjusted. The com puny prefer building on the old line via Delphia and Frankfort to Indianapolis, but if this should be found impracticable, and obstacles are thrown in the way, an independent line via Reynolds, Rossville and Frankfort will be adopted, making a shorter line by ten miles than the proposed route of the narrow gauge, between Chicago and Indianapolis. It can hardly be doubted that it is farmore important to Delphi, Frankfort and other points to secure a full standard gauge road, that will become a general line pf travel and traffic, and have important terminal connections, than a narrow gauge, adapted only to local business, and forever unable to compete with other roads.” The theories of the Indianapolis Journal aro usually speculative to a degree, and while it is true that Chi eago is naturally seeking an outlet to 1 he Southern seaboard, via Indianipor lis aad the Cincinnati Southern railroad, the details as speculated upon by the Journal are largely visionary. T e completion of the Delphi and Indi mapolia line, now but a question of brief time, effectively bars Frankfort even from consideration. The talk of building a line from Reynolds, via Rossville and Frankfort to Indianan olis is absurd, T fl h road from Dyer to Indianapolis will be completed within a year, and there would be no inducement for the building of a parallel road at a distance of not more than six miles.