Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1896 — CHURCH ON WHEELS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHURCH ON WHEELS.

The “Go* pel Cary Accommodates barge Andiencee. Folding beds, canoes, houses and coops have long been known of and many are in use, while the folding bicycle is seeking recognition. Among the

latest Inventions in this line is the folding “gospel car.” It looks like an ordinary freight car when made up in the train, but which grows and expands into a comfortable, commodious chapel, with a steeple and bell tower, when the itinerant evangelist sets up hts wheeled house of worship on a siding. These cars are run on parallel tracks side by side, the floor sections are swung down to fill the space between the cars, and are clamped together so as to make a solid floor. The roof sections swing out to within a short distance of each other, and extension pieces are clamped between; and the whole Is inclosed by walls 1 which are bolted and ela taped In place. These walls have windows In them, and when the entire affair is put together the railroad chapel extends over two tracks and overhangs fin each side. The machinery for raising a steeple over the queer church is capable of lifting the framework to a good height, and when this Is put on there Is nothing but the railroad track and car wheels to Indicate the character of the house. Braces and rods strengthen the floor and stiffen the walls and roofs, and everything is made so that the meeting , house can.be set up or taken down In a short time, When railroad companies were reach-

lng out over the prairies of the West, running new railroads through the great plains, armies of men were fed in the huge boarding ears that were important parts of the construction* rains. These “boarding shanties’’ towered high over the box cars, some of them having three tiers of windows.

FOLDING CHU RCH CAR .

RAILWAY BOARDING CAR.