Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 238, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1910 — THEY LAUGHED AT HARRIMAN [ARTICLE]

THEY LAUGHED AT HARRIMAN

Railroad Men, However, Later on Gladly Adopted Far-Sighted Policy . of Transportation King. When Eh H. Harriman obtained control of the Union Pacific railroad his first move made him the laughing stock of nearly the entire railroad world. Later other railroad magnates ceased to laugh. They recognized Harliman’s genius and began to do exactly what he was doing. Today his far-sighted policy of better railroad construction is being universally adopted. Harrlman’s first move was to spend millions of dollars Improving the roadbed. Steep grades were eliminated and sharp curves straightened. Permanent and substantial bridges and culverts were built In place of the old wooden ones. Heavy rails were substituted for lighter ones and were ballasted with rocks. The methods of roadbed construction employed today differ as radically from those employed In the early days of railroading as the huge locomotive with which we are familiar differs from the -antiquated type of engine behind which our grandfathers rode. The freight trains of today, weighing from 1,500 to 3,000 tons, have been made possible, by a more substantial track. New York to SL Louis In 24 hours would be a myth were it not for a roadbed capable of withstanding this rate of speed. The first railroad track was nothing more than parallel wooden rails laid along the highway. The first step in advance was the adoption of lronjrdils spiked to wooden cross ties. These In turn were supplanted by steel rails In 1867, when the adoption of the Bessemer process decreased their cost and facilitated their manufacture. The steel rails used at that time weighed 50 pounds per yard, but as the weight of locomotives and cars has increased heavier rails have been found necessary, and today the average weight is 90 pounds per yard, the weight varying according to the volume of traffic and the physical conditions of the country through which the road runs.