Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 273, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 November 1912 — BUILDING THE . IRON TRAIL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BUILDING THE . IRON TRAIL

WHEN the ambitious white man sets out to lay two or more streaks of steel, from one point to another, more or less distant, he fixes his eye on the terminus, and, no matter what the obstacles may be —mountains, rivers, ravines, farm houses, anything, he never stops until the iron horse speeds majestically from start to finish, over a course that is smooth, solid, and straight as human resources can create; and he does his work in summer’s heat and in the rigors of winter. Herewith we show one of the processes in railroad building, known as a’ “fill.” This is on what is known as the Hampden railroad, being laid out from Athol Junction to Bondsville, in western Massachusetts. The process is interesting. The top of the trestle having been brought to grade, earth and rock are dumped along until the trestle is buried and becomes a part of the bank over which the permanent rails are laid. x