Show NEW aloar MOFFAT AT ROAD engineering feats Is one of the best built roads in the country and of oleat heat scenic beauty in a recent number of worlds work lawrence lewla lewis has an illustrated article regarding rg the moffat road which aich he dec declares larva to be one of the most wonderful of railroad build ing in the world among etheli things lie he says for 40 years men have attempted to build a railroad ovar over this route and failed indeed when mr moffat undertook hia task he bought the maps and rights acquired by the burlington while making an unsuccessful attempt at construction st which cost nearly and this was only one of many at tempts on one part of the route east of tre continental divide mr air moffat hes 66 56 surveys made and from foul to sevian alternative lines were not uncommon on other difficult sections the engineers were kept in the field even in rn in d winter clinging to cliffs cliffa where i single misstep meant death deat suspended by ropes over the sheer walla ails of canona creeping along foot lpg ipg hung over mountain torrents torrent fighting the windi and a temperature far below zer I 1 among peaks many of them higher than Switzer lands Jung frau I 1 snoa shoeing it across passes far above timber timberline line whence an summer what snow melts at all flon hows a part to tile the pacific ocean and part to the gulf of mexico the engineers carried arripe their instruments st and surveyed mile after mile of line A practical railroad builder declared recently that the grading and tunnel work alone on the first 50 miles out atit of denver could not have cost less than C 0 IDOO a milt aria ana that the 31 21 miles from tho the point where the road begins to climb tho the foothill foot foo hilli to where the main alain range tunnel is 13 to begin must have cost at least 10 a milt mile this aeeti ra adte adte covers only the tunnel work ork and grading and does rf n t include the additional dit ional costs of tie rails tile the labor of laying the track and the expenditures for for stations ahei gatei atei tanks and equipment astounding engineering difficulties have bae been overcome some colorado railroads raili oada oads espee ally the narrow gage lines twist and turn like wounded sn snakes ales and climb hills on grades that would tire a but buno I 1 0 the moffat line is broadgate broad gage railroad designed for a speed of forty miles an hour find and for through transcontinental tran continental traffic accordingly on the main line the grades and curves are less tillara than on many parts of tho the transcontinental railroads on the th temporary rollins pass branch the maximum grade runs as high as 4 per cent four feet ascent in every feet of track with a maximum cur cune e on the f he tennis racquet Rae queL about ya yankee n k ce doodle lake of lf if degrees that if a change la in direction around part of a circle the radius of which abich is feet on the permanent mainline main line however the maxi maximum curvature is 10 degrees aad the maximum grade 2 pet pel cent in order to kepp keep the grade and curves down it has haa been necessary to blow up small mountains and to tunnel and make open cuts cats tl noigh other othera here to fill in deep ravines and thereto cross them by bridges all the permanent bridges on the road are of steel that at coal creek being 60 feet high 68 feet above weter water le leel el and feet long all ravines crossed chromed by wooden trestles and pile budges bridges are being filled in with I 1 ock lock I 1 ho he fill at creek is 95 feet high steam shovel cut Is ia 2 2200 feet long and 40 foet feet deep another rock cut Is ia 45 feet deep on the 77 miles aiom f I 1 om denver to arrowhead there are 31 tunnels in one stretch of 11 miles there thera are 29 tunnels through solid granite many of the tunnels contain curves and even reverse curves william crook of 0 the firm of orrean crook who for more than 35 years have had bad contracts for f or build buildT building ing ng sections of the most difficult mountain railroads in the west weak declared that the work on the moffat road haj had been heavier and niora more expensive expense e urd ard difficult than on any road he had 0 et er known one gets BH idea of what mr crook means by 1 1 eavy work when one bears in mind that he calls shooting down from a cliff a block of solid red granite as aa bi big 9 as abree or four box cars a I 1 mere trifle and dismisses his recent feat of blowing up the entire side of a mountain of sold rock lifting in one blast cubic yards of granite with a single charge of 1000 kegs of black powder poder with alth fifteen boxes of dynamite mixed in as merely a fairly good med job heavy rails eighty t pounds to the aird rest on heavy square pawed texas pire ties which aich are laid to the mile ir stead irstead of 2600 to 2800 as usually on railroads the angle bars lt the rail joints carry six bolts instead of the usual four even on sidings and on straight and level track every tie has a steel tie plate bet between een it and the rail which not only increases the life of the tie but also makes spreading rails practically impossible from beiver to a point wilt aru re gravel and rok ballast are arc found immediately at hand the roadbed bed is ia bal ballister listed with slig slag from the denver smelters shelters sm elters more than a quarter of a million dollars have been expended in tho alist hi at seventy beven miles in malting making all the sidings level no matter mattel what the grade of the main line is this ol obviates the danger of ru runaway nawa cars the cause of so many accidents on mountain roads in fact mr moffat Is 3 not overlooking the slightest detail that inci ease oase efficiency and safety ard deci case cost of operation experts who have gone over the line declare that it I 1 r as the best tree trac west of the Nis missouri rivel avei if a rs fag on a moving train closed his eyes he might readily believe himself on a level stretch of the new york celtib I 1 instead of crossing the highest pait cl t the rocky mountains horseshoe and muleshoe mule shoe curves loops and othi r civil engineers rs stunts alch as a i on othet colorado roads are r ri c heated on this new lne line and even adad d to td ja ahre re aie ie high bridges directly over v e r fsr le acla tennis racquets four parallel lines line of track on different bevc levels Is all 11 in sight tit at once and other f feature f p ale between tween two joints on the great horbe shoe cuie cuni by which the road beairs to climb tho the foothills above leyden leyar n near denver the easy grade of track is three miles long while tho the line which stalks straight up the hillside civers but it a q quarter barter of a note mile between the same earne two to points lle ire track of the temporary rollins ollins pil s branch is thirty miles long but tie telegraph line which goes to each of the sidings wl I 1 ich are placed every four m les es bv rail is but fifteen milf mits a lont lan two points on I 1 his high line are c bigl t emilei ba b tail lai lanjo and 0 ly une one anile by wire |