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Show Builds Miniature Rail Line on Country Estate W. Cecil Gage, retired broker,. of Flshklll, N. Y., has Just completed a two-mile miniature railway system, which he has constructed with his own hands entirely from odds and e4 found lying about his estate. The tracks and switches were made from the floor beams and the cars and locomotive from the partitions parti-tions of dismantled farm buildings. . Ashes from the family furnace served as ballast for the tracks. A gasoline motor to run the locomotive and wheels for locomotive and cars are the only parts of the system that are not homemade. Mr. Gage began constructing hit little lit-tle road five years ago In order to supply himself with an easy way of , disposing of ashes. He has been steadily adding to it since then until now he has two miles of track, five passenger cars, two flat cars, a freight car, eight switches, four crossings equipped with warning signs, a turntable, turn-table, a snowplow and half a dozen stations. At night and during severs weuther a long chicken bouse serves as a "roundhouse" for the protection of the rolling stock. The road Is used to ' carry farm products, firewood and similar materials mate-rials nhout the estate as well as to take the children of Flshklll and the surrounding towns for Joyriding. Mr. Gage estimates his yearly mileage as something above 10,000. The tiny cars attain a speed of 20 miles an hour or more on straight runs, and, although al-though several thousand persons have been carried as passengers, there never has been an accident. Popular Science. |