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The current number of the HallwayAge contains an interesting storv of tbe overhauling of the Iowa Central during tbe last fiVe years. As to ttiis ,tsaid:By liberal ballasting, what was nomore than a dirt road, especially from Qskaloosu, la., to Peoria, 111., has been practically lifted out of the mud. Twelve thotisaud tons of steel’ railshave been paid for out of the earnings and nearly all of them laid on'tliis section of the line. Sidetracks formerly full of bad order cars have been clear* ed and cars rebuilt or “scrapped.” Old engines have been thoroughly- over* hauled and an addition of fourteen new, heavy modern engines purchased, as well as 750 new freight cars. Seven new passenger cars have been purehas* ed and ail oid ones completely renovated. Six steel bridges lave been erected upon substantial masonry; old wooden substructures have been torn out from under steel bridges erected in 1802 and masonry piers and abutments substituted.Several new brick stations of modem design have been erected. At Oska-loosa a fine two-story station building has been built, and large yards laid out and completed. A division station has been located at Monmouth, 111., and a roundhouse built, there with large yardsand permanent water reservoir. Five thousand IlDeal feet of old wooden bridging were filled daring 1808, in which year there were also some 75,000 yards of earth moved between Marshalltown and Grinnell in reducing grades. The application of air brakes and automatic couplers to the freight equipment of the company has been a heavy drain on it, but the end of tbe calendar year of 1899 will sbow a fullcompliance with the requirements of state and.natiraal laws in this direction. Four miles of new track were built during the fall of 1898 to new coal fields in Monroe county. Improved train service, both passenger and freight, has been furnished, and in all ways the road has materially increased, not only in its physical excellence; butalso in public estimation in the territory through which it runs. ...In addition to and in spite of the,ex-penditures in the above items, a. float-ing debt of some 8300,000 has been cancelled. so tbatthere is now no debt or car trust of any kind against the property, while from the earnings of the first half of the current fiscal year a semiannual dividend has been paid to the holders of the preferred stock of 1£ per cent., and from present indications this will be duplicated for the second six months of 1899.;Altogether the five years have seen unostentatiously carried out a thorough renovating of the property, such aB it is not often the good luck of a . railway company to go through in a Bimilar
Newspaper Details
Algona Republican
Algona, Iowa, US
Wed, May 10, 1899
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Austin P.
MN, USA 25 Jun 2018
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