The Street Railway Journal

Street F^ailway Journal. Vol. XII. MEW YORK AND CHICAGO, APRIL, 1896. JVo. 4- THE SYSTEM OF THE ORLEANS RAILROAD COMPANY, NEW ORLEANS, LA. A few years after the war the Orleans Railroad was built Statue on Canal Street, with the PVeuch residence section by a company of French-American gentlemen and operated of Dauphine, Burgundy, Dumaine, St. Peter and Ursulines as a horse line. Ample returns were made to its owners Streets and with the picturesque French Market on the until with the equipment by electricity of other lines in Mississippi. The suburban termini are the well known race track of the Crescent City Jockey Club at the Fair Grounds, and the beautiful Bayou St. John with its old Creole country seats. Both of these localities, stimulated by^the benefits of rapid transit, are being built up with the residences of the working classes. The City Park and Metairie Cemetery are points to which the company is now seeking access, and due to their natural and artificial attrac- tions will be sources of profitable revenue. A visitor to New Orleans is impressed with the dirtiness of the streets and the rough paving. New Orleans its traffic was di- verted and profits reduced. In February, 1895, its stockholders finally decided to authorize the i.ssue of bonds for its recon- struction and electrical equipment, and some months later actual work was begun. Despite the delays caused by an unusu- ally rainy summer season the con.struction was completed by November and the road has operated without serious delay or stoppage since. The surroundings and methods of management are perhaps somewhat different from those of any other road in this FIG. 1.—CANAL STREET DURING PROCESSION OF REX, MARDI GRAS DAY. country, and are hence of inter- est. The stockholders, officers and even the car operatives are mostly French- Americans Although the general contour of the city is flat, the inter- or Creoles, and the road traverses the old French sections of the cross streets were luitil recently higher than quarter bounded by Canal, Rampart and Esplanade the centers of the blocks, and on narrow streets the crown of Streets. It connects the modern business center, the Clay the streets was so decided that, in connection with the poor 2l6 STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL. [Vol. XII. No. 4. paving, wagon traffic was largely confined to the railway trunk track and three above the other, with one each over tracks. As a horse line, the Orleans Railroad was universally the three center tracks. A combined bracket and span ' ' nicknamed the ' Cream Cheese Line. ' Tradition has it construction was devised to ensure strength and reliability, that the French habitants upon bringing their cans of milk for if all ten wires were supported from a span, the break- from the Bayou to the Market in the Orleans cars would age of one or two spans might disable the entire railway find the contents turned to cream cheese upon its arrival. traffic of the city. The natural sentiment of the people is displayed in per- At every cross street, a street railway line either petuating this little romance by the coloring of the new crosses Canal Street, or swings into a trunk track, or cars, which is (Broadway) orange and cream, or " cream crosses it to branch into one of the three Traction Com- MAP SHOWING THE TRACKS AND FEEDER SYSTEM OF THE CANAL ST. /' ORLEANS RAILROAD COMPANY / New Orleans, La, a. DUMAINE ^'iil explanation: Deniite.s prusent location. J' proposed extt^iisiuii 1' fee'ler systc-m. " cheese colors. Another touch of romance is in the gray pany's inner tracks. Many complicated pieces of special uniforms of the car operatives signifying a remembrance track and overhead work result from these conditions, and of the Lost Cause. this is perhaps the most difficult mile of work of this kind THE streets of New Or- in the country. More than fifty special insulated over- leans, especially those of head cros.sings are used within the mile of street over the the old town, are peculiar the two trunk tracks. All line material is of special de- in that they are either very sign, and is now in process of erection. Trolley wires narrow, averaging from above the same track are eight inches apart. Poles are of twenty-two to twenty-four feet between curbs, or very wide, extra heavy piping, thirty-two feet long, weigh 1200 lbs., in some cases 180 ft. between curbs, with a small park in are spaced ninety feet apart and are set in Dyckerhoff ce- in the center of the driveway called the neutral ground ment concrete. which is sodded over and has two or four rows of trees. The paving at Clay Statue consists of imported Bel- Here the street railway tracks are placed—an ideal location gian blocks laid on a two inch sand cushion, on six inches of for an electric railway both for economy of construction stone concrete, the interstices between blocks being filled and for speed. Canal Street, the Broadway of New Or- with Assyrian asphalt. This track and overhead construc- leans, is 135 ft. wide between curbs and upon its neutral tion was designed and built under the personal direction of ground for a distance of about a mile are bviilt five contin- Ford & Bacon, who are engineers not only for the Orleans Railroad Company, but also for the Canal & Claiborne Railroad Com- pany and the New Orleans & Carroll- ton Railroad Company. On the narrow streets, special construction was necessitated in other directions. In the old town, Dauphine and Burgundy Streets are each about twenty-three feet between curb lines and are paved with rec- tangular granite blocks. These were brought down to New Orleans as ballast and average about 12 ins. FIG. 2.—SECTION OF TRACK WITH NINE INCH RAIL AND DEEP BLOCK PAVING X 18 ins. face X n ins. depth, and are so heavy as to require two men uous tracks into which turns every street railway line of for lifting each stone, Their depth necessitates the use of the city. The three inner tracks are owned and operated longitudinal 5 in. X 9 in. cypress stringers with a nine by the New Orleans Traction Company, while the two inch girder rail. As shown in Fig. 2 in this construction, outer ones are trunk tracks owned by the Canal & Clai- the trench is made twenty-five inches deep. Water is borne Railroad Company, and used by the New Orleans & reached in many places at a depth of a foot below Carrollton Railroad Company, the Orleans Railroad Com- the surface, and the trench has usually to be kept pany and the St. Charles Street Railroad Company under pumped out. Upon the subsoil, which is a black allu- a system of trackage rentals. The difficulties of the con- vium, is placed a flooring of one inch cypress boards struction can be seen from the illustrations, Figs. 3 and 4. eight feet eight inches wide and extending the whole Two of the four trunk lines have a 4 ft. 8 in. gauge, length of the track. Upon this planking is placed four and two 5 ft. 2 }-2 in. gauge, so that three rails are used. inches of Rosetta or Bartlett gravel which concretes under Each company has its individual trolley wire so that at a pressure. The flooring and concreted gravel form a suffi- section taken at Clay Statue, there are four wires above one cient bearing for the ties which, in turn, support the April, 1896.] STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL. 217 " stringers and the rail. Ties are 6 ins. X 8 ins. X 8 ft. 117 lbs. for guard rail. Twelve bolt suspended" joints, spaced twenty inches at centers on joints, and thirty inches thirty-two inches long are used and all bonding is triple- elsewhere. Cypress lumber is used throughout for sub- lacing secured with channel pins. Abutting ends of rails surface work, and owing to the moisture in the ground it are placed in contact, and joints are placed opposite. Tie is practically indestructible. On other streets, where rods are spaced every six feet. Culverts or gutters for cobble, Belgian block and plank paving are encountered, surface drainage are encountered at many cross streets, and the longitudinal stringer is omitted, and the trench made in order not to interfere with the flow , the nine inch girder twenty inches deep. As practically all of the road is built rail is cut away so as to leave only five inches vertical depth, upon paved streets, nine inch girder rail is used through- which is reinforced with angle iron riveted to the rails. out, weighing ninety pounds per yard for straight rail, and All track construction is to the new grades as estab- 2l8 STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL [Vol. XII. No. 4. lished by the city engineer, L. W. Brown, for the drainage curves. On the narrow streets, side bracket construction system about to be adopted by the city, and consequently is employed, the bracket arms being about fourteen feet the paving, curbs and culverts on the streets along the long and suspended by a double truss rod. Double insula- route had to be relaid by the company, entailing a consid- tion is used for all steel pole construction, the bracket erable expense, but insuring permanent construction. hanger consisting of two insulated bells joined by a double eye bolt, which affords the necessary flexibility. On ac- count of the high balconies overhanging the sidewalk, a special insulator for feed wire is clamped to the bracket arm as shown.

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