The other two lines could be used for local passenger traffic and the carrying of freight.
Bicycle Palace Car.
COST AND ADVANTAGES OF UPPER STRUCTURE.
The cost of changing an ordinary double-track road, with wooden structure similar to that illustrated on page [9], would depend on the price of timber in the locality where the change was to be made. A wooden structure would in many cases be sufficient, provided it were made of the proper strength, and would last a great many years with a very slight cost for repairs.
On these structures could also be carried the numerous telegraph and telephone wires, and with suitable wire on the sides would furnish fencing, which is necessary to keep the track clear from cattle and other obstructions.
It will be noticed that the cross timber, upon which the rail rests, is bolted to and forms a part of the upper structure, so that from no cause whatever could the rail settle, allowing the train to drop out, but in any case the structure and track must settle together. In a structure of this description, posts would be required to be set from twenty to thirty feet apart, and the longitudinal guide-beams would be trussed together, making them very stiff and strong.
It must always be borne in mind that the strain on these structures would be but slight, either on tangent or on curves, and yet the structure should have sufficient strength to keep the overhead guide-beams true, so that the supporting and the upper guide-rail both are in the same vertical plan.