Valley City Street & Interurban Railroad

Valley City Street and Interurban Railroad. Traveling in Town. , The Valley City Street and Interurban Railroad was incorporated in June, 1905, by O.A. Beeman to transport passengers, goods, and rail cars between two larger lines. The Soo Line passed north of the city without a spur line to serve local interests and the Northern Pacific passed through the middle of town. , Central Avenue has been resurfaced at least twice since the tracks were last used by the Soo Line in 1963. Concrete was built up to the top of the tracks and asphalt covered the tracks themselves. This section of track was salvaged the last time Central Avenue was resurfaced in 1993. Notice the circular cut in one rail which was caused by a test hole being drilled by the North Dakota Department of Transportation. , [photo and illustration captions] , . The combination freight and passenger car was originally powered by an overhead line (shown above) connected to a dedicated 80 kilowatt generator located at 5th Avenue and 5th Street, now Central Avenue and 4th Street NW. After O.A. Beeman's death, the line was sold and the generator was abandoned in favor of electric power purchased from the city. , . The toggle bolts have a "T"-shaped head which passes through rectangular holes drilled through the plates. When the toggle bolts are rotated a quarter turn, they can not be pulled back out. The toggle has a square tongue on its lower face which also fits into the rectangular hole. The tongue keeps the toggle from twisting and locks the bolt in place. A flange on the toggle fits over the base of the rail so that when the bolt is tightened, the rail is securely attached to the plate. , . The individual lengths of rail are joined together using a pair of cast angle bars which are bolted through the web of the track. These bars are asymmetrical in cross-section. Electrical connections across rail joints are made using copper jumper cables. The twisted wire cables are about 9/16 inch in diameter and made from 37 strands of 14-guage solid copper wires. Each end of the two-foot-long cables is inserted and crimped into copper plated iron sheaths which are tack welded to the webs of the rails.