OLD TROLLEY TRACKS TO BE SALVAGED FOR STEEL NEEDED IN WAR

Engineer Richards Directed By Village Trustees To Prepare W. P. A. Project For Chatsworth Avenue. WPB Appeals For Rails.

Village Engineer Arthur Richards of Larchmont Tuesday was instructed by the Village Board to draft a Works Products Administration application for the removal of the oldest trolley tracks on Chatsworth avenue between the Boston Post Road and Palmer Avenue.

The Board took action after hearing William G. O'Brien, representative of the special projects salvage section of the War Production Board, appeal for the steel which he said was badly needed by war industries.

Mr. O'Brien is visiting numerous Westchester communities arranging to speed the salvaging of old tracks for use in wartime. The rails are badly needed for use without reprocessing at Army or Navy bases, to be re-rolled into sheet steel, or to be melted with other materials and converted into new steel, he said.

He was instrumental in the salvaging of the old Westchester and Boston railroad tracks, he said, and is currently assisting the Village of Mamaroneck and working out a project to salvage the trolley tracks from Halstead Avenue and elsewhere in the Village.

Mr. Richards informed with the Board that the drawback so far to salvage in the steel has been the fact that the bituminous materials are frozen and cannot be obtained to repair the streets after removal of the rails.

The steel shortage has become so acute, however, Mr. O'Brien said, that the government has issued instructions to the W. P. A. to give priority to any projects for its salvage and has also cleared the way for the release of ready-mix asphalt preparations for the repair of roads.

Mr. O'Brien pointed out that while the price of the steel will meet only a part of the cost of the removal of the tracks, nevertheless the municipalities can eliminate a traffic hazard and a condition that will interfere with future repairs, and that these remedies can be applied at a cost less than it would ever be again.

Mr. O'Brien's appearance before the Board was the only scheduled event in an otherwise routine meeting of the Board, during which the Trustees disposed of the ordinary business of the Village

Gazette Note: See the Van Zelm Cartoons of Larchmont's Trolley in 1922.

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