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diff --git a/40242-8.txt b/40242-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e14fb4f..0000000 --- a/40242-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,17739 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Modern Railroad, by Edward Hungerford - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The Modern Railroad - -Author: Edward Hungerford - -Release Date: July 15, 2012 [EBook #40242] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MODERN RAILROAD *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - - - -THE MODERN RAILROAD - - - - -[Illustration: READY FOR THE DAY'S RUN] - - - - - THE MODERN RAILROAD - - - BY EDWARD HUNGERFORD - AUTHOR OF "LITTLE CORKY," "THE MAN WHO STOLE A - RAILROAD," ETC. - - - WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS - FROM PHOTOGRAPHS - - - CHICAGO - A. C. McCLURG & CO. - 1911 - - - - - COPYRIGHT - A. C. McCLURG & CO. - 1911 - - Published November, 1911 - Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England - - - PRESS OF THE VAIL COMPANY - COSHOCTON, U. S. A. - - - - - TO MY FATHER - IN RECOGNITION OF HIS - INTEREST AND APPRECIATION - THIS BOOK - IS DEDICATED - - - - -PREFACE - - -To bring to the great lay mind some slight idea of the intricacy and the -involved detail of railroad operation is the purpose of this book. Of the -intricacies and involved details of railroad finance and railroad -politics; of the quarrels between the railroads, the organizations of -their employees, the governmental commissions, or the shippers, it says -little or nothing. These difficult and pertinent questions have been and -still are being competently discussed by other writers. - -The author wishes to acknowledge the courtesy of the editors and -publishers of _Harper's Monthly_, _Harper's Weekly_, _The Saturday Evening -Post_, and _Outing_ in permitting the introduction into this work of -portions or entire articles which he has written for them in the past. He -would also feel remiss if he did not publish his sincere acknowledgments -to "The American Railway," a compilation from _Scribner's Magazine_, -published in 1887, Mr. Logan G. McPherson's "The Workings of the -Railroad," Mr. C. F. Carter's "When Railroads Were New," and Mr. Frank H. -Spearman's "The Strategy of Great Railroads." Out of a sizable reference -library of railroad works, these volumes were the most helpful to him in -the preparation of certain chapters of this book. - -E. H. - - BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, - _August 1, 1911_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - CHAPTER I - - THE RAILROADS AND THEIR BEGINNINGS 1 - - Two great groups of railroads; East to West, and North to - South--Some of the giant roads--Canals--Development of the - country's natural resources--Railroad projects--Locomotives - imported--First locomotive of American manufacture--Opposition - of canal-owners to railroads--Development of Pennsylvania's - anthracite mines--The merging of small lines into systems. - - CHAPTER II - - THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE RAILROAD 15 - - Alarm of canal-owners at the success of railroads--The making of - the Baltimore & Ohio--The "Tom Thumb" engine--Difficulties in - crossing the Appalachians--Extension to Pittsburgh--Troubles of - the Erie Railroad--This road the first to use the telegraph--The - prairies begin to be crossed by railways--Chicago's first - railroad, the Galena & Chicago Union--Illinois Central--Rock - Island, the first to span the Mississippi--Proposals to run - railroads to the Pacific--The Central Pacific organized--It and - the Union Pacific meet--Other Pacific roads. - - CHAPTER III - - THE BUILDING OF A RAILROAD 34 - - Cost of a single-track road--Financing--Securing a charter-- - Survey-work and its dangers--Grades--Construction--Track-laying. - - CHAPTER IV - - TUNNELS 48 - - Their use in reducing grades--The Hoosac Tunnel--The use of - shafts--Tunnelling under water--The Detroit River tunnel. - - CHAPTER V - - BRIDGES 56 - - Bridges of timber, then stone, then steel--The Starucca - Viaduct--The first iron bridge in the United States--Steel - bridges--Engineering triumphs--Different types of railroad - bridge--The deck span and the truss span--Suspension - bridges--Cantilever bridges--Reaching the solid rock with - caissons--The work of "sand-hogs"--The cantilever over the Pend - Oreille River--Variety of problems in bridge-building--Points in - favor of the stone bridge--Bridges over the Keys of Florida. - - CHAPTER VI - - THE PASSENGER STATIONS 80 - - Early trains for suburbanites--Importance of the towerman-- - Automatic switch systems--The interlocking machine--Capacities - of the largest passenger terminals--Room for locomotives, - car-storage, etc.--Storing and cleaning cars--The concourse-- - Waiting-rooms--Baggage accommodations--Heating--Great - development of passenger stations--Some notable stations in - America. - - CHAPTER VII - - THE FREIGHT TERMINALS AND THE YARDS 107 - - Convenience of having freight stations at several points in a - city--The Pennsylvania Railroad's scheme at New York as an - example--Coal handled apart from other freight--Assorting the - cars--The transfer house--Charges for the use of cars not - promptly returned to their home roads--The hard work of the - yardmaster. - - CHAPTER VIII - - THE LOCOMOTIVES AND THE CARS 119 - - Honor required in the building of a locomotive--Some of the - early locomotives--Some notable locomotive-builders--Increase - of the size of engines--Stephenson's air-brake--The workshops-- - The various parts of the engine--Cars of the old-time-- - Improvements by Winans and others--Steel cars for freight. - - CHAPTER IX - - REBUILDING A RAILROAD 138 - - Reconstruction necessary in many cases--Old grades too heavy-- - Curves straightened--Tunnels avoided--These improvements - required especially by freight lines. - - CHAPTER X - - THE RAILROAD AND ITS PRESIDENT 152 - - Supervision of the classified activities--Engineering, - operating, maintenance of way, etc.--The divisional system as - followed in the Pennsylvania Road--The departmental plan as - followed in the New York Central--Need for vice-presidents--The - board of directors--Harriman a model president--How the - Pennsylvania forced itself into New York City--Action of a - president to save the life of a laborer's child--"Keep right on - obeying orders"--Some railroad presidents compared--High - salaries of presidents. - - CHAPTER XI - - THE LEGAL AND FINANCIAL DEPARTMENTS 170 - - Functions of general counsel, and those of general attorney--A - shrewd legal mind's worth to a railroad--The function of the - claim-agent--Men and women who feign injury--The secret service - as an aid to the claim-agent--Wages of employees the greatest of - a railroad's expenditures--The pay-car--The comptroller or - auditor--Division of the income from through tickets--Claims for - lost or damaged freight--Purchasing-agent and store-keeper. - - CHAPTER XII - - THE GENERAL MANAGER 187 - - His duty to keep employees in harmonious actions--"The - superintendent deals with men; the general manager with - superintendents"--"The general manager is really king"--Cases - in which his power is almost despotic--He must know men. - - CHAPTER XIII - - THE SUPERINTENDENT 202 - - His headship of the transportation organism--His manner of - dealing with an offended shipper--His manner with commuters--His - manner with a spiteful "kicker"--A dishonest conductor who had a - "pull"--A system of demerits for employees--Dealing with - drunkards--With selfish and covetous men. - - CHAPTER XIV - - OPERATING THE RAILROAD 220 - - Authority of the chief clerk and that of the assistant - superintendent--Responsibilities of engineers, firemen, master - mechanic, train-master, train-despatcher--Arranging the - time-table--Fundamental rules of operation--Signals--Selecting - engine and cars for a train--Clerical work of conductors--A trip - with the conductor--The despatcher's authority--Signals along - the line--Maintenance of way--Superintendent of bridges and - buildings--Road-master--Section boss. - - CHAPTER XV - - THE FELLOWS OUT UPON THE LINE 243 - - Men who run the trains must have brain as well as muscle--Their - training--From farmer's boy to engineer--The brakeman's - dangerous work--Baggagemen and mail clerks--Hand-switchmen--The - multifarious duties of country station-agents. - - CHAPTER XVI - - KEEPING THE LINE OPEN 256 - - The wrecking train and its supplies--Floods dammed by an - embankment--Right of way always given to the wrecking-train-- - Expeditious work in repairing the track--Collapse of the roof of - a tunnel--Telegraph crippled by storms--Winter storms the - severest test--Trains in quick succession help to keep the line - open in snowstorms--The rotary plough. - - CHAPTER XVII - - THE G. P. A. AND HIS OFFICE 276 - - He has to keep the road advertised--Must be an after-dinner - orator, and many-sided--His geniality, urbanity, courtesy-- - Excessive rivalry for passenger traffic--Increasing luxury in - Pullman cars--Many printed forms of tickets, etc. - - CHAPTER XVIII - - THE LUXURY OF MODERN RAILROAD TRAVEL 292 - - Special trains provided--Private cars--Specials for actors, - actresses, and musicians--Crude coaches on early railroads-- - Luxurious old-time sleeping-cars--Pullman's sleepers made at - first from old coaches--His pioneer--The first dining-cars--The - present-day dining-cars--Dinners, _table d'hôte_ and _a la - carte_--_Café_-cars--Buffet-cars--Care for the comfort of women. - - CHAPTER XIX - - GETTING THE CITY OUT INTO THE COUNTRY 311 - - Commuters' trains in many towns--Rapid increase in the volume of - suburban travel--Electrification of the lines--Long Island - Railroad almost exclusively suburban--Varied distances of - suburban homes from the cities--Club-cars for commuters-- - Staterooms in the suburban cars--Special transfer commuters. - - CHAPTER XX - - FREIGHT TRAFFIC 325 - - Income from freight traffic greater than from passenger-- - Competition in freight rates--Afterwards a standard rate-sheet-- - Rate-wars virtually ended by the Interstate Commerce Commission - classification of freight into groups--Differential freight - rates--Demurrage for delay in emptying cars--Coal traffic-- - Modern methods of handling lard and other freight. - - CHAPTER XXI - - THE DRAMA OF THE FREIGHT 343 - - Fast trains for precious and perishable goods--Cars invented for - fruits and for fish--Milk trains--Systematic handling of the - cans--Auctioning garden-truck at midnight--A historic city - freight-house. - - CHAPTER XXII - - MAKING TRAFFIC 355 - - Enticing settlers to the virgin lands of the West--Emigration - bureaus--Railways extended for the benefit of emigrants--The - first continuous railroad across the American continent-- - Campaigns for developing sparsely settled places in the West-- - Unprofitable branch railroads in the East--Development of - scientific farming--Improved farms are traffic-makers--New - factories being opened--How railroad managers have developed - Atlantic City. - - CHAPTER XXIII - - THE EXPRESS SERVICE AND THE RAILROAD MAIL 369 - - Development of express business--Railroad conductors the first - mail and express messengers--William F. Harnden's express - service--Postage rates--Establishment and organization of great - express companies--Collection and distribution of express - matter--Relation between express companies and railroads-- - Beginnings of post-office department--Statistics--Railroad mail - service--Newspaper delivery--Handling of mail matter--Growth of - the service. - - CHAPTER XXIV - - THE MECHANICAL DEPARTMENTS 388 - - Care and repair of cars and engines--The locomotive cleaned and - inspected after each long journey--Frequent visits of engines to - the shops and foundries at Altoona--The table for testing the - power and speed of locomotives--The car shops--Steel cars - beginning to supersede wooden ones--Painting a freight car--Lack - of method in early repair shops--Search for flaws in wheels. - - CHAPTER XXV - - THE RAILROAD MARINE 404 - - Steamship lines under railroad control--Fleet of New York - Central--Tugs--Railroad connections at New York harbor--Handling - of freight--Ferry-boats--Tunnel under Detroit River--Car-ferries - and lake routes--Great Lakes steamship lines under railroad - control. - - CHAPTER XXVI - - KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH THE MEN 418 - - The first organized branch of the Railroad Y. M. C. A.-- - Cornelius Vanderbilt's gift of a club-house--Growth of the - Railroad Y. M. C. A.--Plans by the railways to care for the sick - and the crippled--The pension system--Entertainments--Model - restaurants--Free legal advice--Employees' magazines--The Order - of the Red Spot. - - CHAPTER XXVII - - THE COMING OF ELECTRICITY 432 - - Electric street cars--Suburban cars--Electric third-rail from - Utica to Syracuse--Some railroads partially adopt electric - power--The benefit of electric power in tunnels--Also at - terminal stations--Conditions which make electric traction - practical and economical--Hopeful outlook for electric - traction--The monorail and the gyroscope car, invented by Louis - Brennan--A similar invention by August Scherl. - - APPENDIX 449 - - Efficiency through Organization. - - INDEX 465 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - Ready for the day's run _Frontispiece_ - - An early locomotive built by William Norris for the - Philadelphia & Reading Railroad 18 - - The historic "John Bull" of the Camden & Amboy - Railroad--and its train 18 - - A heavy-grade type of locomotive built for the Baltimore - & Ohio Railroad in 1864. Its flaring stack was typical of - those years 19 - - Construction engineers blaze their way across the face of - new country 38 - - The making of an embankment by dump-train 39 - - "Small temporary railroads peopled with hordes of restless - engines" 39 - - Cutting a path for the railroad through the crest of the - high hills 44 - - A giant fill--in the making 44 - - The finishing touches to the track 45 - - This machine can lay a mile of track a day 45 - - "Sometimes the construction engineer ... brings his line - face to face with a mountain" 52 - - Finishing the lining of a tunnel 52 - - The busiest tunnel point in the world--at the west portals - of the Bergen tunnels, six Erie tracks below, four - Lackawanna above 53 - - The Hackensack portals of the Pennsylvania's great tunnels - under New York City 53 - - Concrete affords wonderful opportunities for the - bridge-builders 68 - - The Lackawanna is building the largest concrete bridge in - the world across the Delaware River at Slateford, Pa. 68 - - The bridge-builder lays out an assembling-yard for - gathering together the different parts of his new - construction 69 - - The new Brandywine Viaduct of the Baltimore & Ohio, at - Wilmington, Del. 69 - - The Northwestern's monumental new terminal on the West - Side of Chicago 82 - - The Union Station at Washington 83 - - A model American railroad station--the Union Station of - the New York Central, Boston & Albany, Delaware & Hudson, - and West Shore railroads at Albany 102 - - The classic portal of the Pennsylvania's new station in - New York 102 - - The beautiful concourse of the new Pennsylvania Station, - in New York 103 - - "The waiting-room is the monumental and artistic - expression of the station"--the waiting-room of the Union - Depot at Troy, New York 103 - - Something over a million dollars' worth of passenger cars - are constantly stored in this yard 114 - - A scene in the great freight-yards that surround Chicago 114 - - The intricacy of tracks and the "throat" of a modern - terminal yard: South Station, Boston, and its approaches 115 - - One of the "diamond-stack" locomotives used on the - Pennsylvania Railroad in the early seventies 126 - - Prairie type passenger locomotive of the Lake Shore - Railroad 126 - - Pacific type passenger locomotive of the New York Central - lines 126 - - Atlantic type passenger locomotive, built by the - Pennsylvania Railroad at its Altoona shops 126 - - One of the great Mallet pushing engines of the Delaware & - Hudson Company 127 - - A ten-wheeled switching locomotive of the Lake Shore - Railroad 127 - - Suburban passenger locomotive of the New York Central - lines 127 - - Consolidation freight locomotive of the Pennsylvania - system 127 - - Where Harriman stretched the Southern Pacific in a - straight line across the Great Salt Lake 140 - - Line revision on the New York Central--tunnelling through - the bases of these jutting peaks along the Hudson River - does away with sharp and dangerous curves 140 - - Impressive grade revision on the Union Pacific in the - Black Hills of Wyoming. The discarded line may be seen at - the right 141 - - The old and the new on the Great Northern--the "William - Crooks," the first engine of the Hill system, and one of - the newest Mallets 154 - - The Southern Pacific finds direct entrance into San - Francisco for one of its branch lines by tunnels piercing - the heart of the suburbs 155 - - Portal of the abandoned tunnel of the Alleghany Portage - Railroad near Johnstown, Pa., the first railroad tunnel in - the United States 155 - - The freight department of the modern railroad requires a - veritable army of clerks 176 - - The farmer who sued the railroad for permanent injuries-- - as the detectives with their cameras found him 177 - - Oil-burning locomotive on the Southern Pacific system 190 - - The steel passenger coach such as has become standard upon - the American railroad 190 - - Electric car, generating its own power by a gasoline - engine 190 - - Both locomotive and train--gasoline motor car designed for - branch line service 190 - - The biggest locomotive in the world: built by the Santa Fe - Railroad at its Topeka shops 191 - - The conductor is a high type of railroad employee 208 - - The engineer--oil-can in hand--is forever fussing at his - machine 208 - - Railroad responsibility does not end even with the track - walker 209 - - The fireman has a hard job and a steady one 209 - - How the real timetable of the division looks--the one used - in headquarters 222 - - The electro-pneumatic signal-box in the control tower of a - modern terminal 228 - - The responsible men who stand at the switch-tower of a - modern terminal: a large tower of the "manual" type 228 - - "When winter comes upon the lines the superintendent will - have full use for every one of his wits" 229 - - Watchful signals guarding the main line of a busy railroad 229 - - "When the train comes to a water station the fireman gets - out and fills the tank" 248 - - A freight-crew and its "hack" 248 - - A view through the span of a modern truss bridge gives an - idea of its strength and solidity 249 - - The New York Central is adopting the new form of "Upper - quadrant" signal 249 - - The wrecking train ready to start out from the yard 262 - - "Two of these great cranes can grab a wounded Mogul - locomotive and put her out of the way" 262 - - "The shop-men form no mean brigade in this industrial army - of America" 263 - - "Winter days when the wind-blown snow forms mountains upon - the tracks" 272 - - "The despatcher may have come from some lonely country - station" 273 - - "The superintendent is not above getting out and bossing - the wrecking-gang once in a great while" 273 - - The New York Central Railroad is building a new Grand - Central Station in New York City, for itself and its - tenant, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad 284 - - The concourse of the new Grand Central Station, New York, - will be one of the largest rooms in the world 284 - - South Station, Boston, is the busiest railroad terminal in - the world 285 - - The train-shed and approach tracks of Broad Street - Station, Philadelphia, still one of the finest of American - railroad passenger terminals 285 - - Connecting drawing-room and stateroom 296 - - "A man may have as fine a bed in a sleeping-car as in the - best hotel in all the land" 296 - - "You may have the manicure upon the modern train" 297 - - "The dining-car is a sociable sort of place" 297 - - An interior view of one of the earliest Pullman - sleeping-cars 302 - - Interior of a standard sleeping-car of to-day 303 - - "Even in winter there is a homely, homey air about the - commuter's station" 314 - - Entrance to the great four-track open cut which the Erie - has built for the commuter's comfort at Jersey City 314 - - A model way-station on the lines of the Boston & Albany - Railroad 315 - - The yardmaster's office--in an abandoned switch-tower 315 - - "The inside of any freight-house is a busy place" 328 - - St. John's Park, the great freight-house of the New York - Central Railroad in down-town New York 328 - - The great ore-docks of the West Shore Railroad at Buffalo 329 - - The great bridge of the New York Central at Watkins Glen 340 - - Building the wonderful bridge of the Idaho & Washington - Northern over the Pend Oreille River, Washington 341 - - Inside the West Albany shops of the New York Central: - picking up a locomotive with the travelling crane 350 - - A locomotive upon the testing-table at the Altoona shops - of the Pennsylvania 350 - - "The roundhouse is a sprawling thing" 351 - - Denizens of the roundhouse 351 - - "In the Far West the farm-train has long since come into - its own" 360 - - "Even in New York State the interest in these itinerant - agricultural schools is keen, indeed" 361 - - Interior of the dairy demonstration car of an agricultural - train 361 - - The famous Thomas Viaduct, on the Baltimore & Ohio at - Relay, Md., built by B. H. Latrobe in 1835, and still in - use 366 - - The historic Starucca Viaduct upon the Erie 366 - - The cylinders of the Delaware & Hudson Mallet 367 - - The interior of this gasoline-motor-car on the Union - Pacific presents a most unusual effect, yet a maximum of - view of the outer world 367 - - A portion of the great double-track Susquehanna River - bridge of the Baltimore & Ohio--a giant among American - railroad bridges 372 - - "In summer the brakemen have pleasant enough times of - railroading" 373 - - A famous cantilever rapidly disappearing--the substitution - of a new Kentucky river bridge for the old, on the Queen & - Crescent system 373 - - Triple-phase, alternating current locomotive built by the - General Electric Co. for use in the Cascade Tunnel, of the - Great Northern Railway 390 - - Heavy service, alternating and direct current freight - locomotive built by the Westinghouse Company for the New - York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad 390 - - The monoroad in practical use for carrying passengers at - City Island, New York 391 - - The cigar-shaped car of the monoroad 391 - - A modern railroad freight and passenger terminal: the - terminal of the West Shore Railroad at Weehawken, opposite - New York City 406 - - High-speed, direct-current passenger locomotive built by - the General Electric Company for terminal service of the - New York Central at the Grand Central Station 407 - - This is what New York Central McCrea did for the men of - the Canadian Pacific up at Kenora 420 - - A clubhouse built by the Southern Pacific for its men at - Roseville, California 420 - - The B. & O. boys enjoying the Railroad Y. M. C. A., - Chicago Junction 421 - - "The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company has organized a brass - band for its employees" 421 - - A high-speed electric locomotive on the Pennsylvania - bringing a through train out of the tunnel underneath the - Hudson River and into the New York City terminal 434 - - High-speed, direct-current locomotive built by the - Westinghouse Company for the terminal service of the - Pennsylvania Railroad, in New York 434 - - Two triple-phase locomotives of the Great Northern Railway - helping a double-header steam train up the grade into the - Cascade Tunnel 435 - - The outer shell of the New Haven's freight locomotive - removed, showing the working parts of the machine 435 - - - - -_The railroad is a monster. His feet are dipped into the navigable seas, -and his many arms reach into the uplands. His fingers clutch the treasures -of the hills--coal, iron, timber--all the wealth of Mother Earth. His busy -hands touch the broad prairies of corn, wheat, fruits--the yearly produce -of the land. With ceaseless activity he brings the raw material that it -may be made into the finished. He centralizes industry. He fills the ships -that sail the seas. He brings the remote town in quick touch with the busy -city. He stimulates life. He makes life._ - -_His arms stretch through the towns and over the land. His steel muscles -reach across great rivers and deep valleys, his tireless hands have long -since burrowed their way through God's eternal hills. He is here, there, -everywhere. His great life is part and parcel of the great life of the -nation._ - -_He reaches an arm into an unknown country, and it is known! Great tracts -of land that were untraversed become farms; hillsides yield up their -mineral treasure; a busy town springs into life where there was no -habitation of man a little time before, and the town becomes a city. -Commerce is born. The railroad bids death and stagnation begone. It -creates. It reaches forth with its life, and life is born._ - -_The railroad is life itself!_ - - - - -THE MODERN RAILROAD - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE RAILROADS AND THEIR BEGINNINGS - - TWO GREAT GROUPS OF RAILROADS; EAST TO WEST, AND NORTH TO SOUTH--SOME - OF THE GIANT ROADS--CANALS--DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY'S NATURAL - RESOURCES--RAILROAD PROJECTS--LOCOMOTIVES IMPORTED--FIRST LOCOMOTIVE - OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURE--OPPOSITION OF CANAL-OWNERS TO RAILROADS-- - DEVELOPMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA'S ANTHRACITE MINES--THE MERGING OF SMALL - LINES INTO SYSTEMS. - - -Fifteen or twenty great railroad systems are the overland carriers of the -United States. Measured by corporations, known by a vast variety of -differing names, there are many, many more than these. But this great -number is reduced, through common ownership or through a common purpose in -operation, to less than a score of transportation organisms, each with its -own field, its own purposes, and its own ambitions. - -The greater number of these railroads reach from east to west, and so -follow the natural lines of traffic within the country. Two or three -systems--such as the Illinois Central and the Delaware & Hudson--run at -variance with this natural trend, and may be classed as cross-country -routes. A few properties have no long-reaching routes, but derive their -incomes from the transportation business of a comparatively small -exclusive territory, as the Boston & Maine in Northern New England, the -New Haven in Southern New England, both of them recently brought under a -more or less direct single control, and the Long Island. Still other -properties find their greatest revenue in bringing anthracite coal from -the Pennsylvania mountains to the seaboard, and among these are the -Lackawanna, the Lehigh Valley, the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and the -Philadelphia & Reading systems. - -The very great railroads of America are the east and west lines. These -break themselves quite naturally into two divisions--one group east of the -Mississippi River, the other west of that stream. The easterly group aim -to find an eastern terminal in and about New York. Their western arms -reach Chicago and St. Louis, where the other group of transcontinentals -begin. - -Giants among these eastern roads are the Pennsylvania and the New York -Central. Of lesser size, but still ranking as great railroads within this -territory are the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Baltimore & Ohio, and the Erie. -Several of the anthracite roads enjoy through connections to Chicago and -St. Louis, breaking at Buffalo as an interchange point, about half way -between New York and Chicago. There are important roads in the South, -reaching between Gulf points and New York and taking care of the traffic -of the centres of the section, now rapidly increasing its industrial -importance. - -The western group of transcontinental routes are the giants in point of -mileage. The eastern roads, serving a closely-built country, carry an -almost incredible tonnage; but the long, gaunt western lines are reaching -into a country that has its to-morrow still ahead. Of these, the so-called -Harriman lines--the Southern Pacific and the Union Pacific--occupy the -centre of the country, and reach from the Mississippi to the Pacific. The -Santa Fe and the Gould roads share this territory. - -To the north of the Harriman lines, J. J. Hill has his wonderful group of -railroads, the Burlington, the Great Northern, and the Northern Pacific, -together reaching from Chicago to the north Pacific coast. Still farther -north Canada has her own transcontinental in the Canadian Pacific Railway, -another approaching completion in the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The -"Grangers" (so called from their original purpose as grain carriers), that -occupy the eastern end of this western territory,--the St. Paul, the Gould -lines, the Northwestern and the Rock Island--are just now showing -pertinent interest in reaching the Pacific, with its great Oriental trade -in its infancy. The first two of these have already laid their rails over -the great slopes of the Rocky Mountains and so it is that the building of -railroads in the United States is nowhere near a closed book at the -present time. - -The better to understand the causes that went to the making of these great -systems, it may be well to go back into the past, to examine the eighty -years that the railroad has been in the making. These busy years are -illuminating. They tell with precise accuracy the development of American -transportation. Yet, as we can devote to them only a few brief pages, our -review of them must be cursory. - -When the Revolution was completed and the United States of America firmly -established as a nation, the people began to give earnest attention to -internal improvement and development. Under the control of a distant and -unsympathetic nation there had been very little encouragement for -development; but with an independent nation all was very different. The -United States began vaguely to realize their vast inherent wealth. How to -develop that wealth was the surpassing problem. It became evident from the -first that it must depend almost wholly on transportation facilities. To -appreciate the dimensions of this problem it must be understood that at -the beginning of the last century a barrel of flour was worth five dollars -at Baltimore. It cost four dollars to transport it to that seaport from -Wheeling; so it follows, that flour must be sold at Wheeling at one dollar -a barrel for the Baltimore market. With a better form of transportation it -would cost a dollar a barrel to carry the flour from Wheeling to -Baltimore, making the price of the commodity at the first of these points -under transit facilities four dollars a barrel. It did not take much of -that sort of reasoning to make the States appreciate from the very first -that a great effort must be made toward development. That effort, having -been made, brought its own reward. - -The very first efforts toward transportation development lay in the canal -works. Canals had already proved their success in England and within -Continental Europe, and their introduction into the United States -established their value from the beginning. Some of the earliest of these -were built in New England before the Revolution. After the close of that -conflict many others were planned and built. The great enterprise of the -State of New York in planning and building the Erie, or Grand Canal, as it -was at first called, from Albany to Buffalo--from Atlantic tidewater to -the navigable Great Lakes was a tremendous stimulus to similar enterprises -along the entire seaboard. Canals were built for many hundreds of miles, -and in nearly every case they proved their worth at the outset. Canals -were also projected for many, many hundreds of additional miles, for the -success of the earliest of these ditches was a great encouragement to -other investments of the sort, even where there existed far less necessity -for their construction. Then there was a halt to canal-building for a -little time. - -The invention of the steamboat just a century ago was an incentive -indirectly to canal growth but there were other things that halted the -minds of farsighted and conservative men. Canals were fearfully expensive -things; likewise, they were delicate works, in need of constant and -expensive repairs to keep them in order. Moreover, there were many winter -months in which they were frozen and useless. It was quite clear to these -farsighted men from the outset that the canal was not the real solution of -the transportation problem upon which rested the internal development of -the United States. - -They turned their attention to roads. But, while roads were comparatively -easy to maintain and were possible routes of communication the entire year -round, they could not begin to compare with the canals in point of tonnage -capacity, because of the limitations of the drawing power of animals. Some -visionary souls experimented with sail wagons, but of course with no -practical results. - -At this time there came distinct rumors from across the sea of a new -transportation method in England--the railroad. The English railroads were -crude affairs built to handle the products of the collieries in the -northeast corner of the country, to bring the coal down to the docks. But -there came more rumors--of a young engineer, one Stephenson, who had -perfected some sort of a steam wagon that would run on rails--a locomotive -he called it,--and there was to be one of these railroads built from -Stockton to Darlington to carry passengers and also freight. These reports -were of vast interest to the earnest men who were trying to solve this -perplexing problem of internal transportation. Some of them, who owned -collieries up in the northeastern portion of Pennsylvania and who were -concerned with the proposition of getting their product to tidewater, were -particularly interested. These gentlemen were called the Delaware & Hudson -Company, and they had already accomplished much in building a hundred -miles of canal from Honesdale, an interior town, across a mountainous land -to Kingston on the navigable Hudson River. But the canal, considered a -monumental work in its day, solved only a part of the problem. There still -remained the stiff ridge of the Moosic Mountain that no canal work might -ever possibly climb. - -To the Delaware & Hudson Company, then, the railroad proposition was of -absorbing interest, of sufficient interest to warrant it in sending -Horatio Allen, one of the canal engineers, all the way to England for -investigation and report. Allen was filled with the enthusiasm of youth. -He went prepared to look into a new era in transportation. - -In the meantime other railroad projects were also under way in the -country, short and crude affairs though they were. As early as 1807 Silas -Whitney built a short line on Beacon Hill, Boston, which is accredited as -being the first American railroad. It was a simple affair with an inclined -plane which was used to handle brick; and it is said that it was preceded -twelve years by an even more crude tramway, built for the same purpose. -Another early short length of railroad was built by Thomas Leiper at his -quarry in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It has its chief interest from -the fact that it was designed by John Thomson, father of J. Edgar Thomson, -who became at a much later day president of the Pennsylvania Railroad -Company, and who is known as one of the master minds in American -transportation progress. Similar records remain of the existence of a -short line near Richmond, Va., built to carry supplies to a powder mill, -and other lines at Bear Creek Furnace, Pennsylvania, and at Nashua, N. H. -But the only one of these roads that seems to have attained a lasting -distinction was one built by Gridley Bryant in 1826 to carry granite for -the Bunker Hill Monument from the quarries at Quincy, Mass., to the docks -four miles distant. This road was built of heavy wooden rails attached in -a substantial way to stone sleepers imbedded in the earth. It attained -considerable distinction and became of such general interest that a public -house was opened alongside its rails to accommodate sightseers from afar -who came to see it. This railroad continued in service for more than a -quarter of a century. - -But the motive power of all these railroads was the horse; and it was -patent from the outset that the horse had neither the staying nor the -hauling powers to make him a real factor in the railroad situation. So -when Horatio Allen returned to New York from England in January, 1829, -with glowing accounts of the success of the English railroads, he found -the progressive men of the Delaware & Hudson anxiously awaiting an -inspection of the _Stourbridge Lion_, the first of four locomotives -purchased by Allen for importation into the United States. Three of these -machines were from the works of Foster, Rastrick & Co., of Stourbridge; -the fourth was the creation of Stephenson's master hand. The _Lion_ -arrived in May of that year, and after having been set up on blocks and -fired for the benefit of a group of scientific men in New York it was -shipped by river and canal to Honesdale. - -Allen placed the _Stourbridge Lion_--which resembled a giant grasshopper -with its mass of exterior valves, and joints--on the crude wooden track of -the railroad, which extended over the mountain to Carbondale, seventeen -miles distant. A few days later--the ninth of August, to be exact--he ran -the _Lion_, the first turning of an engine wheel upon American soil. -Details of that scene have come easily down to to-day. The track was built -of heavy hemlock stringers on which bars of iron, two and a quarter inches -wide and one-half an inch thick were spiked. The engine weighed seven -tons, instead of three tons, as had been expected. It so happened that the -rails had become slightly warped just above the terminal of the railroad, -where the track crossed the Lackawaxen Creek on a bending trestle. Allen -had been warned against this trestle and his only response was to call for -passengers upon the initial ride. No one accepted. There was a precious -Pennsylvania regard shown for the safety of one's neck. So, after running -the engine up and down the coal dock for a few minutes, Allen waved -good-bye to the crowd, opened his throttle wide open and dashed away from -the village around the abrupt curve and over the trembling trestle at a -rate of ten miles an hour. The crowd which had expected to see the engine -derailed, broke into resounding cheers. The initial trial of a locomotive -in the United States had served to prove its worth. - -The career of the _Stourbridge Lion_ was short lived. It hauled coal cars -for a little time at Honesdale; but it was too big an engine for so slight -a railroad, and it was soon dismantled. Its boiler continued to serve the -Delaware & Hudson Company for many years at its shops on the hillside -above Carbondale. The fate of the three other imported English locomotives -remains a mystery. They were brought to New York and stored, eventually to -find their way to the scrap heap in some unknown fashion. - -Mr. Allen held no short-lived career. His experiments with the locomotive -ranked him as a railroad engineer of the highest class, and before the -year 1829 closed he was made chief engineer of what was at first known as -the Charleston & Hamburg Railroad, and afterwards as the South Carolina -Railroad. This was an ambitious project, designed to connect the old -Carolina seaport with the Savannah River, one hundred and thirty-six miles -distant. It achieved its greatest fame as the railroad which first -operated a locomotive of American manufacture. - -This engine, called the _Best Friend of Charleston_, was built at the West -Point Foundry in New York City and was shipped to Charleston in the Fall -of 1830. It was a crude affair, and on its trial trip, on November 2, of -that year, it sprung a wheel out of shape and became derailed. Still it -was a beginning; and after the wheels had been put in good shape it -entered into regular service, which was more than the _Stourbridge Lion_ -had ever done. It could haul four or five cars with forty or fifty -passengers at a speed of from fifteen to twenty-five miles an hour, so the -Charleston & Hamburg became the first of our steam railroads with a -regular passenger service. A little later, a bigger and better engine, -also of American manufacture and called the _West Point_, was sent down -from New York. - -Word of these early railroad experiments travelled across the country as -if by some magic predecessor of the telegraph. Other railroad projects -found themselves under way. Another colliery railroad, a marvellous thing -of planes and gravity descents, was built at Mauch Chunk in the Lehigh -Valley, and this stout old road is in use to-day as a passenger-carrier. - -But it was already seen that the future of the railroad was not to be -limited to quarries or collieries. Up in New England the railroad fever -had taken hold with force; and in 1831, construction was begun on the -Boston & Lowell Railroad. This line was analogous to the Manchester & -Liverpool, which proved itself from the beginning a tremendous -money-earner. Boston, a seaport of sixty thousand inhabitants was to be -linked with Lowell, then possessing but six thousand inhabitants. Still, -even in those days, Lowell had developed to a point that saw fifteen -thousand tons of freight and thirty-seven thousand passengers handled -between the two cities over the Middlesex Canal in 1829. - -Then there developed the first of a new sort of antagonism that the -railroad was to face. The owners of the canals were keen-sighted enough to -discover a dangerous new antagonist in the railroads. They protested to -the Legislature that their charter gave them a monopoly of the carrying -privileges between Boston and Lowell, and for two years they were able to -strangle the ambitions of the proposed railroad. This fight was a type of -other battles that were to follow between the canals and the railroads. -The various lines that reached across New York State from Albany to -Buffalo, paralleling the Erie Canal, were once prohibited from carrying -freight, for fear that the canal's supremacy as a carrier might be -disturbed. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, struggling to blaze a path -toward the West, was for a long time halted by the Chesapeake & Ohio -Canal, which proposed to hold to its monopoly of the valley of the -Potomac. - -The Boston & Lowell, however, conquered its obstacles and was finally -opened to traffic, June 26, 1835. Within a few months similar lines -reaching from Boston to Worcester on the west, and Providence on the south -had also been opened. By 1839 Boston & Worcester had been extended through -to Springfield on the Connecticut River, where it connected with the -Western Railroad, extending over the Berkshires to Greenbush, opposite -Albany. The Providence Road was rapidly extended through to Stonington, -Connecticut. From that point fast steamboats were operated through to New -York, and a quick line of communication was established between Boston and -New York. Before that time the fastest route between these two cities had -been by steamboat to Norwich, then by coach over the post-road up to -Boston. Norwich saw the railroad take away its supremacy in the through -traffic. Finally it awoke to its necessity, and arranged to build a -railroad to reach the existing line at Providence. - -Between New York and Philadelphia railroad communication came quickly into -being, the first route opened being the Camden & Amboy, which terminated -at the end of a long ferry ride from New York. Even after more direct -routes had been established and the Delaware crossed at Trenton, it was -many years before the trains ran direct from Jersey City into the heart of -the Quaker City. The cars from New York used to stop at Tacony, -considerably above the city and there was still a steamboat ride down the -river. - -The railroad route to Baltimore was only a partial one. A steamboat took -the traveller to New Castle, Delaware, where a short pioneer railroad -crossed to French Town, Maryland. After that there was another long -steamboat ride down the flat reaches of the Chesapeake Bay before -Baltimore was finally reached. A little later there developed an all-rail -route between Philadelphia and Baltimore although not upon the line of the -present most direct route. - -From Philadelphia an early double-track railroad extended west to -Columbia, upon the Susquehanna River. An early route extended due north -from Baltimore to York, and then to Harrisburg; the parent stem of what -afterwards became the Northern Central. A branch from this line was -extended through to Columbia, and the New Castle and French Town route -lost popularity. - -But the Columbia and Philadelphia route was destined to more important -things than merely affording an all-rail route to Baltimore. At Columbia -it connected with the important Pennsylvania State system of internal -canals and railroads, affording a direct line of communication with -Pittsburgh and the headwaters of the Ohio River. - -This was accomplished by use of a canal through to Hollidaysburgh upon the -east slope of the Alleghanies, and the well-famed Alleghany Portage -Railroad over the summit of those mountains to Johnstown, where another -canal reached down into Pittsburgh and enjoyed unexampled prosperity from -1834 to 1854. The Alleghany Portage railroad was a solidly constructed -affair and its rails after the fashion of almost all railroads of that day -were laid upon stone sleepers, rows of which may still be seen where the -long-since abandoned railroad found its path across the mountains. The -Portage Railroad was operated by the most elaborate system of inclined -planes ever put to service within the United States; one has only to turn -to the pages of Dickens's "American Notes" to read: - - "We left Harrisburg on Friday. On Sunday morning we arrived at the - foot of the mountain, which is crossed by railroad. There are ten - inclined planes, five ascending and five descending; the carriages are - dragged up the former and slowly let down the latter by means of - stationary engines, the comparatively level spaces between being - traversed sometimes by horse and sometimes by engine power, as the - case demands.... The journey is very carefully made, however, only two - carriages travelling together; and while proper precaution is taken, - is not to be dreaded for its dangers." - -The Portage Railroad was the first to surmount the Alleghanies although in -course of time its elaborate system of planes disappeared, as they -disappeared elsewhere, under the development of the locomotive. - -An interesting feature of the operation of the eastern end of this route -of communication across the Keystone State, which was afterwards to -develop into the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad, was the communal nature of -the enterprise. The railroad was regarded as a highway. Any person was -supposedly free to use its rails for the hauling of his produce in his own -cars. The theory of the Columbia & Philadelphia Railroad was simply that -of an improved turnpike. For ten years after the opening of the line in -1834, the horse-teams of private freight haulers alternated upon the -tracks between steam locomotives hauling trains. A team of worn-out horses -hauling a four-wheeled car, loaded with farm produce could, and frequently -did keep a passenger train hauled by a steam locomotive fretting along for -hours behind it. In the end the use of horses was abolished on the -Philadelphia & Columbia--the name of the road had been reversed--and in -1857 the road was sold by the State to the newly organized Pennsylvania -Railroad Company. The Pennsylvania had already built a through rail route -from Columbia over the Alleghanies, and, by the aid of the wonderful Horse -Shoe Curve and the Gallitzin Tunnel, through to Pittsburgh; it had created -its shop-town of Altoona and abandoned for all time the Alleghany Portage -Railroad. But before the consolidation came to pass, two companies had -been organized to control freight-carrying upon the tracks of the -Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad. One of these was the People's line, the -other the Union line; and in them was the germ of the private car lines, -which in recent years have become so vexed a problem to the Interstate -Commerce Commission. - -There were other short railroad lines in Pennsylvania, most of them built -to bring the products of the rapidly developing anthracite district down -to tidewater. Across New York State another chain of little railroads, -which were in their turn to become the main stem of one of America's -mightiest systems, was under construction. The first of this chain to be -built was the Mohawk & Hudson, extending from the capital city of Albany, -by means of a sharply graded plane, to a tableland which brought it in -turn to a descending plane at Schenectady. At this last city it enjoyed a -connection with the Erie Canal, and for a time the packet-boat men hailed -the new railroad as a great help to their trade. It shortened a great -time-taking bend in the canal, and helped to popularize that waterway just -so much as a passenger carrier. - -Afterwards the packet-boat men thought differently. Hardly had the Mohawk -& Hudson been opened on August 9, 1831, by an excursion trip behind the -American built locomotive _DeWitt Clinton_, when the railroad fever took -hold of New York State as hard as the canal fever had taken hold of it but -a few years before. Railroads were planned everywhere and some of them -were built. Men began to dream of a link of railroads all the way through -from Albany to Buffalo and even the troubles of a decade, marked with a -monumental financial crash, could not entirely avail to stop -railroad-building. The railroads came, step by step; one railroad from -Schenectady to Utica, another from that pent-up city to Syracuse, still -another from Syracuse to Rochester. From Rochester separate railroads led -to Tonawanda and Niagara Falls; to Batavia, Attica, and Buffalo. But the -panic of '37 was a hard blow to ambitious financial schemes, and it was -six years thereafter before the all-rail route from Albany to Buffalo was -a reality. - -Even after that it was a crude sort of affair. At several of the large -towns across the State the continuity of the rails was broken. Utica was -jealous of this privilege and defended it on one occasion through a -committee of eminent draymen, 'bus-drivers, and inn-keepers, who went down -to Albany to keep two of the early routes from making rail connections -within her boundaries. At Rochester there was a similar break, wherein -both passengers and freight had to be transported by horses across the -city from the railroad that led from the east to the railroad that led -towards the west. This matter of carrying passengers across a city has -always stimulated local pride. Along in the fifties Erie, Pa., waged a -bitter war to prevent the Lake Shore Railroad from making its gauge -uniform through that city and abandoning a time-honored transfer of -passengers and freight there. - -But there seems to be no stopping of the hand of ultimate destiny in -railroading. The little weak roads across the Empire State were first -gathered into the powerful New York Central, and after a time they were -permitted to carry freight, the privilege denied them a long time because -of the power of the Erie Canal. After a little longer time there was a -great bridge built across the Hudson River at Albany, and soon after the -close of the Civil War shrewd old Commodore Vanderbilt brought the -railroad that had been built up the east shore of the Hudson, his pet New -York & Harlem, and the merged chain of railroads across the State, into -the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, his great lifework. That -system spread itself steadily. It built a new short line from Syracuse to -Rochester, another from Batavia to Buffalo. It absorbed and it -consolidated; gradually it sent its tentacles over the entire imperial -strength of New York State. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE RAILROAD - - ALARM OF CANAL-OWNERS AT THE SUCCESS OF RAILROADS--THE MAKING OF THE - BALTIMORE & OHIO--THE "TOM THUMB" ENGINE--DIFFICULTIES IN CROSSING THE - APPALACHIANS--EXTENSION TO PITTSBURGH--TROUBLES OF THE ERIE - RAILROAD--THIS ROAD THE FIRST TO USE THE TELEGRAPH--THE PRAIRIES BEGIN - TO BE CROSSED BY RAILWAYS--CHICAGO'S FIRST RAILROAD, THE GALENA & - CHICAGO UNION--ILLINOIS CENTRAL--ROCK ISLAND, THE FIRST TO SPAN THE - MISSISSIPPI--PROPOSALS TO RUN RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC--THE CENTRAL - PACIFIC ORGANIZED--IT AND THE UNION PACIFIC MEET--OTHER PACIFIC ROADS. - - -All the railroad projects already related were timid projects in the -beginning, with hardly a thought of ultimate greatness. Yet there were -men, even in the earliest days of railroading, whose minds winged to great -enterprises, whose dreams were empire-wide. Of such men was the Baltimore -& Ohio born. - -Baltimore, like Philadelphia, had greedily watched the success of the Erie -Canal upon its completion, and noted with alarm its possible effects upon -its own wharves. Philadelphia, with the wealth of the great State of -Pennsylvania behind, had sought to protect herself by the construction of -the long links of canal and railroad to Pittsburgh, of which you have -already read. But Baltimore had no great State to call to her support. She -must look to herself for strength. Out of her eminent necessity for -self-preservation came men of the strength and the fibre to meet the -emergency. Baltimore might have retreated from the situation, as some of -the New England towns had retreated from it, and become a somnolent -reminiscence of a prosperous Colonial seaport. She did nothing of the -sort. Instead she made herself the terminal and inspiration of a great -railroad, laid the foundations of a great and lasting growth. - -The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was born February 12, 1827. On the evening -of that day, a little group of citizens of the sturdy old Southern -metropolis gathered at the house of George Brown. Mr. Brown together with -Philip E. Thomas, a distinguished merchant and philanthropist of -Baltimore, had been making investigation into the possibilities of -railroads. The fact that the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, which was already -well advanced in construction, would have its eastern terminus at the -Potomac River, near Washington, brought no comfort to the merchants of -Baltimore. Wonder not then, that the stern old traders of that city -assembled to consider "the best means of restoring to the city of -Baltimore that portion of the western trade which has lately been diverted -from it by the introduction of steam navigation and other causes." From -that February day to this the corporate title of the Baltimore & Ohio has -been unchanged, despite the career of the most extreme vicissitudes--long -years of shadows that were almost complete despair, other years that were -brilliant with success. - -It was decided at the outset that the commercial supremacy of Baltimore -rested on her conquest of the Appalachian Mountains, of her reaching by an -easy artificial highway the almost limitless waterways of the West that -linked themselves with the navigable Ohio. But for the beginning it was -agreed that Cumberland, long an important point on the well-famed National -Highway, and even then a centre in the coal traffic, was a far enough -distant goal to be worthy of the most ambitious enterprise. Indeed a long -cutting through a hill in the first section of the road proved a serious -financial obstacle to the directors of the struggling railroad. But these -last were men who persevered. They started to lay their track for the -thirteen miles from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills on July 4, 1828. That -occasion was honored by an old-time celebration in which the chief figure -was Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, who laid the first stone of the new -line. After his services were finished he said to a friend: - -"I consider this among the most important things of my life, second only -to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, if even it be second to -that." Of that act President Hadley, of Yale, has written: "One man's life -formed the connecting link between the political revolution of the one -century and the industrial revolution of the other." - -No sooner had actual construction begun on the new line, than the -directors found themselves beset by many difficulties. Their enterprise -was then so unusual, that they went blindly, stumbling ahead in the dark. -Even the construction of the track itself was experimental. It was first -planned to use wooden rails hewn from oak, and these were to be mounted -upon stone sleepers set in a rock ballast. The money spent in such track -was obviously wasted. All such construction had to be torn out before the -traffic was at all sizable, and replaced by iron rails and wooden -sleepers. - -But the track was the least of the company's problems. It had gone ahead -to build a railroad with a very vague conception as to its permanent -motive-power. It was soon seen there, too, that horses were out of the -question for hauling the passengers and freight any considerable distance. -The Baltimore & Ohio Company gravely experimented at one time with a car -which was carried before the wind by means of mast and sail. - -Sturdy old Peter Cooper, of New York, finally solved that motive-power -problem. He had been induced to buy three thousand acres of land in the -outskirts of Baltimore for speculation. Requests sent by his Baltimore -partners for remittances, for taxes and other charges, became so frequent -that he went to the Maryland city to investigate. One glance showed him -that the future of his investment rested upon the future of the -struggling little railroad which was trying to poke its nose west from -Baltimore. He came to the aid of its directors in their problem of -motive-power. - -That problem consisted, for one thing, in the practical use of a -locomotive around curves of 400 feet radius. Cooper went back to New York, -bought an engine with a single cylinder, rigged it on a car--not larger -than a hand-car, geared it to the wheels of that car and solved the chief -problem of the B. & O. His little engine--the _Tom Thumb_--was a primitive -enough affair, but it pointed the way to these Baltimore merchants who -were pinning their entire faith to their railroad project. - - * * * * * - -Two years after the beginning of the work, "brigades" of horse-cars were -in regular service to Ellicott's Mills; by the first of December, 1831, -trains--steam-drawn--ran through to Frederick, Md.; five months later, to -a day, they had reached Point of Rocks on the Potomac, seventy miles from -Baltimore. At Point of Rocks the road was halted for a long time. The -power of the powerful Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, which had been great enough -to keep State or national grants from struggling railroads, was raised to -defend its claim to a monopoly of the Potomac Valley, by right of -priority. This right was sustained in the courts, and the railroad held -back two years, until it could buy a compromise. - -In 1835, a highly profitable branch was opened to Washington, while early -in the following year, trains were running through to Harpers Ferry, at -the mouth of the Shenandoah. - -During that same Summer of 1835, definite steps were taken toward the -extension of the railroad to Pittsburgh, as well as Wheeling. But it was -three years later before the struggling company was ready to make a -surveying reconnaissance of these extensions of the road. All through that -time actual construction work was slowly but quite surely progressing -westward from Harpers Ferry, and on November 5, 1842, trains entered -Cumberland, the one-time objective point of the enterprise. - -[Illustration: AN EARLY LOCOMOTIVE BUILT BY WILLIAM NORRIS FOR THE -PHILADELPHIA & READING RAILROAD] - -[Illustration: THE HISTORIC "JOHN BULL" OF THE CAMDEN & AMBOY -RAILROAD--AND ITS TRAIN] - -[Illustration: A HEAVY-GRADE TYPE OF LOCOMOTIVE BUILT FOR THE BALTIMORE & -OHIO RAILROAD IN 1864. ITS FLARING STACK WAS TYPICAL OF THOSE YEARS] - -But beyond Cumberland the road gradually left the comfortable valley of -the Potomac, and these early railroad builders found themselves confronted -with new difficulties. To build a railroad across the range of the -Appalachians, with the primitive methods and machinery of those days was -no simple task. For nine years the construction work dragged. In 1851 the -line had only been finished to Piedmont, twenty-nine miles west of -Cumberland, and its builders were well-nigh discouraged. Let us quote from -the ancient history of the B. & O., from which we derive these facts, in -an exact paragraph: - - "In the Fall of 1851, the Board found themselves, almost without - warning, in the midst of a financial crisis, with a family of more - than 5,000 laborers and 1,200 horses to be provided for, while their - treasury was rapidly growing weaker. The commercial existence of the - city of Baltimore depended on the prompt and successful prosecution of - the unfinished road." - -In October, 1852, it was found that there had been expended for -construction west of Cumberland, $7,217,732.51. But the road was going -ahead once more. Its Board had dug deep into their pockets and the -commercial crisis that hovered over Baltimore was passed. Two years later -the road entered Wheeling, and its corporate title was no longer a -misnomer. - -A little later, a more direct line was built to Parkersburg, West -Virginia, and direct connection entered with the Ohio & Mississippi -Railroad, which reached St. Louis. The railroad was beginning to feel its -way out across the land. - -War between North and South had been declared before the long delayed -extension to Pittsburgh was finished. In that time a real master-hand had -come to the Baltimore & Ohio. In its early days the names of Philip E. -Thomas, Peter Cooper, Ross Winans, and B. H. Latrobe were indissolubly -linked with this pioneer railroad; in its second era John W. Garrett gave -brilliancy to its administration. Even before, as well as throughout the -four trying years of the war, when the road's tracks were being repeatedly -torn up and its bridges burned, Mr. Garrett was laying down his masterly -policy of expansion. It was a discouraging beginning that confronted him. -The two expensive extensions to the Ohio River had been a severe drain on -the company's treasury, traffic was at low ebb, the great financial panic -of 1857 had been hard to surmount. - -But Mr. Garrett was one of the first of American railroaders to see that a -trunk-line should start at the seaboard and end at Chicago or the -Mississippi. He pushed his line to Pittsburgh, to Cleveland, to Sandusky, -to Chicago. It began to reach new and growing traffic centres. The -Baltimore & Ohio entered upon an era of magnificent prosperity. - -The first cloud upon that era came in the early seventies, when its -powerful rival, the Pennsylvania, secured control of the Philadelphia, -Wilmington & Baltimore, the B. & O.'s connecting link on its immensely -profitable through route from New York to Washington. Pennsylvania -interests tunnelled for long miles through the rocky foundations of -Baltimore, purchased an independent line to Washington--the Baltimore & -Potomac--and the B. & O. found itself deprived of its best congested -traffic district. For eleven years it was unable to retaliate, though not -a soul believed the Baltimore & Ohio to be other than a splendid, -conservative property. It owned its own sleeping-car company, its own -express company, its own telegraph company. The name of Garrett was behind -it. Logan G. McPherson says: - - "When it was desired to obtain additional funds, bonds were always - issued instead of the capital stock being increased. Interest on bonds - has always to be met, whereas dividends on stocks can be passed. It - was announced, however, that the retention of the stock - capitalization at less than fifteen millions of dollars was an - evidence of conservatism, as the continuance of semi-annual dividends - of five per cent was thereby permitted." - -John W. Garrett died in 1884, and was succeeded in the presidency by his -son Robert Garrett, who announced himself ready to continue a policy of -expansion. The younger Garrett sought to regain an entrance for his -traffic to New York. To that end he built a line into Philadelphia and -prepared to strike across the State of New Jersey. He failed in that end -by the failure of one of his confidential aides; the line that he had -counted on for entrance into the American metropolis was snapped up by his -greatest rival just as his own fingers were almost upon it. Later the B. & -O. was permitted a trackage entrance into Jersey City, but the terms of -that entrance were so stringent as to mean a practical surrender upon its -part. - -If Baltimore & Ohio had won that battle, a different story might have been -chronicled. As it was, it stood a loser in a fearfully expensive fight; -the English investors in the property became investigators--of a sudden -the bottom dropped out of things. The stock went slipping down as only a -mob-chased stock in Wall Street can drop; the road that had been the pride -of Baltimore became, for the moment, her shame. It was shown, upon -investigation, that the road had long gone upon a slender standing: -millions of dollars that should actually have been charged to loss had -been charged against its capital and included in the surplus. Ten years -after Mr. Garrett's death the road found itself in even more bitter -straits. It was a laughing stock and a reproach among railroad men. Its -profitable side-properties--the sleeping-car company, the express company, -the telegraph company,--the first two of which should never be permitted -to go outside of the control of any really great railroad company--had -been sold, one after another, in attempts to save the day of reckoning. -Just before the Chicago Fair the road reached low-water mark. Its -passenger cars were weather-beaten and ravaged almost beyond hope of -paint-shops; it was sometimes necessary to hold outgoing trains in the -famous old Camden station at Baltimore, until the lamps and drinking -glasses could be secured from some incoming train. In that day of -low-water mark it was actually and seriously proposed to abandon the -passenger service of the road! - -Out of that chaos came the B. & O. of to-day, a substantial and -well-managed railroad property. Mr. Garrett was the first of the -railroaders to construct a single property from the Atlantic seaboard to -the Mississippi; John F. Cowan, L. F. Loree, Oscar G. Murray, and Daniel -Willard have been his successors in the revamping of the B. & O., -eliminating its costly grades, enlarging yard and terminal facilities, and -making the historic road a carrier of the first class. - - * * * * * - -The history of the Erie Railroad is hardly less dramatic than that of the -Baltimore & Ohio; its financial disasters were not owing to the errors -that come of crass stupidity. For the Erie did its good part in the making -of railroad law. Built and operated in the earliest railroad days as a -single enterprise through the southern tier of counties of New York State -from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, while the roads to the north that were -eventually to be welded by Commodore Vanderbilt into the great New York -Central were still quarrelling among themselves, it was wrecked time and -time again by unscrupulous schemes of high finance. It was made to wear -mill-stones in the shape of outrageous bonded indebtednesses that acted as -a fearful handicap for many years and prevented a remarkably well located -property from standing to-day as the peer of the Pennsylvania or of the -New York Central. The story of these outrages has been told and -retold--they are integral parts of the financial history of the country. -Suffice it to say here and now that the Erie has been operated with more -or less success by no less than four struggling corporations; that it has -never come closer to achieving success than under its present president, -F. D. Underwood; and that no one save those who have stood close to -Underwood has known or appreciated the heritage of handicap that was given -to him to shoulder. For it has been part of our railroad principle in this -country--a mighty sad part, too--that no matter how villainously stocks -and bonds may have been issued at any time--only to bring failure swiftly -and inevitably,--such bogus paper has always been protected in -reorganization. A railroad which becomes bankrupt cannot be abandoned. -That has been done only in rare cases. Even the Baltimore & Ohio, at the -end of its rope less than twenty years ago, was not permitted to abandon -its passenger service. It must pull itself up out of the difficulties, -and--in America at least--it must pull its trashy paper up too, in order -that no holder of such paper may be unprotected. The paper can no more be -abandoned than the right-of-way. The result is seen in railroads -staggering under vast and questionable capitalization (there is no -cleaning of the slate); but the sins of those that have gone before are -truly visited upon the third and the fourth generation, as well as upon -the poor humans who, under such burdens, are trying to operate a railroad -property. - -From the beginning the story of Erie has been a story of difficulties. The -original scheme of building a New York railroad from Piermont-on-Hudson to -Dunkirk on Lake Erie--some 450 miles--seems in the face of the resources -of the State at that time and the engineering difficulties to be solved, -almost quixotic. But the road was built step by step, section by section, -until in May, 1851, a triumphal first train was operated over its entire -length. President Fillmore was the guest of honor on the train, but shared -attention with Daniel Webster on the trip. Webster, in order that he might -see the country, insisted on making the entire tedious journey in a -rocking-chair, which was lashed upon a flat-car. Another flat-car was -occupied by a railroad officer who was designated to receive the flags. C. -F. Carter, in his interesting sketch on the early days of the Erie, -writes: - - "By a singular coincidence, the ladies at every one of the more than - sixty stations between Piermont and Dunkirk had conceived the idea - that it would be as original as it was appropriate to present a flag - wrought by their own fair hands to the railroad company when the first - train passed through to Lake Erie. As it would have consumed - altogether too much time to make a stop for each of these flag - presentations, the engineer merely slowed down at three-fourths of the - stations long enough to permit the man on the flat-car to scoop up the - banners in his arms, much like the hands on the old-fashioned Marsh - harvesters gathered up armfuls of grain for binding. At the end of the - journey the Erie Railroad had a collection of flags that would have - done credit to a victorious army." - -Mr. Carter has also told how in that same eventful year 1851 the telegraph -came into use on the Erie, first of all railroads: A crude telegraph line, -built for commercial purposes, had been stretched along the eastern end of -the road. People did not think very much of the telegraph in those days. -It was only seven years old; and when a man wired another man he wrote his -message like a letter, beginning with "Dear sir" and ending with "Yours -truly." The railroads scorned its use. Their trains ran by hard and fast -train rules. Then, as now, north and east-bound trains held the -right-of-way over those south and west-bound, and the meeting places on -single-track lines were each carefully designated on the time-card. If a -train was waiting for another coming in an opposite direction, and the -train came not after an hour, the first train proceeded forward "under -flag." That meant that a man, walking with a flag in his hand preceded the -train to protect it. The locomotive and its train of cars necessarily -proceeded at snail's pace. - -It was not so very long after that observation-car trip that Daniel -Webster took in the rocking-chair up to Dunkirk, before the Erie's -superintendent, Charles Minot, was taking a trip up over the east end of -the road. The train on which he was riding was due to meet a west-bound -express at Turner's. After waiting nearly an hour there, without seeing -the opposing train, Minot was seized with an inspiration. He telegraphed -up the line fourteen miles to Goshen to hold that west-bound train until -he should arrive there. He then ordered his train-crew to proceed. They -rebelled. Engineer Isaac Lewis had too much regard for his own precious -neck to break the time-card rules, even under the superintendent's orders. -So finally Minot took charge of the engine himself, while Lewis cautiously -seated himself in the last seat of the last car and awaited the worst. - -It never came, of course. When they reached Goshen, the agent had received -the message, and was prepared to hold the west-bound train. But it had not -arrived, and Minot by repeating his method was enabled first to reach -Middletown and then Port Jervis before meeting the delayed train. By the -use of the telegraph he had saved his own train some three hours in -running time; and it was not long thereafter until the operation of trains -by telegraph order became standard on the Erie and all others of the early -railroads. - -At the beginning, one of the promoters of the Erie announced his belief -that the road would eventually earn, by freight alone, "some two hundred -thousand dollars in a year," and his neighbors laughed at him for his -extravagant promise. Yet, in the first six months' operation of the road -the receipts--mostly from freight--were $1,755,285. - -To tell the full story of Erie would require a sizable book. It has not -yet been told. It is a story of intrigue and deceit, of trickery and of -scheming; the story of Daniel Drew and Jim Fisk and Jay Gould; the -monumental tragedy of the wrecking of a great railroad property--a -property with possibilities that probably will never now be realized. The -present management of the road has labored valiantly and well. It has seen -the future of Erie as a great freighting road, has carefully laid its -lines for the full development of the property as a carrier of goods, -rather than of through passengers. - - * * * * * - -The history of the railroad divides itself sharply into epochs. In the -beginning, the different roads--such as Erie, Pennsylvania, Baltimore & -Ohio, and New York Central--were being pushed west over the Alleghany -Mountains to the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. There followed an era -where the railroads were reaching Chicago and St. Louis. That was the era -which saw the weird railroads of the Middle West, the strange -stock-watering companies that made the very names of Ohio, Michigan, and -Illinois financial bywords in the late forties and the early fifties. The -first railroad in Ohio was the old Mad River & Lake Erie, which was built -in 1835, from Sandusky, south about a hundred miles to Columbus, the State -capital. The pioneer engine on the road, the _Sandusky_, was the first -locomotive ever equipped with a whistle. - -The first railroad of the prairies was the Northern Cross railroad--now a -part of the Wabash--extending from Merodosia on the Illinois River, to -Springfield. It was started in 1837, and late in the following fall a -locomotive built by Rogers, Grosvenor, and Ketchum of Paterson, N. -J.,--the founders of a famous locomotive works--was landed from a -packet-steamer at Merodosia. Then was the first puff of a locomotive heard -upon the prairies of the great West. A contemporary account says: - - "The little locomotive had no whistle, no spark-arrester, no - cow-catcher, and the cab was open to the sky. Its speed was about six - miles an hour, and where the railroad and the highway lay parallel to - each other there was frequently a trial of speed between the - locomotive with its 'pleasure cars' and the stage-coaches. Sometimes - the stage-coaches came in ahead. Six inches of snow were sufficient to - blockade the trains drawn by this American engine." - -In 1846 James M. Forbes was building the Michigan Central west from -Detroit, 145 miles to Kalamazoo. A little later it was extended to the -east shore of Lake Michigan, at New Buffalo; eventually it reached Chicago -with its own rails. While the Michigan Central was pushing its rails, its -chief competitor to the south, the Michigan Southern,--afterwards a part -of the Lake Shore, and eventually united with its traditional rival in the -extended New York Central system--was also pushing toward Chicago as a -goal. Both roads reached Chicago in 1852. But railroad building was slow -work. The country expanded too quickly after the golden promises of the -railroad promoters. Money came too easily; then there would come a fearful -financial time, and the reputable railroad enterprises would be halted -beside the "fly-by-night" schemes. As late as 1850, Ohio had only the -single trunk-line connecting Sandusky and Cincinnati; but the railroad to -Cleveland that was afterwards the main stem of the Big Four and the -trunk-line connection east to the Baltimore & Ohio, were nearing -completion. - - * * * * * - -Chicago's first railroad was the Galena & Chicago Union, and it was the -cornerstone of the great Chicago and Northwestern system, one of the -really great railroads of America. The Galena & Chicago Union was -incorporated in 1836, but not until eleven years later was work begun in -laying tracks, for a short ten-mile stretch from the Chicago River to Des -Plaines; and its first locomotive, the _Pioneer_, had been bought -second-hand from the Buffalo & Attica Railroad, away east in New York -State. The rails were second-hand, too, of the strap variety, which the -Western railroads were already discarding in favor of solid rails. But it -was a railroad, and it was with a deal of pride that John B. Turner, its -president, used to ascend to an observatory on the second floor of the old -Halsted Street depot to sight with a telescope the smoke of his morning -train coming across the prairie. The Chicago and Northwestern, itself, was -organized in 1859. For a time it was so desperately poor that it could not -pay the interest on its bonds, and there was a time when its officers had -to meet the pay-roll out of their own pockets; but it succeeded in -absorbing about six hundred miles of railroad at the beginning. In another -decade the Union Pacific Railroad, first uniting the Far West with the -populous Middle and Eastern States, was completed. The Chicago and -Northwestern formed one of the most direct links between the Lakes and the -eastern terminal of the Union Pacific at Council Bluffs. The business that -came to it because of that linking was the first strong impulse that led -to the ultimate greatness of the Northwestern. - -The distinctive mid-Western road was and always has been the Illinois -Central. Originally incorporated in 1836, it was nearly twenty years later -when, through substantial aid from the State whose name it bears, -construction actually began. The first track was laid from Chicago to -Calumet to give an entrance to the Michigan Central in its heart-breaking -race to the Western metropolis against the Michigan Southern. The main -line through to Cairo was pushed forward rapidly, however, and was ready -for traffic at the end of 1855. A large number of Kentucky slaves promptly -showed their appreciation of the new railroad enterprise by using it to -effect their escape to the North. - - * * * * * - -Of course with the railroad pushing its way westward all the while (the -Rock Island in April, 1859, was the first to span the Mississippi with a -bridge), it was only a question of time when some adventurous soul should -seek to reach the Pacific coast. Indeed it was away back in 1832, while -there was still less than a hundred miles of track in the United States, -that Judge Dexter of Ann Arbor, Michigan, proposed a railroad through to -the Pacific Ocean, through thousands of miles of untrodden forest. Six -years later, a Welsh engineer, John Plumbe, held a convention at Dubuque, -Iowa, for the same purpose. The idea would not down. Hardly had Plumbe and -his convention disappeared from the public notice when Asa Whitney, a New -York merchant of considerable reputation, began to agitate the Pacific -railroad. Whitney was a good deal of a theorist and a dreamer; but he was -a shrewd publicity man, and he held widely attended meetings for the -propagation of his idea, in all the Eastern cities. Eventually, like Judge -Dexter and John Plumbe, he was doomed to disappointment. After Whitney had -died broken-hearted and bankrupt because of his devotion to an idea, came -Josiah Perham, of Boston. Josiah Perham was the Raymond & Whitcomb of the -fifties. He began by organizing excursions for New England folk to come to -Boston to see the Boston Museum and the panoramas, which were the gay -diversion of that day. In one year he brought two hundred thousand folk -into that sacred Massachusetts town, and he began to be rated as a rich -man. He absorbed the Pacific railroad idea and freely spent his money in -its propagation. He organized the People's Pacific Railroad,--and a part -of his scheme formed the foundation of the Northern Pacific. Perham, like -the others, spent his money and failed to see the fruition of his plan. -There seemed to be something ill-fated about that plan of a railroad to -the Pacific. Even the citizens of St. Louis, who had gathered on the -Fourth of July, 1851, to see soil broken for the first real -transcontinental railroad, found that it could only manage to reach Kansas -City by 1856. That particular railroad--the Missouri Pacific--through its -western connection, the Western Pacific, only succeeded in reaching the -coast within the past year. - -When Theodore D. Judah brought himself to the seemingly hopeless task of -trying to build a Pacific railroad, he brought with him all the enthusiasm -of Asa Whitney, and with it the experience of a trained railroad engineer. -The thing was beginning to take shape. The men, like Whitney and Perham, -who had been before Congress at session after session, finally brought -that august body, even when the nation stood on the verge of civil war, -into making an appropriation for a survey for a scheme, which nine out of -ten men regarded as a mere visionary dream. Theodore D. Judah, filled with -enthusiasm for his mighty plan, went West that he might roughly plan the -location of the railroad. He went to San Francisco and he went to -Sacramento, where the little twenty-two-mile Sacramento Valley Railroad -had been running since 1856. The Californians listened to him with -interest, but they proffered him no financial aid. Then Judah went up into -the high passes of the Sierras, through which a railroad to the east would -certainly have to reach, to find a crossing for the line in which he -believed so earnestly. He found it--making a route that would save 148 -miles and $13,500,000 over that proposed by the Government authorities. -When he went back to Sacramento, to the hardware store of his old friends, -Huntington & Hopkins, in K Street, it was with a rough profile of that -pass in his pocket. What Judah said to Collis P. Huntington and Mark -Hopkins has never been known, but certain it is that in a little time they -were sending for the three other capitalists of Sacramento--the Crocker -brothers, who had a dry-goods store down the street, and Leland Stanford, -a wholesale grocer. Out of the efforts of those six men the Central -Pacific Railroad was organized with a capital of $125,000. Work began on -the new line at Sacramento on the first day of 1863, while California -shook with laughter at the idea of a parcel of country store-keepers -building a railroad across the crest of the Sierras. - -How they built their railroad successfully and amassed six really great -American fortunes is all history now. Sufficient is it that they turned a -deaf ear to the ridicule (the project was considered so visionary that -bankers dared not subscribe to the stock of the road for fear of injuring -their credit), found their route through the mountains just as Judah had -promised, brought their materials around the Horn, imported ten thousand -Chinese laborers, hurled thousands of tons of solid rock down among the -pines by a single charge of nitro-glycerine, bolted their snow-sheds to -the mountains, and filled up or bridged hundreds of chasms and valleys. -"Two thousand feet of granite barred the way upon the mountain-top where -eagles were at home. The Chinese wall was a toy beside it. It could -neither be surmounted nor doubled; and so they tunnelled what looks like a -bank swallow's hole from a thousand feet below. Powder enough was expended -in persuading the iron crags and cliffs to be a thoroughfare, to fight -half the battles of the Revolution." - -While the Central Pacific was being built east from the coast, the Union -Pacific was pushing its rails west from the Missouri River to meet it. A -Federal subsidy was paid to each road for each mile of transcontinental -track it laid, and the result was the Credit Mobilier, the worst financial -blot upon the pages of American government transactions. Early in the -Spring of 1868 the companies were on equal terms in this great game of -subsidy getting. Each finally had ample funds and each was about 530 miles -away from the Great Salt Lake. So in 1868 a construction campaign began -that has never been approached in the history of railroad building. -Twenty-five thousand men, and 6,000 teams, together with whole brigades of -locomotives and work-trains, were engaged in the work; in a single day ten -miles of track was laid and that was a world-beating record. The result of -such speed was that the two railroads met, May 9, 1869. Leland Stanford, -who was ridiculed when he first turned earth for the Central Pacific at -Sacramento six years before, drove the last spike, and was for that moment -the central figure in an attention that was world-wide. - -After the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific came the Southern Pacific, -and after them came Collis P. Huntington binding them into a tight single -railroad. But close on the heels of the Southern Pacific, and right into -its own territory, reached the Santa Fe, while to the north, first the -Northern Pacific and then the Great Northern was built from the lake -country straight to Puget Sound. On a November day in 1885 the last spike -was driven in the great transcontinental Canadian Pacific, the first and -so far the only railroad to lay its rails from the North Atlantic to the -Pacific. Within a year the Western Pacific--the westernmost of the chain -of Gould roads--has begun to run its through trains to the Golden Gate. As -this volume goes to press finishing touches are being placed upon the -Puget Sound extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, probably the -last transcontinental to be stretched across these United States for a -number of years to come. Far to the north, the Grand Trunk Pacific is -finding its way across the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies, creating a -great city--Prince Rupert--at its western terminal. It should be ready for -its through traffic within the next three years. - - * * * * * - -This then, in brief, is the history of American railroading--an -eighty-year struggle from East to West. The railroad has passed through -many vicissitudes; days of wild-cat financing, and days when men refused -to invest their money under any inducements whatsoever. It has been -assailed by legislatures and by Congress; it has been scourged because of -the so-called "pooling agreements," and it has cut its own strong arms by -building foolish competing lines. But it has survived masterfully, while -the highroads have become grass-grown, and the once proud canals have -fallen into decay. Railroading is to-day in the full flush of successful -existence. Science has been brought to each of the infinite details of the -business; and for the first time the country sees practically every line, -large or small, honestly earning its way. The railroad receiver has all -but passed into history. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE BUILDING OF A RAILROAD - - COST OF A SINGLE-TRACK ROAD--FINANCING--SECURING A CHARTER--SURVEY-WORK - AND ITS DANGERS--GRADES--CONSTRUCTION--TRACK-LAYING. - - -The railroad has its beginning in the inspiration and in the imagination -of men. Perchance a great tract of country, rich in possibilities, stands -undeveloped for lack of transportation facilities. The living arm of the -railroad will bring to it both strength and growth. It will bring to it -the materials, the men, and the machinery needed for its development. It -will take from it its products seeking markets in communities already -established. - -In that way the first railroads began, reaching their arms carefully in -from the Atlantic and the navigable rivers and bays that emptied into it. -In the beginning there was hardly any inland country. All the important -towns were spread along the sea-coast or along those same navigable -tributaries, and it was sorry shrift for any community that did not -possess a wharf to which vessels of considerable tonnage might attain. -Where such communities did not possess natural water-ways, they sought to -obtain artificial ones; and the result was the extraordinary impetus that -was given to the building of canals during the first half of the -nineteenth century--a page of American industrial history that has been -told in another chapter. - -It was found quite impossible to handle bulky freight economically by -wagon, no matter how romantic the turnpike might be for passenger traffic -in the old-time coaches. The canal was so much better as a carrier that it -was hailed with acclaim, and waxed powerful. In the height of its power -it laughed at the puny efforts of the railroad, and then, as you have -seen, sought by every possible means to throttle the growth of the steel -highway. Within eighty years it was powerless, and the railroad was -conqueror. There were hundreds of miles of abandoned canal within the -country, many of them being converted into roadbeds of railroads; and the -water-highway, with its slow transit and its utter helplessness during the -frozen months of the year, was not able to exist except where quantities -of the coarsest sort of freight were to be moved. - -Without railroads, the United States to-day would, in all probability, not -be radically different from the United States of a hundred years ago. All -the large towns and cities would still be clustered upon the coast and -waterways, and back of them would still rest many, many square miles of -undeveloped country; the nation would have remained a sprawling, helpless -thing, weakened by its very size, and subject both to internal conflict -and to attacks of foreign invaders. It has been repeatedly said that if -there had been a through railroad development in the South during the -fifties, there would have been no Civil War. France for five hundred years -before the signing of our Declaration, was a civilized and progressive -nation. Yet century after century passed without her inland towns showing -material change; and her seaports, lacking the impetus of interior growth, -remained quiescent. Such a metropolis as Marseilles is to-day, became -possible only when the railroad made this seaport the south gate of a -mightily developing nation. - - * * * * * - -Let us assume that we are about to build a railroad. If we are going to -strike our road in from some existing line or some accessible port into -virgin country, we may hope for land or money grants from the State, -county, town, or city Government. That is a faint hope, however, in these -piping days of the twentieth century. So much scandal once attached itself -to these grants that they have become all but obsolete. We shall have to -fall back upon the individual enterprise and help of the persons who are -to benefit by the coming of the railroad. They may be folk who simply -regard our project as a good investment, and place their money in it with -hopes of a fair return. - -Even if we are not going into virgin territory to give whole townships and -counties their first sight of the locomotive, but are going to strike into -a community already provided with railroad facilities but seemingly -offering fair opportunity for profit in a competitive traffic, we shall -find capital ready to stand back of us. A railroad will cost much money, -the mere cost of single-track construction generally running far in excess -of $35,000 a mile; and it should have resources, particularly in a highly -competitive territory, to enable it to carry on a losing fight at the -first. - -For the money it receives it will issue securities, upon incorporation and -legal organization, almost invariably in the form of capital stock and of -mortgage-bonds. The stock will probably be held by the men who wish to -control the construction and the operation of the line; the bonds will be -issued to those persons who invest their money in it, either for profit or -as an aid to the community it seeks to enter. The bonds are, in almost all -cases, the preferable security. They pay a guaranteed interest at a -certain rate, and at the end of a designated term of years they are -redeemable at face value, in cash or in the capital stock of the company. -There are other forms of loan obligations which the railroad -issues--debenture bonds, second-mortgage bonds, short-term notes, and the -like. To enter upon a description of these would mean a detour into the -devious highways and byways of railroad finance--an excursion which we -have no desire to make in this book. - -In building our line we will issue as few bonds in proportion to our stock -as will make our company fairly stable in organization, and its -proposition attractive to investors. For we shall have to pay our -interest coupons upon the bonds from the beginning. We can begin even -moderate dividends upon our stock after our enterprise has entered upon -fair sailing. The all-important initial problem of financing having been -at least partly settled, we will go before the Legislature and secure a -charter for our road. In these modern days we shall probably have also to -make application to some State railroad or public utility commission. It -will consider our case with great care, granting hearings so that we may -state our plans, and that folk living in the territory which we are about -to tap may urge the necessity of our coming, and that rival railroads or -other opponents may state their objections. After the entire evidence has -been sifted down and weighed in truly judicial fashion, we may hope for -word to "go ahead," from the official commission, which, though it assumes -none of our risk of loss in projecting the line, will gratuitously assume -many of the details of its management. - -Perhaps the politicians will poke their noses into our plan; they -sometimes do. If we have plenty of capital behind us; if it becomes -rumored that the P---- or the N---- or the X----, one of the big existing -properties, is back of us, or some "big Wall Street fellow" is guiding our -bonds, we can almost confidently expect their interference. After that it -becomes a matter of diplomacy--and may the best man win! - - * * * * * - -Let us assume that some of these big obstacles have already been passed, -that the politicians have been placed at arm's length, that the money -needed is in sight--we are ready to begin the construction of our line. -The location is the thing that next vexes us. A few errors in the placing -of our line may spell failure for the whole enterprise. Obviously, these -errors will be of the sort that admit of no easy correction. - -If our line is to link two important traffic centres and is to make a -specialty of through traffic it will have to be very much of a town that -will bend the straightness of our route. If, on the other hand, the line -is to pick up its traffic from the territory it traverses we can afford to -neglect no place of possibilities. We must make concessions, even if we -make many twists and turns and climb steep grades; we cannot afford to -pass business by. Perhaps we may even have to worm our way into the hearts -of towns already grown and closely built, and this will be expensive work. -But it will be worth every cent of that expense to go after competitive -business. - -We roughly outline our route, and the engineers get their camping duds -ready, particularly in these days when new railroads almost invariably go -into a new country. Their first trip over the route will be known as the -reconnaissance. On it they will make rough plotting of the territory -through which the new line is to place its rails. Our engineers are -experienced. They survey the country with practised eyes. The line must go -on this side of that ridge, because of the prevailing winds and their -influence upon snowdrifts (it costs a mint of money to run ploughs through -a long winter), and on the other side of the next ridge, because the other -side has easily worked loam, and this side heavy rock. There must be -passes through hills and through mountains to be selected now and then, -and all the while the engineer must bear in mind that the amount of his -excavation should very nearly balance the amount of embankment-fill. -Bridges are to be avoided and tunnels must come only in case of absolute -necessity. - -There will be several of these reconnaissances and from them the engineers -who are to build the line, and the men who are to own and operate it, will -finally pick a route close to what will be the permanent way. - -[Illustration: CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERS BLAZE THEIR WAY ACROSS THE FACE OF -NEW COUNTRY] - -[Illustration: THE MAKING OF AN EMBANKMENT BY DUMP-TRAIN] - -[Illustration: "SMALL TEMPORARY RAILROADS PEOPLED WITH HORDES OF RESTLESS -ENGINES"] - -Then the real survey-work begins. The engineers divide the line, if it is -of any great length, and the several divisions prosecute their work -simultaneously. Each surveying party consists of a front flag-man, who -is a captain and commands a brigade of axe-men in their work of cutting -away trees and bushes; the transit-man, who makes his record of distances -and angles and commands his brigade of chain-men and flag-men; and the -leveller, who studies contour all the while, and supervisors, rod-men and -more axe-men. Topographers are carried, their big drawing boards being -strapped with the camp equipment; and a good cook is a big detail not -likely to be overlooked. - -In soft and rolling country this is a form of camp life that turns back -the scoffer: busy summer days and indolent summer nights around the -camp-fire, pipes drawing well and plans being set for the morrow's work. -Another summer all this will be changed. The resistless path of the -railroad will be stepped through here, the group of nodding pines will be -gone, for a culvert will span the creek at this very point. - -Sometimes the work of these parties becomes intense and dramatic. The -chief, lowered into a deep and rocky river cañon, is making rough notes -and sketches, following the character of the rock formation, and dreaming -the great dreams that all great engineers, great architects, great -creators must dream perforce. He is dreaming of the day when, a year or -two hence, the railroad's path shall have crowded itself into this -_impasse_, and when the folk who dine luxuriously in the showy cars will -fret because of the curve that spills their soup, and who never know of -the man who was slipped down over a six-hundred-foot cliff in order that -the railroad might find its way. - -It is then that the surveying party begins to have its thrills. Perhaps to -put that line through the cañon the party will have to descend the river -in canoes. If the river be too rough, then there is the alternative of -being lowered over the cliffsides. Talk of your dangers of Alpine -climbing! The engineers who plan and build railroads through any -mountainous country miss not a single one of them. Everywhere the lines -must find a foothold. This is the proposition that admits of but one -answer--solution. Sometimes the men who follow the chief in the deep river -cañons, the men with heavy instruments to carry and to operate--transits, -levels, and the like--must have lines of logs strung together for their -precarious foothold as they work. Sometimes the foothold is lost; the rope -that lowers the engineer down over the cliffside snaps, and the folk in -the cheerful dining-room do not know of the graves that are dug beside the -railroad's resistless path. - -It is all new and wonderful, blazing this path for civilization; sometimes -it is even accidental. An engineer, baffled to find a crossing over the -Rockies for a transcontinental route saw an eagle disappear through a -cleft in the hills that his eye had not before detected. He followed the -course of the eagle; to-day the rails of the transcontinental reach -through that cleft, and the time-table shows it as Eagle Pass. - - * * * * * - -Possibly there are still alternative routes when the surveyers return in -the fall and begin to make their finished drawings. Final choices must now -be made, and land-maps that show the property that the railroad will have -to acquire, prepared. The details, of infinite number, are being worked -out with infinite care. - -The great problem of all is the problem of grades; in a mountainous -stretch of line this is almost the entire problem. Obviously a perfect -stretch of railroad would be straight and without grades. The railroad -that comes nearest that practically impossible standard comes nearest to -perfection. But as it comes near this perfection, the cost of construction -multiplies many times. Most new lines must feel their way carefully at the -outset. Moreover it is not an impossible thing to reconstruct it after -years of affluence--of which more in another chapter. - -A three-per-cent grade is almost the extreme limit for anything like a -profitable operation; even a two-per-cent grade is one in which the -operating people look forward to reconstruction and elimination. Yet there -are short lengths of line up in the mining camps of Colorado, where grades -of more than four per cent are operated; and it is a matter of railroad -history that away back in 1852, when the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was -being pushed through toward Parkersburg, and the great Kingwood tunnel was -being dug, B. H. Latrobe, the chief engineer of the company, built and -successfully operated a temporary line over the divide at a grade of ten -per cent--528 feet to the mile. A locomotive which weighed 28 tons on its -driving-wheels carried a single passenger car, weighing 15 tons, in safety -and in regular operation over this stupendous grade for more than six -months. The ascent was made by means of zigzag tracks on the so-called -switchback principle. That scheme succeeded earlier planes operated by -endless chains; an instance of which is the quite famous road of Mauch -Chunk, originally operated for coal, and now a side scenic trip for -passengers. Other planes of this sort, you will remember, were in -operation at Albany and Schenectady on the old Mohawk & Hudson route, now -a part of the New York Central lines; but all of them involved a change of -passengers and freight to and from their cars, and the zigzag switchback -was considered quite an advance in its day. Two of these ancient -switchbacks are still in regular use for passengers and freight--one at -Honesdale, Pa., and the other at Ithaca, N. Y. - -The matter of grades being settled, and with it as a corrollary the -question of minor curves, minor details next claim attention. Perhaps the -water supply along the new line is defective. Then arrangements must be -made for impounding, and perhaps suitable dams and waterworks will be -built for this purpose. The water must be soft, to protect the locomotive -boilers; if hard, an apparatus is erected for the softening process. -Grade crossings are to be avoided, highway crossings being built, wherever -possible, over or under the railroad. - -A railroad crossing another railroad at grade is an abomination not to be -permitted nowadays. The universal use of the air-brake has permitted a -reduction of the "head-room,"--the necessary clearance between the rail -and overhead obstruction--from 20 feet to 14 feet. The old "head-room" was -necessary to protect the brakeman who worked atop of the box-cars. This -reduction of six feet in clearance was a matter of infinite relief to -engineers, particularly in the bridging of one railroad over another. - - * * * * * - -The entire problem of bridges is so intricate a phase of American railroad -construction as to demand attention in a subsequent chapter. In actual -railroad practice it is apt to demand a separate branch of engineering -skill, both in construction and in maintenance. We turn our attention back -to the main problem of the building of our railroad. - -When all plans are finished, contracts remain to be divided and -sub-divided; for it would be a brave contractor, indeed, who in these days -would consent to essay himself, any considerable length of railroad line. -In fact, in recent work of heavy nature, the price is almost invariably -placed at an indefinite figure, a certain definite percentage of profit -being allowed the contractor on each cubic yard of rock or soil. In such a -case the contractor's business becomes far less a game of chance; he is, -in effect, the railroad's agent supervising its construction at a certain -set stipend. - -Let us say that the construction on our railroad begins in the early -spring. As a matter of real fact it would not be halted long because of -adverse weather conditions. Even up in the frozen and uninhabitable wilds -of the Canadian Northwest, work has been prosecuted on the new Grand Trunk -Pacific throughout the entire twelve months. But in summer the -construction gangs rejoice. The great proposition of bringing mile after -mile of future railroad to sub-grade--the level upon which the cross-ties -are to be set--fairly sweeps forward under the genial warmth of the sun. -The construction is under the supervision of competent engineers, who are, -of course, under the direct supervision of the railroad's own -organization. Every six to twelve or fifteen miles of new line is divided -into sections, better known as residencies, for each is under the eye of -its own resident engineer. He reports to the construction engineer, who in -turn reports to the chief engineer of the railroad, an officer who reports -to no less person than the president of the company. - -This great force--for each engineer has gathered about him a competent -staff of young men as expert with compass, with level, and with transit as -were the men who first projected the line--is in the field as quickly as -the contractor. They are to see him bring the line to sub-grade; to see -him place bridges and culverts, bisect high hills with cuttings, bore -tunnels through even higher hills and mountains, span deep valleys with -great embankments. To facilitate quick construction the residencies are -made numerous; work begins at as many initial points as possible. These -points, of course, are situated, where possible, close to water -communication or existing railroad lines, in order that material may be -brought with the least possible delay and expense. - - * * * * * - -Of course, if the country has a sharp contour, the ordinary difficulties -of line-construction multiply very rapidly. The great cuttings through the -hills may have to be carved out of resisting rock, a work that is carried -on through many levels, known to the engineers as ledges or as benches. If -there are high hills to be notched there will probably be great hollows -where the circumstances do not justify carrying the line on bridge or -trestle. In these cases come the fills, or embankments. We have already -shown how the locating engineer in the first instance has tried to plan -his line so that the earth or rock from his cutting will be as nearly as -possible sufficient to form the near-by embankments. Sometimes it is not, -and then the resident engineers must locate borrow-pits, where the hungry -demand of the railroad for dirt will cause a great hollow to show itself -on the face of the earth. The borrow-pit must be carefully -located--convenient of access, far enough from the track not to be a -danger spot to it. This is one of the infinity of problems that come to -the construction engineer. - -For these big jobs laborers' camps will be established close to them; and -small temporary railroads peopled with hordes of restless dummy-engines -and forcing their narrow-gauged rails here and there and everywhere, will -be busy for long weeks and months. There will not be much hand-cutting in -the ledges. Steam shovels, mounted like locomotives upon the rails, and -pushing forward all the while, will fairly eat out the hillside. One of -these will catch up in a single dip of his giant arm more than a wagon -load of soft earth or of rock that has been blasted apart for his coming. - -To make the fills the engineers must often build rough wooden trestles out -of the permanent level of the line. The dummy-engines, with their trails -of dump-cars, coming from the back of the steam shovels in the cutting, or -from the nearest borrow-pit, will hardly seem in a single day to make an -appreciable effect upon the fill. But the days and weeks together count, -and the dumping multiplies until the rough trestle has completely -disappeared, and the railroad has a firm and permanent path across the -edge of the dizzy embankment. And these embankments can be made truly -dizzy. The passenger going west from Omaha on the new Lane cut-off of the -Union Pacific finds his path for almost twenty miles through deep cuttings -of the crests of the rolling Nebraska hills, across the edge of the long -fills over wide valleys. The Lackawanna railroad building a great -cut-off on its main line where it passes through New Jersey has just -finished the largest railroad embankment ever built--an earthen structure -for two tracks, three miles long and seventy-five to one hundred and ten -feet in height. - -[Illustration: CUTTING A PATH FOR THE RAILROAD THROUGH THE CREST OF THE -HIGH HILLS] - -[Illustration: A GIANT FILL--IN THE MAKING] - -[Illustration: THE FINISHING TOUCHES TO THE TRACK] - -[Illustration: THIS MACHINE CAN LAY A MILE OF TRACK A DAY] - -As the line goes forward, the track follows. The new railroad has probably -popularized itself from the outset by hiring the near-by farmers and their -teams to grade the line through their localities, particularly where an -almost level country makes the grading a slight matter. Sometimes in level -country, grading machines, drawn by horses, or by traction engines, have -been used to advantage. These machines are equipped with ploughs which -loosen the soil and place it on conveyor belts. Material can be deposited -twenty-two feet away from the line, and a four-foot excavation can be made -by these machines with ease. - -But the laying of the track--the line having been finished at sub-grade -with a top width of from 14 to 20 feet for each standard gauge track to be -laid--the line begins to assume the appearance of a real railroad. Upon -the first stretches of completed track, locomotives and cars employed in -construction service begin to operate. As the track grows, their field of -operation increases. Then comes the day when the track sections begin to -be joined; the railroad is beginning to be a real pathway of steel. - -To build this pathway is comparatively a simple matter, once the sub-grade -is finished. A mile a day is not too much for any confident contractor to -expect of his construction gangs. There was that time, back in '69, when a -world's record of ten miles of track laid in a single day was established -on the Central Pacific. For that mile of standard track the contractor -will need 3,168 ties--eight carloads; 352 rails--five carloads; and a -carload of angle irons, bolts, and spikes, as fasteners. - -The track-layers are as proud of their profession as any man might be of -his. Their skill is a wondrous thing. Two men who follow the wake of a -wagon roughly place the ties as fast as they are dropped upon the -right-of-way. Another man aligns them with a line that has been strung by -one of the young engineers, a fourth with a notched board, marks the -location of one rail. That rail--the line side--follows close to the -location marks. It is roughly banded and lightly fastened in place. The -other rail--the gauge side--quickly follows. The wonderfully accurate -gauge representing the 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches that is almost the standard of -the work, and which is tested every morning by the engineers, is in -constant use. The railroad track must be true; there is not room for even -the variation of a fraction of an inch in the gauge of the two rails. - -In fastening the two long lines of rails, the profession of track-laying -rises to almost supreme heights. The men who fasten the rail with angle -iron and a single roughly-adjusted bolt in each rail-end are -head-strappers and past masters in their art. After them in due season -come the back-strappers, finishing that fine work of solidly bolting the -rail against the vast strain of a thousand-ton train being shot over it at -lightning speed. And after the back-strappers and the men who have spiked -the rail to the ties, comes the locomotive itself, bringing more ties, -more rails, more angle-bars and bolts, and more spikes to the front. Then -sometime later the road-bed is ballasted and the line made ready for heavy -operation. - -But track-laying is frequently machine systematized these days; and in -this, as in so many smaller things, the mechanical device has supplanted -the man. A real giant is the track-laying machine. It is mounted upon -railroad tracks and is a form of overhead carrier with a tremendous -overhang. The carrier is fed with the cross-ties from supply cars just -back of the machine and the ties are dropped, each close to its appointed -place, as a locomotive slowly pushes the entire apparatus forward. In a -smaller way the heavy steel rails are delivered from under the overhang -of the carrier. A gang of men make short work of the fastening of the rail -to the cross-ties and the machine moves steadily forward. It has been -known to make two miles a day at this work. - - * * * * * - -Culverts have been laid for each small run or kill or creek; the -bridge-builders along the new line finish their work and cart off their -kits; the day comes when there is an unbroken railroad from one end of the -new line to the other. It links new rails and new towns; its localities -produce for new markets, commerce from strange quarters pours down upon -the land that has known it not. Passenger trains begin regular operation, -the fresh-painted depots are brilliant in their newness, the shriek of the -locomotive sounds where it has never before sounded. - -Life is awakened. The railroad, which is life, has reached forth a new -arm, and creation is begun. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -TUNNELS - - THEIR USE IN REDUCING GRADES--THE HOOSAC TUNNEL--THE USE OF SHAFTS-- - TUNNELLING UNDER WATER--THE DETROIT RIVER TUNNEL. - - -Sometimes the construction engineer of the railroad brings his new line -face to face with a mountain too steep to be easily mounted. Then he may -prepare to pierce it. Tunnels are not pleasant things through which to -ride. They are, moreover, expensive to construct, and when once -constructed are an unending care, necessitating expensive and constant -inspection. But--and that "but" in this case is a very large one--they -reduce grades and distances in a wholesale fashion; and when you reduce -grades you are pretty sure to be reducing operating expenses. A railroad -man will think twice in his opposition to a smoky bore of a tunnel that -will cost some three to five million dollars, when his expert advisers -tell him that that same smoky bore will save him a hundred thousand tons -of coal in the course of a year. - -From almost its very beginnings the American railroad has been dependent -upon tunnels, and thus has closely followed European precedent. The -Alleghany Portage Railroad, to which reference has already been made, -passed through what is said to have been the first railroad tunnel in the -United States. It pierced a spur in the Alleghany Mountains, and it was -901 feet in length, 20 feet wide, and 19 feet high within the arch, 150 -feet at each end being arched with cut stone. The old tunnel, built in -1832, which has not echoed with the panting of the locomotive for more -than half a century, is still to be found not far from Johnstown, Pa. It -simply serves the purpose to-day of calling attention to the durable -fashion in which the earliest of our railroad-builders worked. - -Of the building of the Baltimore & Ohio, tunnel-construction formed an -early part, several paths being found across the steep profiles of the -Alleghanies. The Kingwood Tunnel, which B. H. Latrobe drove, was nearly a -mile long and the chief of these bores. But when the Hoosac Tunnel was -first proposed--piercing the rocky heart of one of the greatest of the -Berkshires--the country stood aghast. Four miles and a half of tunnel! -That seemed ridiculous away back in 1854, when the plan was first broached -and folk were not slow to say what they thought of such an absurd plan. -For twenty years it looked as though these scoffers were in the right--the -work of digging that monumental tunnel was a fearful drain on the treasury -of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, which was lending its aid to the -project. But the tunnel-diggers finally conquered--they almost always -do--and the Hoosac remains to-day the greatest of all mountain tunnels in -America. The system of continuous tunnels, by which the Pennsylvania -Railroad recently reached its terminal in New York, stretches from Bergen -Hill in New Jersey to Sunnyside, Long Island, a distance of some ten -miles. In fact the largest feature of recent tunnel-work in this country -has been in connection with terminal and rapid-transit development in the -larger cities. For a good many years New York and Baltimore, in -particular, have been pierced with these sub-surface railroads; it is a -construction feature that increases as our great cities themselves -increase. No river is to-day too formidable to be conquered by these -underground traffic routes. A river such as the Hudson or the Detroit may -sometimes halt the bridge-builders; it has but slight terror for the -tunnel engineers. - -The tunnel-work is apt to be a separate part of the work of building a -railroad. It calls for its own talent, and that of an exceedingly expert -sort. If the tunnel is more than a half or three-quarters of a mile long -it will probably be dug from a shaft or shafts as well as from its -portals. In this way the work will not only be greatly hastened but the -shafts will continue in use after the work is completed as vents for the -discharge of engine smoke and gases from the tube. The work must be under -the constant and close supervision of resident engineers. The survey lines -must be corrected daily, for the tunnel must not go astray. It must drive -a true course from heading to heading. In the shafts plumb lines, with -heavy bobs, to lessen vibration, will be hung. Sometimes these bobs are -immersed in water or in molasses. - -From the portals and from the bottoms of the shafts the headings are -driven. If the tunnel is to accommodate no more than a single track it -will be built from 15 to 16-1/2 feet wide, and from 21 to 22 feet high, -inside of its lining; so the general method is first to drive a top -heading of about 10 feet in height up under the roof of the bore. The rest -of the material is taken out in its own good season on two following -benches or levels. - -Piercing a granite mountain is no rapid work. When the Pennsylvania -Railroad built its second Gallitzin Tunnel in 1903, 13 men, working 4 -drills in the top heading, were able to drill 16 holes, each 10 feet deep, -in a single day. The engineers there figured that each blast removed -twenty-three cubic yards of the rock. At night, when the "hard-rock men" -were sleeping and their drills silent, a gang of fourteen "muckers" -removed the loosened material. - -Slow work that. The Northern Pacific finding its way through the crest of -the Cascade Mountains by means of the great Stampede Tunnel, nearly two -miles in length, demanded that the contractor work under pressure and make -13-1/2 feet of tunnel a day. The contractor, working under the bonus plan, -did better. With his army of 350 "hard-rock men," "muckers," and their -helpers, and his tireless battery of 36 drills he sometimes made as high -as eighteen feet a day from the two headings. On a three-year job he beat -his contract time by seven days. The Northern Pacific paid the price, $118 -for each lineal foot of tunnel. That was a high price, occasioned largely -by the fact that the work was carried forward in what was then an almost -unbroken wilderness. The Wabash finding its way through the great and -forbidding hills of Western Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh a dozen years later -was able to dig its succession of tunnels at an average cost of $4,509 for -100 feet. Of that amount $2,527 went for labor; and $260 was the price of -a ton of dynamite. - -When the tunnel engineer finds that his bore is not to pierce hard-rock, -of whose solidity he is more than reasonably assured, he prepares to use -cutting-shields. These shields, proceeding simultaneously from the portals -and from the footings of the shafts, are steel rings of a circumference -only slightly greater than that of the finished tunnel. With pick and with -drill and dynamite, they constantly clear a path for it, whereupon it is -pressed forward in that path. Dummy tracks follow the cutting-shield; and -dummy locomotives--more likely electric than steam in these days--are used -in removing the material. Electricity has been a boon to latter-day -tunnel-workers. Its use for light and power keeps the tunnel quite clear -of all gases during the work of boring. - -In rare cases, the rock through which the shield has been forced is strong -enough to support itself; in most works the engineers prefer to line the -bore, with brick and concrete, as a rule. This lining is set in the path -of the cutting-shield before its protection is entirely withdrawn; and so -the heavy roof-timbering which was formerly a trade-mark of the successful -tunnel engineer is no longer used. - -Tunnel-boring becomes doubly difficult when the railroad is to be carried -under a river or some broad arm of the sea. Men work in an unnatural -environment when they work below the surface of great waters, and the -record of such work is a record of many tragedies. At any instant firm -rock may cease, silt or sand or an underground stream may make its -appearance and the helpless workmen find a ready grave. In work where -there is even the slightest expectation of such a contingency the -air-lock, with its artificial pressure to hold back the soft earth and -moisture is brought into use. In another chapter we shall see how the -caisson is operated. Suffice it to say now that the necessity of "working -under the air," brings no comfort to any one. It vastly hinders and -complicates the work of construction, and adds greatly to the expense. -Moreover, it has its own record of tragedies. Still it remains, to the -infinite credit of a national persistence, that there is no record in the -annals of American engineering where the workers have finally given up a -tunnel job. Lives have been sacrificed, good-sized fortunes swept away, -but in the end the resistless railroad has always found its underground -path. - -The tunnel-workers can tell you of the accident when the subway was being -driven under the East River from Manhattan to Brooklyn, three years ago. -The cutting-shield, which was advancing from the Brooklyn side, suddenly -slipped out from the rock into the unprotected soft mud of the river -bottom. The heavily compressed air shot a geyser straight up to the -surface of the river some fifty feet above. A workman shot through the -geyser, pirouetted gayly for a fraction of a second above the river, then -dropped, to be picked up by the crew of a passing ferryboat. In a week he -was back at work again inside the cutting-shield. His fortune was the -opposite of that which generally awaits a man caught in a tunnel accident. - -"It ain't as bad as it used to be," one of them informs you. "When I first -got into this profession, they didn't have the electricity for lights or -moving the cars or nothing. We used to try and get along with safety -lamps an' near choke to death. It was more like hell then than it is now." - -[Illustration: "SOMETIMES THE CONSTRUCTION ENGINEER ... BRINGS HIS LINE -FACE TO FACE WITH A MOUNTAIN"] - -[Illustration: FINISHING THE LINING OF A TUNNEL] - -[Illustration: THE BUSIEST TUNNEL POINT IN THE WORLD--AT THE WEST PORTALS -OF THE BERGEN TUNNELS, SIX ERIE TRACKS BELOW, FOUR LACKAWANNA ABOVE] - -[Illustration: THE HACKENSACK PORTALS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA'S GREAT TUNNELS -UNDER NEW YORK CITY] - -But your interest in the man who was blown from the tunnel to the surface -of the river and escaped with his life is not entirely satiated, and you -ask more questions. What do they do when they strike soft mud like that? - -"We get down and pray," he of the experience in this weird form of -construction engineering tells you. "We try to get the boys safely back -through the air-lock, and then we quit boring till we can fix things up -from outside. If it's a real bad case we've got to make land to bore -through. It's generally done by dumping rock and bags of sand from floats -just over where she blows out. It's a pretty rough way of doctoring her -up, but it has to go, and generally it does. All we want is to get it to -hold until we can set the rings of the tunnel. - -"That ain't always the worst. I've been driving a bore under water this -way, when we struck stiff rock overhead and soft mud underneath the edge. -That's something that makes the engineers hump. You can't rest a cast-iron -tunnel like this on mud and you get a wondering if you've got to quit -after all this work under the durned old river, and let the boss lose his -money. - -"The last time we struck a snag of that sort, the boss didn't give up. He -wasn't that kind. He had a chief engineer that was brass tacks from -beginning to end. What do you suppose that fellow did? He bored holes in -the bottom of the lining and drove steel legs right down to the next ledge -of solid rock below. There's that tunnel to-day, carrying 32,000 people -between five and six o'clock every night perched down there seventy feet -underground like a big caterpillar sprawled under the wickedest ledge o' -rock you ever see." - -It takes a real genius of an engineer for this sort of work. He who drives -his bore into the unknown must be on guard for the unexpected. Emergencies -arise upon the minute, and the tunnel engineer must be ready with his -wits and ingenuity to meet them. Finally the day does come when the bores -from either shore are hard upon one another. If there has been blasting -under the bed of the river it is reduced to a minimum. The drills work at -half-speed, the fever of expectancy hangs over the men. Those who are -close at the heading catch faint sounds of the workmen on the other side -of the thin barrier--the last barrier of the river that was supposed to -acknowledge no conqueror. - -The first tiny aperture between the two bores is greeted with wild cheers. -On the surface far above, the whistles of the shaft-houses carry forth the -news to the outer world; it is echoed and reëchoed by the noisy river -craft. The aperture grows larger. It is large enough to permit the passage -of a man's body; and a man, enjoying fame for this one moment in his life, -crawls through it. The men knock off work and have a rough spread in the -tunnel. At night the engineers and contractors banquet in a hotel. "Not so -bad," the chief engineer says quietly. "We were 3/8 of an inch out, in -8,000 feet." It was not so bad. It spoke wonders for his profession. To -carry forth two giant bores from the opposite sides of a broad river, and -have them meet within 3/8 of an inch of perfect alignment, was an -achievement well worth attention. - -After that, the last traces of the rough rock and silt are removed, the -iron rings of the tunnel made fast together, the air pressure released, -the cutting-shields, that formed so essential a feature of the -construction, removed. Then there remains only the work of installing -conduits and wiring and laying the tracks before the tunnel is ready for -the traffic of the railroad. - - * * * * * - -The Michigan Central has recently finished a tunnel under the busy Detroit -River, at Detroit, which eliminates the use of a car-ferry at that point. -The tunnel was built in a manner entirely new to engineers. The river at -Detroit is about three-quarters of a mile wide, and its bed is of soft -blue clay, making it difficult to bore a tunnel safely and economically. -To meet this obstacle a new fashion of tunnel-building was created. - -The tunnel itself consists of two tubes, each made from steel 3/8 of an -inch in thickness and reinforced every twelve feet by outer "fins." The -channel was dredged and a foundation bed of concrete laid. The sections of -the tunnel, each 250 feet long, were then put in position one at a time. -The section-ends were closed at a shore plant with water-tight wooden -bulkheads. They were then lashed to four floating cylinders of compressed -air and towed out to position. After that it was merely a matter of detail -to drop the sections into place, pour in more concrete and make the new -section fast. The wooden bulkheads next the completed tube were then -removed and the structure was ready for the track-layers. The sub-aqueous -portion of the new Detroit Tunnel is 2,600 feet long; it joins on the -Detroit side with a land tunnel 2,100 feet long, and on the Canadian side -with a land tunnel of 3,192 feet. - -It takes more than a river, carrying through its narrow throat the vast -and growing traffic of the Great Lakes--a traffic that is comparable with -that of the Atlantic itself--to halt the progress of the railroad. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -BRIDGES - - BRIDGES OF TIMBER, THEN STONE, THEN STEEL--THE STARUCCA VIADUCT--THE - FIRST IRON BRIDGE IN THE U. S.--STEEL BRIDGES--ENGINEERING - TRIUMPHS--DIFFERENT TYPES OF RAILROAD BRIDGE--THE DECK SPAN AND THE - TRUSS SPAN--SUSPENSION BRIDGES--CANTILEVER BRIDGES--REACHING THE SOLID - ROCK WITH CAISSONS--THE WORK OF "SAND-HOGS"--THE CANTILEVER OVER THE - PEND OREILLE RIVER--VARIETY OF PROBLEMS IN BRIDGE-BUILDING--POINTS IN - FAVOR OF THE STONE BRIDGE--BRIDGES OVER THE KEYS OF FLORIDA. - - -When the habitations of man first began to multiply upon the banks of the -water courses, the profession of the bridge-builder was born. The first -bridge was probably a felled tree spanning some modest brook. But from -that first bridge came a magnificent development. Bridge-building became -an art and a science. Men wrought gigantic structures in stone, -long-arched viaducts, with which they defied time. Then for two thousand -years the profession of the bridge-builder stood absolutely still. - -With the coming of the iron and steel age it moved forward again. The -development of a fibre of great strength and without the dead weight of -granite gave engineers new possibilities. They began in simple fashion, -and then they developed once again, with marvellous strides. Steel, the -dead thing with a living muscle, could span waterways from which stone -shrank. Steel redrew the maps of nations. Proud rivers at which the paths -of man had halted, were conquered for the first time. Routes of traffic of -every sort were simplified; the railroad made new progress; and economic -saving of millions of dollars was made to this gray old world. - -The earliest of the very distinguished list of American bridge-builders -erected great timber structures for the highroads and the post-roads. Some -of them went back many centuries and came to the stone bridge, in many -ways the most wonderful of all the artifices by which man conquers the -obstructive power of a running stream. But the building of stone bridges -took time and money, and time and money were little known factors in a new -land that had begun to expand rapidly. - -So at first the railroad followed the course of the highroad and the -post-road, and took the timber bridge unto itself. In some cases it -actually fastened itself upon the highroad bridge, as at Trenton, N. J., -where a faithful wooden structure built by Theodore Burr in 1803 was -strengthened and widened in 1848 to take the first through railroad route -from New York. It continued its heavy dual work until 1875 when it was -superseded by a steel bridge. A dozen years ago the railroad tracks were -moved from that structure to a magnificent and permanent stone-arch built -near-by. Thus the railroad crossing the Delaware at Trenton has, in this -way, typified step by step every stage of the development of American -bridge-building. - -The timber bridges developed the steel truss bridge, the typically -American construction, of to-day. In an earlier day the timber bridges -were the glory of the engineer. Sometimes you see one of these old fellows -remaining, like the long structure that Mr. Walcott built across the -Connecticut River at Springfield, Mass., in 1805, and which still does -good service; but the most of them have passed away. Fire has been their -most persistent enemy. Within the past two years fire destroyed the -staunch toll-bridge at Waterford on the Hudson, just above Troy. The -bridge was a faithful carrier for one hundred and four years. In many ways -it was typical of those first constructions. It consisted of four clear -arch spans--one 154 feet, another 161 feet, the third 176 feet, and the -fourth 180 feet in length. It was built of yellow pine, wonderfully hewn -and fitted, hung upon solid pegs; and save for the renewal of some of the -arch footings, the roof, and the side coverings, it was unchanged through -all the years--even though the heavy trolley-cars of a through interurban -line were finally turned upon it. - -About the same time, the once-famed Permanent Bridge across the Schuylkill -River at Philadelphia was built. It had two arches of 150 feet each and -one of 195 feet. In its day it was regarded as nothing less than a -triumph. A very old publication says: - - "The plan was furnished by Mr. Timothy Palmer, of Newburyport, Mass., - a self-taught architect. He brought with him five workmen from New - England. They at once evinced superior intelligence and adroitness in - a business which was found to be a peculiar art, acquired by habits - not promptly gained by even good workmen in other branches of framing - in wood.... The frame is a masterly piece of workmanship, combining in - its principles that of king-post and braces or trusses with those of a - stone arch." - -In after years, the Permanent Bridge was also entrusted with the carrying -of a railroad. It has, however, disappeared these many years. - -The early railroad builders did not neglect the possibilities of the stone -bridge. Two notable early examples of this form of construction still -remain--the Starrucca Viaduct upon the Erie Railroad, near Susquehanna, -Pa., and an even earlier structure, the stone-arch bridge across the -Patapsco River at Relay, Md., which B. H. Latrobe, the most distinguished -of all American railroad engineers, built for the Baltimore & Ohio -Railroad, in 1833-35. The Thomas Viaduct, as it has been known for -three-quarters of a century, was the first stone-arch bridge ever built to -carry railroad traffic. It was erected in a day when the railroad was just -graduating from the use of teams of horses as motive-power. In this day, -when locomotives have begun to reach practical limits of size and weight, -that viaduct is still in use as an integral part of the main line of the -Baltimore & Ohio. It is built on a curve, and consists of 8 spans of stone -arches, 67 feet 6 inches, centre to centre of piers, which, together with -the abutments at each end, make the total length of the structure 612 -feet. It is in as good condition to-day as upon the day it was built. - -When the Erie Railroad was being constructed across the Southern Tier -counties of New York in 1848, its course was halted near the point where -the rails first reached the beautiful valley of the Susquehanna. A -side-valley, a quarter of a mile in width, stretched itself squarely -across the railroad's path. There was no way it could be avoided, and it -could be crossed only at a high level. For a time the projectors of the -Erie considered making a solid fill, but the tremendous cost of such an -embankment was prohibitive. While they were at their wits' ends, James P. -Kirkwood, a shrewd Scotchman, who had been working as a civil engineer -upon the Boston & Albany, appeared. Kirkwood spanned the valley with the -Starucca Viaduct, one of the most beautiful bridges ever built in America. -He opened quarries close at hand and by indefatigable energy built his -stone bridge in a single summer. It has been in use ever since. The -increasing weight of its burdens has never been of consequence to it, and -to-day it remains an important link in a busy trunk-line railroad. It is -1,200 feet in length and consists of 18 arches of 50 feet clear span -apiece. - -But stone bridges even then cost money, and so the timber structure still -remained the most available. Many men can still remember the tunnels, into -whose darkness the railroad cars plunged every time they crossed a stream -of any importance whatsoever. They have nearly all gone. The wooden bridge -was ill suited to the ravages of weather and of fire--ravages that were -quickened by the railroad, rather than hindered. A substitute material -was demanded. It was found--in iron. - -The first iron bridge in the United States is believed to be the one -erected by Trumbull in 1840 over the Erie Canal at Frankfort, N. Y. Record -is also held of one of these bridges being built for the North Adams -branch of the Boston & Albany Railroad, in 1846. About a year later, -Nathaniel Rider began to build iron bridges for the New York & Harlem, the -Erie, and some others of the early railroads. His bridges--of the truss -type, of course, that type having been worked out in the timber bridges of -the land--were each composed of cast-iron top-chords and post, the -remaining part of the structure being fabricated of wrought-iron. The -members were bolted together. Still, the failure of a Rider bridge upon -the Erie in 1850, followed closely by the failure of a similar structure -over the River Dee, in England, influenced officials of that railroad to a -conclusion that iron bridges were unpractical, and to order them to be -removed and replaced by wooden structures. For a time it looked as if the -iron bridge were doomed. That was a dark day for the bridge engineers. A -contemporary account says: - - "The first impulse to the general adoption of iron for railroad - bridges was given by Benjamin H. Latrobe, chief engineer of the - Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. When the extension of this road from - Cumberland to Wheeling was begun, he decided to use this material in - all the new bridges. Mr. Latrobe had previously much experience in the - construction of wooden bridges in which iron was extensively used; he - had also designed and used the fish-bellied girder constructed of cast - and wrought-iron." - -Under the influence of the really great Latrobe, an iron span of 124 feet -was built in 1852 at Harpers Ferry. In that same year, the B. & O. built -its Monongahela River Bridge, a really pretentious structure of 3 spans of -205 feet each, and the first really great iron railroad bridge in all the -land. The path was set. The conquest of iron over wood as a bridge -material was merely a problem of good engineering. The iron bridge quickly -came into its own. The Pennsylvania Railroad began building cast-iron -bridges of from 65 to 110 feet span at its Altoona shops for the many -creeks and runs along the western end of its line. The other railroads -were following in rapid order. Squire Whipple, Bollman, Pratt--all the -others who could design and build iron bridges--were kept more than busy -by the work that poured in upon them. - -And in the day when the iron bridge was coming into its own, Sir Henry -Bessemer, over in England, was bringing the steel age into existence, -first making toy cannon models for the lasting joy of Napoleon III, and -then making a whole world see that steel--that dead thing with the living -muscle--was no longer to be limited for use in tools and cutting surface. -Steel was to become the very right-hand of man. And so steel came to the -bridge-builders, at first only in the most important wearing points such -as pins and rivets, finally to be the whole fabric of the modern bridge. -The transition was gradual. The early engineers began using less and less -of cast-iron and more and more of wrought, until they had practically -eliminated cast-iron as a bridge material. Then there came a quick change; -there was another dark day for the railroad bridge engineers of America. -In 1876--that very year when the land was so joyously celebrating its -Centennial--a passenger train went crashing through a defective bridge at -Ashtabula, Ohio. There was a great property loss--thousands and thousands -of dollars, and a loss of lives that could never be expressed in dollars. -An outraged land asked the bridge-builders if they really knew their -business. - -Out of that Ashtabula wreck came the scientific testing of bridges and -bridge materials, and the abolition of the rule-of-thumb in the cheaper -sorts of construction. Out of that miserable wreckage came also the use of -steel in the railroad bridge. Steel had found itself; and how the steel -bridges began to spring up across the land! They spanned the Ohio, and -they spanned the Mississippi, and they spanned the Missouri; a great -structure threw itself over the deep gorge of the Kentucky River. When the -day came that fire destroyed the famous wooden viaduct of the Erie over -the Genesee River at Portage, N. Y. (you must remember the pictures of -that tremendous structure in the early geographies), steel took its place. - -All this while the bridge engineer attempted more and more. He built over -the deep gorge of the Niagara. He conquered the St. Lawrence in and about -Montreal. He laughed at the mighty Hudson and flung a dizzy steel trestle -over its bosom at Poughkeepsie. He built at Cairo, at Thebes, and at -Memphis, on the Mississippi, and again and again and still again at St. -Louis. The East River no longer halted him or compelled him to resort to -the alternative of the very expensive types of suspension bridge. He has -finally thrown a great cantilever over it, from Manhattan to Long Island. -The steel bridge has come into its own. - - * * * * * - -Let us study for a moment the construction of the different types of -railroad bridge. For the tiny creeks--the little things that are mad -torrents in spring, and run stark-dry in midsummer--where they cannot be -poured through a pipe or a concrete moulded culvert, the simplest of -bridge forms will suffice. And the simplest of bridge forms consists of -two wooden beams laid from abutment to abutment and holding the ties and -rails of the track-structure. As the first development of that simplest -idea comes the substitution of steel for wood, giving, as we have already -seen, protection against fire and a far greater strength. The steel beam -has greater strength than a wooden beam of the same outside dimension and -yet in its design it effects for itself a great saving of material, by -cutting out superfluous parts and becoming the structural standard of -to-day, the I beam. When the I beam becomes too large to be made in a -single pouring or a single rolling, it may be constructed of steel plates -and angles firmly riveted together, and thus still remains the possibility -of the simplest form of bridge. That single span may be further increased, -or the bridge developed into a succession of increased spans by the -substitution of the lattice-work girder, effecting further saving in -weight without material loss of strength for the solid-plate girder. The -track may be laid atop of such girders or--to save clearance in overhead -crossing--swung between them at their bases. - -The limit in this form of bridge is generally in a 65-foot or a 100-foot -span. It is not practical to build the girders up outside of a shop; and -the 65-foot length represents the two flat-cars that must be used to -transport any one of them to the bridge location. Some railroads have used -three cars for the hauling of a single girder, and so increased these -spans to 100 feet; but as a rule, over 65 feet, and the truss, the most -common form of railroad bridge in this country, comes into use. - -The truss is a distinct evolution from those old timber bridges of which -we have already spoken. Burr and Latrobe and Bollman and Howe and Squire -Whipple--those distinguished engineers of other days--have evolved it, -step by step. It is, in one sense, no more than an enlarged form of -lattice girder, the work of the different designers having been to -accomplish at all times, a maximum of strength with a minimum of weight. -It is built of members that stand pulling-strain, and those that stand -pressure-strain; and these are respectively known as tension and as -compression members. In them rests the real strength of the truss. But in -addition to the structure are the bracing-rods, generally placed as -diagonals and built to sustain the structure against both lateral and -wind-strains. The members that form the trusses are stoutly riveted -together; the rapid rat-a-tap-tap of the riveter is no longer a novelty in -any corner of the land. Sometimes certain of the important bearing-points -are connected by steel pins instead of rivets--another survival of the old -days of the timber bridge. - -As a rule, the railroad is carried through the truss--and this is known as -the through span. Sometimes it is carried upon the top of the structure, -and then the truss becomes known as a deck span. A long bridge may -effectively combine both of these types of span. The splendid new -double-track truss bridge recently built by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad -over the Susquehanna River between Havre-de-Grace and Aiken, Md., to -replace a single-track bridge in the same location, is a splendid example -of the best type of such structures. At the point of crossing, the river -is divided into channels by Watson Island; the width of the west channel -being approximately 2,600 feet and that of the east channel being -approximately 1,400 feet. The distance across the low-lying island is -2,000 feet--making the length of the entire bridge about 6,000 feet. The -bridge, as originally constructed when the line from Baltimore to -Philadelphia was built, in 1886, had a steel trestle over Watson Island. -In building the new structure, this viaduct was eliminated in favor of a -bridge structure of 90-foot girder spans, placed upon concrete piers. -Additional piers were placed in the west channel, shortening the deck -spans from 480 to 240 feet; the through span over the main channel was -kept at the original length--520 feet. In the east channel, the span -lengths remained unchanged, with a single slight exception. The changes in -the span lengths involved new masonry, and all piers were sunk to solid -rock, those in the west channel being carried by caissons to a depth of -more than seventy feet beneath low-water. The total amount of new masonry -and concrete approximated 62,000 cubic yards. The long span-lengths of the -deck span over the east channel and the through span over the navigable -portion of the west channel--each 520 feet in length--occasioned heavy -construction. The deck span, for instance, weighed 12,000 pounds to each -foot of bridge. The total weight of this very long bridge reaches the -enormous figure of 32,000,000 pounds. And yet, even the untechnical -observe the extreme simplicity of its lines of construction, and feel that -the engineer, A. W. Thompson, has done his work well. The construction of -the giant took two years and a half. During that time, the trains of the -B. & O. were diverted to the closely adjacent Pennsylvania, so that the -bridge-builders might continue with a minimum of delay. - -The truss span reaches its limitations at a little over 500 feet in -length--we have just seen how the Susquehanna structure had its spans cut -in halves in the non-navigable portions of the river. The spans of two -great railroad bridges over the Ohio at Cincinnati reached 519 and 550 -feet, but they were built in a day when the weights of locomotives and of -train-loads had not yet begun to rise. Nowadays the shorter span is the -safer and by far the best. The engineer builds plenty of midstream piers, -looking out only for a decent width for any navigable channels. - -And when because of peculiarities of location he cannot place his pier -midstream, then it is time for him to get out his pencils and begin his -drawings all over again. He can perhaps build a suspension bridge--a clear -span of 1,500 feet will be as nothing to it,--but suspension bridges take -a long time to build and are fearfully expensive in the building. It is -more than likely, then, that he will turn to the cantilever. In the -cantilever, two giant trusses are cunningly balanced upon string -supporting towers. They are constructed by being built out from the -towers, evenly, so that the balance of weight may never be lost for a -single hour. The two projecting arms are finally caught together in -mid-air and over the very centre of the span--caught and made fast by the -riveters. The result is a bridge of surpassing strength and fairly low -cost, a real triumph for the bridge engineer. - -The first of these cantilever bridges built in the United States was of -iron. It was designed and constructed by C. Shaler Smith across the deep -gorge of the Kentucky River in 1876-77. Mr. Smith also built the second -cantilever, the Minnehaha, across the Mississippi, at St. Paul, Minn., in -1879-80. The third and fourth were the Niagara and the Frazer River -bridges built in the early eighties. In their trail came many others--one -of the most notable among them being the great Poughkeepsie Bridge. - - * * * * * - -We are going to see something of the construction of one of these great -railroad bridges. Let us begin at the beginning, and see the men, as they -work upon the foundations of abutments and of piers--many times hundreds -of feet under the waters of the very stream that they will eventually -conquer. For months this important work of getting a good foothold for the -monster will go forth almost unseen by the workaday world--by the aid of -the great timber footings, which the engineer calls his caissons. These -caissons (they are really nothing more or less than great wooden boxes), -are slowly sunk into the sand or soft rock under the tremendous weight of -the many courses of masonry. They sink to solid rock--or something that -closely approximates solid rock. - -We are going down into one of the caissons that form the foothold of a -single great pier of a modern railroad bridge; we are going to stand for a -very few minutes under air-pressure with the "sand-hogs"--men whom we -first came to know when we studied the boring of a tunnel. Air pressure -spells danger. It takes a good nerve to work high up on the exposed steel -frame of some growing bridge, but the bridge-builders have air and -sunlight in which to pursue their hazardous work. The sand-hog has -neither. He toils in a box down in the depths of the unknown, working with -pick and shovel under artificial light and under a pressure that becomes -all but intolerable. The knowledge that the most precious and vital of all -man's needs--fresh air--is controlled by another, and through delicate and -intricate mechanism, cannot add to his peace of mind. - -No wonder, then, that it is the highest paid of all merely manual work. -The sand-hog working 50 feet below datum is paid $3.50 for an eight-hour -day. But 50 feet is but the beginning to these human worms, who burrow -deep into the earth. Below it they first begin to divide their day into -two working periods. The air begins to count, and men with steel muscled -arms must rest. As they approach 80 feet below datum--the engineers' -phrase for sea level,--they are working two periods each day of one hour -and a half apiece, while their daily pay has risen to $4. There is your -rough arithmetical law of sand-hogs. As your caisson goes down so does the -length of your working-day decrease; inversely, their air pressures and -the pay of the men increase. The cost? The cost leaps forward in -geometrical progression. It is the owner's turn to groan this time. - -One hundred feet is the limit. At 100 feet the air pressure is more than -50 pounds to the square inch--three additional atmospheres--and the limit -of human endurance is reached. The men work two shifts of forty minutes -each as a daily portion and the law steps in to say that they must rest -four hours between the shifts. They are paid $4.50 for that day's -work--which means something more than $4 an hour for the time that they -are actually at work in the caisson. - -You have expressed your interest in the sand-hog, given vent to a desire -to go down into their underworld. You wonder what three pressures is going -to feel like. Permission is given and a physician begins examining you. -You cannot go into the caisson unless you are sound of heart and stout of -body. This is no joking matter. The sand-hogs' rules read like the -training instructions for a college football team. No drink, regular -hours, simple diet, the donning of heavy clothes after they leave the -pressure, constant reëxamination--these rules are inflexible when the -caissons go to far depths. By their observance the difficult foundation -construction of this new bridge has been kept free from accident--there -have been few cases of the "bends" brought to the specially constructed -hospital in the bottom of the cavity. - -The "bends" sounds complicated, and is, in reality, almost the simplest of -human ailments in its diagnosis. A "bubble" of high pressure air works its -way into the human structure while a man is in the caisson. When he comes -out into the normal atmosphere the bubble is caught and remains. If it is -caught near any vital organ that bubble is apt to spell death. Generally -the bubbles are caught in the joints--frequently the elbow or the -knee--where they cause excruciating pain. Then the specially constructed -hospital crowded on the narrow platform formed by the top of the pier, -comes into full play. Its sick room is incased in an air-tight cylinder. -The man suffering from the "bends," together with physicians and nurses, -is put under a pressure that gradually increases until it reaches that of -the caisson. After that it is a comparatively simple matter to relieve the -bubble and bring the air in the hospital back to a normal pressure. - -The path is clear for us to go down into the caisson. A party of -sand-hogs, hot and exhausted after forty minutes of work within, come out -of the little manhole at the top of the air-lock. We step through the -little manhole and into a tiny steel bucket that rests within the air-lock -there at the top of the shaft. A word of command--farewell to the bright -blue sky overhead--the black manhole cover is replaced. It is suddenly -very dark. A single faint incandescent gives a dim glow in the tiny -place. - -[Illustration: CONCRETE AFFORDS WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE -BRIDGE-BUILDERS] - -[Illustration: THE LACKAWANNA IS BUILDING THE LARGEST CONCRETE BRIDGE IN -THE WORLD ACROSS THE DELAWARE RIVER AT SLATEFORD, PA.] - -[Illustration: THE BRIDGE-BUILDER LAYS OUT AN ASSEMBLYING-YARD FOR -GATHERING TOGETHER THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF HIS NEW CONSTRUCTION] - -[Illustration: THE NEW BRANDYWINE VIADUCT OF THE BALTIMORE & OHIO, AT -WILMINGTON, DEL.] - -You are not thinking of that. They are putting the pressure on. You can -feel it. Your eardrums feel as if they would break; they vibrate. You must -show your distress. - -"Pinch your nose and swallow hard," says the man who stands beside you in -the bucket. - -He stands so close to you that you can fairly feel the pulsation of his -heart, but his voice sounds miles away. You swallow hard, the hardest you -have ever swallowed, and you pinch your nose. You feel better. The -far-away voice speaks again in your ear. "Three atmospheres," is all it -says. The caisson shaft is no place for extended conversation. You descend -in an express elevator car; in that bucket you just drop. You have all the -eerie sensations that a Coney Island "novelty ride" might give you. There -is a row of dim incandescents all the way down the smooth side of the -shaft, and when you look you forget that this is vertical traction and -think of an uptown subway tube as you see it recede from the rear of an -express. A final manhole, the gate at the foot of the shaft and you stop -abruptly. It seems as if you had almost bumped against the under side of -China. - -"This is it," says the far-away voice. - -A timbered room, not larger than a parlor in a city flat and not near so -high. A close and murky place, filled with a little company of -men--shadowy humans of a real underworld there under the dull electric -glow. - -"They're finding the footing for the shaft," says the voice. "We're on -rock at last at 94 feet." - - * * * * * - -When the footings are finished and the caisson's edges have ceased to cut -its path straight downward, that timbered construction will rest here far -below the city for long ages. The sand-hogs will come out of their working -chamber for the last time--it will be poured full of concrete, more solid -than rock itself. The air pressure will be withdrawn--there is no longer -mud or shifting sand for it to withhold. Then, section by section, the -steel lining of the caisson shaft will be withdrawn, while concrete, -tramped into place, makes the shaft a hidden monolith 100 feet or so in -length. Upon the tops of all these monoliths a close grillage of steel -beams will be laid; upon that grillage will be riveted the steel plates -and columns of the bridge tower. The great structure is to have sure -footing; these giant feet bind and clasp themselves throughout the years -against the mighty river that has been conquered and humbled by the work -of man. - - * * * * * - -"You should have been down in one of the boxes when they had to burn -torches, before they got the electric light," says one of the bridge -engineers. "I worked in one of those that we left under a stone tower of -the Brooklyn Bridge. Now we're almost in clover. They even cool and dry -the compressed air before we breathe it." - -An order goes aloft over an electric wire, the engineer who sits smoking -his pipe on the sun-baked platform of the traveller derrick pulls a lever, -and we go slipping up the shaft toward fresh air and freedom only a little -less rapidly than we descended it. We do not reach it too quickly. There -is a long wait in the air-lock after the lower manhole has closed, while -the pressure is being reduced. You begin to worry and you ask your guide -as to the delay. Nothing wrong? - -He smiles at your timorous question and explains. It would be dangerous to -come out from the caisson pressure quickly. He does not want to have to -send you to that air-tight hospital with a bad case of the "bends." - -"How long in the air-lock?" you ask. - -"Fifty minutes," he answers. - -Then he explains in more detail. You have been under a pressure of 50 -pounds to the square inch--that's your three atmospheres, and under the -rules you must spend fifty minutes in the tiny air-lock. Up to a pressure -of 36 pounds you must spend two minutes there for every three pounds of -pressure. When you get above that "law of 36" it is a minute to the pound. - -When that manhole cover overhead finally slides open you feel blinded by -the light, even though the sun is hidden behind a passing cloud. The -air-lock tender reaches down with his arms and gives you a lift up onto -his narrow perch. - -"Want to be a sand-hog?" he smiles. - -"Not yet a while," you answer, in all truth. "Not until every other job is -gone." - - * * * * * - -You are standing aloft, balancing yourself upon tiny planks at the -steadily advancing end of the bridge, as it forces itself over a stream of -formidable width. Overhead, a gigantic, ungainly traveller, equipped with -steel derricks at every corner, is advancing foot by foot as the bridge -advances foot by foot. Underneath, through the thin network of planks, of -girder and of supporting false work, you can see the surface of the river -a full hundred feet below. A steamboat is passing directly beneath you. -From your perch she looks like a great yellow bird. Those fine black -specks upon her back are the humans who are gathered upon her upper deck. - -Whistles call and the derricks groan as they swing the thousands of -bridge-members, that are flying together at the beck of the engineer, into -their final resting-places. There is the deafening racket of the riveters, -here and there and everywhere. There are crude railroad tracks upon the -temporary flooring of the bridge deck, and the calls of the dummy -locomotives add to the racket. The railroad tracks lead to the shore, to -temporary yards where the bridge materials are assembled as fast as they -come from the shops in a city three hundred miles distant. - -For, remember that while the sand-hogs were burrowing under the surface of -the river to find footholds for this monster, other men were burrowing -into the hillsides to find the precious ore for the welding of his -muscles. A hundred thousand picks must have fought in his behalf, furnaces -blazed for miles before the crude ore became the finished, perfect steel. -Of the forging and the rolling of the steel a whole book might be written. -It is enough now to say that of the 50,000,000 pounds of steel, every -pound was made on honor. The railroad had its inspectors everywhere, but -the rolling-mill men held to their formulas for perfect steel, and perfect -steel was the result. A slight flaw in the metal, and possibly at some -unexpected day, a great catastrophe. The safety of human life was upon the -men who forged the steel, and they forged honor into every great girder, -into every rod and bolt and plate. This conqueror of the river was a -warrior built in honor. - -The safety of human life depends upon the men who build this bridge. Study -carefully the face of this man who stands beside you, the man who evolved -this bridge as a season's work of his restless mind. His face is the face -of a man who has high regard for human safety; that factor creeps to the -fore as he talks to you. He is telling of the method of constructing the -upper works of a bridge of this size. - -"We're getting ahead all the time," he laughs, "and we're moving rather -forward in our construction methods. In an older day we did this work with -derricks of a rather simple sort, operated them by small portable steam -engines. You can't handle bridge-members--units that are only held down by -the clearances of tunnels and the transporting powers of the -railroads--that way to-day. We've nearly half a million dollars tied up -here in constructing-appliances. These steel-boom derricks, travellers, -and steel-wire hoists, the compressing engines for handling the riveters, -cost big money. - -"Our method? That's a simple enough affair as a rule. We set up this -spindly tower on rails, that we call the 'traveller' and it moves -backwards and forwards over the trusses and the timber falsework that we -build before the steel really begins to be set up. When the steel--the -trusses--is up and riveted, then away with the falsework. Our bridge -stands by itself. You can put up a 500-foot span in no time at all by -using the falsework." - -You make bold to ask what the engineer does when the river is too deep to -admit of falsework. He is quick to answer. - -"We generally fall back on a cantilever," he says, without hesitation. -Then he begins to tell you about one of the latest of American -problems--the new bridge of the Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad, just -now being built over the Pend Oreille River, Washington. They could span -that narrow cleft only on the cantilever principle, and when they began to -balance their cantilever, there was not enough room for the back arm. But -the engineers only chewed off fresh cigars and began forcing their great -span out mid-air. They made the balance by placing 600 tons of steel rails -on the back-arm. For every foot the span reached out anew over a so-called -"bottomless" they added a few more rails. You can generally trust an -engineer in such a time as that. - -Look closely now upon the workmen who are fabricating this giant bridge. -Look closely upon them. They are different from those whom we saw toiling -in the caissons below. Scandinavians may and do toil as sand-hogs at the -bottom of the stream; Lithuanians may mine the ore, and Hungarians roll it -into steel; Americans build upon their toil and erect this bridge. These -builders speak no unfamiliar tongue. They are the product of Ohio, the -Middle West, the South, the Pacific Coast, New England; they rise -immeasurably superior to every other class of labor employed upon the -work. Some of them have been sailors, and their talk has the savor of the -sea. All of them are men, clear-headed, cool-headed, true-headed men. - -If you come upon them at the noon-hour, sprawled along the narrow ledge of -a single plank you may be impressed by two things--their Americanism and -their cosmopolitanism. The first of these is writ upon each man as you -look at him; the second is evident in talk with him. This big fellow must -have been a sheriff out in Montana, and he must have been a sheriff for -bad men to dodge; his neighbor is talking about his last job, a sky-high -cantilever down in Peru. The two side-partners over by the tool-box are -just back from India. American bridge-building talent encircles the world. -Here is a boss who got his first training down on the Nile; his assistant -has done some mighty big work on the Trans-Siberian. - -These are the men who are building the bridge. In a little time there will -be no advancing ends, finding their path from pier-top to pier-top. There -will be, instead, a long and slender path for the railroad; the bridgemen -will have done their work well; a great river will have once again been -conquered. - - * * * * * - -The bridge problem is always different, it constantly has the fascination -of variety. That variety will come into play at unexpected turns. Once, -down in a deep Colorado cañon, whose walls rose precipitously for a -thousand-odd feet, and which was all but filled by a deep and rapid river, -the engineers of the Rio Grande & Western found absolutely no ledge -whatsoever upon which they might rest their rails. They puzzled upon the -problem for a little while, and then they swung a girder bridge parallel -with the river. The bridge was supported by braced girders, that fastened -their feet in the walls of the cañon, hardly wider there than a narrow -city house. The railroad has been running over that construction for more -than thirty years; it is one of the scenic wonders of the land, and a -triumph for the engineer that built it. In constructing the expensive West -Shore Railroad up the Hudson River, similar difficulties were experienced -south of West Point, and truss bridges were built parallel with the steep -river banks to carry the tracks from ledge to ledge. It is not an unusual -matter for the construction engineer to spend a quarter of a million -dollars to span some deep, waterless gully in the mountains, which could -not be filled for more than twice that sum. - -Many times, in these days of increasing weight of equipment, it becomes -necessary to replace a bridge, without interrupting the traffic. The -construction engineer never fails to meet the problem. Years ago, he took -Roebling's famous suspension bridge at Niagara Falls, removed the stone -towers and replaced them with towers of steel, without delaying a single -train; and a little later he took that bridge itself, and substituted a -heavy cantilever for it, while all the time a heavy traffic poured itself -over the structure. The rebuilder of bridges works like the original -builder--with plentiful falsework. He timbers in and around his structure, -and then step by step and with exceeding caution removes the old and -substitutes the new. An old girder is taken out between trains; before -another train of cars shall roll over the structure a new one is ready, -temporarily bolted until the riveters can make it fast. It sounds -complicated, but it is remarkably simple, under the careful plans of a -patient engineer, who has that infinite thing that we call genius. - -Sometimes a bold engineer strikes out into a new method, quicker and less -expensive than these piecemeal efforts. Of such was the job at -Steubenville, O., where a 205-foot double-track span was erected on heavy -falsework alongside the old bridge. In a carefully chosen interval between -a service of frequent trains, both the old and the new spans--together -weighing 1,300 tons--were fastened together and drawn sideways a distance -of twenty-five feet in one minute and forty seconds. The new span was then -in place, and the old one--ready to be dismantled--stood on falsework at -the side. The entire job had been accomplished in an interval of seventeen -minutes between trains. - -That is not unusual. The floating method is sometimes adopted with -remarkable success--especially in the case of draw-bridge spans. There the -problem complicates itself exceedingly, for both the water and the land -highways must be kept open for traffic; yet it is a matter of record that -the Pennsylvania Railroad, operating a fearfully heavy suburban service in -and out of Jersey City, recently substituted one draw for another on its -Hackensack River Bridge without delaying a single train. - - * * * * * - -But even in this high noon of the day of steel, the stone bridge holds its -own. The big chiefs of railroad construction look upon it with favor. -Higher priced than a steel bridge of equal capacity it requires initial -outlay. But forever after, it represents a saving--a saving chiefly in -that very important figure, maintenance. A steel bridge requires constant -attention and constant expense. A stone bridge requires little of either; -and therein lies its strength in its old age. Engineers point to such -structures as the Thomas Viaduct down at Relay, or to the wonderful stone -bridges that have stood through the centuries in older lands; they bear in -mind the constant battle that a steel bridge must make against the ravages -of weather and against the sinister thefts of corrosion, and ofttimes they -rule in favor of the oldest type of sizable bridge. - -Two things are all-important in the choice between the steel bridge and -the arch bridge of stone or concrete. The first is the accessibility of -the quarries. If they are not very near the solid bridge will cost four -times that of one of steel and the average American railroad is not able -to spend money in that fashion, even in the hopes of future economies in -maintenance. If the quarries are close at hand, as they were years ago -when Kirkwood built the Starucca Viaduct for the Erie, the cost of a -masonry bridge will hardly exceed that of steel trusses, and the concrete -structure may cost a little less. Then there comes into play the second -consideration. The stone or concrete bridge has tremendous weight, no -ordinary foundation work will serve it. If the river bed and banks be of -sand or poor earth, the engineer had best give up his hopes of the Roman -form of structure. He can build steel towers and trusses on piles of -caissons--hardly solid stone piers and abutments and aides. - -All these things considered, the stone bridge is still more than holding -its own in modern railroad construction. The Boston & Albany Railroad -began building these splendidly permanent structures along its lines -through the Berkshires more than twenty years ago. More recently both the -Pennsylvania and the Baltimore & Ohio have been looking with favor upon -this type of bridge. The Baltimore & Ohio has just finished building its -massive Brandywine Viaduct, near Wilmington, a splendid double-track -structure, 764 feet in length, and composed of two 80-foot, two 90-foot, -and three 100-foot arches. - -The three great stone bridges that the Pennsylvania has built upon its -main line are all four-tracked. Two splendid examples of these span the -Raritan River at New Brunswick, and the Delaware at Trenton, New Jersey. -The third, spanning the Susquehanna at Rockville, Pa., just north of -Harrisburg, is the largest stone bridge in the world. It is over a mile in -length, and is composed of 48 arches; 220,000 tons of masonry was employed -in its construction. - -Concrete viaducts were first employed in interurban electric railroad -construction, and latterly they have been brought more to the service of -the steam railroad. A splendid example of this very new form of -construction exists in the extension of the Florida East Coast Railroad -over the keys and shallow waters of Southern Florida, for seventy-five -miles between Homestead and Key West. A considerable portion of the line -is over the sea. - -The Florida keys are like a series of stepping-stones, leading into the -ocean from the tip of the peninsula to Key West. They lie in the form of a -curve, the channels separating the islands varying from a few hundred feet -to several miles in width. Nearly thirty of these islands were used in the -construction of the new railroad. More than fifty miles of rock and -earthen embankment have been built where the intervening waters are -shallow, but where the water is deeper and the openings are exposed to -storms by breaks in the outer reef, concrete arch viaducts have been used. -These viaducts consist of 50-foot reinforced concrete arch spans and -piers, with here and there a 60-foot span. - -There are four of these arch viaducts aggregating 5.78 miles in length. -The longest is between Long Key and Grassy Key, 2.7 miles, and is called -the Long Key Viaduct; across Knight's Key Channel, 7,300 feet; across -Moser's Channel, 7,800 feet, and across Bahia Honda Channel, 4,950 feet. -The material of these islands is coralline limestone. In many places the -embankment for the roadway is 8 or 9 feet in height, and the roadbed is -ballasted with the same material. The result is one of the finest and -safest railway roadbeds in the world. - -Across the Delaware River at Slateford, Pa., the Delaware, Lackawanna & -Western Railroad is building the largest concrete bridge in the world, a -few feet longer than the great structure by which the Illinois Central -crosses the Big Muddy River and just 100 feet longer than the Connecticut -Avenue Bridge, at Washington, D. C. The Lackawanna's bridge is 1,450 feet -long, with five arches of 150-foot span, and a number of shorter arches. -The track is carried at an elevation of 75 feet above highwater; and to -find living-rock as a solid foundation for a structure of so great a -weight, the abutments and piers were carried about 61 feet below the -surface of the ground. - - * * * * * - -With the bridge-builder at his elbow, the railroad constructing engineer -hesitates at no river, no arm of the sea, no deep valley, no wild ravine, -no cleft in the mountain-side. He calls to his aid the magic of the men -who have made this branch of American practical science famous: a feathery -trestle appears, as if by magic. Across its narrow edge the steel rails -follow their resistless path. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE PASSENGER STATIONS - - EARLY TRAINS FOR SUBURBANITES--IMPORTANCE OF THE TOWERMAN--AUTOMATIC - SWITCH SYSTEMS--THE INTERLOCKING MACHINE--CAPACITIES OF THE LARGEST - PASSENGER TERMINALS--ROOM FOR LOCOMOTIVES, CAR-STORAGE, ETC.--STORING - AND CLEANING CARS--THE CONCOURSE--WAITING-ROOMS--BAGGAGE - ACCOMMODATIONS--HEATING--GREAT DEVELOPMENT OF PASSENGER STATIONS--SOME - NOTABLE STATIONS IN AMERICA. - - -The railroad terminal is the city gate. Without, it rises in the superior -arrogance of white granite, as an architectural something. It has broad -portals, and through these portals a host of folk both come and go. -Within, this city gate is a thing of stupendous apartments and monumental -dimensions, a thing not to be grasped in a moment. In a single great -apartment--a vaulted room so great as to have its dimensions run into -distant vistas--are the steam caravans that come and go. It is a busy -place, a place of an infinite variety of business. - - * * * * * - -In the early morning the train-shed gives the first sign of the new-born -day. Before the dawn is well upon the city, the great arcs that run into -those distant vistas in wonderful symmetry are hissing and alight, and the -first of 500 incoming trains is finding its way into the gloom of the -shed. Some few trains have started out with the early mails and the -morning papers. The great rush into town is yet to begin. - -Even before dawn, a thousand little homes without the city have been awake -and fretful. The gray fogs of the night lie low, and lights begin to -twinkle, lines of shuffling figures to find their way to the nearest -suburban station. It is very early morning when these begin to pass -through the city gate. The earliest suburban trains slip in from the yards -and come to a slow, grinding stop beneath the shed. Before the wheels have -ceased turning, the first of the workers is off the cars and running down -the platform. In fifteen seconds, the platform is black with men. - -There are many more of these trains, a great multiplication of men within -a little time. Before seven o'clock, the trains begin to increase; to -follow more and more closely upon one another's heels. After seven, they -come still oftener; two or three of them may stop simultaneously on -different tracks under the great vault of the shed; they are heavy with -people. There is a constant clatter of engines, stamping and puffing, -dragging their heavily laden trains and snapping them quickly out of the -way of others to follow. The electric lights under the shed go out with a -protesting sputter, and you realize that the day is at hand. This mighty -army of those who live without the city walls is flocking in, in an -unceasing current now. There is an endless procession from the track -platforms; a stream of humans finding its way to the day's work. - -Do you want figures so that you may see the might of this army? -Binghamton, N. Y., is a city; a little less than fifty thousand persons -live there. If the whole population of Binghamton--every man, woman, and -child--were poured through the portals of this terminal on any one of six -mornings of the week, it would be about equal to this suburban traffic. In -a single hour--from seven to eight--45 trains have arrived under the roof -of this shed and discharged their human freight; in the following hour, 64 -trains empty another great brigade of the army from without the city -walls. - - * * * * * - -The city gate is indeed a busy place. Its concourse or head platform -echoes all day long with the unending tread of shuffling feet; beyond the -fence, with its bulletins and ticket-examiners, is the vault of the -train-shed, a thing of great shadows, even in midday. Its echoes are also -unending. There seems to be no end of pushing and shoving and hauling -among the engines; there must be an infinite stock of trains somewhere -without. The human stream flows all the while. - -The marvel of all this is that the terminal, which seems so intricate, so -baffling, is under the control of one man--a man to whom it is as simple -as the ten fingers of his hands. This man is keeper of the city gate. His -watch-house is situated just without the big and squatty train-shed. It is -long and narrow, glass-lined and sun-filled. Through its windows he keeps -track of those who come and go. - -"There's Second Seventeen, with them school teachers coming back from the -convention out at Kansas City. Put her in on Twenty-one so's to give the -baggage folks a chance. Them women travel with lots of duds." - -These are orders to his assistants and orders in that watch tower are -rarely repeated. The assistants are in shirt-sleeves like their chief, for -the sun-filled tower is broiling hot. They nod to one another, click small -levers, and Second Seventeen--a long train of sleeping-cars coming into -the city in the hot moisture of the early June morning--is sent easily and -carefully in upon track Twenty-one in the train-shed of the terminal. -There you have the explanation of that order that was meaningless to you -but a moment ago. Track Twenty-one is nearest the in-baggage room of the -station. With two cars, piled roof-high with heavy trunks, the -thoughtfulness of the towerman in sending the special upon track -Twenty-one will be appreciated by the baggage handlers. A vast amount of -manual labor will be saved; and that counts, even upon a cool day. - -[Illustration: THE NORTHWESTERN'S MONUMENTAL NEW TERMINAL ON THE WEST SIDE -OF CHICAGO] - -[Illustration: THE UNION STATION AT WASHINGTON] - -This keeper of the city gate represents the survival of the fittest, the -very cream of his profession. The chances are that he began his -railroading off in some lonely way station on a branch line, developed -qualities that brought him to the quick and favorable attention of his -chiefs, then advanced steadily along the rapid lines of promotion that -railroading holds for some men. He is one of three men, who, for certain -hours, hold the keeping of the complicated city gate within their own -well-drilled minds. The tower is the mind, the brain centre, the ganglion, -of that city gate; but the tower is only wondrously mechanical, after all; -the mind of the careful towerman is the mind that controls all the -mechanism. - -To the average traveller, the city gate is a thing that impresses itself -upon his mind by its exterior and interior beauty, or its convenience of -arrangement. He notes the broad concourses, the ample entrances and exits, -the compelling magnificence of the public rooms, the great sweep of the -train-shed roof, but beyond that train-shed roof is a tangle of tracks and -signals about which he does not worry his busy head. Those tracks and -signals represent more truly the station than the mere architectural -magnificence of its outer shell. They are a tangle and a maze, apparently, -but a tangle and maze that must represent skill and ease in their -tremendous operation. They are neither tangle nor maze to the -shirt-sleeved men in the tower. They must know each track, each -switch-point, each signal as intimately and familiarly as they know the -fingers of their hands. - -Every mechanical device is employed to simplify the tangle for the comfort -of the busy minds that must constantly employ themselves in solving it. In -the big watch-tower--the "control" of the terminal--there is a map that is -more than map. It depicts in miniature all the tracks and switches and -signals that lie without and roundabout the tower; but this map shows -switches and signals changing as the switches and signals of the -train-yard change. It brings the distant corners of the terminal in closer -touch with the towermen. In fog or blinding storm, this track model is -invaluable--a veritable compass set within the brain of the terminal. - -This illuminated map sets upon the best piece of mechanism that has yet -been devised for the operation of the terminal yard. It is a long boxed -affair, not entirely unlike the box of the old-fashioned square piano, but -in this case (the terminal we are watching being of unusual capacity) more -than thirty feet in length. This box is the very brains of the terminal. -It represents the acme of mechanical condensation. Reduced to its earliest -and simplest equivalent--the separate hand operation of a gigantic cluster -of switches in a great terminal yard--it would cover a vast area and -result in the employment of an army of switchmen. Carelessness on the part -of any one member of this army might cause a serious accident. The margin -of safety would be very low in such a case. - -The first schemes of automatic switch systems eliminated the necessity of -employing an army of switchmen. A cluster of levers, in a tower of -commanding location, was connected by steel rods with the switches and the -signals which protected them. A man in the tower operated this group of -levers. In this way, the control of the yard was simplified, and -responsibility was placed upon a better paid and better trained man than -the average hand switchman. The margin of safety was considerably -broadened. - -Then came an amendment to that first system. Some genius of a mechanic -built an interlocking switch machine, a thing of cogs and clutches, by -which a collision in a railroad yard became almost a physical -impossibility. In these mechanical interlocking devices the tower levers -are so controlled, one by another, that signals cannot be given for trains -to proceed until all switches in the route governed are first properly set -and locked; and conversely, so that the switches of a route governed by -signal cannot be moved during the display of a signal giving the right of -way over them. By installation of the interlocking, some of the -responsibility is taken by mechanical device from human brain and the -margin of safety broadened still further. - -This "piano box" represents still further condensation of the switch and -signal control and interlocking devices. The men who designed this -particular city gate designed it to accommodate more than a thousand -outgoing and incoming passenger trains each twenty-four hours; they had -found that the condensations given by earlier systems were not sufficient -for their purpose. After bringing several switches, designed to act in -concert, upon a single lever, they found that they would have a row of 360 -levers. Set closely together these would require a tower about 160 feet -long. It is roughly figured that it is not desirable to assign more than -twenty of these heavy levers to a single towerman and that meant eighteen -men, working at a shift. Moreover, the throwing of a heavy switch half a -mile distant from the tower is not a slight manual exercise. - -Then the "piano box"--electro-pneumatic--was installed; 150 feet of levers -was reduced to 30 feet of small handles hardly larger than faucet handles -and quite as easily turned. The control of a great terminal was brought -down to three towermen, acting under the direction of their chief, the -shirt-sleeved keeper of the city gate. - -"We've got to keep them hustling," he tells you. "There's the morning -express in from New York. She's heavy this morning. That train over there, -coming across the swing-bridge, is the millionaire's special. She's all -club-cars, comes in every mornin' from the seaside. Her wheels'll stop on -the same nick as the express. Watch them both, carefully." - -"Isn't it quite a trick handling those trains simultaneously?" - -"Not much," a smile fixed itself upon the chief towerman's features, as he -fingered his greasy timetable. "Here's four trains pulling out here -simultaneously at 5:40. On top of that we get a Forest Hills local in at -5:39, a Hudson Upper local at 5:40, an Ogontz at 5:42, a Readville at -5:43, all incoming, and pull out two more at 5:43. Ten trains in just four -minutes isn't bad, and we haven't begun to feel the capacity of this -terminal yet. - -"That isn't all of it. We get the whole thing criss-crossed on us -sometimes; and perhaps they'll put on an extra getting out of here at -5:40, and that'll bother us a little, for we have regular tracks assigned -for all our scheduled trains. If they don't run in the extras on us, or we -don't get a breakdown anywhere, it's pretty plain sailing. Ring off your -10:10, Jimmy." - -Jimmy, the assistant at the far end of the tower, touched one of the -little handles, a blade on a signal bridge opposite the end of the -train-shed dropped, a big locomotive caught the rails instantly and -cautiously led a long train of heavy cars out through the intricacy of -tracks and switches until it was past the tower, over the "throat" of the -yard, and, striking on the main line, was gaining speed once more. - -"It's as easy for him as unbroken rail off in the country," said the chief -towerman to me, as he waved salutation at the engineer passing below him. - -Then he fell into a detailed and wondrous explanation of the intricacies -of the "piano-box" mechanism. On the lower floor of the tower were air -condensers, and through the medium of electricity and compressed air heavy -switches and signals a half-mile off are worked almost by finger touch. -Each switch is guarded by at least one signal, possibly two--home and -distant--and these blades show an open or a closed path to the engineer. -They are so arranged that normally they stand at danger and in case of -breakdown they return by gravity to danger. At night the blades, which in -various positions show safety and danger and caution, are replaced by -lights--red for danger, yellow for caution, green for safety--according to -the present standard rules. - - * * * * * - -This physiology of the passenger terminal has dwelt so far upon its brain -and its nerve structure; the anatomy is hardly less interesting. Almost -every great passenger terminal in America is built upon the head-house -plan. In this scheme trains arrive and depart upon a series of parallel -tracks terminating within some sort of train-shed. It is the ideal scheme -from the standpoint of the passenger, for no stairs or bridges or subways -are necessary to reach any track. The tracks are generally laid in pairs, -and between each pair a broad platform is built, which is in reality a -long-armed extension of a common distributing platform or concourse -extending across the head of the tracks. Sometimes these extension -platforms are laid on both sides of a single track for greater facility in -handling baggage and for the quick unloading of heavy trains. - -But in case any number of trains are to be operated through the terminal, -the head-house scheme becomes impracticable and an abomination to the -operating department. It makes necessary all manner of backing and turning -trains and a tremendous amount of energy and time is spent in so doing. So -we find the head-house stations--the real terminals of America--for the -most part along the seaboard or at the termination of really important -railroad routes. They are an expensive luxury at any other point. - -At the outer end of the train-shed, its tracks begin to converge. They are -in rough similarity to the sticks of an open fan and at the handle they -are reduced to anywhere from two to eight main tracks, the connections -with the through tracks that serve the station. The point of convergence -is known to the towerman and all the other workers as the "throat" of the -yard. It is by far the most important point of the terminal, and is the -usual location of the control tower, with its authority over several -hundred switches and signals. - -Upon the number of main tracks in this "throat" depends the capacity of -the terminal, quite as much as the number of tracks in the train-shed or -the size of any other of its facilities. If there are as many as eight -tracks in this "throat"--an unusual number--the signals and switches will -probably be arranged so that in the morning five tracks may be used for -the rush of incoming business, and three tracks for outgoing business, -while in the late afternoon conditions are exactly reversed, five tracks -being used for hurrying the suburbanites homeward, three for the lesser -business incoming to the terminal. With four tracks in the "throat"--a -usual number--three may be used in the direction of the volume of greatest -business. Each of these tracks is like a separate entrance to the -terminal, and when five are open from the train-shed simultaneously, as in -this first case, five outgoing trains may be started simultaneously from -as many tracks. - -In this connection, a comparative table of the capacity of several of the -largest American passenger terminals may not be without interest: - - Approach Station - Tracks Tracks - Broad Street Station, Philadelphia 4 16 - Market Street Station, Philadelphia 4 13 - North Station, Boston 8 24 - South Station, Boston 8 28 - Union Station, St. Louis 6 32 - Union Station, Washington 6 33 - Northwestern Station, Chicago 6 16 - Lackawanna Terminal, Hoboken 4 14 - Pennsylvania Station, New York 2 21 - Grand Central Station, New York 4 32 - -But the approach and train-shed tracks are only a part of the yards that -are necessary at every large passenger terminal. Certain provisions are -necessary for mail and express service (freight of every sort is handled -as far as possible in separate yards and terminals), and extensive -provision for the storage and care of cars and motive power. In the last -case, it becomes advisable to have the roundhouse, or roundhouses, for -locomotive storage within short striking distance of the terminal station. -These are vast structures, their very form requiring large tracts of land. -The American plan of radiating engine-storage tracks from a common centre, -occupied by a turntable, has never prevailed in England. Some few -attempts have been made in this country to build parallel storage tracks, -with the transfer table for an operating arm, but almost every attempt of -this sort has been induced by a necessity for unusual economy in -land-space. We shall need the turntables as long as we continue to use -steam as a motive power, and the early method of grouping storage tracks -and radii from the table has never lost its favor with operating officers. - -A full-size roundhouse, with a diameter approximating 300 feet, has as its -necessary accessories, facilities for coaling the locomotives--several at -a time--as well as supplying them with water, sand, and other necessities. -Possibly the terminal will be big enough to demand shop facilities for -trifling repairs and maintenance of both cars and motive power. A big -passenger terminal is a much bigger thing than that gaudy waiting-room in -which you sit, whilst your train is being made ready to take you out from -the city. - -Great as the room assigned to locomotives, greater must be yard-room for -car-storage, in rough proportions, as the length of the locomotive to the -average train length. It takes something approaching a genius to lay out -the car-yards, particularly in the case of passenger terminals, which are -almost invariably in the heart of great cities where land values are -fabulously high. These yards, in order to earn the appreciation of the men -who must operate them, must be easy of access and be of sufficient size to -meet the heavy demands that are to be put upon them. To appreciate them, -let us consider them in daily use. - -The heavy express which has discharged its baggage and passengers in the -train-shed is hauled out to the yards by one of the sturdy little -switch-engines that are eternally poking their way about the yards. The -engine that has pulled it in from the road backs itself down to the -roundhouse, without another thought of the train. Its responsibility ended -as soon as the run ended in the train-shed. The engineer simply has to -see that his locomotive is carefully put away in the roundhouse; and, on -some roads, that his fireman cleans its upper parts before the next run -out upon the line. The roundhouse crew is then supposed to take care of -the rest of the engine. - -In the meantime, the stout little switching-engine has hauled the cars out -to the yards, separating the Pullman equipment and placing day-coaches, -baggage cars, and the like in a position by themselves. An effort is made -to keep the equipment for the heavy through trains reserved, allowance -being made for occasional changes for repair and maintenance. In the case -of the local and suburban trains, their varying traffic requires varying -lengths; and it is possible that two or three of the train-shed tracks -contain a supply of extra coaches in order that emergencies of sudden and -unexpected traffic may be met. - -The yards must afford full facilities for storing and cleaning cars. This -last is a thorough operation, compressed air being used in many cases and -to great advantage. Within, seats are thoroughly dusted, floors swept, -woodwork wiped, while the railroad's pride in the outer appearance of its -equipment is shown by the scrupulous care with which a small army of -cleaners, ladders in hand, wash down the varnished sides of the coaches. -In addition, both coaches and Pullmans must be stocked with linen and -ice-water, lighting tanks filled and trucks inspected while in storage -yards. Most elaborate provisions are made for the stocking of dining and -buffet cars. - -Through equipment will rest in the yards from six to twenty-four hours, as -an average. The local and suburban trains have a programme of their own, -slightly different. The engine that is to make the run will get its train -in the first place from the storage yard. It is only a big express run, -where the locomotive is privileged to back into the station, to find its -train made ready there for it by some fag of a switch-engine. The engine -that hauls the local backs its own train into the station, makes its run -out upon the line, 15, 25, 50 miles, whatever the case may be, and brings -the train back into the station. It kicks the cars out, just beyond the -cover of the train-shed and while it is hurrying to the turntable the cars -are being hastily swept and dusted. An hour will be allowed the engineer -to turn his engine and get his coal and water supply, and then he will -start out again on his local run. This performance will be repeated one or -more times, before the coaches are sent to the yard for thorough cleaning -and stocking, and the locomotive housed for a little rest in the -programme. - -This is not the universal programme, but it is typical. It seems simple; -but with the multiplicity of local trains in service, the demands of the -regular through traffic, and the special demands that come unexpectedly -day after day, that car storage yard has got to be arranged for an economy -of operation, as well as with the economy of space in view. Each storage -track must be of convenient access and the chances are that a separate -tower and interlocking may be set aside for the quick, convenient, and -safe operation of the storage yard. In any event, it must be so built as -to be worked without interference of any sort on the main line tracks of -the terminal. - -So much for the terminal, in reference to its operation; now let us -consider it for a moment from the standpoint of the passenger. The first -point to be considered by the engineers who design it is the point that we -have just considered--safety and convenience in operation. A terminal -might be, and sometimes is, an architectural triumph and a thing of -monumental beauty, but a curse and an extravagance as an operating -proposition. The architects, the mural painters, the furniture designers -and the like are called in last. It is their province to make the setting -for the thing the engineers have already created. - -So in considering the terminal station as a building, we must still give -ear to the engineer. He must plan for the future, anticipate the number of -persons who are to pass through this city's gate fifty years hence, and -plan his concourse, so many square inches for each one of those future -users of the terminal. Exits and entrances to the trains must be built in -order that incoming and outgoing streams of persons shall not conflict. -All these points require careful study. It is possible to design a -baggage-room so bad as to make the station all but a failure; a stuffy -ticket-office that is almost an impossibility to use under pressure -conditions. The good engineer thinks two or three thousand times before he -begins the design of a passenger terminal. - -The concourse, or head platform, that joins all the different track -platforms is the main feature of the terminal building. Upon it some -persons congregate preparatory to going through the gates to their trains, -and other persons congregate awaiting the arrival of trains--a matter -which is carefully bulletined for their convenience. Arriving and -departing passengers, with a percentage of idlers, must be accommodated -upon it. It must be capacious. Exits to the street should be provided, -without the necessity of passing through the station building, and the -carriage stand should be close at hand. - -The waiting-room will be the monumental and artistic expression of the -terminal. It may or may not be a portion of the entrance to the concourse -and train-shed, but it is essential that it be conveniently located, that -smoking-rooms, women's waiting-rooms, parcel-check, telephone, telegraph, -news-stand, and restaurant facilities be close at hand. It is hardly less -desirable that the ticket-offices adjoin the waiting-room yet the -architect who so places his ticket-offices that the belated traveller has -unnecessary delay in purchasing his tickets, will bring down unnumbered -curses upon his defenceless head. - -The modern station will make provision for numerous railroad offices--be a -complete modern office-building in fact, although not emblazoning that in -its architectural design--and will have lunch-stand and restaurant -facilities, with their necessary addenda of store-rooms, refrigerators -and kitchens, as complete as those of the largest hotels. - -The baggage accommodations deserve a paragraph by themselves. Americans, -due to the liberal baggage provisions of our railroads, travel each year -with increased impedimenta. Each year the task of the baggage-handlers -multiplies. Making room for trunks has come to be an important terminal -provision. In the large terminals, this traffic is divided, an in-baggage -room receiving from incoming trains and distributing to various forms of -city baggage delivery and an out-baggage room receiving and checking -baggage for outgoing trains. The in-baggage room is always much the -largest, because of the delays that almost invariably hold trunks for a -time--short or long--upon their arrival at a terminal. - -It is desirable that baggage be handled with as little inconvenience as -possible to passengers; and for this reason almost all terminals have -subways extending from the "in" and "out" rooms beneath all train-shed -platforms and connected with each of these by elevators, large enough to -receive a full-sized baggage-truck. In this way annoyance and delay to -passengers is minimized. In the case of heavy through trains, where -baggage runs unusually heavy, the baggage-cars are frequently detached and -switched in upon special tracks that run alongside the baggage rooms. - -The passenger terminal must also provide mail and express facilities among -these structures, but these, as has already been intimated, are generally -apart and quite separate from the passenger facilities. A power plant is -another necessity. The buildings must be heated, cars warmed in freezing -weather long before the locomotives are attached, ice-machines operated -for the station restaurant, power supplied to elevators, dynamos, and -lesser mechanisms about the terminal. This is a feature that is not -radically different from that of other large commercial structures. - -The capacity of a modern railroad is measured by the capacity of its -terminals rather than by that of its main line tracks. The railroads were -not quick to realize nor to appreciate this fact at the first. It was -finally forced upon their attention, and in that way became one of the -fundamental principles of American railroad construction and operation. - -The terminal became recognized as one of the most efficient possible -solutions of the congestion problem, a little more than a quarter of a -century ago. It was then that the double-tracking and four-tracking -devices were found to measure all out of cost with the relief that was to -be derived from them. It was then that the engineers were told to meet the -situation with a relief that should be measurably low in cost. - -The result of their work has been to put America foremost with her -railroad terminals. The engineers have worked against great odds in many -cases. The railroads in the beginning took little or no forethought for -their terminals. They neglected rare opportunities to buy land for these -facilities in the beginning, when the cities were small and the land -cheap. They have paid in millions of dollars for this neglect. In some -cases, the early railroads had little money to expend upon this city real -estate; but in few cases did any of their managers have the gift of -prophecy that made them foresee the great cities of to-day or the great -tides of traffic they would be called upon to move. - -Nor has this phase of the situation improved within recent years. A great -railroad rebuilt its passenger terminal in an important city ten years ago -and blindly imagined that the increase in facilities would carry it a -quarter of a century at the least. To-day it is carrying off the remnants -of that station improvement to the scrap-heap and trying to see far enough -into the future to build a station that shall last it fifty years at -least. - -There is not an engineer employed by that railroad who will assert -himself as possessed of the absolute belief that the new station will be -adequate for the traffic of a half century hence, if indeed the great -spreading palace of steel and marble be in existence at all at that time. -All that they will tell you is to point to the fact that another one of -America's greatest passenger carriers has doubled its traffic within the -past ten years. - -"How can we gamble with an unknown future of such dimensions?" they ask -you in return. - -When the Park Square Station of the Boston & Providence Railroad in Boston -and the Grand Central Station in New York were built, in the early -seventies, they were the first railroad passenger terminals of size that -the country had seen. It was thought that _they_ would stand a hundred -years as monuments to the genius of the men who designed them. To-day they -are both gone, each supplanted by a station that both together might be -packed within. - -Do you wonder then that railroad operator and engineer alike stand -appalled at the tremendous terminal problem that our great cities, growing -awesome overnight, are constantly presenting to them? - - * * * * * - -In the beginning, there were no passenger or freight terminals, nor, -indeed, a traffic that demanded them. The passenger cars were apt to be -hauled by horses from some downtown depot through the centre of the street -to an "outer depot" at the edge of the town where the locomotive replaced -the horses. When the cars became heavier, the trains longer and more -frequent, the railroads were gradually forced in most cities to remove -their rails from the streets and the use of horses was generally -abandoned. Still, passengers crossing Baltimore, for some years after the -war on their way from the North to Washington, noticed that the trains -were broken into cars and drawn one by one by horses across the city, -through crowded streets, from one outer railroad station to the other. A -venerable white horse was the switching-engine in the Rochester depot -until the beginning of the eighties. - -When the passenger traffic on the railroads had become a business of -extent--about the middle of the past century--the construction of sizable -railroad stations began. The Fitchburg Railroad built its stone fortress -at Boston, which still stands and was for many years regarded as a marvel -of its sort. Down in Baltimore, the Susquehanna Railroad--afterwards the -Northern Central--built Calvert Station, and stanch old Calvert is still a -busy passenger gateway of the Monumental City. A few years later the -Baltimore & Ohio built Camden Station there and Camden Station was -regarded as something rather unusually fine for a number of years. - -In the sixties, the railroad terminals grew in size, and the old custom of -having separate stations at the far sides of important towns was -disappearing, as the American began to see and to demand the advantages of -through traffic. So Cleveland built at the close of the war a stone Union -Station, of such size that Cleveland folks bragged of it for many years. -The stone Union Station at Cleveland is still in use, but the folk of that -town do not brag of it nowadays. Cleveland has grown a good deal since -they built the Union Station there. - -The first real passenger terminals of importance in the country were the -Park Square in Boston, and the Grand Central in New York, to which -reference has already been made. These presented architectural pretensions -such as the railroads of the country had not before offered to the cities -they served. They also served as models for bigger things that were to -follow. In Boston, the Lowell Road planned and built a large new station, -and the era of the passenger terminal was begun. - -When the Pennsylvania Railroad built Broad Street Station, at -Philadelphia, it built a terminal a little finer than anything -accomplished up to that time. Even to-day, with the dignity of years -creeping upon it, Broad Street is still one of the foremost American -stations. The policy of its owners has been to keep it abreast of the -demands of the day, and only recently it has been greatly enlarged again, -its protecting, interlocking, and signal system being made second to none -in the world. To the traveller, the ivory-white waiting-room, where -Philadelphians delight to congregate, is an unending source of admiration; -engineers find interest in the intricate system of tunnels and bridges by -which a number of trunk-line divisions are brought into the station -without crossing at level. Broad Street Station shows a yearly increase in -its passenger traffic of about five per cent. It has a daily movement of -more than 600 loaded trains in and out, in addition to a heavy switching -movement. But because of the steady increase of its traffic the -Pennsylvania has already planned to relieve it by building a new main for -express trains out at West Philadelphia. When that is done Broad Street -will be used exclusively for suburban traffic. A short distance away -stands the Market Street Station, of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, -a terminal rivalling Broad Street in beauty, and only slightly inferior in -capacity. Philadelphia possesses two distinguished city gateways. - -But the first big station terminals--in our American sense that a thing -big must be bigger than anything else of the same kind in the world--were -those erected at Boston and at St. Louis. The first of these handles a -traffic far exceeding that of any other terminal ever built; the second -has a train-shed that is gigantic and overwhelming; and so each of the -cities can, in a measure of truth, claim for itself the largest railroad -station ever built. Each has enough of novelty and interest to make it -worthy of attention. - -The Boston terminal--South Station--was preceded by a giant structure -erected along the bank of the Charles River to receive a multitude of -through and suburban railroad lines entering from the north. This -terminal--North Station--embraced the structure of the Boston & Lowell -Railroad and superseded those of the Boston & Maine and Fitchburg -railroads. The merging of these and other interests into the present -Boston & Maine made the North Station a possibility. It is not a structure -of particular distinction, from either an architectural or an engineering -standpoint, but it has proved itself a mighty convenience to a travelling -public, using a multiplicity of busy lines. - -The convenience of it made the South Station a possibility. Boston, like -Philadelphia, spreads out well beyond its actual boundaries and measures -itself as a vast community, including many near-by cities and villages. -With the consolidation of a number of railroads in Southern New England -into the New York, New Haven & Hartford system, and the popularity of the -North Station so close at hand, the South Station came as a matter of -course. It replaced the stations of the New York & New England--whose site -forms part of its site--the Old Colony, the Boston & Albany, and the Park -Square Station. To accommodate the vast traffic of all these railroads, a -great terminal was designed and built, a thing whose bigness is hardly -realized by the passenger coming and going through it and who knows it -only as a thing of some thousands of shuffling feet, giant shadows, and -long distances. - -In addition to the 28 sub-tracks in the train-shed, South Station is, in -effect, a through station for electric suburban traffic. This service has -not yet been installed, but the tracks are ready for use upon short -notice, when the facilities of the main train-shed shall become overtaxed. -This through station has been ingeniously devised underneath the -train-shed and waiting-rooms of the terminal. It is served by two tracks -leading from the main entrance tracks to the station--guarded by separate -interlocking and tower controls, and consists of two extensive loops. For -suburban service, with no baggage to be handled, these loops will some day -afford a great accommodation. Three or four electric trains may be stood -upon each. The time and necessity of reversing the trains is entirely -obviated, and upon the two tracks of this sub-station a short-haul traffic -can be handled almost equal in numbers to that of the train-shed overhead. - -What such a statement means can be better realized by a recourse to bold -statistics. South Station handled 31,831,390 passengers in 1909, who -travelled two and fro in some 800 trains daily. It has handled more than -900 trains in a single day. Its baggage men take care of more than -2,500,000 trunks in a twelvemonth. The statistics of a city gate like -South Station are, in themselves, sizable. - -St. Louis has one passenger station to serve as city gate for the traffic -that comes and goes at that important railroad centre. That gate is the -chief through passenger traffic point of the world. From its train-shed -one may take through trains to every corner of the United States and a few -distant corners of Mexico and Canada. St. Louis, like most Western cities -has no volume of suburban traffic as New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, -but it is a consequential point for through passengers. The better to -serve the needs of the 22 different railroad systems entering that city, -the Union Station was built a dozen years ago. It was thought to be big -enough to last St. Louis many years. Before the World's Fair of 1904 -opened in that city the Union Station was already judged inadequate, and -an elaborate plan was consummated for its enlargement. - -When the Union Station was originally planned, St. Louis demanded a gate -that would be worthy of her size and dignity. No type of through station -would do, the head-house terminal was demanded and built, even though in -actual practice it necessitated backing each arriving train into the -shed. A station of giant size with the largest train-shed in the world was -built and hailed with a glad acclaim by the Western town. - -When the station was found inadequate, the engineers found their plans for -enlarging it would have to be adapted to a very confined area, proscribed -by immovable railroad properties to the south, highway viaducts to the -east and west, and a granite head-house, costing several million dollars, -to the north. Within that confined area, they were to correct the evils of -insufficient capacity--a train-shed with a single 4-track throat and some -standing tracks of but 3 cars' length, inadequate baggage arrangements, -and lesser evils. Within two years, they had substituted, without -increasing the area of the Union Station property, a 10-car capacity for -each of the 32 tracks of the train-shed, a double throat with 6 tracks, -increased concourses and distributing platforms for passengers, and a -complete subway system for the handling of baggage. The prosecution of -that work, while the station was in constant and busy use, ranks as one of -the marvels of latter-day practical engineering. - -From the standpoint of the architect, no other station has yet been built -in the United States that can compare with the new Union Station at -Washington. For years, the overcrowded railroad stations at that city have -been but wretched gateways to the national capitol. Now the city that is -fast becoming the Mecca of all Americans has an entrance worthy of her -dignity, and in keeping with the increasing magnificence of her -architectural works. - -The Washington Station is in full accord with the wonderful architectural -development of that city, and has a setting in the creation of a great -facing plaza, in which 100,000 troops may be gathered in review. Some day -the plaza is to be surrounded by a group of public buildings but even in -that day the white marble station, exceeding in size all other Washington -buildings save the Capitol itself, will remain the dominating feature of -that facing plaza. It has been created in simple classic outline, a -vaulted train-shed being purposely omitted, in order that the station -should not overshadow the proportions of the near-by Capitol. - -Similarly, the vaulted train-shed has been omitted in the splendid new -white granite terminal which the Chicago and Northwestern Railway has just -completed on the West Side of Chicago. That new terminal is a real -addition to a town which has long boasted two model stations--one in La -Salle Street and the other upon the Lake Front. The Northwestern terminal -is one of the fine architectural features of Chicago--a structure of -classic design, the dominating feature of which is a colonnaded portico, -monumental in type and towering to a height of 120 feet above the main -street entrance. - -This new terminal has a possible capacity of a quarter of a million -passengers each day. It has some novel features for the comfort of -passengers. A great many travellers cross Chicago in the course of -twenty-four hours; in many cases this is the single break in a weary and -dirty journey. For these, the new terminal not only provides the customary -lounging rooms and barber shops, but also private baths. There is a series -of rooms where invalids, women with children, or other persons seeking -privacy, may go directly by private elevator where they may rest while -waiting for connecting trains. For women there are tea-rooms and hospital -rooms, with trained nurses in attendance. That is almost the last note in -comfort for the traveller. There are, in addition to all these, private -rooms where the suburbanite may change into his evening clothes and -proceed in his various social duties, changing back again before he -catches his late train out into the country. - - * * * * * - -New York City is still in the process of rebuilding and readjusting her -gateways. Two magnificent terminals in her metropolitan district have -already been finished; the third is still under construction. The first of -these terminals is a real water-gate, built for the Lackawanna Railroad -and situated in Hoboken, just across the Hudson River from the corporate -New York. It is a handsome architectural creation in steel and concrete. -Its tall clock-tower dominates the river front by night and day and those -who come and go through its portals find themselves in a succession of -white and vaulted hallways and concourses that suggest a library or museum -more than the mere commercial structure of a railroad corporation. - -An interesting feature of the Hoboken Station is the abandonment of the -high train-shed such as has come to be a distinguishing feature of some of -the world's great terminals. Engine smoke and gases work havoc with the -structural steel work of such sheds, and the engineers of the Hoboken -Station fashioned a low-lying roof, slotted to receive the locomotive -stacks. The result is a clean train-house, yet admirably protected from -the stress of weather. It is a novel note in terminal engineering. - -The Pennsylvania Station, opened in November, 1910, has already become one -of the notable landmarks of New York. Beneath it disappeared the biggest -hole ever excavated at one time in the metropolitan city; for the great -station is not so famed either for its architectural beauty or for the -completeness of its details (although it is in the foreguard of the -world's great terminals in both of these regards), as for the stupendous -engineering project that was found necessary to connect it with the -trunk-line railroads that it serves. To the west, this takes form in two -parallel tunnels underneath the city, the Hudson River, and the Jersey -Heights; to the east a still heavier traffic, composed of empty trains in -Pennsylvania service and a great army of Long Island commuters, is carried -under the very heart of Manhattan Island and under the East River in four -parallel tunnels. Trains run for six miles under the greatest city of the -continent, with its flanking rivers and environs, without ever seeing -more than a momentary flash of daylight. The terminal has no train-shed or -other of the familiar external appearances of the usual railroad station -in a large city. - -[Illustration: A MODEL AMERICAN RAILROAD STATION--THE UNION STATION OF THE -NEW YORK CENTRAL, BOSTON & ALBANY, DELAWARE & HUDSON, AND WEST SHORE -RAILROADS AT ALBANY] - -[Illustration: THE CLASSIC PORTAL OF THE PENNSYLVANIA'S NEW STATION IN NEW -YORK] - -[Illustration: THE BEAUTIFUL CONCOURSE OF THE NEW PENNSYLVANIA STATION, IN -NEW YORK] - -[Illustration: "THE WAITING-ROOM IS THE MONUMENTAL AND ARTISTIC EXPRESSION -OF THE STATION,"--THE WAITING-ROOM OF THE UNION DEPOT AT TROY, NEW YORK] - -The Pennsylvania terminal also departs radically from the other great -terminals in its track arrangements. The twenty-one parallel station -tracks, with their platforms, are placed in a basement forty feet below -street level. In fact, the great building is divided into three levels. At -the street level are the broad entrances, the chief of these forming -itself into a broad arcade, lined with shops that cater particularly to -the demands of the traveller. On this floor are also the railroad's -commodious restaurant and lunch-room. - -On the intermediate plane, or level, the real business of the passenger -prefatory to his journey is transacted. The concourse, the great general -waiting-room, with its subsidiary rooms for men and women, the ticket -offices, and the telegraph offices are there gathered. From the roomy -concourse, covered in steel and glass after the fashion of the famous -train-sheds in Frankfort and Dresden, Germany, individual stairs and -elevators lead to each of the track platforms. A sub-concourse, hung -directly underneath the main structure, is reserved for exit purposes -only, and serves to separate the streams of incoming and outgoing -passengers. The north side of the station is separated and reserved for -the use of the Long Island passengers, chiefly commuters. - -The theory of operation of the station is simplicity itself. A -Pennsylvania through train from the West, after discharging its passengers -and baggage, will not be backed out of the train-house, but will continue -on through the station, under more tunnels and another river, to the -storage yards just outside of Long Island City. Similarly, trains made -ready for a long trip at the yards will proceed empty under the East River -tunnels to the big station, where they will receive their outbound load. -This is the theory of the station, an operating theory which makes it in -part like a giant way-station and saves much terminal congestion. The Long -Island trains and a few short-line Pennsylvania express trains will be -turned in the station. These are the exception. - -Of interest fully equal to that of the new Pennsylvania Station, is the -construction of a new Grand Central Station upon the site of and during -the use of the old. The Grand Central Station, used by both the New York -Central and the New York, New Haven, & Hartford Railroads, has been for -many years New York's great gateway to the east as well as the north and -west. It has developed a great suburban and a great through traffic since -the construction of the first station--away back in 1871. Temporary relief -was gained in the early eighties by the construction of an annex to the -east of the original station. Still further improvement was gained ten -years ago by tearing out a series of ill-arranged public rooms and -substituting for them the single beautiful waiting-room that has proved so -great a delight to travellers. Now that waiting-room is about to be -demolished in the face of plans for the newer and greater Grand Central. - -The building of the new station has offered tremendous problems to the -engineers, for it has demanded a complete reconstruction within extremely -limited area, while not placing hindrances in the way of the constant -operation of one of the world's greatest terminals. Coincident with the -rebuilding of the new station has come the substitution of electricity for -steam on the terminal lines of its two tenants, the New York, New Haven, & -Hartford, and the New York Central & Hudson River Railroads. In order to -work the three-mile tunnel through Park Avenue and the sole entrance for -trains to the station at greatest capacity, it was found necessary to -extend the yards of the new station far north of those of the old. This -work, alone, has necessitated the acquisition of whole city blocks of -tremendously valuable real estate and the excavation of several million -cubic yards of rock and earth. - -To accomplish the work of reconstruction and still enable the station to -handle its great traffic without serious interruption, serious forethought -and definite plans of action were found necessary. The plan was developed -by constructing a temporary building of brick and plaster covering a -vacant city block in Madison Avenue, at the west of the station. Into this -temporary structure a branch post office, an important adjunct of the -Grand Central, was moved from the extreme eastern side of the terminal. -Excavation for the new terminal began at its eastern edge and at that edge -the first portions of the new structure have been completed. A -waiting-room was then established in temporary quarters, the last vestiges -of the old Grand Central removed, and the main front and centre of the new -station fabricated. Similarly, as the excavation has progressed from the -east to the west side of the terminal, the great bulk of the traffic has -been gradually shifted from the old high-level to the new low-level. - -The new Grand Central complete will have its main train-shed devoted to -through traffic. A second train-shed of similar arrangement and of -slightly smaller dimensions will be constructed underneath the main shed -for suburban traffic, and a single head-house will serve both floors. The -head-house will have as its chief architectural feature, a concourse of -mammoth proportions. The lesser features of the new Grand Central will -contribute to make the new terminal, built upon the site of the historic -old, one of the world's greatest gateways. The fact that steam locomotives -are absolutely prohibited from entering either of the two new stations on -Manhattan Island makes these the cleanest railroad terminals yet built. - -So not only have our railroads begun to build great stations; they are -to-day building really beautiful stations. An age in which the American -demands the exquisite and the monumental in his architecture, palatial -homes, palatial shops, palatial hotels, demands that the railroad station -be something more than the mere expression of a commercial utility. Stone, -the sturdy and durable building material of all the ages, has become the -expression of these buildings from without. Within, they are gay with rare -marbles and mural paintings. There is nothing too fine for the railroad -passenger terminal of to-day in the United States. - -When the master fancy of the architect, Richardson, designed the splendid -stations at Worcester and Springfield, as well as a host of smaller -attractive stations along the line of the Boston & Albany Railroad, the -beginnings were made. More recently this rising American desire for beauty -and good taste has shown itself in such elaborate and artistic structures -as the stations at Albany and Scranton. The last step has come in the -designing of the palatial terminals in Chicago, in Washington, and in New -York City. It would take a bold prophet to anticipate what the next step -might be. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE FREIGHT TERMINALS AND THE YARDS - - CONVENIENCE OF HAVING FREIGHT STATIONS AT SEVERAL POINTS IN A - CITY--THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD'S SCHEME AT NEW YORK AS AN - EXAMPLE--COAL HANDLED APART FROM OTHER FREIGHT--ASSORTING THE - CARS--THE TRANSFER HOUSE--CHARGES FOR THE USE OF CARS NOT PROMPTLY - RETURNED TO THEIR HOME ROADS--THE HARD WORK OF THE YARDMASTER. - - -All the folk who come and go upon the railroad know the passenger -stations. Few of them know the freight terminals. Yet it is from this last -source that the railroad will derive the greater part of its revenue. The -freight terminals of a large city will be a group of plants, designed for -varying purposes. The railroad handles its passenger business from a -single structure, if possible. It is comparatively simple to gather all -its passengers, even from a broad territory, within a great city, and so -to concentrate this part of its traffic in a single well-located terminal. - -With the freight it is entirely a different question. The problem of -trucking is one of the great problems of each of our large cities, and, in -order to eliminate this as far as possible, the railroad, under the -stimulus of competition, will establish freight stations at each point -where any considerable volume of traffic is likely to originate. These -stations will consist of a freight-house, for handling package-freight -(your traffic expert calls this "LCL," meaning "less than carload"), and -wagon yards for carload lots. Perhaps there will be two freight-houses, -one for inbound, the other for outbound traffic. The wagon yards will have -to be ample for the accommodation of a host of trucks and drays as well -as for the long rows of freight-cars. - -In addition to these stations, each large manufacturing plant is apt to be -a freight station of itself, with a private switch running to its -shipping-rooms and storage sheds; and in even a moderate-sized American -city there may be from 300 to 500 of these sidings in active daily use. So -much for the general commodity freight. Then there are the special -commodities. - -Coal, for instance, is a freight business of itself. It is not handled in -the regular stations of the railroad, but in specially designed pockets -and storage sheds, which may be located at from one or two to half a -hundred different accessible points about the city. One begins to see, -after a little while, why the railroads now seize with avidity each -opportunity to gain lines through the hearts of our cities. Each line -gained means some appreciable relief toward the taking up of a traffic -burden that increases yearly. - -It is most probable that the freight terminals of the city will have to -accommodate much more traffic than that which originates or terminates -there. Important lines of other railroads may intersect at that point, and -the handling of interchange freight is a busy function of the terminal -scheme. It may be an important point for lake, river, or ocean traffic; -and in such a case, the industries at docks and docking facilities of -every sort form other busy functions. There will be coal or ore wharves, -elevators, and car-floats to enter into the scheme. - -So you see the railroad's freight terminal in any large city is like the -fingers of its extended hand. The long tendons reach into every productive -centre, gathering and distributing at from a dozen to fifty points, aside -from the private sidings. It is obvious that these must be caught together -somewhere; and generally upon the outskirts of an important traffic city -the railroad creates an interchange yard where this freight, incoming and -outgoing--100 trains a day, perhaps--is gathered together and sorted with -system and regularity, very much as the post office sorts the letters and -the mail packages. - -To examine more closely this working of a modern freight terminal scheme, -let us take a single plant of a single system. The great operation by -which the Pennsylvania Railroad catches up and delivers its freight in the -metropolitan district around New York is typical, and will illustrate. - -The Pennsylvania works with at least 24 freight stations, in addition to a -great number of private sidings from its lines as they pass through -Eastern New Jersey. These stations handle the freight of Manhattan Island, -Brooklyn, Jersey City, Hoboken, Newark, and smaller centres; but in -addition to them there are vast docks at which foreign steamers berth, -lighterage facilities for both foreign and coasting steamers, and a -tremendous freight interchange with the railroads running to the north and -east. The coal business is there again, a separate institution with many -piers and pockets; there is a group of bulky elevators that rise above the -smoky, busy Jersey shore, the whole going to make a sizable freight -terminal. There are coal pockets, piers, elevators, and a local freight -station at Jersey City (the railroad men know it as Harsemus Cove), and -another much larger plant at Greenville on the west bank of the upper -harbor, almost behind the Statue of Liberty. This last plant is just now -awaiting its greatest development. The Pennsylvania Railroad, through its -ownership control of the Long Island Railroad, is building an encircling -line, 4 and 6 tracks wide, around Brooklyn, and crossing its passenger -terminal yards at Long Island City. This encircling line--the New York -Connecting Railroad it is called--will be continued by a splendid bridge -over the East River to an actual connection with the New Haven system -reaching up into New England. When this is done, one of the bugaboos of -the freightmen--the slow and ofttimes dangerous movement of barges and -car-floats through the East River, past the entire length of Manhattan -Island--will be ended. Greenville will become the distributing point for -the bulk of New England freight that comes and goes from the south and the -west through New York. - -Even at the present time Greenville is a freight point of considerable -magnitude. Go out to Waverley, the great sprawling interchange yard that -reaches from Newark almost to Elizabeth along the edge of the Jersey -meadows, and watch the through trains come from Greenville. They rank well -to-day with the traffic that comes from Harsemus Cove already; and -Harsemus Cove is soon to be as nothing. - -Waverley is more than a mere junction. It was in the first instance the -neck of the bottle where the double-track line from Greenville, the main -line from Jersey City and Harsemus Cove, and the cut-off freight line that -carries through traffic around the heart of great and growing Newark, -united to form the main line of the busy Pennsylvania Railroad. Being a -gateway by natural location the railroad sought to make it a gateway in -reality. A big assorting or classification yard was built there for -outgoing freight, and another for the incoming. Storage tracks were added -and one of the great transfer houses of the country--but of that, more in -a moment. - -The business day ends at the many freight-houses along the waterfront of -Manhattan and Brooklyn at four o'clock in the afternoon. At that hour, the -railroad refuses to accept any more freight for the day, car-doors are -closed and sealed with rapidity; in a short time the long and clumsy -floats are being hauled by pert little tugs toward Harsemus or Greenville. -There is not much loafing at either of those points along about -supper-time. Switching crews show feverish activity in snatching the cars -from the floats, and yardmasters bend themselves nervously toward forming -the long trains that are to go rumbling toward the west throughout the -night. - -Stand in the switch-tower at Waverley, and you will begin to cultivate a -wholesome respect for the freight traffic that comes out from a great city -at nightfall. A through train from Greenville is billed to Pittsburgh, and -only hesitates long enough at Waverley to take the switch-points at that -busy junction with care. Three minutes behind it is a through Chicago -train from Harsemus Cove, and it goes stolidly through the gateway yard -without pausing. You wonder why they keep an expert yardmaster and half a -dozen switching crews at Waverley. Within five minutes you wonder no -longer. They are beginning to get the unassorted cars from the terminals, -cars that are bound for more than a score of States. The work of sorting -begins. The night yardmaster is a general, and he has an army of lesser -officers in the field. You can trace them through the night, as, lanterns -in hand, they are running along the trains (these are pulling in from the -waterfront every five minutes now), cutting out cars, adding cars, vamping -and revamping the freight traffic of the night. - -This track receives through freight for Philadelphia, the next for -Pittsburgh, the third for Cincinnati, the fourth for Washington and the -points diverging therefrom. So it goes. When the assorting process has -been in progress for more than an hour at one end of the classification -tracks, there are long trains of cars upon them ready to run solid to some -large city or important distributing point. After that it is a simple -enough matter to bring engines and cabooses and start the trains through. -Then the sorting of the cars is begun again and continues until the -freight receiving points and the freight interchange points in the -metropolitan district have been swept clean for the night. - -The transfer-house repeats the assorting process, only upon a smaller -scale, for it handles package freight--"less than carload." It is a long -structure, stretching its way down the yard and served by 8 to 10 long -sidings and unloading sheds. It takes the "LCL" stuff coming by night -from the connecting railroads and from the metropolitan freight-houses, -and a little after midnight its workers begin the sorting of this great -mass of matter, from 200 to 500 carloads a day. - -Here is a really great phase of railroad energy. We find our way to a -gaunt freight-house, to whose door no truck has ever backed, and which is -hemmed in by many rows of sidings and of sheds. In this building one of -the busiest functions of the whole transportation business goes forth by -day and by night. - -You ship a box--sixty pounds to one hundred pounds--from Wilkes-Barre, -Pa., to Berlin, Wis. Here comes another box from Watertown, N. Y., to -Norfolk, Va. A third is bound from Easthampton, Mass., to Chillicothe, O.; -a fourth from Terre Haute, Ind., to Plainfield, N. J., and so on, _ad -infinitum_. You can readily see how in such cases the railroads have a -problem in freight that closely approximates that of the Government mail -service. Ten thousand currents and cross-currents of merchandise rising -here and there and everywhere, and crossing and recrossing on their way to -destination, make a puzzle that does not cease when the rate-sheet experts -have finished their difficult work. - -If all the freight might be expressed in even multiples of cars the -problem would not be quite so appalling. But your box is a hundred pounds -weight, or less, perhaps--"LCL" anyway. From its destination it goes with -other boxes in a car to the nearest transfer point. At the transfer house -the car in which it is placed is drilled quickly into an infreight track, -seals are broken, doors opened, and re-assorting begins. The -transfer-house is roomy and systematic. If it were anything less it would -resemble chaos. - -But the chief freight points of that particular system and its connecting -points have regular stands, upon which nightly are placed cars bound for -these points. Each city (in the case of a large city each freight-house), -each transfer point, has a number, and its through car stands opposite -that number. When the infreight arrives and is unloaded piece by piece, a -checker, who is nothing less than an animated guide-book, gives each its -proper number, and it is promptly trucked off to the waiting car. It is -mail-sorting on a Titanic scale. - -Nor is this an absolute order. Certain towns demand an occasional through -car from time to time, and a car must be assigned number and place at the -transfer-house against such emergencies. Sometimes there is more than -enough freight to fill the car allotted to any given point, and then one -of the switching crews must drill that out and find another empty to -replace it. Beyond that, the yardmaster's superiors are all the time -demanding that he show judgment in picking the cars to be filled. - -When a freight car gets off the system to which it belongs it collects -forfeits from the other lines over which it passes, if they do not -expedite its passage; this the railroaders know as "_per diem_." The great -trick in operating is to keep _per diem_ down; and so the "foreign" cars, -so called, must be promptly returned to their home roads. - -"We load out of the transfer-house a through car over the Northwestern -from Chicago every day," the man who has this yard in charge explains. -"It's up to me to have a Northwestern empty for that when I can. When I -can't, I do the best I can." He scratches his head. "Perhaps I'll use a -Canadian Pacific, and so get her started along toward home. If not, -something from the Sault; just as I am going to start that New Haven car -over toward Connecticut to-night. If I were to send that New Haven car out -beyond Washington there'd be trouble, and I've got to dig out something -empty from the Boston & Maine to take that stuff over to Lowell. Mos' -generally, though, when we've got a turn of Western stuff, I've got my -'empty' tracks stuffed full o' them New England cars." - -We mention something about the transfer-house being a mighty good thing. - -"It's a necessary evil," says our guide, correcting us. - -He starts to explain. "See here. The X----, over in its Jersey City -transfer-house, got near a carload of that fancy porcelain brick through -from Haverstraw las' week, and that young whelp of a college boy that's -hangin' round there learnin' the railroad business gets it into his noodle -that it's somethin' awful, awful for that stuff to be goin' through to -Middle Ohio in a Maine Central box, an 'LCL' at that. So out he dumps it -into a system car right here an' now, and saves his road about one dollar -and fifty cents _per diem_. Of course they pay about one hundred and -thirty-five dollars for damages to that brick in the transferrin'. But the -boy's all right in the transfer-house. If he was out on the engine he -might blow up the biler." - - * * * * * - -Here is another great railroad yard--this almost filling a mighty crevice -between God's eternal hills. This is within the mountain country, and the -gossip that you get around the roundhouse is all of grades. You hear how -Smith and the 2,999 pulled seven Pullmans around the Saddleback without a -pusher; how some of the big preference freights take four engines to mount -the summit; the tales of daring are tales of pushers and of trains -breaking apart on the fearful mountain stretches. - -Randall is yardmaster here, and Randall is the opposite of the layman's -picture of a yardmaster--a slovenly, worn, profane sort of fellow. Randall -does not swear; he rarely even gets excited; his system of administration -is so perfectly devised that even in a stress he rarely has to turn to -work with his own hands. With him railroading is a fine, practical -science. He will tell you of the methods at Collinwood, at Altoona, at -Buffalo, at Chicago--wherein they differ. He is cool, calculating, clever, -a capital railroader in addition to all these. - -[Illustration: SOMETHING OVER A MILLION DOLLARS' WORTH OF PASSENGER CARS -ARE CONSTANTLY STORED IN THIS YARD] - -[Illustration: A SCENE IN THE GREAT FREIGHT-YARDS THAT SURROUND CHICAGO] - -[Illustration: THE INTRICACY OF TRACKS AND THE "THROAT" OF A MODERN -TERMINAL YARD: SOUTH STATION, BOSTON, AND ITS APPROACHES] - -You speak of his yard as being overwhelmingly big. He answers in his -deliberate way: - -"We've more than 200 miles of track in this yard; something more than -2,000 switches operate it." - -Then he takes you down from his office, elevated in an abandoned -switch-tower, and looking down upon his domain. He explains with great -care that, his yard being a main-line division point and not a point with -many intersecting branches or "foreign roads," its transfer-house is -inconsequential. The same process that goes forward with the -package-freight in the transfer-houses, Randall carries on in this yard -with cars. These operations are separated for east-bound and west-bound -freight and each is given an entirely separate yard, easily reached from -the group of roundhouses that hold the freight motive power of that part -of the system. Randall's, being an unusually large yard, further divides -these activities into separate yards for loaded and empty cars on the -west-bound side. No east-bound "empties" are handled over his road. - -We follow him to the nearest operating point, the west-bound -classification yard for loaded cars. In the old days this was a broad flat -reach of about 20 parallel tracks, terminating at each end in approaches -of lead of "ladder" track. Upon each set of 3 or 4 tracks a switch-engine -is busy in the eternal classification process. In these more modern days -you may see the "hump" or gravity-yard, although you will still find -skilled railroaders who are prejudiced against its use. In the hump-yard -half of the work of the switch-engines is done by gravity. This new type -of railroad facility has an artificial hill, just above the termination of -the parallel tracks where they cluster together, and upon this hump one -switch-engine with a trained crew does the work of six engines and crews -in the old type of yard. - -A preference freight rolls into the receiving yard for the west-bound -classification. Its engine uncouples and steams off for a well-earned rest -in the smoky roundhouse. A switch-engine uncouples the caboose that has -been tacked on behind over the division, and it is shunted off to the -near-by caboose track, where its crew will have close oversight of -it--perhaps sleep in it--until it is ready to accompany some east-bound -freight a few hours hence. - -Blue flags (blue lights at night) are fastened at each end of the -dismantled cars, and the inspectors have a quarter of an hour to make sure -if the equipment is in good order. If the car is found with broken -running-gear it is marked, and soon after drilled out from its fellows, -sent to the transfer-house to have its contents removed, to the shops for -repairs, or the "cripple" track for junk, if its case is well-nigh -hopeless. - -With the "O. K." of the car inspectors finally pronounced, the train that -was comes up to the hump, and the expert crew that operates there makes -short work of sorting out the cars--this track for "stuff" southwest of -Pittsburgh, this next for Cleveland and Chicago, the third for -transcontinental; and so it goes. Two lines of cars are drilled at the -same time, for just ahead of the switch-engine is an open-platform car, -known as the "pole-car," and by means of heavy timbers the "pole-man" -guides two rows of heavy cars down the slight grades to their -resting-places. - -The cars do not rest long upon the classification-yard tracks. From the -far end of each of these they are being gathered in solid trains, one for -Pittsburgh, another for Cleveland and Chicago, the third transcontinental, -and so on. Engines of the next division are being hitched to them, pet -"hacks" brought from the caboose tracks, and the long strings of loaded -box-cars are off toward the West in incredibly short time. - -Of course there are some trains that never go upon the "classification" at -Randall's yard. There are solid coal trains bound in and out of New York, -of Philadelphia, and of Boston, that pass him empty and filled, and only -change engines and cabooses at his command. There are through freights, -bound from one seaboard to the other, from the Far East to the Far West, -that do likewise. But the majority of the freight movement has the sorting -out within his domain, his four humps are busy day and night with an -ordinary run of traffic, and you shudder to think what must be the -condition when business begins to run at high tide. - -"We get it a-humming every once in a while," he finally confesses. "We had -one day, a little time ago, when we received 121 east-bound trains in -twenty-four hours, more than 3,200 cars all told. That meant, on an -average, a train every 11-1/2 minutes. That same day we got 78 west-bound -freights, with more than 3,600 cars. That meant nearly 7,000 cars handled -on the in-freight in twenty-four hours, or a train coming in to me every -7-1/2 minutes during day and night. They don't do much better than that on -some of the subway and elevated railroads in the big cities; and I haven't -said a word about the trains and cars we despatched--just about as much -again, of course." - -Through yards such as these there are incoming streams of merchandise, -equal at least to the outgoing, passing through classification yards in -carload lots and the great transfer-houses in "LCL." These streams must be -kept separate and from clogging one another or themselves. Cars must carry -loads whenever they are moved--"empties" are the bogy-men of the -superintendents of transportation--and cars from "foreign" systems must be -quickly returned to their home roads. The yardmaster at a busy freight -point has his own worries. His puzzle is unending. To it he must bend the -bigness of a big mind, he must be prepared to handle the unequal volumes -of traffic that pass through his domain with an equal skill: in dull times -he must seek to keep his plant working under conditions of rare economy; -when the freight rises to flood tide, he must fight in harness to prevent -the freight from congesting. The word "failure" has been stricken out of -his vocabulary by his superiors. - -It takes a high grade of railroader to serve as yardmaster. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE LOCOMOTIVES AND THE CARS - - HONOR REQUIRED IN THE BUILDING OF A LOCOMOTIVE--SOME OF THE EARLY - LOCOMOTIVES--SOME NOTABLE LOCOMOTIVE-BUILDERS--INCREASE OF THE SIZE OF - ENGINES--STEPHENSON'S AIR-BRAKE--THE WORKSHOPS--THE VARIOUS PARTS OF - THE ENGINE--CARS OF THE OLD-TIME--IMPROVEMENTS BY WINANS AND - OTHERS--STEEL CARS FOR FREIGHT. - - -From out of the fiery womb of steel comes the locomotive. We have already -told of the honor that is forged in the building of the bridge; honor of -no less degree has gone into the forging of the most vital and most human -thing upon the railroad, outside of man himself. That man has ever been -able to create and build the locomotive, a giant creature of some 200 -tons, perhaps, built together with infinite care of some 5,000 to 7,000 -parts, and these parts acting with the delicacy of the hair-spring of a -watch, almost passes ordinary belief. The wonder becomes even greater when -it is realized that this monster creature, set upon two slender rails, is -capable of pulling a 4,000 ton train, through every stress of weather and -over considerable grades. - -To tell in detail of the locomotive in one chapter is short allowance to a -subject that fairly demands for itself a whole book, a technical mind for -the telling, and at least a fairly technical mind for the understanding; a -subject that in its history goes hand in hand with that of the railroad -itself. Yet the limitations of this book forbid a more lengthy -description. - -We have already told of a very few of the earliest and most famous -American locomotives; the _Stourbridge Lion_, which Horatio Allen brought -to the Delaware & Hudson Company; the _Best Friend_, which was built in -New York City, and which went to Charleston, South Carolina, to be the -first American locomotive to run in the United States, the _De Witt -Clinton_, which awoke the echoes of the Hudson and Mohawk valleys in a -single day; and the _Tom Thumb_, built by Peter Cooper, which induced the -directors of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to change their motive power -from horses to steam, and so opened a great new development for their -property. - -A little while after Cooper's _Tom Thumb_ had achieved the astounding feat -of beating a team of horses in hauling a railroad coach, the directors of -the B. & O. offered a prize of $4,000 "for the most approved engine that -shall be delivered for trial upon the road on or before June 1, 1831; and -$3,500 for the engine which shall be adjudged the next best." It was -determined in this prospectus that "the engine, when in operation must not -exceed three and one-half tons weight and must, on a level road, be -capable of drawing day by day fifteen tons, inclusive of the weight of -wagons, fifteen miles an hour." - -Three locomotives answered this generous offer. Of them but one, the -_York_, oftener called the _Arabian_, built at York, Pa., by Davis & -Gartner, and hauled to Baltimore by horses over the turnpikes, was of -practical service. Phineas Davis was a watch and clock maker, but he -succeeded in devising a locomotive that was the forerunner of the famous -_Grasshopper_ upon the Baltimore & Ohio. Better name was never given to a -locomotive, the rude and ungainly angles formed by rods and levers giving -a distinct resemblance to the long-legged bugs. Yet the Grasshoppers -served their purpose. In the late eighties, the _Arabian_ was still in -service in the Mount Clare yards at Baltimore. With a single exception, it -never had an accident or even left the rails. That exception was just -before the completion of the Washington branch, and Davis was a passenger -upon the engine. It was going at a fair rate of speed when suddenly it -rolled over upon its side in the ditch. No one was hurt, save Davis, who -was instantly killed. It seemed a strange caprice of Fate, for although -careful examination was immediately made, both of the engine and of the -track, no reason could ever be assigned for the accident. - -In that same year, 1831, the _John Bull_, which was built by George & -Robert Stephenson & Company, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, in England, was -received in Philadelphia for the Camden & Amboy Railroad. As long as the -locomotive continues to serve the railroad the name of George Stephenson, -its inventor, must be indissolubly linked with it. The _John Bull_ was -easily the most famous Stephenson engine ever sent to the United States. -It has been shown at all our great expositions, and now occupies a -position of honor in the great Smithsonian institution at Washington. Of -these early engines, which it was found necessary to bring from England, a -volume once issued by the Rogers Locomotive Works, of Paterson, N. J., has -said: - - "These locomotives ... furnished the types and patterns from which - those which were afterwards built here were fashioned. But American - designs soon began to depart from their British prototypes, and a - process of adaption to the existing conditions of the railroads in - this country followed, which afterwards differentiated the American - locomotives more and more from those built in Great Britain. A marked - feature of difference between American and English locomotives has - been the use of a forward truck under the former." - -As a matter of fact, the English engines, built for use on long straight -stretches of line would never have served on the early roads in this -country with their steep and curving routes through the mountains. So, in -the latter part of the year 1831, John B. Jervis invented what he called -"a new plan of frame, with a bearing-carriage for a locomotive engine" for -the use of the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, in which he introduced the -forward truck which is to-day a distinctive feature of American engines. -Its effectiveness was at once recognized, and its almost general adoption -immediately followed. Five years later, Henry R. Campbell, of -Philadelphia, had patented his system of two driving-wheels and a truck, -and the distinctive type of American locomotive was born. - -In the development of that peculiarly successful type, great names have -been written into the history of American locomotive-building--the names -of such men as Rogers and Winans and Hinckley and Mason and Brooks and -Matthias Baldwin and William Norris; the last two both of Philadelphia. -Norris, after some interesting smaller engines, built the _George -Washington_ in 1835. This engine was not one whit less than a triumph. It -ascended the steep plane of the Columbia Railroad in Philadelphia, a grade -of 7-1/2 per cent, carrying two passenger cars in which were seated 53 -persons. It came to a stop on that grade and started up again by its own -efforts. After reaching the summit, the engine was turned around and came -down, stopping once in its descent. - -That was the only time that a locomotive ever essayed the Columbia plane, -and the performance of the _George Washington_ has not been attempted in -all these years save in the case of Latrobe's temporary line at Kingwood -Tunnel. The English newspapers of that day ridiculed the experiment, -pronounced it a Baron Munchausen story, yet in 1839 Norris sent an engine -overseas that successfully climbed the then famous Lickey plane, in -England. After that he was besieged by foreign orders, sending 16 American -locomotives to Great Britain in 1840, and, during the next few years, 170 -others to France, Germany, Prussia, Austria, Belgium, Italy, and Saxony. -William Norris did his full part in giving Europe a measure of respect for -the growing nation across the Atlantic. - -Matthias Baldwin, like Phineas Davis, of York, was a watch maker in the -beginning of his life. He lived long enough to lay the foundation of one -of the greatest of American single industries, to give his name to a firm -that has carried the fame of American locomotives around the world and -kept it alive in every nation of the earth. Baldwin's first locomotive was -built in 1832 for the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Railroad; -and that it was a good locomotive is proved by the fact that it performed -twenty years of faithful service upon that line. His second engine, built -two years later, went south to that famous old Charleston & Hamburg -Company. After that his works were regularly established, their head to -give his patience and untiring genius to the perfecting of the locomotive. -The history of Baldwin locomotives is, in an important sense, the history -of the industry in the United States. - -It was not long before the pioneer engines were considered too small for -much practical value, and Mr. Baldwin was building a much bigger -locomotive for the Vermont Central Railroad. This engine, named the -_Governor Paine_ for a famous executive of that State, was delivered in -1848, and for it was paid the unprecedented price of $10,000. It had a -pair of driving-wheels, six and one-half feet in diameter placed just back -of the fire-box, a slightly smaller pair being placed forward. Baldwin -must have given full value, for it is related that the engine could be -started from a state of rest and run a mile in forty-three seconds. The -Pennsylvania Railroad ordered three of the same sort, and one of these -once hauled a special train carrying President Zachary Taylor at sixty -miles an hour. In weight, the locomotive was steadily increasing. In the -beginning, these engines weighed from four to seven tons each; by the late -forties engines of twenty-five tons each were being built for the Reading -Road, and these were regarded as monsters. - -Year by year the locomotive was being perfected in all its details. The -cab made its appearance and was first opposed by the engineers, who -imagined that they would be badly penned in, in case of accident. The -Erie contributed the bell-rope signal from the train; we have already -heard of that first whistle on the locomotive of the Sandusky and Mad -River Railroad. The Boston & Worcester devised the headlight, so that time -might be saved by handling freight at night. More important than these -were the experiments by Ross Winans and by S. M. Felton that led to the -substitution of coal for wood as a fuel, and the development by Rogers at -his Paterson works of the link device, so necessary in stopping, starting, -and reversing the locomotive. - -Gradually the size of the locomotive increased to 28 and 30 tons in the -late fifties. Finally James Milholland, engineer of machinery for the -Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, built in 1863 a pusher engine for coal -trains that weighed something over 50 tons. When folk saw that engine they -almost gasped, and wondered what the railroads were coming to. But the -wiser men kept silent. They knew that as long as bridges and roadbeds and -fine steel rails were increased in strength, the limit of size of the -locomotive had not been reached. The greater grip the locomotive has upon -the rail, the greater its pulling power, the greater its efficiency. Sheer -weight, and weight alone, gives that grip. It certainly takes a weight of -seven tons to give a grip of one ton upon a dry rail; in the case of wet -rails this ratio becomes ten to one. - -Then wonder not that the locomotive steadily increased in size, that the -Moguls with six driving-wheels, and the Consolidations with eight, came -into vogue a few years after the close of the war, and that these kept -increasing in weight all the while. Height and width were and still are -rigidly limited by the clearance of the line. The locomotive must stand no -more than fourteen or sixteen feet high and from nine to eleven feet wide; -in length the problem only meets the genius of the designer. - -But it is altogether possible that the limit of the size of the -locomotive would have been reached long ago if it had not been for the -coming of the air-brake. This most important assurance of the safety of -the railroad passenger came into its being in 1869, when George -Westinghouse, its inventor, was permitted to try it on a Panhandle train. -From the beginning of railroads the necessity for brakes was apparent, and -in 1833 Robert Stephenson patented a steam brake for the driving-wheels. -That same brake, with compressed air substituted for steam, is essentially -the Westinghouse device of to-day. But Westinghouse made the air do the -work of steam. After he had developed the idea he offered it to leading -Eastern railroads, but they one and all declined it. - -Finally, he was permitted to place it on a Panhandle train, full assurance -having been given to the railroad officials that he would be personally -responsible for any injury done to their equipment. Four cars and an -engine were fitted with the new device and the train started forth from -Pittsburgh to Steubenville. On the way its progress was halted by a farm -wagon which was caught in the rail at a highway crossing. The engineer -whistled for the handbrakes in the good old-fashioned way but he knew that -he was too late. Then he thought of the air-brake. He had little faith in -the contraption, but he gave its handle a wrench and the train stopped ten -feet from the wagon. Several lives were saved and the air-brake was -proven. From that day forth it was simply a question of developing the -device to its fullest possibility, and Mr. Westinghouse has proved himself -able to do that very thing. - -The air-brake was a fact. Steel had come into use for axles, driving-wheel -tires, frames, and every other vital or bearing part of the locomotive; -and the designers were again increasing its size. They passed the -_Consolidation_ and built the _Mastodon_. These were freighters--each with -ten drivers--drivers with tremendous gripping force. They went through -what M. N. Forney has called a "period of adolescence in railroad -progress," and in that period they experimented with huge driving-wheels -only to discard them once again. Then they built bigger engines than even -the _Mastodon_; the _Decapod_, with twelve driving-wheels; the _El -Gobernador_ which was built by the Southern Pacific at its Sacramento -shops in 1884, weighing, with engine and tender fully equipped, 113 tons. - -Still the locomotive grows and its progenitors talk of the 500-ton -machine. They have recently built the Mallet articulated compound, which -because of its very great weight has splendid gripping force and is -especially adapted for pushing-service on heavy grades. The Baltimore & -Ohio, the Erie, the New York Central, the Great Northern, and the Santa Fe -have already become committed to this type of engine. The American -locomotive Company has just completed for the Delaware & Hudson several -Mallet articulated compounds that are among the most powerful locomotives -yet constructed. They were designed for pusher service, on heavy grades, -north from Carbondale on the main line of the D. & H., which average from -.81 to 1.36 per cent. Up to recently the heavy northbound coal traffic up -these grades has been handled by the use of two heavy pusher engines. A -single one of the new Mallets will do the work of the two pushers, and -therein lies the economy in their use. - -These new giants are, in operation, two 8-wheel engines, with individual -cylinders, steam chests and supplies from a single boiler and fire-box. -The gripping power of 16 driving-wheels under the enormous weight of 223 -tons can be imagined; the designers estimate it at the high figure of -forty-three tons. The exceptional length of these monster engines--a -fraction over ninety feet--is carried around the curves of mountainous -lines by an ingenious joint in their solid steel frames. This then is only -the latest of American engines; but not quite the biggest, for the Topeka -shops of the Santa Fe Railroad claim that honor with their new Mallets, -each 121 feet long and weighing complete 810,000 pounds. The 500-ton -locomotive does not seem so very far away when one comes to consider the -Santa Fe giants. These engines, which are operated in pushing freights -over the heavy grades in the Southwest, were built from two of the Santa -Fe's heaviest freight engines. They operate with equal facility in either -direction as there is not a turntable in the land which would come -anywhere near accommodating them. - -[Illustration: ONE OF THE "DIAMOND-STACK" LOCOMOTIVES USED ON THE -PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES - -PRAIRIE TYPE PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE OF THE LAKE SHORE - -PACIFIC TYPE PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL - -ATLANTIC TYPE PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE, BUILT BY THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD AT -ITS ALTOONA SHOPS] - -[Illustration: ONE OF THE GREAT MALLET PUSHING ENGINES OF THE DELAWARE & -HUDSON COMPANY - -A TEN-WHEELED SWITCHING LOCOMOTIVE OF THE LAKE SHORE - -SUBURBAN PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL - -CONSOLIDATION FREIGHT LOCOMOTIVE OF THE PENNSYLVANIA] - -In recent years, the rather graceful custom of giving names to the -classification of locomotives has been extended to the passenger -motive-power. In 1895, the Baldwins created the Atlantic type of -four-driver locomotive for high-speed service both on the Atlantic Coast -Line and on the Atlantic City Railroad, from Camden to the ocean--and the -name has stuck. The Brooks plant of the American Locomotive Company at -Dunkirk similarly developed the Pacific type for passenger locomotives -with six drivers instead of four. The Prairie type was appropriately -enough sponsored by the Burlington system. It is like the Pacific type -save that the forward or lead truck (the Englishman would blandly call it -the "bogey") has but two instead of the conventional four wheels. - -Your locomotive-builder is apt to be more systematic about these types of -engine, and he falls back on what is generally known as Whyte's -classification. The basis of this simple system is in the number of wheels -of the engine itself. Each type is described by a series of three numbers, -the first of these being the number of wheels in front of the drivers, the -second the number of drivers, and the third the number of wheels to the -rear of these. The eight-wheel American type, the simplest for -illustration here, would thus be described as "4-4-0." - -The trailer, which is described by the third number in this series, is a -recent addition to the locomotive family in this country. It came from -the constant lengthening of the fire-box, due to the necessity of -providing greater steam-power for engines of increasing weight and -cylinder capacity. When the fire-box began to overhang too far, the -trailer-wheels were introduced, and a device was affixed to the locomotive -by which they might receive its weight for hill-climbing purposes. This -last device has not proved particularly successful. But the trailer itself -has become a fixed device in locomotive construction. When the third -figure in Whyte's classification is a cypher it simply means that there -are no trailers. Similarly the first figure a cypher, indicates the -absence of a forward truck or even wheels, which is common in some forms -of switch-engines, where the weight is entirely concentrated on the -drivers for better gripping power upon the rail. - -Such, in brief, is the development of the locomotive. It has been -development rather than change, for while some designers have fretted -about whether the engine's cab should be in the middle of the boiler or at -its end and others have recently developed the Walsheart gears upon the -outside of the engine frame, where it is of easier access than the -old-style links, the general design of the iron-horse remains practically -the same as that given it by our grand-daddies. They planned carefully and -they planned for the long years. The essential features of their designs -have not been questioned. It has simply been a problem of growth. - - * * * * * - -From out of the fiery womb of steel comes the locomotive. If you would -better understand the iron horse, find your way to any of the great plants -in which he is being built. Begin at the beginning in a factory, which -seems, with dozens of shops and great yards, to be almost a miniature -city. Begin at the draughting-rooms where each locomotive is given a whole -ledger page--sometimes two or three--for specifications. From those -specifications, the young draughtsmen take their instructions. They work -out their charts and elevations, their detailed plans; and the ink is -hardly dry upon their drawings before they are being whisked away to the -blueprint rooms. The blueprints are still damp, when in turn they are -hurried to the different construction shops of the plant. - -You see these shops, one by one, in care of an expert guide. You see the -wooden patterns going to the blast furnaces at the foundries and to the -sullen tappings of the trip-hammers. You leave the blacksmiths and stand -for a moment--not long--under the terrific din of the boiler-makers. The -boiler, the great trunk of the locomotive, is built of steel plate--plate -that is the very pride of the rolling-mills. In some foreign lands, copper -fire-boxes are demanded; but the real American locomotive has these also -of steel. - -The steel plates are rolled to form the boiler itself, flanged by -angle-workers into the square fire-box. Finally the boiler and the -fire-box are riveted together, section by section--made as fast by steel -thread as man's ingenuity can make them. Together they form a unit. -Another unit is being formed in an adjacent shop, the solidly welded steel -frame in which the boiler shall yet set, and to which truck and drivers -will be firmly fastened. Forward on this frame will sit the cylinders; in -another corner of this shop they are being made ready. Cast-iron still -remains the best material for the cylinders and the steam-chests. These -are cast in one piece and the rule holds good where there are two -cylinders, as in the case of the compounds. The cylinders, and steam-chest -for one side and half the "saddle" of the locomotive, upon which the -forward end of the boiler rests, are nowadays generally made in a single -casting. After that it is a simple enough matter to smooth down the outer -surface, bore the cylinders to perfect surfacing, and line the -steam-chests with a bushing that can be readily removed once it is worn -out. - -The driving-wheels are an important detail of the construction of the -locomotive. They are made in rough castings--of steel for fast passenger -engines, and of iron for other forms of motive power--and are then made -true in giant lathes. The steel tires are shrunk on the wheels, a work of -astounding nicety; and in turn the wheels themselves are heated and shrunk -upon the axles--of the best steel that man can forge. To place these -wheels upon the axles is hair-line work. A 9-inch hub receives an axle -just 8.973 inches--no more, no less--in diameter. It is keyed and then -under the slight expansion of a gentle heat it is rammed upon the -axle-end. It goes on to stay, and stay it must. - -From all these shops, a busy industrial railroad brings the different -parts to the great and busy hall of the erecting-shop, a vast place of -vast distances and filled always with the noisy clatter of great industry. -Here the different parts, which have been carefully built by skilled -artisans, are assembled into the finished whole. The cylinders and -saddle-halves are placed and firmly riveted together. Into the collar of -that saddle a giant overhead crane carefully sets the boiler and the -fire-box. They are quickly riveted to the upper flange of the saddle: the -locomotive is coming into a semblance of itself. - -The cab is fastened into position; then the boiler-makers descend upon the -unfinished engine and place the 200 or more flue-tubes that run from -fire-box to smoke-box, just underneath the stack. They make every tube and -joint fast--put into the growing locomotive all the energy and all the -skill of good workmanship. When they are gone the giant crane again comes -noiselessly down along the ceiling. It reaches down, grasps the -engine-trunk, and swings it high aloft. - -Down there, resting on real railroad tracks, are the driving-wheels and -the lead truck, carefully spaced in anticipation. The crane, lifting the -fifty tons of boiler and frame with no apparent effort whatsoever, places -its load squarely upon the wheels that are to carry it. Again the -mechanics are busy; the engine is growing into a solid unit. Upon their -heels follow testers, men who must look for steam or water leaks. They -work under a test of air, carrying lighted candles into every nook and -cranny of the giant. If the candle flutters, air is escaping, and the leak -must be found. - -Finally comes the report "O. K." from the testing crew. The stacks, the -steam and sand domes, and the air-brakes are being made fast. The engine -is hurried off to the paint-shop. There it may find its companion in life, -the humble useful tender already awaiting it. It came direct from the -tender shop; for the appendage of the locomotive is no longer a specially -rigged flat-car but a solid steel plate construction built to carry some -9,000 gallons of water and about 16 tons of coal. Only a little time ago, -a New Yorker, scion of a wealthy and famous family of railroaders, proved -himself worth his oats by designing a tender of great practicability and -of great economy of construction. - -When the engine emerges from the paint-shop it is gorgeous and -refulgent--brilliantly new. Unless it is going to foreign lands, when it -must be partly dismantled and crated, it will ride its own wheels to the -road which has purchased it. A string of new locomotives may be sprinkled -through a freight train--never coupled together--in charge of an inspector -from the locomotive company, who will bunk in one of the cabs and never -leave his charges until they have been receipted for. After that the -locomotive begins to bend to the work for which he was created. Unless he -is of a very unusual sort or was built for some very especial purpose, he -soon loses his identity. The days are gone when locomotives were -christened after the fashion of ships. There are too many of them. Each is -given the cold informality of a number, marshalled for service in a mighty -company. - -Cars came as corollary to the locomotive. In the beginning the passenger -coaches were nothing more or less than old-time stage-coaches which had -been set upon wheels so flanged as to enable them to stay upon the rail. -So it was that the first cars built for the railroad followed stage-coach -models. It was a practical necessity from the first to draw more than one -small coach at a time, so the couplings and the bumper devices came as a -matter of development. Then came the day when an aspiring inventor grouped -several stage-coaches together on a single rigid frame and he had really -developed a form of railroad coach--a form which our English and -continental cousins still cling fondly to, in despite of its most apparent -disadvantages. - -Four wheels quickly gave way to eight. In the early thirties, Ross Winans -developed a double-truck car for use on the Baltimore & Ohio. Compared -with anything that had gone before it was certainly a pretentious vehicle. -It was thirty feet in length, four-wheel trucks being attached at the -ends, very much after the present fashion. There were seats on the flat -roof, which were reached by a ladder in the corner, and the car itself was -divided into three compartments. A little later Winans tore out the cross -partitions in the car and introduced the end doors and the centre aisle, -thus establishing the American passenger coach of to-day. The Baltimore & -Ohio manufactured a number of these coaches at its famous Mount Clare -shops. They were known for years as the "Washington cars," probably -because they were the first run on the Washington branch. - -If Winans had been able to establish his patent rights to the double-truck -car he might have reaped a fortune from its royalties alone. But when he -went to assert his right as an inventor, it was discovered that the idea -was not absolutely new. Gridley Bryant, in his old Quincy Granite -Railroad, just south of Boston, had used the device in crude form. The -four-wheeled flat cars which he had employed in bringing stone from the -quarries down to the dock were not long enough for granite slabs. He had -met that emergency by fastening two of them together with coupling-rings, -and thus in a way had created the eight-wheel car. So Winans lost his -patent although credit is given him for having really developed the -passenger car of to-day. - -The form, once set, came quickly into vogue. In a few of the Southern -States, old-fashioned gentlemen followed the early English fashion of -having their private carriages attached to flat freight-cars whenever they -went on railroad trips, but even this was a passing fad. At that time -carriages were no novelty, and railroad cars were. They were stuffy little -affairs compared with the coaches of to-day, miserably lighted and heated -and ventilated, but Americans were very proud of them. The fashion that -made early locomotives gay with color, with brass and burnished metals of -other sorts, found full scope upon the passenger cars, both inside and -out. They were pannelled and striped, ornamented and lettered to the limit -of the skill of gifted painters. A coach, named the Morris Run, on the old -Tioga Railroad, which began running south from Elmira about 1840, was -decorated in red and green and yellow and blue and gilt and several other -colors. It would have made a modern circus band wagon inconspicuous. But -the day came when the brass stars and the red stack-bands began to -disappear with the names from the locomotives and in that day the railroad -cars became subdued in colorings. Some of the gay frescoes of the -interiors, typical of the taste of an earlier day, were in use within the -present generation. - -While the "Washington cars" set a type, there was much yet to be -accomplished in the development both of the passenger coach and of the -freight car, and this much was chiefly in the line of the development of -safety devices. The old-time passenger rode in a very decent fear of his -life. Sometimes a loosened end of one of the "strap rails" would come -plunging up through the flimsy floor of the coach and impale some -unfortunate passenger upon its end against the ceiling; other times the -cars would go rolling off the banks and crashing into kindling-wood -against one another. They were lightly built contrivances, incapable of -standing any sort of shock or collision. - -But improvements came one by one--better devices for coupling them -together, culminating in the modern automatic "jaw coupler," better -framing, better platforms, better trucks, improved hand-brakes; and after -them the now universal air-brakes made life safer both for the traveller -and the railroad employee. Finally came the steel-end vestibule; and where -cars have been equipped with this very comfortable device, telescoping in -collision, a very common and disastrous accident in which one car-shell -enveloped another, has been rendered impossible. - -The car-platforms for many years remained a menace and a problem. An early -railroad in New Jersey sought to emphasize their danger by painting on an -inner panel of each car-door a picture of a newly made grave, surmounted -by a tombstone, on which was inscribed: "Sacred to the memory of a man who -stood upon a platform." The railroad used every method to keep its -passengers off the platforms at first. Afterwards they began to encourage -it and to devise means to promote a general intercourse between the cars. - -The dining-car, of which much more in another chapter, was a prime factor -in this change of attitude on the part of railroad officers. Its use -necessitated passengers going the length of the train, a movement which, -in itself, was facilitated by the main design of American cars, as -differentiated from those of English railroads. When the English roads -began the universal use of dining-cars they had to revamp the entire plan -of their car construction and produce what are still known across the -Atlantic as "corridor trains." - -To make such communication safe, George M. Pullman, the sleeping-car man, -set forth to devise a platform protection. Back in the fifties there had -been something of the sort on the old Naugatuck Railroad in Connecticut, -rough canvas curtains enclosing the platforms; but these had been built to -facilitate car ventilation, and failing in this, they were abandoned after -three or four years of trial. Pullman did better. He devised a platform -enclosure of folding doors and placed a steel frame at the end of his -vestibule that did more than merely protect passengers from the stress of -weather; these, of course, then served as effective anti-telescoping -devices. The Pennsylvania Railroad began the use of these vestibules in -1886 and they were soon universally adopted by American railroads on their -fast through trains. - -After that a better vestibule was devised by Col. W. D. Mann, one that -extended the full width of the car. In fact the platform of the car had -practically ceased to exist, the structure being full-framed to include -its entrances at both ends. - -After the vestibule came the steel car, introduced within the past ten -years for freight service, and within the past five or six for passenger -equipment. It has everything to commend it, save a slightly increased -original cost, which is more than compensated by economy of maintenance, -to say nothing of the intangible but certain raised factor of safety. It -is to become universal; the wooden car will become extinct upon American -railroads almost as soon as the present equipment is worn out and sent to -the scrap-heap. - -Of the forms and varieties of railroad passenger coaches there are many, -and these will be described when we come to consider in a later chapter -the luxury of modern railroad travel. But the variety of passenger -equipment quite pales before that of the freight service. Flat-cars, -coal-cars, box-cars, grain-cars, live-stock cars--the list runs on into -catalogue form. There are refrigerator cars that are kept filled with salt -and ice or ice alone, precooled cars that are merely kept air-tight, and -ventilator cars employing a distinct reverse of that method; and up in -northern climates there are heater-cars which are kept warm by lamps or by -stoves and which are used for the transportation of fresh fruit and -vegetables in winter just as the refrigerator-cars and the precooled cars -are used for that same purpose in summer. - -Almost all the safety devices that have been added to the running-gear of -the passenger equipment have been added to the freight equipment also, to -the great safety and peace of mind of the railroad employee. The car -itself remains the simple essential of the very beginnings of the -railroad. Its change has been a change in size, in weight, and in -strength. - -The first freight cars of the very old railroad at Mauch Chunk weighed -1,600 pounds each, and were permitted to carry a weight or "burden" of -only 3,200 pounds. When the Boston & Albany first began using freight cars -30 feet long, it was so confused that it gave each end of the car a -separate number for convenience in billing and designating consignments. -Nowadays 40 tons is the right load for an efficient car, although they go -as high as 55 and 60 tons' capacity; the car itself may weigh -approximately half that figure. - -Freight cars by hundreds of thousands go bumping all over the different -railroads of the land, and all the while they are getting bumped and -broken in accidents--large and small. In such cases they are hauled to the -nearest shop of the railroad upon which they are travelling and there -repaired at the cost of the road that owns them. In earlier days, the job -of master mechanic was no sinecure, for each road built its cars upon its -own plans and no two of these plans were alike. A simple broken part -necessitated the manufacture of a new part. It was a matter of great -confusion and expensive to every line. - -The organization of the Master Car Builders, in 1867, solved that problem. -This organization, through committee, made first the freight car standard -and then the passenger standard. Axles, bolts, king-pins--every one of the -intricate car-parts--were brought to standard and numbered sizes. After -that all that a master mechanic had to do was to keep an assortment of -standard car parts in his store-room, and he could make reasonable repairs -to any car that travelled rails. The standardization has gone steadily -forward year by year; it has included a variety of things, even such -details as systematic numbering and lettering of cars. It is one of the -evidences of the constant bettering of the American railroad, the steady -effort to bring it to an economical and scientific basis. - -Recently some of the railroads have made intelligent experiments, seeking -to devise a vehicle that should be both locomotive and car, and that -should be especially adapted for small side-lines, where traffic runs -exceedingly light. Some success has been found in the use of a passenger -coach, into which a gasolene engine has been introduced, and several of -these cars are in regular use in the West. Two or three of them have been -employed for three or four years on Union Pacific branches in and around -Denver. They render a possible solution for one railroad problem--the -problem of providing sufficient service for some branch where local -traffic is slight. The gasolene car requires but two men, as against a -minimum crew of five men for even the smallest steam passenger train. It -can be quickly handled, will make many successive stops readily, and -generally provides an efficient addition to the regular passenger -equipment. A few years ago it would have given the standard steam -railroads an excellent weapon against the constant encroachments of -paralleling electric roads through their good passenger traffic districts; -even to-day it offers a possible solution of the difficult problem of the -very small branch side-lines. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -REBUILDING A RAILROAD - - RECONSTRUCTION NECESSARY IN MANY CASES--OLD GRADES TOO HEAVY--CURVES - STRAIGHTENED--TUNNELS AVOIDED--THESE IMPROVEMENTS REQUIRED ESPECIALLY - BY FREIGHT LINES. - - -To the operating heads of the great railroad systems, rebuilding a line is -to-day a far more important problem than the building of new routes. The -country has grown--grown in wealth, among other things. The causes that -demanded the very greatest economy in the building of early railroad lines -no longer exist. The hill that the early engineer carefully rounded with -his line is now pierced without a second thought. Grades that were once -deemed slight are now classed as impossible. The almost infinite -development in the operation of the railroad has seen the grade or the -curve, not as a slight matter, but as a matter which, however slight in a -single instance, becomes in the course of constant operation a heavy -operating expense. To-day the operating folk of the big railroads are -counting the pennies where they countlessly multiply in these fashions; it -is one of the greatest factors in the grinding operation competition -between the great railroad systems of the country. - -It is all quite as it should be. The early builders did the best that they -might do with the opportunities that were theirs. They got the railroad -through. It developed wealth for itself, as well as for the territory it -served; and with that wealth it is enabled in these piping days of peace -and plenty to correct the alignment errors of the early builders. -Moreover, there are frequent cases where the steady increase of traffic -has rendered it necessary for a railroad to parallel its trunks with new -lines, quite aside from the consideration of grade and curve. - -As far back as the early fifties this great work of rebuilding the -trunk-line railroads was begun. Certain serious errors in the original -alignment of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad between Baltimore and the -Potomac River were corrected, even though at a considerable expense. As -time went on, other railroads continued this correction work. It is still -being prosecuted east and west of the Mississippi. Ten million dollars, -fifty million dollars, looks like a lot of money to the stockholders of -any company, when their president tells them that this is to be the cost -of this new relief line, this reconstruction, that cut-off; but what is -$1,000,000 when it is going to save more than $100,000 a year in the -operation of your railroad? It is the big sight of the big situation that -the railroads make nowadays at this reconstruction work. - -Mr. Harriman, with his transcontinentals from the Mississippi watersheds -west, was almost the pioneer in this work of wholesale reconstruction. The -wholesale operating benefits that have resulted from it in the case of his -group of Pacifics have been largely responsible for his preëminence in the -railroad world. And yet, once his method was tried, it all seemed simpler -than A, B, C. - -Take the case of the Lucin cut-off on his Southern Pacific. When the Union -Pacific was being pushed across the plains and threaded over the Rockies -and the Sierras, the Great Salt Lake of Utah lay directly in its path. The -railroad did the obvious thing and carefully made a detour around the -lake. When Mr. Harriman took over the Union Pacific, then in a state of -physical decadence, and linked it with his Southern Pacific, and surveyed -the situation carefully, he decreed that the Great Salt Lake should no -longer cause a trunk-line railroad to double in its path. He caused a line -to be surveyed direct across the marshy lake from Ogden to Lucin and when -that was done he had a line--on paper--103 miles long as against 147 -miles by the old line. The engineer hesitated, but Harriman urged and they -courageously began the construction of miles and miles of embankment and -of trestle. Then new difficulties arose. Sink-holes developed. In a few -minutes structures that had been the work of long months silently -disappeared. The engineers in charge came to Harriman. - -"It is not possible," they told him. - -"You must carry it through whether it is possible or not," Harriman -replied. - -Eventually they carried it through. - - * * * * * - -When it was done, the Union Pacific had not only shortened its -transcontinental line 44 miles, but it had eliminated more than 1,500 feet -of heavy grade and 3,919 degrees of curvature. An operating economy of -between $900,000 and $1,000,000 a year had been effected and the -stockholders of the company had a good investment for the $10,000,000 that -the Lucin cut-off had cost them. - -Nor was that all on the Union Pacific. On other sections of its main line -similar reconstruction work has added to the economy of operation by -millions of dollars each year. For twenty miles west from Omaha, where the -old historic transcontinental formerly dipped south to avoid a series of -undulating hills, the new Lane cut-off cuts squarely across them--20 miles -of deep cuts and heavy fills--"heavy railroad," as the engineers like to -put it. And again, where the old line twisted and wound itself over the -Black Hills, and wobbled unsteadily through Wyoming, the reconstruction -engineers pressed their work. - -[Illustration: WHERE HARRIMAN STRETCHED THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC IN A STRAIGHT -LINE ACROSS THE GREAT SALT LAKE] - -[Illustration: LINE REVISION ON THE NEW YORK CENTRAL--TUNNELLING THROUGH -THE BASES OF THESE JUTTING PEAKS ALONG THE HUDSON RIVER DOES AWAY WITH -SHARP AND DANGEROUS CURVES] - -[Illustration: IMPRESSIVE GRADE REVISION ON THE UNION PACIFIC IN THE BLACK -HILLS OF WYOMING. THE DISCARDED LINE MAY BE SEEN AT THE RIGHT] - -It is not generally understood that the summit of the Union Pacific is in -the Black Hills, which are the first foothill range of the Rockies, rather -than in the mountain crest beyond. The Black Hills have always been a -baffling proposition, with their short, steep slopes. The engineers -wrinkled their brows at the thought of correcting the old line through -there, but Harriman simply said that they must, that the board--which -meant E. H. Harriman himself--had directed that 247 feet be cut from the -road's crest there; and 247 feet, almost to the inch, was cut. It took -giant fills and embankments and an army of men but the grades were brought -to a minimum for a Rocky Mountain stretch. Wooden trestles, old and -affording a constant fire-risk, were swallowed up in embankments; a single -slice through a hill-top, a quarter of a mile long and eighty feet deep, -did its part in reducing the grades; antiquated cars disappeared before -equipment of the modern class; dilapidated shanties were supplanted by -fine, permanent railroad stations. The new Union Pacific is a monument to -the reconstruction engineer--and to E. H. Harriman. - -The Canadian Pacific Railway, while traversing but one small northeastern -corner of the United States, is essentially an American railroad, both in -equipment and in operation. It forms an important half of that all-British -Red Line encircling the globe, of which any Englishman is so very proud. -When the Canadian Pacific Railway was completing its last link in this -unbroken line of rails from St. John, N. B., and Montreal, to Vancouver, -the question of grades was indeed a secondary one. The vital thing was to -cut the line through, and to that end great sacrifices of grade efficiency -were made. So that when the line was through, and the first Imperial -Limited was making its way from the Atlantic to the Pacific over a single -railroad system, it was indeed a line with structural defects. At one -point--the famous Big Hill, near Field, Alta.--in order to overcome the -steep Rocky Mountain climbs, it was necessary to use from four to six -engines for comparatively light freight and passenger trains. And at that, -it was difficult to attain a speed of more than four or five miles an -hour. - -Within the last three years, this fearful grade has been corrected by the -very first spiral tunnels ever built upon the American continent. Spiral -tunnel construction of this kind is not new. It has been used with -remarkable success by the railroads of Continental Europe, in piercing the -High-Alpine boundaries between France, Germany, Austria, and Italy. - -Coming from the east on the Canadian Pacific Railway, the train first -enters the spiral tunnel--they call it the "corkscrew" out in -Alberta--under Cathedral Mountain. This first bore is some 3,200 feet in -length. Emerging from it, the train runs back east across the Kicking -Horse River, then enters the eastern spiral tunnel, and after describing -an elliptic curve, emerges, and again crosses the Kicking Horse westward. -This whole thing is a perfect maze--the railroad doubling back upon itself -twice, tunnelling under two mountains, and crossing the river twice in -order to cut down the grade. The work cost $1,500,000. The mere cost of -the explosives came to over $250,000. It was one of the really great -tunnel jobs of the world. Yet despite the complicated work caused by the -spiral shape of the tunnels, they met exactly. The worth of the thing to -the Canadian Pacific is shown in the fact that those same trains that -formerly required four to six engines, are now handled easily over this -Big-Hill grade with but two engines, and at a speed of about twenty-five -miles an hour. - -Other railroads by the dozen, whose lines traverse mountainous or even -hilly country, are engaged in this proposition of lowering their grades. -F. D. Underwood, president of the Erie, and known as one of the ablest -operating heads in this country, has been engaged in cutting off some of -the heavy hill-climbs on that old-time route from the seaboard to the -lakes. Underwood has already seen Erie's hopes of success in developing -the property as essentially a freighter and for the immediate improvement -of that portion of its facilities he has built three new relief lines, a -small stretch near Chautauqua Lake in western New York, and then through -the upper Genesee Valley, the third and most important eastward from a -point near Port Jervis and piercing the summit of the Shawangunk -Mountains. - -The line through the Genesee Valley extends from Hunts, on the Buffalo -division, about 20 miles west of Hornell, to Hinsdale on the main line, -and is 33 miles long. It cuts off a heavy grade between Hornell and -Hinsdale on the main line--a little over one per cent--for both east-bound -and west-bound freight. At that particular point, Erie's west-bound -freight approximates 75 per cent of the east-bound, and so the new line -recognizes that fact by establishing the west-bound maximum grade at 3-10 -of one per cent, as against a maximum of 2-10 of one per cent in the other -direction. Brought to a plain understanding, a single locomotive has no -difficulty in handling 80 cars, each bearing 40 tons of coal, over this -new low-grade line. To take one-half that load over the old main line -required a pusher. - -On the east end of the line, where Erie's engineers built their greatest -low-grade cut-off, the coal rolls down to the seaboard in such quantities -as to make the west-bound tonnage only a quarter of the east-bound; so the -reconstruction engineers were satisfied with a maximum west-bound grade at -6-10 of one per cent as against the maximum of 2-10 east-bound, in the -direction of the heavy traffic. The cut-off, which is double-tracked and -is 42-1/2 miles long, increases the distance from New York to Chicago 8 -miles; but this is not an essential fact, for, like the Genesee Valley -Road it is built exclusively for freight service, and not only almost -triples the hauling capacity of a locomotive but actually permits of -faster running time for the freight trains between Jersey City and Port -Jervis. To build the cut-off required a really great expenditure, for like -all these new lines it was "heavy work," embracing a tunnel nearly a mile -long under the crest of the Shawangunk Ridge, and a steel trestle over the -Moodna Valley, 3,200 feet in length and 190 feet high. Still President -Underwood can contemplate his locomotives hauling three times their old -loads over it. The economy of such a proposition becomes apparent upon the -face of it. - -The Baltimore & Ohio, the Southern, and the Norfolk & Western have -recently lowered their grades and straightened their curves in similar -fashion; the Lehigh Valley, by the erection of a great new bridge at -Towanda, Pa., has taken a bad link out of its main line; the Chicago & -Alton, when the engineers told it that it must abandon miles upon miles of -its main line (for long years its pride) and build anew, told those -engineers to go ahead. Stretch by stretch the old road was revamped to -meet in every way modern conditions. A steel bridge across the Missouri, -which was the first steel bridge built in America, and which cost -$500,000, was sent to the scrap-heap while the old-timers groaned. "That -which yesterday was a railroad marvel becomes a curiosity to-morrow," -observes Frank H. Spearman, in speaking of this very thing. - -The rebuilding of the Chicago & Alton was a clean-cut affair. The 70-pound -rails were torn from the main line and sent to sidings and branch lines in -favor of the 80-pound rails; for while men were tearing at the tracks, the -shops were working overtime; 55-ton freight engines that could haul 30 -cars were to give way to 165-ton motive power, capable of picking up and -carrying a hundred cars with ease. That was why the old bridge had to go -in favor of one which cost an even million dollars. And when the Alton -built heavy new bridges at dozens of other points besides the Missouri, it -built them after the new fashion, with solid rock ballast floor, affording -additional comfort and safety to its patrons. - -In a flat State like Illinois there were no very serious grade defects to -be corrected, but through the gentle undulations of rolling country the -line twisted and turned like a lazy brook. The rebuilders stopped that. -When they were done there was a single section of 40 miles, straight as -the arrow flies, and many tangents of from 15 to 29 miles. In some cases -when the trains were transferred to the completed line, the old, spindly, -wobbly affair could be seen for miles in roadbed, to the one side or the -other of the new. In some cases, this abandoned right-of-way was sold to -interurban electric railroads; in one particular case one of the abandoned -bridges was included in the sale. - - * * * * * - -The Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western is one of the old time Eastern Roads -that have waxed immensely prosperous with the years. Originally built as -an anthracite coal carrier from the Eastern Pennsylvania Mountains to the -seaboard, it has developed into a through freight and passenger carrier of -importance. The old-time engineer knew how to plan good railroads; the -Pennsylvania to-day is building its new low-grade freight line on the very -surveys made by its pioneer surveyors three-quarters of a century ago; -but, as we have already intimated, those railroads were financially weak. -Early annual reports of the Pennsylvania tell how its stock was peddled in -Philadelphia from house to house--up one street and down another--and how -sometimes two houses joined together to buy a single share. Money was not -plentiful in the middle of the last century. - -So the Lackawanna engineers were compelled to build their road in -semi-mountainous districts, along the lines of least resistance, rather -than by the most direct routes. As it came east from Scranton over the -Pocono Mountains it found its way in a roundabout course to the middle of -Northern New Jersey. The road wound south and then wound north again, its -grades were steep, some of its curves were short, and it dipped through -two tunnels--one at Oxford Furnace, the other at Manunka Chunk. - -To iron out those time-taking dips, the sharp curves, the grades, and the -tunnel, the Lackawanna cut-off--the "heaviest" bit of railroad in the -world--was begun three years ago. A new route 28-1/2 miles long was -surveyed diagonally across from Port Morris on the main line in New Jersey -to the main line again at the Delaware Water Gap. Despite the fact that it -must cross the watersheds diagonally--the watersheds formed by deep -valleys and high rocky ridges--the line as surveyed and built is only -three miles longer than an absolute air-line. It shortens the Lackawanna's -main stem from New York to Buffalo--already the shortest route between -these two cities--by 15 miles, and brings that busy lake port a trifle -within 400 miles from the seaboard. - -To cross those watersheds at a sharp diagonal meant "heavy work"; and the -engineers, to run their straight-cut, low-grade line, found that they -would have to make tremendous cuts and fills--these last alone totalling -14,600,00 cubic yards. The Lackawanna's engineers will give you a faint -idea of the stupendous size of these embankments. To build them up of -stone and earth at the rate of a cartload a minute for each working-day of -the year would require 81 years for the job. To do it in less than three -years has meant the employment of whole trains of dump-cars, the purchase -of 600-acre farms for single borrow-pits, the energy and administration of -real engineers. - -There have been cuts through solid rock, 65 bridges and culverts to be -wrought of concrete, a single embankment (at the Pequest River) three -miles in length, 110 feet high, and 300 feet wide at its base. The -traveller who rides over the completed double-track road will have but a -faint idea of the human labor and the human energy that have gone to -construct it. - - * * * * * - -The great railroad that traverses the State of Pennsylvania is another -monument to the engineer. The Pennsylvania Railroad was no wobbly affair -at any time. Its grades and curves, considering the character of the -country through which its trunk rests, are not excessive. It has been a -good standard railroad for a good many years past. But in 1902, the -Pennsylvania found that its troubles rested in the volume of traffic that -was being offered it. Over its middle division from Harrisburg to -Pittsburgh it was handling as much tonnage as J. J. Hill's entire Great -Northern system. The heavy tonnage business began to clog the road's fast -passenger traffic (its especial pride) and the fast freight traffic (the -mainstay of its shippers), and appeal was made to the reconstruction -engineers. - -It was no slight appeal at that. Pittsburgh, handling 400,000 freight cars -a month, was clogged, congested with such streams as had never before -tried to crowd through that narrow neck of the Pennsylvania's bottle and -the orders that went forth for relief were emphatic. Vice-presidents, -general managers, superintendents and general superintendents, and -engineers of every sort crowded into the president's office in Broad -Street Station, and out of that conference the plans for an exclusively -low-grade freight line from New York to Pittsburgh and for the traffic -relief of Pittsburgh itself were born. - -Every large city has become, in a sense, a bottle-neck for the important -railroads that pierce it. In some cases like Chicago or St. Louis or -Kansas City or Indianapolis, the situation has been solved by the creation -of belt-line freight railroads partly or entirely encircling the town. At -Buffalo, the New York Central lines have built a connecting line to enable -through traffic to escape the congestion of city yards and terminals, -while at New Haven, the road of the same name has recently spent several -million dollars in enlarging its narrow throat in the middle of the town. - -But nowhere else did the situation approach that at Pittsburgh. Through -the Pennsylvania's passenger station there poured not only an abnormally -heavy passenger traffic, owing to a heavy suburban service, but every -pound of freight bound between the parent company and its two great -subsidiaries, the Panhandle and the Fort Wayne. There were further -complications right at the station, owing to the proximity of two of the -very worst grade-crossings in America, where Penn and Liberty Avenues -swept their busy tides of city traffic all day long over the Fort Wayne's -main line tracks. It was a problem that called for the best in engineering -skill--and received it. - -The Pennsylvania dug deep into its pocket-book and solved the problem -magnificently. It began by going back to the vicinity of its great -Pitcairn freight-yards at the east of the city, and from them building two -connecting laterals (the one to the south and across the Monongahela River -to connect with the Panhandle tracks, the other to the north--known as the -Brilliant cut-off) across the Alleghany and connecting with the tracks of -the West Penn Railroad, which in turn connected with those of the Fort -Wayne in the one-time city of Allegheny. That sounds simple, but it was in -reality a fearfully expensive undertaking. The mile of Brilliant cut-off, -"heavy work" every inch of it, cost $5,500,000, and is to-day the most -expensive mile of railroad track in the world. - -But the gripping hand was off the traffic throat of Pittsburgh and -commercial Pittsburgh breathed more easily once again. The Union Station -and its approach tracks were restored to passenger uses; and in the course -of things the Pennsylvania tore down the old station, built a new one, and -wiped out the two wicked city crossings, as with the stroke of an -Aladdin's hand. - -So much for Pittsburgh. Now consider the great new freight line leading to -the east from there. Not all of that railroad has yet been built, but the -greater part of it is already completed, and every part of the old road -that was under tension because of freight congestion has already been -relieved. - -To build this new double-track railroad across 350 miles of a mountainous -State, the engineers studied two points--grade and curvature. Distance -was no object, for speed is the very last attainment of heavy tonnage -movement. The new route consisted in part of the enlargement of the old -routes, and in part of the construction of brand new line. It started east -from Pittsburgh, where the great Brilliant cut-off had been built to -relieve the tremendous terminal freight congestion, and followed up the -valley of the Alleghany River on the route of the West Penn Road, a -Pennsylvania property. The main line of the Pennsylvania comes east from -Pittsburgh up the valley of the Monongahela for a distance, and then -across country to Blairsville Intersection, 50 miles east of Pittsburgh, -where it is intercepted by the low-grade freight route. - -From Blairsville to Gallitzin, the road winds through the narrow and -forbidding Conemaugh Valley most of the way. It twists itself through the -slender defile of Packsaddle. A dozen years ago or more, when the -Pennsylvania's engineers were ordered to four-track the original -double-track through that narrow defile in God's great world, they shook -their heads dubiously; then--after the fashion of engineers--they went -ahead and did it. When the order came for two more tracks in the same -narrow pass, they placed them there, although they had literally to blast -out a shelf on the side of the fearfully steep mountainsides for the -low-grade line. - -Just beyond Gallitzin, where the Pennsylvania pierces with two great -tunnels the very summit of the Alleghanies, the low-grade line takes its -own course once more, breaking farther and farther away from the main -line, and for long sections following the trail of the long-since -abandoned Portage Railroad. The day is coming when Gallitzin Tunnels are -to be left high in the air. The Pennsylvania's officers tell you that -frankly. - -"We have plans for a six-mile tunnel, to be handled by electric -motive-power already made," said one of them, just the other day, "and -every year we wait, that tunnel grows longer, the approaching grades less -and less. It will cost money--money into millions of dollars--and it will -earn 10 per cent on the investment." - -From Gallitzin, the low-grade line delves far south to Hollidaysburgh and -then follows the tracks of a former branch line up to Petersburg on the -main line, which it parallels to the Susquehanna. Where the main line -crosses the Susquehanna at Rockville, the low-grade freight route diverges -once again and follows the west bank of the river for a number of miles, -completely avoiding in that way Harrisburg and the steel-making towns to -the south of it with all of their conditions of congestion. The freight -route crosses the broad Susquehanna at Shock's Mills, eight miles north of -Columbia, and follows the east bank of the river for twenty miles to -Shenks Ferry, where it turns abruptly eastward through the rugged hills of -Lancaster County to a connection with the main line at Parkesburg. From -thence it follows the main line nearly all the way to Glen Loch, crossing -and re-crossing it but at all times retaining its nominal grades. At Glen -Loch it makes a wide detour around Philadelphia and its suburbs and -reaches with a long straight "short cut" over to the main line at -Morrisville near Trenton. - -So much for the location of this great line of reconstruction. In grades -and in curvatures it has achieved real triumphs. The great tonnage here is -also always east-bound--coal and iron coming to the seaboard. Its grades -also are chiefly consequential then to the east-bound movement. To that -movement the heavy grades are again at the almost incredible figure of -3-10 of one per cent--some seventeen feet to the mile. That will mean more -when it is understood that that figure is equal to the pull that is -required of an engine to start a heavy freight train upon an absolutely -level track. With such a pull, grades become as nothing, and the -Pennsylvania's operating department is enabled to run 75 trains an hour -over this low-grade line; hour after hour upon a 15 minutes' interval. - -Ask a Pennsylvania officer what he would do with such traffic on his old -main line to-day, and he will tell you that he would rather resign than -tackle the proposition. The same thing is true on the New York Central -lines. Like the Pennsylvania, that railroad thought a little time ago that -with its four tracks it might move all civilization. Its acquisition of -the bankrupt West Shore Railroad in the eighties gave it two extra tracks -across New York State that for a long time were carried on the company's -books as deadwood. Now they are filled with freight operation and bringing -in a healthy return to their owners. The growing land is always catching -up to its new railroad facilities, no matter how rapidly they may be -constructed. - -To-morrow? - -The railroad operator does not like to think of that. He meets to-day and -he plans as best he may against that to-morrow. To meet the great unknown -he bids the engineers--those who construct and those who reconstruct--to -him, and begs that they exercise their best wits to help him to see a -little way into the dim and shadowy future. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE RAILROAD AND ITS PRESIDENT - - SUPERVISION OF THE CLASSIFIED ACTIVITIES--ENGINEERING, OPERATING, - MAINTENANCE OF WAY, ETC.--THE DIVISIONAL SYSTEM AS FOLLOWED IN THE - PENNSYLVANIA ROAD--THE DEPARTMENTAL PLAN AS FOLLOWED IN THE NEW YORK - CENTRAL--NEED FOR VICE-PRESIDENTS--THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS--HARRIMAN A - MODEL PRESIDENT--HOW THE PENNSYLVANIA FORCED ITSELF INTO NEW YORK - CITY--ACTION OF A PRESIDENT TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A LABORER'S - CHILD--"KEEP RIGHT ON OBEYING ORDERS"--SOME RAILROAD PRESIDENTS - COMPARED--HIGH SALARIES OF PRESIDENTS. - - -All the widely divergent lines of human activity in the organization of -the railroad converge in the office of its president. He is the focal -point of the entire system. More than that, he is its head and front. If -he is anything less, the sooner he is out of his job the better for both -the railroad and himself; for, although there is a great variety of -departments in the organization of steam railroad transportation and each -department will have still greater varieties of activities, there is but a -single activity delegated to the office that bears only the modest word -"president" in gilt letters upon its door. The function of that office is -to supervise. To understand that supervision better, consider for a moment -the rough structure of the railroad. - -Its activities are grouped into classes. The activity of soliciting -business, both freight and passenger, forms the traffic department, in -many ways the most important of all; for from it comes nearly all the vast -revenue needed for the maintenance of the organism. The legal department -looks after the railroad's rights--its franchises, its charters, the law -fabric of its almost innumerable relations with the various railroad -commissions, legislatures, city councils, and town and country boards. If -the road be really sizable--with 8,000 or 10,000 or 12,000 miles of -track--it will probably organize into separate departments the buying of -its great quantities of supplies, the keeping of its intricate books, and -the handling of its money. The business of building its lines and -structures will need special talent for an engineering department. The -department that will employ the great rank and file of the railroad's army -of employees is the operating department, called by some big roads the -transportation department. - -There are two other great factors of conducting a railroad; maintaining -its lines--the tracks, bridges, tunnels and other features of the -permanent way; and keeping both cars and engines fit for service. This -last work, organized as the mechanical department, will probably rank next -to operating in the number of its employees, and the value of its -equipment is one of the greatest assets of the railroad. It is generally -expressed in great shops located here and there and everywhere, at -convenient points upon the system. - -Generally the maintenance-of-way department comes under operating--it is -only fair that a general manager should supervise the condition of the -line over which he is expected to operate his trains at high speed and in -absolute safety. The same argument should hold true as to the equipment. -But right here is the great rock upon which the principle of American -railroad organization splits in twain. - -From the president's office downward, the system of organization may be -divisional or departmental. In the former case, the division -superintendent is the real unit of railroad operation: under his guidance -and responsibility come not only the operation of the trains but the -maintenance both of the line and of the rolling-stock. In the case of -departmental organization that superintendent--and also, above him, the -general superintendent--exercises no authority over the engineers of -maintenance-of-way or the master mechanics of the shops along the system. -Those lines of railroad activity do not converge with that of train -operation below the office of the general manager. The greatest outside -power that is given to a division superintendent on a purely departmental -road is a sort of coöperation with the master mechanic in the matter of -the men who handle the road's motive power. This coöperation is many times -intricate and involved. If the master mechanic and the division -superintendent are not harmoniously inclined toward one another, and -things very naturally go wrong with the motive-power, it is a difficult -matter to locate responsibility. - - * * * * * - -The Pennsylvania system, which is one of the most perfectly organized in -the world, is strongly organized upon the divisional system. The division -superintendent upon the Pennsylvania is indeed a prince above his -principality, and he is well trained for his rulership. Pennsylvania men -go through the mill. It takes a pretty capable man to combine the ability -for handling trains and handling men with the intricate knowledge for -command over an engineering corps devoted to maintenance-of-way, as well -as command over a machine-shop which may employ a thousand skilled -workmen. In order to give its division heads that tremendous training, the -Pennsylvania sends its men through its own West Point, the great shops at -Altoona. The men who have sat in the big, roomy office in Broad Street -Station, Philadelphia, and who have been addressed as president, have been -proud of the days when they were up in the hills of the Keystone State, -standing their trick in overalls at the lathe, or carrying chain and rod -over long stretches of track. To-day every Pennsylvania superintendent, -possibly with a single exception or two, is a civil or mechanical -engineer. - -[Illustration: THE OLD AND THE NEW ON THE GREAT NORTHERN--THE "WILLIAM -CROOKS," THE FIRST ENGINE OF THE HILL SYSTEM, AND ONE OF THE NEWEST -MALLETS] - -[Illustration: THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC FINDS DIRECT ENTRANCE INTO SAN -FRANCISCO FOR ONE OF ITS BRANCH LINES BY TUNNELS PIERCING THE HEART OF THE -SUBURBS] - -[Illustration: PORTAL OF THE ABANDONED TUNNEL OF THE ALLEGHANY PORTAGE -RAILROAD NEAR JOHNSTOWN, PA., THE FIRST RAILROAD TUNNEL IN THE UNITED -STATES] - -On the other hand, the New York Central has also been brought into a -high state of organization, and stands firmly on the departmental plan. - -"We believe that our superintendents should specialize in train -operation," says one of the high officers of that road. "In other words, -we do not believe that a man, to get his traffic through over a stretch of -line, should necessarily know to a fraction of an inch the best wheel-base -for an engine of a given type or the precise construction of a truss -bridge. Such requirements take away from the special training that is -to-day needed for every high-class railroader. A railroader is made better -by sticking to one thing and sticking to it faithfully; and our -departmental method, by which the maintenance of line and rolling-stock -comes under the sole supervision of men expert in those specialties, we -think the best. Sometimes we develop a very wizard in traffic handling, -who has never had a chance at a technical education." - -And there you have the very essence of the other side of the proposition. -Between these two sides there are various shadings and gradings, but the -question has never been definitely solved. It has reduced the vast -complexity in the organization of the modern railroad of the larger size. -That has become so very complex it fairly cried for expert relief. One man -has recently spent a busy term of years in simplifying the organization of -the Harriman lines. To cut the intricate lines of red-tape in a big -railroad office, to reduce to a minimum the vast needless correspondence -between departments and between branches of a single department, is a -problem that calls for genius--and offers for its solution no small -reward. - - * * * * * - -In other days--and we refer to no ancient history, for the electric light -was proved and the hundred-ton locomotive already increasing the average -tonnage of the American freight train--the presidents of the biggest roads -were content to worry along with one or two assistants. But two decades -ago, the railroads were still simple matters; there did not exist the -intimate relations between one and the others of them, as shown by -stockholdings in competing and feeding lines to-day--the constant waiting -of their executives upon the sessions of the different railroad -commissions. These complications of American railroading have also further -complicated the organizations of the different systems, and have brought a -demand for executives of the keenest type. It is no slight strain that a -man works under when he becomes the head of a ten-thousand-mile railroad. - -So to-day the president of the railroad has fortified himself in the only -possible way--by creating vice-presidencies. Each ranking department -to-day is apt to be recognized in council by a vice-president; and these -heads form a cabinet as informal as that of the Federal Government and, in -its way, quite as important. Legal traffic, and engineering traffic each -demands a vice-president at that cabinet-board, and gets him. The general -manager usually is the vice-president representing operation. One big road -has eight vice-presidents. It is indeed a poor property that cannot show -three or four men that are the fittest to hold this title. - -There is another cabinet where the president must sit, which is formal and -recognized; it is the board of directors. Between it and the lesser -cabinet the president must take good care that he is not ground as between -millstones. The cabinet of his department heads will tell him how he can -spend his money; but he must get it from the upper cabinet. It is not -always harmonious pulling in the upper cabinet. Imagine for a moment the -troubles that sometimes arise in the lower. - -You are sitting in the office of a big railroad president, talking -straight to that big-shouldered soul himself. Outside is the shadowy roof -of the train-shed of a terminal, which is filled with long lines of cars -that come and go, of platforms that are black with humans one instant and -quite deserted the next. The room has the quiet elegance of a comfortable -home library. There are long rows of books upon the shelves; a great table -is set squarely in the centre. But it is business--for a ticker is slowly -spelling the fate of that railroad and every other railroad, upon the -endless tape; a huge map of the system--many thousands of miles of -high-class railroad--lies under the glass that covers the table top. - -"They don't always pull together," the president of the railroad admits, -when you ask him about the lower cabinet. "Sometimes they pull apart when -they have honestly different ideas as to policy, and other times--there's -to be a big college football game up at G---- next Saturday. We have only -two private cars for our four vice-presidents, every single blessed one of -whom wants to go. I don't want to go myself, and I've contributed my car, -but we're one short then, and the man that's left is going around like a -boy who's had a chip knocked off his shoulder. He's just been in here, and -I've settled the matter by hiring a car for his party from the Pullman -folks and footing the bill myself. I sent him out ashamed of himself. - -"That's Pete every time. Flares up quick, and every time he flares up I -can remember when we were working the day-and-night tricks in a -God-forsaken junction out on a prairie stretch of the Great West. He's -like a boy in some ways--awfully fussy about the rights and prerogatives -of his department; and he'll go all to pieces over some little thing if he -thinks another man has stepped over on to his side of the line. But let a -big situation arise--a flood that sets a whole division of our lines -awash; a wicked congestion of traffic in midwinter blizzards; a nasty -accident that takes away our nerve--and you ought to see Pete! He'll be -handling the thing as if he were putting a ball up on the links, and he'll -never lose his confident smile. That man in one such emergency is worth -the hire of a dozen Pullmans." - -You ask about the upper cabinet, and the president lowers his voice. The -board is no matter for light conversation. He steps to the window and -points down into the concourse of the train-shed. - -"I happen to know that young fellow over there by the mailbox," he -answers. "He's one of our travelling freight-agents. He's lucky. He works -for one boss, and is responsible to him; I work for a whole regiment of -bosses, and am held responsible by a group of pretty keen old citizens who -gather around this table and put me on the rack. - -"There are many interests in this property, and some of them are too big -to sleep in the same bed. I have three directors who never speak to one -another outside of this room, and rarely ever in it. There is another who -represents the holdings of a road that fights this at every turn, and he -hurts the property worse than any good husky plague. A big estate, with a -bitter aversion to spending money for any purpose whatsoever, has another -director here; and a banking interest presents a director who seconds him -in every move, fool or good. That is the crowd I have got to work with -when I want ten or fifteen millions to hold our own against some other -fellow who is crowding us hard for business in our competitive territory -or threatening to run a line into one of our own private melon-patches. -That boy down there is lucky. He has only got to get out and land a couple -of hundred carloads from a shipper who hates corporations worse than -politics, and who has just had a claim for spoiled goods turned down by -this particular corporation. That boy has the cinch job." - - * * * * * - -This imaginary railroad president has told you of one of the vital points -in the business of the railroad, the necessity for constant teamwork. A -railroad head may have the genius of a Napoleon, the stubborn persistence -of a Grant, or the marvellous executive ability of a Pierpont Morgan, and -be worthless if his board is not working enthusiastically with and for -him. It is not all pie and preserves by any means. The board may set its -sweet will straight against his, and he may be forced to execute a policy -of which in his own mind he has no trust. It is only once in a generation -that a man like Harriman, who can bend a whole mighty directorate to his -absolute will, arises. Harriman was a railroad president in the fullest -sense of the word. - -He rode in his car north from Ogden one day, toward the great National -Park of the Yellowstone. At that time the only direct rail entrance to -that splendid reserve was by the rival Hill lines. Harriman had called for -a report upon the opportunities for the Southern Pacific to strike its own -line into the west edge of the Park. That report was being explained to -him in great detail as he rode north from Ogden. His chiefs had a hundred -practical reasons against building the line. Harriman listened faithfully -to the explanation, as was his way. Then he turned to one of the signers -of the report, a high officer of his property. - -"You have never been in the Yellowstone?" he asked. - -The officer admitted that he had not. - -"I have," said Harriman triumphantly, "and I am going to build that road." - -That road was built and became successful from its beginning; but Harriman -was a railroader with the intuitive sense that gives genius to a great -statesman or to a great general. The average railroad president does not -hold a controlling interest himself and he must be guided pretty carefully -by the judgment of his department heads; he must win the coöperation of -his board by tact and subtlety rather than by the display of an iron will; -and where he leads he must take the responsibility. - -The Pennsylvania Railroad, as has already been told in an earlier chapter, -recently forced its entrance into New York City and marked its terminal -there with a monumental station. That move was a strategy of the highest -order, and was made that the road might place itself upon an even fighting -basis for traffic with its chief competitor. But it cost. Two mighty -rivers had to be crossed, whole blocks of high-priced real estate secured, -a busy city threaded, the opposition of local authorities (who stood with -palms outstretched) honestly downed. That all cost. That would have been a -mighty expenditure for the Federal Government; for a private corporation -it was all but staggering. - -When the station was finished, a rarely beautiful thing with its classic -public rooms, its long vistas, and its vast dimensions, that private -corporation built, within a niche of the great waiting-room, a bronze -figure of its former president, the late A. J. Cassatt, where all hurrying -humanity might see it. But, though a thousand nervous travellers see that -statue in the passing of a single hour, not a hundred of them will know -the splendid tragedy it represents; for many of the high officers of that -railroad--some of the men who caused the bronze to be erected--to this day -believe that the production of that great station was the cause of the -death of their chief. He had dreamed of that terminal for years; his -engineer had deemed it all but impossible, and he had sent overseas for -other engineers. One of these, who had conquered the busy Thames, said -that he could tunnel the two great rivers. He was asked the cost, and he -gave it. His first figures were staggering, but the railroad president did -not abandon his hope. He summoned his board and put the problem to them. - -There was pulling power between that president and his board, and the -pulling was all in a single direction. Their system--a railroad that -acknowledged no superior--could not keep in the very front rank without -its terminal in the heart of the seaboard city, eliminating forever the -delays and the inconveniences of a ferry service; the road could not -afford to drop into second rank, and so it assumed the great undertaking. - -That meant many things more than laymen understand; the selling of -securities in delicate markets, home and foreign, which fluctuate wildly -on the promulgation of anticorporation talk; the evading of untiring -competitors; the appeasing of hungry politicians, only too anxious to feed -at the hands of a wealthy corporation. In this case, it meant more than -all these things, for the two rivers were quite as treacherous as the -American engineers had pronounced them. They would sound in their tunnel -bearings and find rock which seemed soft, and their dynamite charges would -be sufficient. Then it would prove hard, and their blast as inefficient as -that of a child's toy cannon. Again, the rock would drill as hard as the -hardest gneiss--the very backbone of Mother Earth herself, and the -hard-rock men would prepare a heavy charge of dynamite. Then the stuff was -as soft as gravel, and their heavy charge would have torn off the roofs of -half a dozen houses. When they were under one of the rivers they found its -bed--the roof of their tunnel--as soft as mud. There came a day when the -little foaming swirls of water above their headings became a geyser: the -river-bed had blown entirely out. - -After that, some of the younger engineers felt like throwing themselves -into the wicked river, but the biggest engineer of all never lost his -faith. He sent upstream and brought down a whole Spanish Armada of clumsy -scows, each heaped high with sticky clay. That clay--in thousands of cubic -yards--made a new river-bottom and the tunnel shields went forward. - -There were other obstacles and discouragements, almost an infinite array -of them, to be surmounted, but this railroad president had steeled his -mind to the accomplishment of that terminal. In the making of it he gave -his life. When the day came for the drafts upon the railroad's treasury, -mounting higher and higher, he was cheer; when bad news came from the -burrowing engineers, he was courage; when timid stockholders and directors -began to worry, he was comfort. He gave of his vitality to the -organization, to the making of the terminal, until the day came when he -gave too much--and his life went out while he was still like a mighty king -in battle. He did not live to see the classic lines of the great station -building. As he stands in the waiting-room, he stands in bronze. Those -bronze eyes are powerless to see the splendid fruition of his endeavors. - -That sort of thing--heroic courage and death-bringing devotion to an -enterprise--repeats itself now and then among the executives of the -railroads. When the panic of 1907 reached high tide, there was a certain -railroad president who, like his fellows, viewed it with no little alarm. -He had lunched with a big steel man, the kind the newspapers like to call -a magnate, and the steel man had scared him. The company for which the -former labored was going to close half a dozen of its plants--was going to -throw some thousands of poorly provided men out of work. - -The railroad president took that bad news back to his comfortable office; -at night it travelled with him in his automobile to his big and showy -house. It would hit his company hard in its heavy tonnage district, but -that was only a single phase of the situation. He thought of things -becoming more disjointed when the news became public--before that week had -run its course. That night the president made up his mind to take a big -step. It was risky business, but he thought it worth the risk. - -He sent for the steel man in the morning and asked him what was the best -price he could make for his product. The steel man cut his regular profit -in half, but the president was not satisfied. - -"You'll have to show me a better margin than that," he said. - -"We'll eliminate profits," said the steel man, "and give you the stuff at -cost, to save shutting down our plant." - -"Is that the best you can do?" persisted the president. - -Before he was done, the steel man had also eliminated depreciation on -plants and half a dozen minor expenses. He agreed to deliver at the mere -cost of raw material and labor. Then he received an order that would have -broken some records in prosperous times. The road was committed to some -big building projects and it needed whole trainloads of girders and -columns; bridges by the dozen. The railroad president went further, and -helped out the steel man's car-building plant. He ordered 3,000 steel -freight cars, and every day he was getting reports from his general -manager of a further falling of traffic tides. They had motive-power -rusting on sidings, and they were dumping freight cars in the ditches -along the right-of-way because they did not have storage-room for them. -That took courage of a certain high-grade sort. When those freshly-painted -new steel cars began to be delivered in daily batches of sixty, some of -his directors asked him where he was going to find room to store them. He -did not answer, for he did not know; but in the long run he won out. His -company had a new equipment for the returning flood-tide of traffic which -had cost it 25 per cent less than that of its competitors. When the time -came to build its big improvement it had the steel all stored and ready. -The president was able to tell his directors then that he had saved them -$1,700,000 on that close bargain that he had driven in panicky times. - - * * * * * - -Sometimes a little thing makes a railroad president big. - -The head of a busy road in the Middle West was hurrying to Chicago one day -to attend a mighty important conference of railroad chiefs. His special -was halted at a division point for an engine-change, and the president was -enjoying a three-minute breathing spell walking up and down beside his -car. An Italian track laborer tried to make his way to him. The -president's secretary, who was on the job, after the manner of presidents' -secretaries, stopped the man. The signal was given that the train was -ready, but the president saw that the track-hand was crying. He ordered -his train held and went over to him. The story was quickly told. The -track-hand's little boy had been playing in the yards and had hidden in an -open box-car; so his small companions had reported. Afterwards the car had -been closed and sealed by a yardmaster's employee. Somewhere it was -bumping its weary way in a lazy freight train, while a small boy, hungry -and scared, was vainly calling to be let out. - -Perhaps that president had a boy of the same size--they always do in -stories; and perhaps--this being reality--he did not. But he stopped there -for three precious hours, at that busy division point, while he sent -orders broadcast to find the boy, orders that went with big authority -because they came from the high boss himself. He was late at the -conference, because that search was taking his mind and his attention. He -hung for hours at a long-distance telephone, personally directing the -boy-hunt with his marvellously fertile and resourceful mind. When action -came entirely too slowly he ordered the men out of the shops and all -interchange freight halted, until every one of 12,000 or 14,000 box cars -had been opened and searched. Finally, from one of these they drew forth -the limp and almost lifeless body of a small boy. - -The railroad chief died a little while ago and was buried in a city 500 -miles away from the line that he had controlled. The track-hands of his -line, with that delicate sensibility that is part and parcel of the -Italian, dug deep into their scanty savings and hired a special train, -that they might march in a body at his funeral. - -It sometimes takes a big man to do a little thing in a big way. - - * * * * * - -Here is Underwood, the railroad president who took hold of the Erie when -the property was a byword and a joke, who began pouring money into it to -give it real improvements and possibilities for economical handling, and -made it a practical and a profitable freighter, a freighter of no mean -importance at that. He once issued an order that any car on the road (no -matter of what class of equipment) with a flat wheel should be immediately -cut out of the train. The order was posted in every yardmaster's office up -and down that system. - -Some time after it went into effect, Underwood was hurrying east in his -private car. It was essential that he should reach Jersey City in the -early morning, for he had a big day's grist awaiting him at his office. A -real railroad president, working 18 hours a day, can brook few delays. But -when the president awoke, his car was not in motion; the foot of his bunk -was higher than the head. He looked out and found himself in a railroad -yard three or four hundred miles from his office. When he got up and out -he saw why his bed had been aslant. The observation end of his car was -jacked up and the car-repairers were slipping a new pair of wheels -underneath it. A car-tinker bossed the job and Underwood addressed him. - -"Who gave you authority to cut out my car?" he asked. - -"If you will walk over to my coop," said the car-tinker, politely, "you -will find my authority in orders from headquarters to cut out any car (no -matter of what class of equipment) with a flat wheel." - -When the new wheels were in place the president of the road put his hand -upon the shoulder of the car-tinker and marched him uptown. The man -obeyed, not knowing what was coming to him. Underwood walked him straight -into a jeweller's shop, picked out the best gold watch in the case and -handed it to the car-tinker. - -"You keep right on obeying orders," he said. - -The relations between a railroad president at the head of the -organization, and some man who struggles ahead in the army of which the -president is general, would make a whole book. They still tell a story in -Broad Street Station, Philadelphia, of Mr. Cassatt, the Pennsylvania's -great president, and the brakeman. - -It seems that one of the suburban locals that took Cassatt to his country -home up the main line was halted one night by an unfriendly signal. The -president, mildly wondering at the delay, found his way to the rear -platform. On the lower step of that platform, in plain violation of the -company's rule, sat the rear brakeman. Cassatt was never a man who was -quick with words, but he said in a low voice: - -"Young man, isn't there a rule on this road that a brakeman shall go a -certain distance to the rear of a stalled train to protect it by danger -signal?" - -The brakeman spat upon the right-of-way and, without lifting his eyes from -it, said: - -"If there is, it's none of your damn business." - -Cassatt--the man who could strike an arm of Pennsylvania into the heart of -metropolitan New York at a cost of many millions of dollars--was much -embarrassed. - -"Oh, certainly it isn't," he said with an attempt at a smile. "I was -merely asking for information." - -The next morning the president of the Pennsylvania summoned the -trainmaster of that suburban division to his desk and reported the matter. -The trainmaster turned three colors. It was _lèse-majesté_ of the most -heinous sort. He proposed the immediate dismissal of the offending -brakeman. Cassatt ruled against that. He was too big a man to be seeking -to rob any brakeman of his job. - -"Just tell him," he said to the trainmaster, with a suggestion of a smile -about his lips, "that he cussed the president, and that, as a personal -favor, I should like him to be more polite to passengers in the future." - -No two railroad presidents come up to their problem in quite the same way. -Take the two members of the Western railroad world--one gone now--Hill and -Harriman. In J. J. Hill's domain the personality of the man counts for -everything. He picks his men, advances them, rejects or dismisses them, -by a rare intuitive sense, with which he judges character. A high chief in -his ranks once asked for a vacation in which to take his family to Europe. -Hill granted it. When the man came back from Europe another was at his -desk. Hill did not approve of long vacations, and that was his method of -showing it. The department head should have known better. - -On the other hand, Harriman measured his men impersonally--as if in a -master scale. He measured them by results. A man might personally be -somewhat repugnant to him, but if he accomplished results for the road, he -held his place, at least until some one came along who could do even -better. - -W. C. Brown, of the New York Central, and James McCrea, of the -Pennsylvania, are the heads of two railroads great in mileage and in -volume of traffic; yet their methods are in many essentials radically -different. McCrea is the essence of Pennsylvania policy--coldly -impersonal. It is easier to gain an audience with the president of the -United States than with the president of the Pennsylvania. No Pennsylvania -man from president down to the lowest ranking officer, grants an interview -to a newspaper reporter. It would be risky business for any officer of the -Pennsylvania to have his photograph published or himself glorified by -reason of his connection with the company. The company is the corporation. - -When it speaks, it speaks impersonally through its press agent, a clever -young man with clever assistants, who both answers newspaper questions and -advances newspaper information. His function is a new one of the American -railroad, and allies itself directly with the office of the president. - -W. C. Brown, of the New York Central, probably stands preëminent to-day -among American railroad executives. He has shouldered himself up from the -ranks of the railroad army, and only good wishes have gone to him as he -has stepped from one high post to a still higher one. He has come, as -nine out of ten successful executives have come, from the operating end of -the railroad. - -Brown is particularly accessible to newspaper reporters. He talks with -them, carefully and painstakingly, and sees to it that they are correctly -informed as to each of the great railroad problems of the day. He believes -sincerely that the head of a railroad should be personality and that the -personality should stand forth directly in the guidance of the property. -In his own case, at least, he has demonstrated the value of his theory. - -For all this work and all this strain, the railroad president demands that -he be adequately paid. He has a good many perquisites--chief among them a -comfortable private car at his beck and call; but perquisites are not -salary. The head and front of the American railroad to-day receives -anywhere from $15,000 to $75,000; an astonishingly large percentage of -railroad presidents are receiving at least $50,000 annually. But they work -for their pay--sometimes with their life-devotion, as in the case of the -big man who built the big terminal; other times with the hard sense of the -president who bought his steel girders and cars in the time of panic. Here -is a case in point. - -A road in the Middle West, which was so compact as to make it quite local -in character, had a big traffic proposition to handle and was handling it -in a miserable fashion. One local celebrity after another tackled it, -until the directors were laying side bets with one another as to the -precise day when the receiver should walk into the office. Finally, -Eastern capital, which was heavily interested in the property, revolted at -the local offerings, and sent out an operating man with a big reputation -to take hold of it. - -The directors received him with a certain veiled distrust as coming from -another land, but in the end they hired him. The matter of salary came up -last of all. - -"Fifty thousand," said the New Yorker in a low voice. - -One of the local directors spoke up. - -"Fifteen thousand!" said he. "It's out of the question. We've never paid -more than twelve." - -"So I should imagine," was the dry response. "But I said fifty, not -fifteen." - -The consternation that followed may be imagined! In the end the New Yorker -carried his point. At the end of just twelve months he had, through his -acquaintance in Wall Street, and his keen insight into the big channels of -finance, cut that little road's interest charges just $800,000 a year. The -receiver has not come yet. The road has accomplished a miracle and has -begun to pay dividends. There is another miracle to relate. Last spring, -the directors of the road voted an increase in salary to their -president--and he courteously refused it! - -"I think the presidency of this road is worth $50,000 a year," he said, -frankly, "and not one cent more." - -That is the way a president should stand above and with his board. - -Only a little time ago, another president, who had no easier proposition -to set upon its feet, was criticised by a querulous old director for his -lavish use of private cars and special trains. That president was having -his own troubles--his job had no soft places; but he said nothing when the -testy old fellow lectured him as he might have lectured a sin-filled -schoolboy. When the director was done, the president spoke in a low voice. - -"Gentlemen, my resignation is on the table," was his reply to the censure. - -The next moment there was consternation in that board. The president -slipped out of the room and left them to consider the matter. When he -returned, the chairman of the board, who had nodded in half approval at -the censure, was at the door to greet him. - -"We refuse to accept your resignation," he said; "but the board does feel -that you ought to have a new car--the present one's getting shabby, Phil." - -And in that moment the president felt that his work had gained one little -ounce of appreciation. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE LEGAL AND FINANCIAL DEPARTMENTS - - FUNCTIONS OF GENERAL COUNSEL, AND THOSE OF GENERAL ATTORNEY--A SHREWD - LEGAL MIND'S WORTH TO A RAILROAD--THE FUNCTION OF THE CLAIM-AGENT--MEN - AND WOMEN WHO FEIGN INJURY--THE SECRET SERVICE AS AN AID TO THE - CLAIM-AGENT--WAGES OF EMPLOYEES THE GREATEST OF A RAILROAD'S - EXPENDITURES--THE PAY-CAR--THE COMPTROLLER OR AUDITOR--DIVISION OF THE - INCOME FROM THROUGH TICKETS--CLAIMS FOR LOST OR DAMAGED - FREIGHT--PURCHASING-AGENT AND STORE-KEEPER. - - -At the very elbow of the railroad president stands the general counsel. He -is shrewd, resourceful, diplomatic. He has quick perception and action, -the faith and the loyalty of a friend. In many cases he is a personal -officer of the president--in the highest sense. If there is a change of -administration of the railroad, there is apt to be a change in the office -of the general counsel. If B----, who has been guiding the destinies of -the T. & S., goes to Transcontinental, he is apt to take Y----, his -general counsel along with him. For except in the case of some exquisitely -organized roads like the Pennsylvania, for instance, the general counsel -is in every sense personal to the president. He advises him privately, -urges him to this step, cautions him from that. - -On the other hand, the general attorney is more apt to be the legal -officer of the railroad. Like the general counsel he has an old-fashioned -pride in his profession that makes him hesitate at accepting a -vice-presidency; he likes the ring of "general attorney" or "general -counsel" in his own ears. Railroad history and tradition both go to prove -that. He will hardly drop those titles for anything less than that of -president. - -The general attorney, unlike the general counsel, in most cases will -make his offices in the railroad's headquarters. He will handle its -litigation, and if in half a dozen years he can bring down its verdict -costs from $1,250,000 to $750,000 for an average twelve month, as one man -did, he will be well worth the large salary that he demands and gets. And -his salary will be only one of many of the heavy expenses of the legal -department. When that functionary asks for money he gets it and without -many questionings. The operating department, the traffic department, the -engineers, may have to give sharp account for their appropriations; the -legal end of the railroad is trusted to accomplish accurate results, -without detailed accounting. In some cases it might prove embarrassing. - - * * * * * - -You want to know the value of the shrewd and perceptive legal mind to a -big railroad? Here is a case that proves his worth: - -A certain transportation company in the East had a legal vice-president -who many people supposed was a political heritage to the road, a man for -whom it was supposed a berth had been made by the owner of the property, -who was something of a politician himself. A quick turning of the wheel of -fortune had thrown one political party out of business at the capital, and -another in. The man was given a place in the railroad offices, and a -little later was made a vice-president. It so happened that the -vice-president knew more than supposers might even imagine; but he was a -quiet man, and sometimes some of his own clerks wondered why he drew his -big salary. After he had been at his desk a dozen years they found the -reason. - -In gathering up a number of railroad properties to make the parent -company--after the fashion of modern railroad practice--one of the most -important of these old-time units was found to be in woefully shabby -physical form. It was a valuable road in the consolidation. The new parent -was willing to guarantee an annual rental of 10 per cent on its stock; -but as a railroad it fairly shook at the knees. It stood in dire need of -reconstruction, and the men who were offering it a high rental made that a -provision of the deal. The old road finally agreed to spend $12,000,000 in -revising its line and in buying new locomotives, cars, and bridges. With -much ado it accomplished its revision, and brought itself up closer to -modern standards of railroading. - -A decade later when the governmental supervision of the railroads had come -into the full flush of its authority, the quiet vice-president had an -armful of State commission reports and vouchers brought to his desk. He -locked himself in his room, and in a week he had made from them a -20,000-word abstract in long hand. Then he took his report in to the -president of the road. - -The acute mind of that general counsel--you see that he was vice-president -in this particular case--searching here and there and everywhere, had -discovered a mouse-hole. The old-time road had not fulfilled its part of -the contract. It had found that it could revise its lines at a cost of a -little less than $9,000,000 and had quietly pocketed the change. The big -rent-paying consolidation went into the courts, after its cool, impassive -way. The case went to a referee and the referee took four years to hear -the case and decide it. There were 5,000 exhibits offered in evidence and -8,000 closely written pages of evidence, making a case nearly equal to -that of the receivership of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company of New -York City, which fills twenty pudgy volumes of some 800 pages each. - -The referee decided in favor of the parent company, and rendered a verdict -close to $6,000,000, principal and interest. The case was appealed, and -sustained. That vice-president had proved his worth. The president of the -defendant road came to him. - -"We simply can't pay," he pleaded. "We've no reserve fund." - -"Then we will take it out of your rental," was the emotionless reply of -the quiet vice-president. - -That type of man stands forth as a possibility to every one of the dozens -and dozens of young men who make the main staff of the railroad's legal -department. Those fellows come to the railroad fresh from the law schools. -Their salaries are small but their experience and their opportunities are -enormous. It is a far better career at the beginning than a briefless -existence in one's own office, even though one's own name is emblazoned in -brilliant gilt letters upon the door. A young man coming into the legal -department of a large railroad has a diversity of work offered him. He -draws up the simplest of papers at first, acts as assistant to a trial -lawyer, then finally comes to the time when he will alone fight the -railroad's case in some minor cause in a small court. After that the -causes get bigger, the courts more important, he begins to delve into law -libraries and to write briefs. Gradually he emerges into a full-fledged -lawyer. He may eventually become general attorney or general counsel, and -he may find himself welcome to the partnership of some really important -law firm. He has knowledge that may be of value in fighting the railroad; -whether he will use that knowledge in afterwards fighting his employer is -a matter for his own conscience to determine. - -There are special departments under the main heading of the law -department. Counsel, the ablest of counsel, is retained at each important -point reached by the railroad, and these counsel must act in conjunction -and coöperation with headquarters. Special tax counsel have an important -office by themselves, for the railroad sometimes finds itself in a -difficult position. In its pride it may announce to the world, through the -newspapers, that the new Bingtown depot has cost $400,000, but when the -Bingtown appraisers come around, possessing in their bosoms no inherent -love for the railroad, those newspaper clippings in their hands, the tax -counsel begins to earn his salary. - -In these days of Federal and State supervision and regulation of railroad -management, with now and then an aldermanic chamber or a county board of -supervisors trying its hand at the game, there is sure to be special -counsel, generally known as the commerce or commission counsel, assigned -to the complaints and hearings. For intricate, involved, or unusual cases -the road may go outside of its own ranks and hire special counsel--lawyers -who are specialists in the very thing involved. - -Just as the big and tactful attorney stands back of the railroad's -president, so there crouches at his feet the claim-agent of the company, -who is its watch-dog and its scenting hound. Back of this claim-agent, who -must have achieved a reputation for keen-sightedness and marked ability -before receiving his position, is a busy company of claim agents, at -headquarters and every division headquarters upon the system. Together, -these form a militant organization that stands with the legal department -to defend the railroad's treasury against indiscriminate raiding. - -Sometimes, because the work dovetails in many ways closely with that of -the operating department, these claim-agents work under the order of the -general manager and the division superintendents. A sly old fellow who -once headed a big road in the Middle West once explained the reason -why--in the case of his property--without even a trace of a smile. - -"John says," he was speaking of his own general counsel, "that a -claim-agent can't be yanked up before any of these touchy bar associations -and charged with unprofessional practices if we can show cases--that -they're just railroad men and not lawyers, at all." - -That was an exaggerated case. As a rule, the young claim-agent has -abundant need to be upon his mettle. The public, with an inborn itching -against the corporation, keeps him upon that mettle. The man who has had a -slight bump upon a railroad train--to make an instance--hunts out the -claim office at headquarters. He gets quick treatment and mighty courteous -treatment. If he can prove himself in any way entitled to a reimbursement, -he gets it--in cash upon the spot. Likewise he signs a release--a most -ponderous and impressive document. When his "John Smith" goes upon that -document he has, in its own magnificent phrasing "in consideration of -money received" released the railroad company from all obligation to him -from the beginning of the world, the fall of man and the decline of the -Roman Empire up to the very moment of the signing. - -He goes home, pretty well satisfied with himself. It was only a little -bump at that. A twenty-five cent bottle of arnica had made him physically -himself once again; and as for his suit, well, that was pretty well worn, -anyway, and three dollars to a tailor would make it a good "second best" -for next winter. He feels that the ten dollars that the railroad gave him -was pretty abundant compensation. - -But wait until he sees his neighbor. The neighbor almost froths at the -mouth when he hears of the transaction--of the impressively worded release -that was signed. - -"You're a chump," he says. "You could have gone to bed, stayed there a -week and they would have been glad to give you a hundred." - -After which the man looks upon his ten dollars with contempt and a feeling -of injury, and becomes a corporation hater. Or perhaps he was really hurt -and had some sort of a bill from his doctor and his druggist, lost time to -be compensated at his job. The railroad has figured these together and -paid him the sum, with the signing of the release as a necessary feature -of the transaction. The thing was not very serious, we will say, in this -instance also, and the hundred dollars that he received was really a fair -compensation. Now watch the neighbor, who it happens is a pretty shrewd -attorney: - -"Let me take the case, even now," he urges slyly. "I'll get a verdict of -five thousand for you, if you are wise, and we will divide the proceeds." - -"But I've signed their release," groans the other. - -The shyster laughs in his face. - -"You were drugged," he whispers, "drugged, and we will prove it." - -That is not an exaggerated case. It is the sort of thing that the -railroad's claim-agents are combating every day of the year; and then -wonder not, that some of them finally lose the fine sense of honor, -themselves. - -And beyond this class of folk, is another--nothing less than criminal. -There are men and women in this broad land who make a business of feigning -injury, and make it a pretty astute business, too, so that they may dig -deep into the strong-boxes of the railroad. The most dramatic of this -particular brand of "nature fakirs" has been Edward Pape, the man with the -broken neck. Pape has a most remarkable deformity and has not been slow to -avail himself of it as a money-making device far beyond the figures that -might be quoted for him by circus side-shows or dime museums. Pape makes a -specialty of the trolley companies. He can so alight from a car, coming -slowly to a stop, that he will fall and go rolling into the gutter. -Instantly there is excitement and a group of men to pick up the prostrate -form. He is found to be badly injured and is hurried to a hospital. There -the internes discover that he has a broken neck. A marvellous set of X-ray -photographs are made, and the railroad is usually willing to settle a -large cash sum rather than stand suit. Within a week he will probably be -away and practising his trick on some unsuspecting railroad. - -"There was a time over in Philadelphia that was hell," Pape once told the -writer. "I'd just finished my fancy fall, and they got me into the -sickhouse and rigged out most to kill. They put hip-boots on me there in -bed, with their soles fastened to the foot-board and a rubber bandage -under my chin and over my head. They put seventy-five pounds in weights -on a cord and a pulley-jigger to that bandage and it nearly killed me all -day long. At night I used to wait until it was dark and then I'd haul up -the weights and put them under the blanket with me. Otherwise, I don't -know how I'd 'a' got my sleep." - -[Illustration: THE FREIGHT DEPARTMENT OF THE MODERN RAILROAD REQUIRES A -VERITABLE ARMY OF CLERKS] - -[Illustration: THE FARMER WHO SUED THE RAILROAD FOR PERMANENT INJURIES--AS -THE DETECTIVES WITH THEIR CAMERAS FOUND HIM] - -Little things like the discomfort of hospital treatment and searching -examinations by railroad surgeons do not seem to discourage these -criminals. They take these as necessary hardships that go with their -profession. Inga Hanson, the woman who impersonated deafness, dumbness, -blindness and paralysis to win a heavy verdict from the Chicago City -Railway Company, and who was afterwards convicted of perjury, was wheeled -daily into the court-room in a chair apparently nothing more than a -living, inert, shapeless mass of humanity, exquisitely trained to enact -her role of deception. - -Sometimes the claim-agents, working in conjunction with the railroad's -secret service, have used the camera to great advantage. A farmer who -lives in New Jersey drove into a seaboard city with a load of produce. At -a grade crossing, a switch-engine overturned his craft, about as gently as -such an accident could be accomplished. The farmer was lucky in that he -was bruised, rather than seriously hurt. Then he saw a lawyer and learned -that he was incapacitated for life by severe internal injuries. He entered -suit for $25,000 against the railroad. - -There was a case for the secret-service bureau of the railroad, and it -took little time to find the right detectives, husky enough to get out -into the fields and work for four long weeks as farmhands. When the Jersey -farmer began haying that August, he found less trouble than he had ever -before experienced in hiring low-priced help. He was able to get two big -lads, who were hard workers. - -It was a big hay year and the farmer was not averse to turning in to do -his part of the work. He liked to be with the boys he had hired and one of -them had a camera that he could take "great" pictures with. He showed him -some of the pictures that he took those August days on the Jersey farm. -The farmer liked them immensely. - -He liked them rather less when his attorney came down from the city one -day, with prints of the same pictures that had been sent him by the law -department of the railroad. The farmer was given a chance to withdraw from -the limelight or else stand a criminal trial for perjury, with the -penitentiary's gray walls looming up behind. He took the chance. Few of -the dishonest claimants will proceed after such evidence has been put -before them. As for the railroad, it usually works better through getting -signed confessions of guilt than by going through the somewhat intense -workings of a criminal trial. - -The secret service stands just back of the claim-agents. It has greater or -less recognition in the case of different railroads but its work is -generally much the same. It is police. Sometimes it is organized like the -police department of a small city, with captains and inspectors at various -division headquarters, and at other times its very existence is denied by -the railroad heads. But its work is much the same. Its men, generally -chosen for fitness from city police or detective staffs, sometimes root -out tramps or small thieves along the line and in the freight-yards, -sometimes in gay uniform patrol the platforms of crowded passenger -terminals, sometimes work with greatest secrecy in "plain clothes"--which -in this case may be jeans or overalls--to detect theft or treason among -employees, and sometimes they receive their greatest laurels in connection -with the "fake" suits that are brought against the railroad. - -The secret-service works night and day. Its members, with the -claim-agents, are at the scene of a serious accident as quickly as the -wrecking-train itself. Together with the railroad's own corps of surgeons, -retained in every important town, and chosen for absolute honesty and -integrity, they form an important adjunct of the personal injury claim -service. - - * * * * * - -The financial officer of the railroad is, of course, the treasurer. It is -he who receives its earnings--running possibly into a hundred millions -dollars in the course of a twelvemonth--and disburses them for supplies -and for wages, for taxes and for bond coupons, and, it is to be hoped, for -dividends. He works through appointed banks; and the bank president who -can go out and capture one or two good railroad accounts for his -institution has earned his salary for several years to come. The selection -of the banks is one of the dramatic phases of the inside politics of -railroading; it is a cause of constant wire-pullings and heartburnings. - -"Do you see that whited sepulchre down there?" a big railroad head laughs -to you as he points to a white marble skyscraper closing the vista of a -city canyon. "This road built that temple of business. Our account is its -backbone. Sometimes we deposit a million dollars a day and it is no -uncommon thing for our balance there, approaching coupon or dividend times -to reach sixteen or seventeen million dollars." - -He laughs again, then grows confidential. - -"We're in a bit of a hole," he admits. "Some of the big manufacturers -downtown are organizing a bank, and it looks as if it was going to be a -pretty solid sort of institution. They want a big account from us, and our -traffic people are urging their cause. In the long run they'll get the -account." - -Then he explains to you that the railroad endeavors to hold down its bank -accounts, although it must have them in a large number of different -cities, to avoid the long shipments of large quantities of money. The -agents and the conductors will, following a carefully arranged system, -send their receipts to the nearest designated banks, mailing memorandum -slips of the deposit both to the treasurer and to the comptroller. The -bank in its turn, sends receipt slips to both of these officers, so the -deposit transaction is hedged about with a sufficient degree of formality -and detail. - -When it comes to pay out its money, the railroad has no lessened degree of -formality and detail. For the wages of its employees--generally the -greatest of all expenditures--the railroad has proper system and order. -The paymaster makes out the voluminous pay-rolls, they are each properly -attested by the heads of departments; and for his pay-roll totals, the -necessary vouchers are issued to him by the treasurer. He may pay the -railroad army by check or he may send his deputies out over the system in -the pay-cars. - -The pay-car is one of the pleasantest of the surviving old-time railroad -customs. The shriek of the whistle of the engine that hauls it is the -pleasantest melody that can come to the ears of the man out upon the line. -To shuffle in a long line up to its platform window where the railroad's -money is being paid out in tiny envelopes, as each man signs the -impressive roll, is one of the greatest joys that anticipation can hold -out. As the car makes its routine trip over the line each month or each -fortnight, it draws its money from the various repository banks, or else -the cash is forwarded to it at division points from headquarters. - -But, like many old customs, the pay-car is disappearing. The railroads are -more and more paying their men by check. It is a better system in many -ways. It avoids the handling of large sums of money, and many of the men -prefer not to have a roll of bills thrust into their hands. The old -prejudice among them against checks is practically over. The checks are -constant incentives toward saving, the small banks in the little town are -shrewdly reaching for the accounts of the thrifty railroaders. There may -not be much for the bank in just one of these accounts, but they can -quickly multiply into considerable sums. - -We have already spoken of the comptroller; he is called the auditor upon -some of our railroads. The comptroller is the most passionless and -unemotional of all railroad officials. He measures the worth of his -fellows by cold mathematical rules, by addition, by subtraction, by -multiplication, by division. Even as big a man as the president may -shudder at the result of such coldly accurate measurings. - -No moneys are received, none spent, without the knowledge and approval of -the comptroller. He is really a fine balance-wheel of the system, a -governor working in exact accord with the laws of the ancient and -wonderfully accurate science of numbers. By his computations men rise, men -fall. He is the keeper of the rule and keeper of the weight. - -His office organization reflects his own measure of accuracy. As a rule, -an auditor of disbursements and auditors of tickets and of freight -receipts report are his chief assistants at headquarters. A corps of -sharp-eyed young men, each also having an almighty respect for -mathematical accuracy, will be up and down the line for him, catching up -careless agents on the one hand, and on the other gently showing them how -to keep their accounts better, and conform more carefully to the company's -established standards. Sometimes the car accountant, a man who watches the -mileage of the company's cars travelling over other roads, and the -equipment of other roads scurrying over the home system, reports to the -comptroller, oftener, however, directly to the operating department. All -these make a considerable office--an office which usually treads its -monotonous path and rarely becomes nervously excited; an office to be well -considered in the organization of the railroad. - -The work of that office falls quite naturally into three channels--as we -have already indicated--passenger receipts, freight receipts and -disbursements, and general accounts. In the passenger receipts the -accounting has, of course, to do with the sale of tickets, and the cash -fare collections made by conductors upon the trains. This would be simple -enough bookkeeping if a good many years ago the interline or coupon -ticket, entitling the bearer to ride upon several different roads, had not -come into popularity. To apportion the revenue of a ticket between the -half-dozen different lines upon which it has been used requires almost no -end of system and accounting. Once a month each road has an accounting -with its fellows, with whom it is engaged in selling through tickets. The -coupons themselves are the vouchers, and cash balances of a single -road--because of the freight as well as the passenger business--may be -kept standing in the treasuries of several hundred other roads. It is a -system quite as intricate, in itself, as the relations between city and -country banking and yet it is only a single small phase of the conduct of -the railroad. - -The auditor of ticket receipts must also, through this staff organization, -make sharp examination of the tickets that are turned in by the conductors -at the end of each day's run. He must see to it that the conductor is -neither careless nor anything worse. In either of these cases he will -bring the matter quickly to the attention of the operating department. - -In addition to the railroad selling its tickets there are also railroad -passenger traffic organizations, half a dozen or more important ones -across the country, which are engaged in selling various forms of railroad -transportation. In some cases this takes the shape of a mileage-book which -may be honored by fifteen or twenty different lines. The book will perhaps -be sold for $25.00 and will permit of 1,000 miles' riding at a saving over -local fares, if the purchaser comply with its provisions. If he has -complied with its provisions within the year's life of the book, he will -be paid $5 rebate upon return of its cover which has given him his riding -at two cents a mile. Sometimes these books take the form of "scrip" which -is silent upon mileage but which has its strip divided into five-cent -portions, sold at wholesale, as it were, at a fraction less than five -cents each. - -In any case, there is more work for the auditor who handles passenger -receipts, and if the railroad is in New York State, for instance, where -there is quite a model law in effect regulating these things he will have -to be very careful how he handles the accounts for these peculiar mileage -books. The law tells him that he must not credit the whole $25 to -passenger receipts, for the law seems to point to even finer lines than -the comptroller. He cannot even subtract the $5 which will probably return -to the purchaser, and charge the $20 to receipts. The mileage-book sales -must be credited to a separate account, and only transferred to the main -receipts of the railroad as the strip is turned in for passage, a few -miles at a time. - -Do you wonder then that the comptroller sometimes grows gray-haired, that -the vast routine of his office swells tremendously from year to year? The -passenger receipts are almost always less than half of the income accounts -of his offices. They are the A, B, C compared with the delicious tangle -that comes when the freight waybills come in by the hundred thousand, and -each little road must receive the last penny due to it. That feature alone -will sometimes keep 400 clerks scratching their pens in a single office, -will involve many, many more balances and cross-balances between the -railroads. - -And beyond that complication is still another, the constant investigation -and settlement of freight claims that come pouring in against the -railroad. There is another job for a staff of competent men. If it is an -overcharge claim, the routine is comparatively simple. The audit office -should have information at hand sufficient to decline the claim or settle -it immediately. But if the claim is for lost or damaged freight, the thing -complicates. Before the freight claim department will draw a voucher -against the treasurer, it will have to assure its own conscience that the -claim is fairly substantiated by the facts. - -From these receipts, combined with those from rentals of express or -telegraph privileges or the like, the railroad pays its bills--pays its -men, as we have already seen. It pays its taxes and its bond coupons and -its fire insurance, and apportions these as far as possible over the -twelve months of the year that it may keep a fairly even balance between -receipts and expenditures. The other bills are paid by properly signed and -attested vouchers, which are bankable like checks, and which are indeed -the very best form of check, because they are upon their face a receipt -stating the precise reason for which a certain sum of money was paid. - -In recent years the comptroller, or the auditor, as you may prefer to call -him, has become more and more of a statistician. He prepares tables as to -locomotive performances, obtaining his figures from the mechanical -department; he can tell you to an ounce the average carload of the system -for any given month. He fairly seems to revel in his own development of -the science of numbers. Train and car statistics will probably show the -number of trains of different classes, the mileage of the same, the -mileage of empty and of loaded cars, and the direction of their movement. -Locomotive statistics run to mileage, consumption of fuel and of stores, -and the cost of labor and material for repairs. In addition to all these -the comptroller will probably prepare statistics of locomotive -performances--so many miles to one ton of coal and one pint of oil. Then -he will show the average cost of coal by the ton and of oil by the gallon, -for the railroad never forgets the cost. - -It is cost that really makes the excuse for these great statistics; cost -and revenue, analyzed and reanalyzed in half a hundred different ways. The -statistics are the thermometers, the very pulse by which the health of the -railroad is acutely judged. Sometimes the statistics become graphic, and -the comptroller, through some of the keen-witted men in his office, -prepares charts, in which statistics become "curves of averages" or jotted -and wriggling lines, with each jot and each wriggle full of meaning. - -"Government by draughting-board," sniffs the old-time railroader as he -sees these great "cross-hatched" sheets with their crazy lines of -intelligence spun across them, but it is "government by draughting-board" -that has made the old-time railroader--well, the old-time railroader. The -new-time railroader gives heed to those charts--the pulse readings of the -creature that he is directing--guides his course in no small way by them. -They are veritable charts by which he may pick his way quickly and safely. - -Branching, as a rule, direct from the president's office and occasionally -from the general manager's, are the purchasing agent and the store-keeper, -many times one and the same, or the former acting as superior to the -latter. The purchasing agent has no easy role. If he is not above sharp -practices--the gift of a bit of furniture or a theatre box, in the least -instances--he will fulfil only part of the reputation of his office; and -if he is--as many, many of them are--absolutely honest down to the keenest -degree of an acute conscience, he will probably still be under the -suspicion of some querulous minds. His opportunities for deceit and guile -are many, so much the more must he be an honest man in every full sense of -that word. - -He brings the modern railroad's passion for standardization down to the -purchase of its every sort of supplies; for his office goes out into the -market for anything, from a box of matches to a locomotive. The very fact -that his department is a non-revenue department, save for an occasional -sale of scrap-iron or discarded materials, only serves to put him the more -upon his guard. He must not yield to the wiles of crafty salesmen. He must -measure their wares by a single standard--economy, as expressed in -selling-price, in durability, and in cost of maintenance; and upon that -standard he must decide between them, as impartially as a justice upon the -bench. - -He must be guided by standard. If it be typewriters, he must struggle -against the preference of this department or that for some particular -machine, and bring all to the test of his three-headed economy. The -successful machine will then be adopted for the system and brought as -such. No small responsibility rests upon his accuracy of judgment. - -His store-keeper must see to it that there is no waste of supplies. He -must see to it, for instance, that the engineers are as careful in their -use of oils as the clerk in that of stationery. - -"We use $4,000 worth of lead pencils alone in the course of a single -year," says one of them; "and if we didn't keep hammering at the boys, -that figure would jump to $5,000 or $6,000 without realizing it." - -He keeps check on the supplies that he issues. His stock of blank forms, -alone, would do credit to a wholesale stationery house in a sizable city; -for the railroad is a liberal user of printer's ink in its own devices. He -must be thrifty and he must be economical; he must look to it that the -railroad's money is not wasted in the purchase and use of its supplies. - -Together with the general counsel, the general attorney, the claim-agent, -the treasurer, and the comptroller, the purchasing agent and the -store-keeper stand as guardians of the railroad's strong-box. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE GENERAL MANAGER - - HIS DUTY TO KEEP EMPLOYEES IN HARMONIOUS ACTION--"THE SUPERINTENDENT - DEALS WITH MEN; THE GENERAL MANAGER WITH SUPERINTENDENTS"--"THE - GENERAL MANAGER IS REALLY KING"--CASES IN WHICH HIS POWER IS ALMOST - DESPOTIC--HE MUST KNOW MEN. - - -The general manager operating the railroad is held strictly responsible -for the economical movement of the trains and the maintenance of the -property. To the greatest portion of the railroad army (nine-tenths of it -employed in the operating department) he is an uncrowned king. The -superintendent, as we shall presently see, is the unit of the operation of -the road, just as the division over which he is head is one of the -physical units that go to make up some thousands of miles of first-class -railroad track. The division superintendent deals in men; the general -manager deals in division superintendents; and right there is the radical -difference between the two. - -The superintendent must see to it that his men get a square deal. If he -does not see to it in the first instance they will see to it in the last, -and woe to him if such be the case. For the men who work on the steam -railroad are well-paid, well-read, keenly sensitive as to their privileges -and their rights. And from these men have come the division -superintendents, as different each from the other as men can be grown. It -is the general manager's chief duty to bring these very different men into -harmonious action. That is absolutely essential to the successful -operation of the railroad. The general manager must have absolute firmness -with his superintendents. He can appoint or discharge them as they can -appoint or discharge their trainmen--more quickly in fact, for up to the -present time there is no brotherhood of railroad superintendents. - -A certain division superintendent in the East had 150 miles of busy -double-track trunk line under his direction. At his headquarters were a -big classification yard and a coaling-station for the engine of the two -divisions that intersected there. In the course of gradually increasing -business, the coaling-station, which stood in a narrow ledge beside the -main-line tracks and under the breast of a steep mountain-side, had to be -enlarged. In so small a place, that was a difficult engineering problem. -It was necessary to build much bigger coal-pockets and while the engineers -were removing the old and building the new station, temporary coaling -facilities had to be provided for the busy engine point. That part of the -problem--more operating than engineering--was finally solved by going -across the main-line tracks and locating a temporary coaling-station -there. That made a bad situation--with the heavy main-line traffic -constantly intersecting with engines drilling back and forth to their coal -supply, and the general manager was quick to realize it. He went up there -and warned his superintendent. - -"This is a danger place," he said, "and a mighty bad one at that. That -tower's too far away to guard this cross-over. I want you to put two -flagmen here at all hours and let them personally signal and safeguard -every engine that crosses these main-line tracks." - -Then he went back to his own big office, feeling that the responsibility -for that danger place was off his own shoulders, in part at least. The -division superintendent put in the requisition for the four men he needed. -The requisition enmeshed itself in the red-tape at the general offices of -the system. Some smart young assistant auditor there, who couldn't tell a -coal-pocket from a gravity-yard, and who was 400 miles away, remembered -that he had been ordered to cut the pay-roll--and the requisition went -into the waste-basket. The division superintendent did not try to get -another requisition for those flagmen through. He did the next best thing -and told the towerman in the cabin--almost half a mile away--to keep as -good a watch as possible of the cross-over. - -The inevitable came early one evening, in an October fog. The Chicago Fast -Mail ran into an engine returning from the coal-pockets and there were -half a dozen dead when the wreck was cleared away. The division -superintendent was hurriedly summoned down to the general manager's -office. - -"I cautioned you against trying to operate that cross-over without special -signalmen," that officer said, as he discharged the superintendent and so -cleared himself of the responsibility. - -And that is where the modern system of excessive consolidation in our big -land carriers turned one good, faithful railroad executive into a howling -anarchist. An illogical system has developed from this rapid expansion of -the great individual railroad properties. As its most interesting phase, -it offers the man who is farthest away from the detail of operation as the -man who decides. One man takes the judgment of another and both of them -are far removed, perhaps, from the seat of the very trouble that they seek -to remedy. The man on the ground is powerless in the matter. - -Here is the yardmaster at a great interior railroad centre--we call it -Somerset for the sake of convenience. His is one of the biggest yards in -all this land, and he is a man whose judgment should be solidly respected. -There are four improvements in his yards that he deems absolutely -necessary in the face of a rapidly increasing traffic, and for a portion -of the property that depreciates rapidly under hard usage. His is a most -important position; and yet as he cannot spend a cent himself for the use -of the railroad, not even to buy matches, he embodies his four requests -for necessities into a requisition and forwards it to headquarters--at a -seaboard city. His superior officer thinks that Somerset is asking a good -deal, and he cuts the request down to three items. The next link in the -chain is a man--an auditor, perhaps--who happens to be imbued with a -strong streak of economy at that time. Middle division has had its -appropriation cut thirty-three per cent, so off comes another item from -Somerset yard. After a time, the yardmaster is lucky to get one single -item through--and that is sure not to be the essential item that he needed -most of all. Good, plucky, valiant railroader that he is, he is sure to -think the whole outfit in the general offices a set of arrant fools. -Perhaps the big accident comes, and then perhaps he has full opportunity -to set himself straight. It is more likely that he does not, and that he -is made the target for Grand Jury indictment and a lot of other fireworks. - -That is an instance of the complications of the modern railroad--the vast -intricacy of organization. Wonder not, then, that many a general manager -of to-day must think twice before he remembers that some particular inland -town is one of the obscure branches of his property. - - * * * * * - -The superintendent deals with men; the general manager, with -superintendents. That statement is open to a slight modification. The -superintendent deals with the operating army in individual cases; the -general manager deals with them collectively. Somewhere in rank between -the division superintendent and the general manager stands the general -superintendent, but in the rapidly changing structure of American railroad -operation, his office is fast losing its individuality, is to-day in real -danger of utter extinction. On some railroads he is hardly more than a -chief clerk to the general manager, a rubber-stamp whose signature goes -mechanically upon papers bound upwards from division superintendent to -general manager. At the most he is to-day an outside man, getting up and -down the line and making constant reports to his boss, the general -manager. - -[Illustration: OIL-BURNING LOCOMOTIVE ON THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC SYSTEM - -THE STEEL PASSENGER COACH, SUCH AS HAS BECOME STANDARD UPON THE AMERICAN -RAILROAD - -ELECTRIC CAR, GENERATING ITS OWN POWER BY A GASOLINE ENGINE - -BOTH LOCOMOTIVE AND TRAIN--GASOLINE MOTOR CAR DESIGNED FOR BRANCH LINE -SERVICE] - -[Illustration: THE BIGGEST LOCOMOTIVE IN THE WORLD: BUILT BY THE SANTA FE -RAILROAD AT ITS TOPEKA SHOPS] - -For the general manager is really king of the entire situation. Just now -his reign is threatened from a new quarter, and you find him receiving the -opposition with both distrust and anger. This is the fine figure of a fine -man. He has come up the ladder, rung by rung--station assistant, telegraph -operator, despatcher, train-master, assistant superintendent, -superintendent, general superintendent, general manager; he knows -railroading, stick and wheel. His own railroad he knows as he might know -the fingers of his hand. - -When we come into his office, the last of a committee of well-dressed -citizens is slipping out of his door; they are citizens from a prosperous -town in an adjoining State, and he may tell us of their errand. - -"K---- is a good town," he will say, "and gives us a good and growing -traffic. We've a lot of nasty grade-crossings there, for the two of our -big lines that right-angle into there seem to get over about every street -in the place at level. They want us to elevate or depress our tracks -through there, and it should be done. This road wants it as much as -K----wants it; for it's one of the worst bottle-necks on our main line, -and Lord only knows how many thousands of dollars it's cost us in delayed -traffic." - -This king of the railroad points to a sheaf of blueprints upon his desk. - -"That tells the story," he says simply, "and the end of the chapter is a -bill for nine millions of dollars to get rid of those crossings. According -to law, K---- will have to stand about half of the cost of the work, and -K----, like most progressive American towns, has been running pretty close -to her debt limit. She is staggered at the thought of having to dig out -three or four millions of perfectly good dollars, and so her mayor has -made the naive suggestion that we advance the money and let them pay back -their share in the shape of refunded taxes and annual payments. - -"We advance that money--and the big boss has to slip over to France and -try to sell our securities for mere necessities. The truth of the matter -is that we haven't the money to advance. We're grubbing to get enough cash -to buy locomotives and cars to keep pace with our business, not running a -loan business for upstart towns that have run through their capital." - -In comes a second delegation, this one another group of commuters. They -have been asking for an additional train in on the Valley branch. The -general manager has said that the road cannot afford it, for the train -would have to be operated at a loss. He proves his statement. - -"But," urges the spokesman of the party, "you will make traffic by it, and -eventually the train will pay." - -"Eventually isn't to-day," said the G. M. stanchly, "and it is on to-day -that we are being judged. You gentlemen come here and ask me to place a -train in service that is a sure loser; and then you will go down to your -office, and when the difference between my net and gross comes to you upon -your ticket sheets, you will damn me as being a rank incompetent." - -"But this one train?" protests the spokesman. - -"Violates that very principle," replies the general manager. "Not another -car that does not pay its way." - -And as that little group files its way out of the big office, uttering -sundry threats about going to the commission, the general manager -stretches his leg over his big desk. Under the glass top of that desk is a -big map, in colors, of his system--miles and miles and miles of -first-class railroad. - -"They come to me--towns like K---- and tell me of their troubles," he -says, "as if I already did not know of them. I've a reconstruction plan -for every ten miles of our main-line." His finger traces upon the map to a -great division point. "Take Somerset here, and Somerset yard. That is some -yard, as the boys say. We have 110 miles of track in it, enough for a -good-sized side-line division, and that yardmaster has to be the equal of -a superintendent. - -"You would take a good look at that yard, with its roundhouses and its -shops, its gravity-humps and its classification sections, and you would -think it big enough to handle every freight car that goes between here and -Chicago. It isn't. It isn't really big enough to handle our decent share -of that traffic to-day. We're trying to pour the business through it -to-day, and are succeeding only by the narrowest measure. It's a weak -valve in our biggest artery, and some day it's going to clog. - -"It won't be five years before Somerset has me throttled again. Five years -ago it was as bad. It took us three to four weeks to put a carload of -freight through it in winter, and the shippers were howling bloody murder. -They got mad enough then to scare our directors and I got separate -east-bound and west-bound classifications yards, relief that I'd been -fairly down on my knees for, three years at least. I was the goat in that -thing. I always am; that's part of the job of general manager. - -"I know just what the steady increase in traffic is going to bring me to, -at this point and at that. Here's where a couple of our biggest feeders -from the north come into our main-line; here are a couple of friendly -haulers dumping down into us from Canada; here, in the mountains, is where -we pick up our stuff from the south and the southwest. Every yard on our -system is beginning to stagger under the traffic that shows no let up, and -we've got to spend millions to keep ourselves from getting throttled. -Don't think I don't know every bit of that. I can see necessary -improvements all the way up our main line; but every one of them takes -money, and just now the big boss has to hustle to sell his securities and -raise the money. But when we know and can't improve--that's railroading." - -A secretary tiptoes in. This railroad king looks up and smiles quite -frankly at us. - -"Committee from the Chamber of Commerce at Zanesburgh," he announces. -"They want a new depot in Zanesburgh, and they're entitled to a new one, -costing at a fair ratio about $40,000. A $40,000-depot would give them -every comfort and convenience but they demand that we spend $100,000 -because Great Midland has spent $80,000 in an architectural wonder in -Stenton; and the old time town rivalry makes Zanesburgh want to go Stenton -one better." - -"You've got a lot of these delegations?" we venture. - -"I lose track of them," says the general manager. "It's all a part of the -day's work; it's railroading." - -We know. Last night, this general manager was at a big freight terminal -there in the headquarters city, seeing with his own eyes until midnight -the fast freight and the express traffic under handling. The night before -he was there, and the night before that he was also there, and three days -before that he was out pounding over the line in his car, working eighteen -hours a day. That's railroading, too. - -The freight house in this terminal city is one of his biggest problems. -His biggest local freight yard is in a narrow valley between high hills; -and these, together with fearful realty values, absolutely circumscribe -its area. The traffic is growing all the while, and all the local freight -for his road--running in strongly competitive territory--comes to this -terminal. Three hundred and fifty cars must be despatched every night for -different points, and yet a dray coming into the yard must be able to find -any one of those cars without an instant's delay. And still the narrow -physical limitations of that yard prevail. There is a big problem for a -big man. - -And sometimes the big man must stoop to examine carefully into the little -things. When McCrea, the present president of the Pennsylvania, was a -general manager off on the western end of that system, his car was halted -in the middle of the night by a bad wreck on a single-track side-line. He -might have remained in his comfortable bed, but that would not have been -McCrea. He got up and dressed, went outside and offered his services to -the wrecking-boss. The wrecking-boss was competent and he knew it. - -"There's nothing you can do, boss," he said. - -"Do you mean to tell me that there is nothing that I can do--with a road -blocked on both sides with wreckage and stalled trains and track to be -laid?" said McCrea. "Well, let me tell you that there are ties down there -in the ditch that will have to be placed before another train goes over -here, and we might as well be beginning." - -And with that General Manager McCrea suited action to word. He went down -into the ditch, picked up a heavy tie, put it over his shoulder, and -brought it up into position. In an instant he was in the ranks, working to -bring order out of chaos. That was the way a big man could do a little -thing in a big way. - -It takes a really big man for that very sort of thing. And the big man, -general manager of several thousand miles of railroad, must understand the -smaller men beneath him--any one of whom is apt in some future day to -supersede him. Here is a man who has been known as one of the best general -managers in the whole land. Soon after he was made operating head of a -really big road, a certain train on which he was travelling was much -delayed. The new G. M. inquired the exact reason for the trouble. He was -not so much concerned for his own convenience as he was curious to know -why one of the road's best through trains should have halted until -assistance should come from the nearest roundhouse. - -"The fireman lost his rake," was the somewhat perfunctory report that the -G. M.'s secretary returned to him. But if that young man thought that his -boss was going to be satisfied with that report, he was mistaken, -decidedly. - -"Bring the fireman to me," commanded the chief. - -That fireman was not of the sort that is easily feazed. He stood stockily -and in a low voice gave a very circumstantial explanation of the whole -occurrence. It seemed that he had missed the rake that morning when they -had started out from the yard roundhouse to take the Limited down over the -division. He was just going back for another, when they were called to -lend a hand at a small yard wreck. When they were done shoving and bunting -there, they had no time to run back to the roundhouse and get a rake. They -had barely enough time to get to the passenger station for the engine -change. That was a good story, with a deal of explanation, and the fireman -thought that the G. M. must be impressed with it. - -The G. M. was not in the least impressed. He looked the coal shover up and -down, from head to feet, then said: - -"How about those seven freights that you passed laid out on sidings? You -could have forced any one of those engineers to lend you his rake rather -than lay out this train." - -The effect of that slight observation from the G. M.'s car was not lost on -a man on the system. The new man made good. From that time forward word -went out to the far corners of his road that the "new boss" knew -railroading; that he had four eyes in his head and that you had to be -pretty careful what sort of a story you put up to him. Calculate, if you -can, in dollars and cents the moral effect of such a stand upon the rank -and file of the king's army. The general manager, as we have already said, -must know men. - - * * * * * - -You are back with your first general manager again. He is tired of all -these problems, and yet he is now turning to another. This is formally -entitled the Situation. It is placed upon his big desk every morning. It -is a morning paper, if you please, prepared for a single reader. The -general manager is "Old Subscriber," in good measure; and if the paper -lacks both editorials and advertising, it is none the less interesting to -its star reader. Its news is as exclusive as its reader, and exclusively -the news of his system. - -By it he knows first of the traffic that has been handled in twenty-four -hours, by cars and by trains. He knows by it the reserve forces of the -railroad, in cars and in locomotives, and just where they are located. By -the _Situation_, he can discover the over-massing of equipment upon one -division, the shortage upon another. After that he can begin to give -orders to his general superintendents and his superintendents of -transportation--these last the men who are directly responsible for car -movement--toward bringing a better balance between traffic and equipment. -The _Situation_ is on his desk at ten o'clock in the morning. By eleven, -whole brigades of locomotives may be under way, moving from their stalls -in some giant roundhouse out toward another division whose superintendent -is fairly shrieking for power. - -But the _Situation_ tells more than merely this. It goes into history, and -in its own cold-blooded fashion tells what the road is doing by -comparison. It gives weather conditions and traffic for the corresponding -day, one year, two years, three years, five years before; and the general -manager will do well if he avoids giving mere cursory examination of such -tables. The _Situation_ not only notes weather conditions, it brings to -the eyes of the man whom we have called king in railroad operation the -more important train delays and the reasons that have caused them. Every -fact or incident that may affect the traffic or the operation of the road -is noted in its fine-filled pages. It is in every way a guide and a -barometer of the condition of a great property up to the very hour that -the general manager comes to his desk. - -But the _Situation_ does not tell the entire story. Out in the nearest -passenger yard is a big private-car, almost as handsome and as well -equipped as that of the president of the road, and that car is in service -as many days as it stands idle there upon the siding. This man has 4,000 -miles of railroad empire in his domain; there are nearly 70,000 faithful -privates for his army. To cover that territory means constant travel. -There are side-lines of less importance that sometimes do not see him for -six months at a time. - -Of less importance, did we say? We had better not let him hear us breathe -that, for there are men in his employ who remember the first council of -the operating department staff after this G. M. came to the road. They -were gathered there for the time-table meeting--a general superintendent, -a whole round dozen of division superintendents, serious traffic-minded -folk from the passenger department, an auxiliary corps of chief clerks and -stenographers. Division by division, the passenger time-table problem was -adjusted. This superintendent asked a little more running time, for they -were putting in a cluster of new bridges, which made slow orders -necessary; another was thereupon forced to shorten his schedule, for the -total running time between main-line terminals of a road in hot -competitive territory could not be increased a single sixty seconds. -Finally, after a vast amount of argument, the main-line divisions were -settled, and attention was given to the side-lines. The first of these ran -through a section purely rural, but there was not a busier 500 miles of -single track in the East. - -The general superintendent called attention to it, with a laugh. - -"We'll now tackle the hoejack," said he. - -It was an old joke, and the division heads began to laugh. They stopped -laughing the next instant. The new general manager was on his feet and -pounding thunderously upon his table top. His face was crimson, as he -demanded attention. - -"Gentlemen," said he, scathingly, "the great railroad from which I have -had the honor to come has prided itself upon being a standard railroad. -Its standard is universal wherever its cars and engines run, and its -jurisdiction extends. Some of its lines are the busiest traffic-haulers in -the land. The four and even six tracks to each of them are hardly enough -for the great volume of high-class freight and passenger traffic that -press upon their rails. There are some side-lines, with but two or three -trains a day--side-lines that reach the main-line only through other -branches. But there are no hoejacks, nor peanut branches, nor jerkwaters -upon that system. Hereafter there are to be none upon this. The man who is -hauling a train on the most remote corner of this railroad is doing its -work quite as much as the biggest trainmaster here at the terminal. I -trust you follow me?" - -They followed implicitly; and to that general manager has been finally -accorded the credit for bringing an operating department, torn by -inefficiencies and by jealousies, into one of the first rank among the -railroads of the land. - -But he admits that he is going out upon side-line; and that particular -side-line brings a story to the mind of his chief clerk. When he has us -quite aside he tells it to us: - -"The next to the last time the boss went up the Upper River Division, they -got his goat. We halted at the depot up at West Lyndonbrook, to fill the -tanks. The boss thinks that he will get out and stir his feet for a minute -on the right-of-way. Up comes a villager. 'Are you the general manager of -this 'ere road?' he says to the boss. Boss thinks he was some gentle -bucolic soul, and he says 'yes,' and offers him a real cigar. But the -gentle bucolic doesn't smoke anything cleaner than a pipe, and he just up -and says, 'Well, General, here's somethin' fer ye,' and shoves a paper -with a big red seal into the boss's hand. - -"It seems that up in that neck o' woods they get grade crossings removed -as a last resort by going to the county court and the paper that the -constable served was one for the boss to come down there in a fortnight -for a hearing on an order to put a flagman and gates at our crossing in -West Lyndonbrook. The boss was mighty mad, and almost discharged the agent -for letting that constable hang around the depot. There isn't enough -traffic over that line to do more than keep the rust off the rails, and we -never had an accident in the sixty odd years that crossing has been in -use. And at that the boss might have fallen for a flagman. But the way -they rubbed it into him riled him. They might have gone at the thing in a -decent way--first sent a committee down to the division superintendent to -request that flagman. - -"He went down on the appointed night to the old Town Hall. Before he got -there he started a guessing contest in that smart-aleck burg. The crossing -was right 'in the heart of the community,' as they put it themselves, and -the big citizens' houses were all within an eighth of a mile of our -right-of-way. Three days before the big flight of oratory down at the Town -Hall, the boss starts something. They hardly get away from their houses in -the morning before there is a bunch of those bright tech-school boys with -their rods and sextants and steel tapes measuring lines over the front -lawns. And the next thing they were planting bright new stakes in all the -flower-beds. There hadn't been so much excitement in West Lyndonbrook -since the last time Theodore Roosevelt talked there, and the townfolk -hustled down to the depot. The agent didn't ease their minds. The boss -wasn't working hand in glove with him. - -"When the night came for the big time at the Town Hall, it was a regular -'standing-room only' business. The boss kept in the background while the -great minds of the township did their best. When it came his turn he -clamped across the platform like an avenging angel. He is a big fellow, -and that night he looked seven-foot-six, as he stuck his long fingers out -over that intelligent body politic and asked what it meant by trying to -cow the only first-class railroad that had ever had enough energy to put -its rails down in that township. Then he calls up an engineer from our -construction department. - -"'Mr. Blinkins,' he says, in a voice that you could have heard across the -public square, 'this railroad has decided to temporize no longer in this -highway crossing situation on its lines. How much will it cost to put a -subway under our track at this crossing?' - -"The engineer dove into his drawings and said: 'It'll be quite a big job, -and we'll have to cut quite a way into some of the front yards to get the -foundations for our abutments. My estimate of the cost of the proposed -improvement is $160,000.' - -"Then it was the boss's turn again. 'Under the state law, work on -abolishing a grade crossing begins by the railroad expressing its -willingness,' he told them. 'The cost is divided--half being borne by the -railroad, the other half being divided between the township and the State. -West Lyndonbrook's share will reach $40,000.' Forty thousand dollars--why -$40,000 would have built either the new union school or the waterworks -that that burg had been hankering for and thought it couldn't afford. When -the boss breathed about that $40,000 it started the old feuds between the -waterworks crowd and the school crowd. They forgot all about the crossing -and our sin-filled railroad, and got to hammering anew on the old issue. -We slinked out while they were still at it--had the car hooked on to the -rear of thirty-eight and got started while the oratory was taking a fresh -turn. - -"The boss? The boss is a diplomat. That's how he keeps his job." - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE SUPERINTENDENT - - HIS HEADSHIP OF THE TRANSPORTATION ORGANISM--HIS MANNER OF DEALING - WITH AN OFFENDED SHIPPER--HIS MANNER WITH COMMUTERS--HIS MANNER WITH A - SPITEFUL "KICKER"--A DISHONEST CONDUCTOR WHO HAD A "PULL"--A SYSTEM OF - DEMERITS FOR EMPLOYEES--DEALING WITH DRUNKARDS--WITH SELFISH AND - COVETOUS MEN. - - -If the general manager is king in modern railroad operation, the division -superintendent is not less than prince. His principality is no mean state. -It may consist of some 500 miles of what he modestly admits is the "best -sort of railroad in all this land"; or it may be a little stretch of 100 -miles, or even less, losing its way back among the hills; but it _is_ a -principality, and his rule is undisputed. If ever it be questioned, it -will then be high time for him to abdicate. - -Just as the division is the physical unit of railroad operation, so is its -superintendent the human unit. By him the transportation organism stands -or falls. If it stands, he is able to go forward; the path from his door -leads to the general manager's office. If it falls--Well, there is to-day -in Central Illinois a gray-haired station-agent who once held his own -principality--4,000 men to take his orders. - -"We only discharge for disobedience or dishonesty," said the president of -that railroad at the time he signed the order reducing the prince to the -ranks. "When we fail to get the real measure of a man, it is our fault, -not his. We never turn out a man who has done his level best for us." - -This man is superintendent of one of the most prosperous of the -trunk-line railroads that reach the metropolis by stretching their rails -across New Jersey. His is a "terminal division," so called, and he has -assumed command of one of the busiest city gates in all America. His -railroad day begins almost as soon as he is awake. There is a telegraph -outfit in the corner of his bedroom, and as he dresses and shaves he -listens mechanically to its scoldings--to the gossip of the division. It -comes as casually to his ear as the prattle of his children; the key began -to be music to him long before he left the little yellow depot where he -first began to be a railroader. - -"They're in pretty good shape this morning, John," laughs his wife. She, -too, has been listening half unconsciously to the gossip of the wire. -Years ago she "stood her trick" with her husband back in that little -yellow depot. - -"Got a coal train in the ditch up the other side of Greyport," is his -reply. "We'll rip out that nasty cross-over up there some day, when the -big boss wakes up to the cash we've put out in wrecks at GP." - -"Going up there?" - -"Not this morning, Maggie," he laughs. "I've a committee from the firemen -coming in to see me. They're nagging for a raise." He lowers his voice, as -if he almost thought that the walls had ears. "It's beginning to grind the -boys, too--butter 48 cents, eggs 45, and all their hungry kiddies. But the -big boss--whew!" - -He whistles, goes to his key, cuts in, and begins to give orders to the -wrecking-boss up at Greyport. - -"Steady, Jim," he says, in a low voice. "You've got all day on that job if -you need it, only watch out for the number two track with your crane. We -can't risk a side-swipe on one of our pretty trains. We're detouring the -east-bound passengers over the Central. How's Hinckley?" - -He closes the circuit softly. - -"Poor Hinckley," he says gently. "Do you remember, Maggie? He was married -the same summer we were." - -Through with his breakfast, he hurries down to the station, and before he -slips aboard the suburban train that is to carry him in to his Jersey City -office, he has had the wire again into Greyport. They are getting things -cleaned up there a bit; a baggage-car has been sent up with a special -engine for Hinckley. The superintendent turns from these. One of the -little trains that come out from town in the dusk of early dawn has -brought a leather bag filled with mail. He runs through it as his train -slips across the meadows. By the time he is in his roomy office it is -ready to be answered, a pencilled memorandum on each is sufficient guide -for his chief clerk. - -Throughout the morning his calendar is a crowded thing. There is a -constant line of restless men sitting on the long bench just without the -guarded rail of the outside office. One by one these are called; they -disappear behind swinging baize doors to stand in front of the -superintendent. - -For the first of these there is a smile--the caller is a big shipper, big -enough to go to the head of the line and have instant access to the boss. -This shipper is the sort who gives the railroad tonnage in trainload lots. -He is hot. He cannot get cars. He will begin to route over the Triple -B----, even though his siding facilities are wrong for it. _They'll_ dig -him out the cars he needs, they have folks over there who make it their -business to find cars. And while he is on the subject it seems pretty bad -to have stuff coming twelve and fourteen days through from Chicago. -Perhaps he'd better be getting after the Commission. The shipper is very -hot. He expatiates upon his wrongs, hammers upon the superintendent's -desk, grows scarlet in his heavy face. - -The superintendent's smile never wavers. He gives close attention, does -not grow excited. A few orders over the telephone, a word of explanation, -the shipper smiles now. Down in his heart he begins to be sorry that he -made these threats about the Triple B----. - -That is getting traffic, you say, and the superintendent is an operating -man. You are a bit wrong there. The superintendent is a _railroad_ man and -that means that any part of the railroad business is his business. There -is a man, by name A. H. Smith, who is to-day operating vice-president of -the New York Central system, who held to that idea from the beginning. In -the beginning, Smith was the superintendent of a little side-tracked -division of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern which centred in at -Hillsdale, Michigan. It was a strong competitive territory, and Smith -found that the traffic that came to his road was so slight that it did not -take a great deal of his time to move it. The superintendents before him -had had a lot of time to speed their fast horses and fuss around their -gardens. Not so with Smith. He went into the business of making traffic. -It was a decade that took keen delight in singing societies, and Smith's -robust voice allied itself to every choir of importance in three counties. -He sang himself into personal popularity, he sang traffic into coming over -the Michigan Southern. After a while, the folks over in the general -offices at Cleveland began to take notice. The traffic folks were the -first to notice, after that--well, a long story's short when you know that -Smith found himself on a short cut to his present job. - -The superintendent's smile remains while a solemn-faced delegation of -commuters files into his room. These grave folk have been coming into town -on the 8:52 almost since the road first laid its rails. It is part of -their lives, and they fondly imagine that it is a big part of the -road's--that the twenty-hour train over the mountains to Chicago is a -matter of considerably less importance than the 8:52. The superintendent -broadens his bland smile and rings for his train sheets. There are other -trains than the 8:52 coming into that terminal--almost a train a minute -from a little before eight o'clock until half-past nine. The -superintendent's finger runs for corroboration over the train sheets. -Twenty-five days this month when 94 per cent of his suburban trains come -under the protection of the big shed of the terminal right on the -scheduled moment--how was that for consistency of operation? - -The commuters' committee seem a little dazed. Individually, the men are -expert on a good many things--printing, indictments, breakfast foods, -patents, wholesale feathers; but consistency of train operation and train -sheets are a bit confusing. - -"The 8:52 has been late a whole lot recently," doggedly affirms the -chairman. "Last Thursday we were pretty near fifteen minutes late." - -A gleam of triumph comes into the superintendent's eye. He fumbles anew -among the flimsy train sheets. His forefinger alights upon a line of the -typewritten copy. - -"Last Thursday," he comments, "you can see that we were all laid out by -the Hackensack River draw. A schooner filled with brick got caught by the -ebb tide and laid down on us in the open draw. What you want to see, -gentlemen, is the Treasury departments down at Washington. It is -outrageous that the antiquated navigation laws should be allowed to hold -up business in that way." - -The committee confer among themselves and decide to make the life of the -Secretary of the Treasury uncomfortable for a while. - -"You cannot hope for anything better with that Hackensack Bridge," urges -the superintendent almost malevolently. - -He does not tell them, but the boys out on the line know his own -experience with the Hackensack River bridge. Last December and just in the -evening rush-hours they found that the cabin that stands perched at the -top of the trussed draw was afire. The trains bringing home the tired -suburbanites were beginning to line up back of the fire for solid miles. -The tired suburbanites were saying things about this particular railroad. -It chanced that this superintendent was a passenger on one of the trains. -He went forward to the blaze. The towerman had beat a retreat. The -superintendent started to climb up the ice-covered ladder tower toward the -burning cabin. The towerman halted him. The wiry superintendent turned -upon him with a look of infinite scorn: - -"We've got to hand signal those trains across here--there's thousands of -folks out here in the meadows that we can't let miss their supper--" - -"I've got a family--" began the towerman. - -"That's all right. I'll signal these across." - -"That ain't it, boss. Back o' th' cabin's the gasolene tanks, the stuff -for openin' th' draw." - -The superintendent gave a low whistle. - -"That settles it," he said. "We've _got_ to put this fire out. I can't -risk cutting this draw out of service." - -It is a matter of record on that railroad that he climbed alone to the top -of the draw and began to put out the fire with his own stout endeavors. He -was not alone for long. Inspired by him, the men that gathered -there--engineers, firemen, trainmen, and conductors, crawled up upon that -freezing cold draw and lent him their efforts. In a half-hour the fire was -out, and the stalled trains were moving again. - -This, then, is the measure of the man who sits across the wide office -table from you. The mollified commuters are marching out. - -"You don't encourage kicking?" you ask. - -"We don't discourage it," he replied. He is reminded of a story and tells -it to you. - -"When they made Blank superintendent over there at Broad Street, in -Philadelphia, he went in to make a clean record. He called his chief -clerk to him. 'Mind you, if you hear kicks, don't let them get in one ear -and out the other. You bring them in here and we'll investigate.' In three -days the chief clerk was busy. 'Lots of trouble with the suburban traffic -to-day,' he would say. 'Wilmington train laid out at Grey's Ferry; third -day that's happened.' 'Ugly trainman on the main line wouldn't close the -rear doors. That fellow's unpopular.' 'Not enough equipment on the Central -division.' 'No fire in the stove at Lenden Road,'--a long string of -commuter troubles. After Blank had heard this for a week he began to get -nervous. He called his chief clerk to him. 'See here,' he demanded, -'what's the matter with our service? Where are all these kicks coming in -from?' The chief clerk looked at him--never a snicker. 'You said you -wanted the kicks,' he replied. 'Well, I've been letting the head barber -downstairs shave me after he was done with the commuters. He gets every -one of the howls.'" - -Sometimes the kicks represent a serious side of the superintendent's -problem. A while ago a man came to a railroad superintendent in Boston and -demanded that a certain ticket-examiner in the passenger terminal be -dismissed. There had been some sort of dispute and the man insisted that -the ticket-examiner be discharged, nothing less. The ticket-examiner, on -his part, told a pretty fair sort of story. Moreover, he said that if in -the heat of the dispute he had transgressed on good manners he was frankly -sorry and that it would not happen again. Back of all that he had a good -record: no complaints had ever before been registered against him. The -superintendent then wrote a letter to the man who had complained and -stated that the offending ticket-examiner had been reprimanded and that -the offence would probably not be repeated. - -[Illustration: THE CONDUCTOR IS A HIGH TYPE OF RAILROAD EMPLOYEE] - -[Illustration: THE ENGINEER--OIL-CAN IN HAND--IS FOREVER FUSSING AT HIS -MACHINE] - -[Illustration: RAILROAD RESPONSIBILITY DOES NOT END EVEN WITH THE TRACK -WALKER] - -[Illustration: THE FIREMAN HAS A HARD JOB AND A STEADY ONE] - -That did not satisfy the man who complained. He was of the sort that are -supposed to have a "pull," and he threatened to use his pull if the -ticket-examiner were not discharged. He refused to accept apologies or -explanations. He said he was hot. So was the superintendent. He keenly -resented anything that approached interference with his discipline, and he -refused to discharge his employee. Pressure was exerted, the pull was -doing its fine work. The superintendent was--like every other railroad -superintendent in this land--a fine diplomat. He took the man from the -train gate in the terminal and gave him an equally good job in a city a -hundred miles distant from Boston. He flattered himself that he had seen -the last of the man with the pull. - -Not a bit of it. That brisk soul chanced to pass through the distant town, -and gasped at sight of the former ticket-examiner still drawing pay from -the railroad. He hastened into the superintendent's office in Boston and -demanded that the subterfuge end--that the man be actually discharged from -the road's employ. The superintendent looked at him coolly, not speaking. -The man again threatened his pull. The railroad boss looked at him through -slitted eyes. It was a real crisis for him. His diplomatic smile was -ready. He pointed with his lean forefinger toward the door. - -"The case is closed. Good-morning," was all he said. - -After that he began wondering what road would have him after that pull was -exerted. He wondered for a day, for a week, then a month. Then he forgot -the occurrence. The pull, like many other sorts of threats, was thin air. - -Of a different sort was the problem that confronted a superintendent in -Chicago. On a certain suburban train for many years the conductor had -remained with an unchanged run. Gossip had come into the super's office -that this conductor was systematically stealing from the company. The boss -started a quiet investigation. The conductor with apparently no other -income than his $3 a day, had purchased a neat home in the suburbs, had -sent his boy to Yale, his girl to Vassar. That was Thrift, with a capital -T. The superintendent took the case sharply in hand and summoned the -conductor before him. He was one of the older sort, gray-haired, -kind-faced. - -"Johnson," said the boss, "you've been with the road a long time and never -had a vacation. I want you to lay off a month and run over to either -coast. I'll get the transportation for you." - -Johnson protested. He belonged to a generation of railroaders that was not -educated to vacations. The superintendent insisted and had his way, as -superintendents generally do. Johnson started on his vacation, and a -substitute, knowing nothing of the real situation, replaced him. The -returns from that daily run doubled, and the superintendent knew that he -was right. - -Nowadays when a railroad finds that a conductor is stealing, it invokes -the majesty of the Interstate Commerce Law and prepares to hurry him off -toward a Federal prison. In that day they were content to fire Johnson; -that was sufficient disgrace to the old man. The railroad could not begin -to get back the money that had been trickling out throughout the long -years. - -But Johnson showed fight. His was an important train in the Chicago -suburban service, and his passengers were important merchants and -manufacturers--big shippers. They got together, under Johnson's -supervision, and made the hair on the heads of the traffic men turn gray. -Those fellows were Johnson's friends, and they were not going to see the -N---- turn out a faithful employee. Johnson said that he had not stolen, -and Johnson was not the sort to lie. It might do the N---- good to send -some tonnage over to the M----. The traffic department and the operating -locked horns, as ofttimes they do on roads, both big and little. Traffic -won. The superintendent lost, Johnson went back to his job, and the road -put on a checking system that made its conductors wonder if they had held -convict records. - -That case was an exception. There are not many superintendents who are -compelled to back water, mighty few Johnsons among the thousands of -conductors across the land. - -We are still in that superintendent's office in Jersey City. The boss's -smile is gone. A big railroader just in from the line, his jeans covered -with engine grease, shuffles into the place and stands before the super, -hat in hand, like a naughty boy ready to be whipped. The superintendent -speaks in a few low sentences to him, makes a notation on an envelope. The -big man trembles in front of the little. A bit of a smile comes to the -lips of the boss. - -"You think of the wife and the kiddies first next time," he says. -"Good-bye and good luck to you. I'm not much for lecturings," he adds, -after the man has gone. A little later he begins to explain. "That big -fellow had to be disciplined. There was no two ways about it for either of -us. He's an engine-man, got a good train, too; but he's been running -signals. We've caught him twice on test. We can't stand for that. Suppose -we have a nasty smash and the coroner's jury begins to ask nosey -questions? I had to put black on his envelope." - -He goes into further detail. In other days he would have been forced, in -order to uphold his discipline, to suspend the engineer for from five days -to two weeks--the punishment preceding discharge. There was a -possibility--disagreeable to the superintendent--that the engineer's -family might have been crowded for sufficient food for a fortnight. Some -of those fellows live pretty close to the proposition all the while. -Nowadays the offender is demerited--once again like the schoolboy. That is -what the superintendent meant by that reference to the envelope, the -road's record of the man's service with it. - -Sixty demerits--dismissed. That's the rule of one big road. But the record -does not always continue to be negative. Its positive side rests in the -fact that for every month a man keeps his envelope clear five demerits are -taken from the black side of his envelope. A trainman might have -forty-five demerits against him, be on the narrow edge of discharge, and -in eleven months, after turning the new leaf, have as clean a sheet as the -best man on the division. This is as it should be. The demerit plan--often -called the "Brown system"--represents the triumph of modern railroad -operation over the old. - -The superintendent may have all the advantages of a time-tried disciple -and a modern record system; have the prestige and the reputation that come -from the operation of 500 miles of railroad, and still have a hard row to -hoe. Out in the Middle West there was, until recently, a stretch of what -was known as "booze railroad." It was a division where reputations and -records alike counted for naught, where discipline was a mockery. -Train-crews went from their runs direct to saloons and, what was a deal -worse, began their day's work within them. The wreck record of that -division that went forward to the State Commission was appalling--and half -the wrecks were not reported. Yardmasters were busy day after day stowing -away damaged equipment far from the curious eyes of passengers--the -wrecking crews were hammering for big over-time pay. It was a thoroughly -demoralized stretch of railroad. - -The distressed president of the system sent East for a superintendent who -had a reputation. He thought he had his man. The new broom was a -book-of-rules man. He had a quarter of his operating force laid off all -the time, to go before him. He was a man fond of words, and he lectured -those old fellows as if they had been school children. He might have done -quite as well with his division if he had been operating it from -Kamchatka. The men began to call their rule-books the "Joe Millers." - -The superintendent got mad and was lost--hopelessly. He began discharging -right and left, and the wrath of the gods and of the brotherhoods (the -great labor unions of the railroads), was upon him. The road was -threatened with a big strike at the very time that it could least afford -it. He avoided that strike only by acceding to the demand of the -brotherhood chiefs that the superintendent's head be given to them on a -silver platter. After that the "Man Without a Country" was in a more -enviable position. There was not a railroad in the country that dared -employ him, despite his excellent technical training. He drifted up into -Canada, got a job running a state-operated line. He held that job less -than a year. He was murdered of a winter's night in a shadowy railroad -yard, shot down by a discharged train hand. - -The grim situation on the "booze division" grew much worse. The president -of that system gave the matter his keen personal attention; he began -scouring the entire width of the land for material, without much success. -When he was thoroughly discouraged, a raw-boned trainmaster from a far -corner of the demoralized division applied for the job of superintendent; -he reckoned he could handle the situation. He had caught the president -unawares standing outside of his private car. The president told him that -he was superintendent. - -"There was something in Matt's eye that took me," he confessed afterwards. -"You do see something in a man's eye now and then that beats a whole -barrel of references." - -So Matt Jones (that is nothing like his real name), took up the nastiest -operating proposition in the country. He did not lecture nor discharge, -not he; but the men knew that there was a boss behind the super's desk. -The fellows who began trifling with the new broom were down in his office -the next morning. Jones selected the leading spirit; he had the advantage -of knowing him. - -"Pete," he said in a quiet way, "you've been drinking. It doesn't go. I'm -not going to discharge you,"--he gave grim thought to the fate of his -predecessor--"but in thirty days you are going to send in your resignation -voluntarily and leave our service." - -The man protested. He had not been drinking; and Matt Jones had better not -try that game anyway. The superintendent wished him a pleasant -good-morning and bowed him out of the office. - -In five days the engineer was back, uncalled. The superintendent saw him, -even though he had no more to say than he had not been drinking; that is, -he had quit drinking long ago. In ten days he was back again. This time he -admitted that he had been drinking up to the day that Matt Jones took -office. The superintendent said nothing. He bowed the engineer out again. -A month is a short thing at the best. At the end of the twenty-second day, -the engineer again found his way to the superintendent's office. He seemed -like a man who had been through a sickness. Big human that he was, he -began crying at the sight of the man who was a real boss. - -"For God's sake, Matt, don't forget the old days up on the branch. I can't -get out from the old road," he said. - -"I gave you thirty days' chance to get on another road," was all the -satisfaction that he got. - -But on the thirtieth day the engineer went to work with a clean envelope -and the new superintendent had an ally of no mean strength. The patient -grinding won; complete victory was only a question of time; the president -five hundred miles away began to notice. You may say what you want, -railroad executives are born, not made. This reads like romance, but it is -truth. Matt Jones is to-day general manager of that system, and a little -while ago a New York paper said he was going to take charge of one of the -big transcontinental that needs a firm hand at its reins. - -This superintendent has his division 400 miles away from New York, a clean -stretch of busy railroad, making a link in one of the stoutest of the -transcontinental chains, 300 miles of line, making traffic and handling -it. The superintendent is a personage in the little inland city where -headquarters are located; his opinion is eagerly sought by the local -reporters each time a new civic problem is tackled. If he were in the -metropolitan district he would be unknown except to a little coterie of -railroaders; up here he is the voice of the railroad. He is far more real -to the folk of half a dozen populous counties than is the president of the -road, a stuffy gentleman who comes up in a private car once in a dozen -years to the dinner of the local Chamber of Commerce and tells the -townspeople to thank God that they have the main line of the K. & M. -running through their "lovely little city." - -You may listen for the clatter of the telegraph key in his house and be -entirely disappointed. - -"I would have poor system if I had to listen to all the gossip of the -wire," he tells you quietly. "We've organization on this stretch of line." -He says this with a bit of pride. "We have men and we have system. My -train-masters are in effect assistant superintendents: they are expected -to organize beneath them." - -Watch this sort of man. He is the kind that American railroading is hungry -for to-day. Of him the big executives are being made each year. He enters -his office in the morning and gets a few brief reports of the situation on -the line: first weather, then congestion conditions in the big yards. -After that he talks over the long-distance 'phone with the G. M., four -hundred miles away. He gives a summary of the situation to headquarters, -just as the summaries came in to him from his train-masters at junctions -and at terminals. He holds the telephone receiver for a minute: the 'phone -is rapidly coming into general railroad use since the telegraphers made -Congress pass a bill limiting their working hours to eight each day. That -bill promises to make trouble yet for the men who were supposed to benefit -by it. - -The telephone speaks to him a moment. He hangs up the receiver and speaks -to his chief clerk. - -"W. H. T. is coming up the line this afternoon. Tell the boys not to get -rattled," he says. - -That is all. The passage of the President of the United States over his -three hundred miles of well-ordered track makes no flutter in this -superintendent's heart. If it were Europe--the troops would be drawn out, -all other trains brought to a standstill, pilot engines run in advance of -the royal train, in infinite pow-wow over the railroading of nobility. But -it is not Europe, it is this blessed United States, partly blessed because -it so excessively differs from Europe. - -Only the military aides of the President lament upon the informality of -his travel. Some time since a great executive was making the familiar loop -throughout the West. The superintendent of a division of line the far side -of the Missouri was a worrier, and was personally watching the progress. -In order to facilitate rear platform oratory the President's cars were -placed at the rear of a train that hardly ranked as express. Between towns -the delays grew frequent and a stuffy little aide in uniform protested to -the superintendent. - -"Look a' here, sir," he said stiffly, "why don't you let these other -trains up the line wait?" The division was single-track. "You know this is -the President's train." - -A twinkle came into the super's eye. - -"You're wrong," he said, in the positive tones of a real executive. "This -is _not_ the President's special. This is train number 67 of the B----main -line, and she hasn't many more rights on the time-card than a gravel -limited. Now if you were snitching along on our cracker-jack Nippon -Limited--there's some train, sir. They wouldn't lay her out. She's -double-extra first-class all the way through to the coast." - -The point of that was not lost. - -An instance of a different sort occurred some years ago, when Mr. -Roosevelt went up into Northern New York to make a speech. The -superintendent of the old Black River road was pretty proud of his stretch -of line, and invited the then Governor to ride in his neat inspection -engine. - -"Dee-lighted," said he of the gleaming teeth, and he climbed up into the -big cab. The superintendent wondered what he'd think of that nifty stretch -of track just north of Lewville. Col. Roosevelt never thought. As soon as -he was settled in the cab he picked a well-thumbed copy of Carlyle's -"French Revolution" out of his pocket and read it every inch of the way -from Utica to Watertown. The Republican party had to worry along -thereafter without that superintendent's vote. - - * * * * * - -All the superintendents cannot become general managers or railroad -presidents; there is not room at the top for even a decent proportion of -the best of them. The real tragedy on the division comes when a Prince -grows old and for the first time realizes that he is never to be King. -When such tragedy shows its head it is time for the stove committee--the -men who gossip in roundhouse corners and the yardmaster's office--to talk -in whispers. - -Buffalo is no mean principality in the railroad world--it is near kingdom -in itself--miles and miles and still more miles of congested freight -yards, tonnage in breath-taking volume rolling in from the wonderful lakes -eight months out of the twelve, a nervous traffic that never ceases. For -years there reigned in Buffalo, in calm command of the situation for a -great railroad system, a man who was entitled by every virtue of the word -to be called superintendent. They called him "the lion" and did not misuse -that word either. He was a lion, guardian of a great railroad gate, a -stern old lion whose word and whose law were unquestioned. - -But time aged the man, and the day came when the clerks in his outer -office began to talk in whispers; they were having the audacity to wonder -who the new Prince would be. Two men thought that they were capable--one -an assistant superintendent in the great yard at East Buffalo, the other -holding similar rank over at Rochester. Each of these men was prepared to -assume greater honor, to sit in command at the lion's great desk. - -That old fellow sat aloof. His ears were not too deaf to hear the -whisperings of his clerks in the outer office, and sometimes when one of -them would creep in upon him unawares they would find him sitting alone -there, head in hands, holding the fort. The two assistant superintendents -gained courage; they went to the picayune business of pulling wires. At -other times they locked horns. - -They locked horns over one great question. It was not operation that set -them at odds, not a vexing practical question of how some congested yard -might be lanced so that traffic should flow the more freely, or a main -line section be aided to give a greater daily tonnage. Nothing of that -sort for the two ambitious assistants. - -A new pony inspection engine, with an observation room built forward over -the boiler--just the sort that Col. Roosevelt had once used as a -reading-room--was to be built for the division, and each assistant thought -that he needed that engine for the dignity of his job. Each in turn went -before the lion and stated his claims for the possession of the pretty -toy. The old man listened with grave dignity. A week later he sent down to -the master mechanic at the big Depew shops and had him deliver a brand new -hand-car, with his compliments, to each. - -The pony-engine went into the roundhouse until the real Prince should -come. Then he sat long hours alone at his desk once more. - -Finally they brought a man to him, a fine, upstanding man. The lion rose -from his comfy old chair and gave greeting to the newcomer. - -"I'm glad to see you," was all he said; but to the general manager, who -had come up from New York, his eyes seemed to ask: "You've brought the -right man here at last?" He turned to the stranger. - -"Would you like a pony engine to get over the division?" was his question. - -"I'm willing to go to hell, and go in a caboose," laughed the stranger. - -The old superintendent grasped him by the hand. - -"Thank God, they've sent a real man to be superintendent at Buffalo," was -all he said. That was the only recognition that he gave to one who since -has become one of the master railroaders of America, but in that moment -the act of succession had been consummated. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -OPERATING THE RAILROAD - - AUTHORITY OF THE CHIEF CLERK AND THAT OF THE ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT-- - RESPONSIBILITIES OF ENGINEERS, FIREMEN, MASTER MECHANIC, TRAIN-MASTER, - TRAIN-DESPATCHER--ARRANGING THE TIME-TABLE--FUNDAMENTAL RULES OF - OPERATION--SIGNALS--SELECTING ENGINE AND CARS FOR A TRAIN--CLERICAL - WORK OF CONDUCTORS--A TRIP WITH THE CONDUCTOR--THE DESPATCHER'S - AUTHORITY--SIGNALS ALONG THE LINE--MAINTENANCE OF WAY--SUPERINTENDENT - OF BRIDGES AND BUILDINGS--ROAD-MASTER--SECTION BOSS. - - -The administration of the division runs quite naturally into several -channels. The routine of the work, the making and filing of records and -reports, the handling of the mass of correspondence that must constantly -arise, is usually in the hands of a chief clerk, who has control over the -office force at division headquarters. If there is an assistant -superintendent, the chief clerk will divide responsibility with him, the -theory at all times being to cut off the detail wherever possible. This -office work is not radically different from the office management of any -other large business. Its clerks are about the only unorganized force in -railroad employ. - -If the management of the road is of the divisional type, the -superintendent of course is a more important executive than if it is of -the departmental type. In either of these cases, as we have seen, he will -probably have at least partial authority over the engineer of maintenance -of way, whose force keeps the line and track structures in full repair, -and also looks after ordinary construction work along the division. In the -road of divisional type, he will also have partial authority over the -master mechanic, in charge of the shops and roundhouses and the -locomotives of the division. These last are regarded by the railroad as -part of its machinery, like the planers and drills in the shops -themselves; and for the care and operation of the locomotives the -engineers and firemen are held responsible to the mechanical department. -This is the case even upon those railroads where, under the departmental -system, the superintendent has no direct authority over the master -mechanic upon his division. For the conduct of the trains which their -locomotives pull, both engineers and firemen are directly responsible to -the operating department. The master mechanic simply sees to it that the -railroad's property is maintained to a certain degree of efficiency and -that the man who operates the locomotives is capable from every point of -view. A reasonable amount of deterioration is expected, and each -locomotive is expected to turn in to the shops for inspection, overhauling -and repairs, at certain stated intervals. - -The superintendent has absolute authority over the two officials who are -chiefly interested in the conduct of the trains over the division--the -train-master and the train-despatcher. The first of these two officers, -who must dove-tail their work both night and day, has the assignment of -the train crews. His opinion will be called for whenever the vexed -questions of seniority and promotion arise, and he will be asked to help -to plan all extra or special freight and passenger trains. To show how -this is done brings us close to the question of schedules, and we may -pause for a moment to consider how this important phase of the railroad's -operating is builded together. - -That time-table that you have just pulled from the folder rack seems at -first glance an interminable mass of meaningless figures; yet when you -come to find your journey upon it, it quickly simplifies itself, and you -begin to marvel at the relation the figures bear to one another, how -easily you may pick your course through the long columns of numerals. The -more extensive time-tables that the railroad employees carry are quite as -simple, and yet they are great feats of typographical composition. In -reality, both these forms of printed time-tables are but transcripts of -the real time-table of the division, which is kept set out upon a great -board. - -This board is ruled in two directions. The regularly spaced intervals in -one direction are marked as time, and represent time--one entire day of -twenty-four hours. In the other direction of the board the stations are -spaced in proportion to their actual spacing upon the line. - -The reproduction of a portion of such a board for an imaginary division of -a railroad will illustrate. This line runs from Somerset to Rockville, 120 -miles; and portions of it are double-tracked, the rest single-track, as -shown at the top of the diagram. On the double-track, trains going in the -same direction may pass one another only at the vertical lines, which -represent station passing sidings, and on the single-track sections this -rule holds, with the additional one, of course, that trains running in -opposite directions may also pass one another at the vertical station -lines. For economy of room only the seven hours from six o'clock in the -morning until one o'clock in the afternoon are shown here. Following an -old-time practice, odd numbers will represent up-bound trains, from -Somerset to Rockville; even numbers, the down trains. - -So we have an early morning accommodation passenger train, No. 1, leaving -Rockville at 6:10 o'clock and proceeding at a leisurely rate of about -twenty miles an hour (which makes allowances for local stops) all the way -to Somerset at the far end of the division, which it is due to reach at -11:45 A. M. It is halted for any length of time only at Honeytown, where -upbound No. 8--local accommodation--and upbound No. 6--fast express--will -pass it. At 6:20 o'clock an upbound local accommodation of the same nature -as No. 1, and hence known as No. 2, leaves Somerset and, halting only at -Robbins's Corners to permit the fast upbound No. 6 to overhaul and pass -it, reaches Rockville at 1 P. M. Train No. 31, which follows No. 1 out of -Rockville forty minutes later, is a milk train, and so must have a -liberal allowance for stops. It proceeds only as far as Stoneville, where -the dairy country ends, stops there long enough to turn and to water the -engine, and then returns to Rockville as No. 32. Train No. 117 is a -way-freight, and still slower. So it follows the milk-train. It is known -as a "low-class" train by the railroaders. It must wait everywhere for -better class trains to pass it. Train No. 118 is the same class of train, -proceeding in the opposing direction. Train No. 5 is a down express. - -[Illustration: HOW THE REAL TIME TABLE OF THE DIVISION LOOKS--THE ONE USED -IN HEADQUARTERS] - -Sometimes unforeseen demands of traffic necessitate the running of extra -trains, and these may be strung across the board. This board, in reality, -has all its trains placed upon it by strings and pins, to admit of the -constant changes that the schedules are always undergoing, and the -addition of a new train is a quick proceeding. As a matter of fact, a -skilled train-master or despatcher will rarely take the time actually to -string an extra train. He carries the schedule too completely in his head -to admit of such a necessity. - -But the extra train is best placed following, as a second section, some -good passenger train, as indicated on the diagram. The regular train will -then carry signals showing that it is followed on this particular day. -While the train orders protect its movement in any event, as will be shown -in a moment, the billing of the extra train as a second section is less of -an upset to the regular operation of the division. Practised operating men -found years ago that the fewer deviations made from the regular programme -of the day, the higher the proportion of safety arose. - -Now you begin to see the use of the train-despatcher. If the unforeseen -never came to pass upon the railroad, instead of coming to pass nearly -every hour, there might be no need of that officer. Each engineer, each -conductor, each station agent would have his complete time-tables, and the -road would run every day in full accordance with them. That was the very -earliest and the most primitive way of operating railroads. Almost as -early the need arose of having a special direction over the operation of -the trains. Emergencies arose daily. Trains were often late; storms beat -down upon the line; the snow covered its rails; what might have been, -according to the time-card, an orderly operation of line, became chaos. If -a train was ordered by schedule to meet a train bound in the opposite -direction at P----, it might wait there for long hours, not knowing that -the other engine was broken down at A----. - -The invention of the telegraph and its almost instant application to the -railroad service made such special direction possible. So now we find the -explicit directions of the schedule supplemented by even more explicit -directions from the train-despatcher at the head of the train movements -upon each division. Briefly stated, it may be said that the engineer and -the conductor in charge of a train are first guided by the schedule, -which, after many revisions, has been compiled with great care, and in -reference to connecting lines, branches, and adjoining divisions. This -schedule acts in conjunction with certain simple fundamental rules of -operation, the A, B, C of every railroader. By one of these, trains of the -same class bound north or east are given precedence, all other things -being equal, over trains bound south or west. This rule is sometimes -superseded by one giving right-of-way to trains bound up the line--or the -reverse. - -High-class trains, like the fastest limited expresses, have precedence -over trains of graduated lower classes--down to the slow-moving heavy -freights. When any sort of train loses a certain length of time--usually -half an hour or more--it loses all rights that it might ever have had, and -everything else on the line has precedence over it. A train may lose time -if it has to, but there are never any circumstances that will justify it -in running ahead of time. - -All this is the part of railroad operation which governs the relation of -one train to another. There are even simpler but not less vital rules -that control its own operation. In order that the engineer who is guiding -the train, and the conductor who shares the responsibility, may keep in -touch with one another, the device was adopted many years ago of having a -cord run through the cars of passenger trains to a bell signal in the cab -of the engine. This bell signal during recent years has given way to an -improved form of locomotive signal, sounded by means of compressed air in -tubes throughout the train, and operated in connection with the air-brake -equipment. - -The air-whistle, or bell cord-code of signals, is standard upon all -American railroads, and is as follows: - -When the train is standing: - - Two signals--start. - Three signals--back. - Four signals--apply or release air-brakes. - Five signals--call in flagman. - -When the train is in motion: - - Two signals--stop at once. - Three signals--stop at the next station. - Four signals--reduce speed. - Five signals--increase speed. - -There also arises a necessity for communication between men who stand -outside the train and who seek to guide the movement of the locomotive. -This necessity has given rise to still another code, transmitted by the -hands--holding a flag, if possible--by day, and a lighted lantern at -night. This signal code follows: - - Method of Transmitting Signal. Indication. - - Swung across track. Stop. - Raised and lowered vertically. Proceed. - Swung vertically in a circle across the track: - When the train is standing-- Back. - When train is in motion-- Train has parted. - Swung horizontally in a circle: - When the train is standing-- Apply air-brakes. - Held at arm's length above head: - When the train is standing-- Release air-brakes. - Any object waved violently by any person on - or near the track is a stop signal. - -By use of his locomotive whistle, the engineer is enabled to acknowledge -these signals, as well as to signal upon his own initiative. His code is -also a standard in railroading. It follows: - - ---- A short blast. -------- A long blast. - ---- Stop, apply brakes. - -------- -------- Release brakes. - ---- ---- -------- -------- -------- Flagman go back - ---- -------- -------- -------- and protect rear - end of train. - ------- -------- -------- -------- Flagman return to - train. - -------- -------- -------- Train in motion, - has parted. - ---- ---- Acknowledgment of - signals, not otherwise - provided for. - ---- ---- ---- Standing train--back. - ---- ---- ---- ---- Call for signals. - -------- ---- ---- Calls attention to - following section. - -------- -------- ---- ---- Highway crossing - signal. - ---------------- Approaching stations, - junctions or - railroad crossings - at grade. - -A succession of short blasts is an alarm for persons on the track and -calls the attention of trainmen to danger ahead. - -These signal codes operate fundamentally in connection with the essential -rules of schedule that we have already shown. - -Suppose now that we consider the workings of all this system as it comes -down to actual practice in a single concrete instance. We are finding our -way to a big terminal yard in all the murkiness and cloudiness of very -early morning, and once again we hunt out that urbane soul, the -yardmaster. He holds in his hand the yellow tissue of an order from the -despatcher of the division. In the conciseness of telegraphy it tells him -to start a third section of train 118--through freight--at 6:15 o'clock. -Just back of his little grimy box of an office is the big sprawling -roundhouse--a dozen freighters with banked fires standing in the stalls, -awaiting summons to work. The twelve engines are divided into several -classifications according to pulling strength and speed, but the -despatcher has designated the particular engine he wishes for third-118, -and he gets it--a big lanky puller--1847. She is chosen chiefly because -she has had the longest roundhouse rest, having brought in a through -freight from up the line, and having been received with engineer's report -showing her to be in good running order, at five o'clock yesterday -afternoon. Before the 1847 slipped from the turntable into the waiting -stall, the hostlers and the wipers were at her. The hostlers had taken her -over the cinder-pit and cleaned out the fire-box. Then they went over her, -cleaning her, inch by inch, a mechanical inspector in their wake, testing -and sounding and checking every item in the engineer's report which showed -1847 to be in good order at the end of his run with her. There was not -much chance left for any shirking of responsibility, no matter what might -arise upon the 1847 on any coming day. - -We turn and watch the yardmaster once again. He has the roundhouse foreman -send one of the bright young boys who hang around his office night and -day, and who dream of that coming hour when they will handle an 1847 for -themselves, to call the engineer and fireman, whose names are posted -"first out." Or perhaps the telephone has come into play--in these days in -the smaller towns there is hardly a house too humble to have receiver and -transmitter hanging somewhere upon its walls. In any event the engine-crew -are supposed to stay home when off duty, unless especially excused, and to -live within reasonable distance--say a mile--of the roundhouse. - -The caller tells the engineer and fireman to report at the roundhouse at -5:45 A. M. At that hour the hostlers have made the 1847 fit for service. -Her tender has been filled with coal, her tanks with water, even her sand -is packed aboard the box that stands upon the boiler and is ready to help -on slippery rail and upgrade. The engineer makes keen inspection of the -1847 before he moves her a single inch, makes sure with his keen and -practised eye that she is quite fit for service, pokes here and there and -everywhere with his long-spouted oil-can. At a minute or two after shop -whistles have shrieked "six o'clock" he pulls the 1847 out from the -shadows of the roundhouse. He gets an open signal and switch to the main -yard and finds waiting on a siding in that great place, the trail of -freight cars and the caboose that are going with him to make Third-118. - -Now come back for a moment in your thought. While we were still scurrying -down to the grimy yard, the despatcher was creating Third-118. On his desk -were car reports, showing what had been received and sent out, and there -was enough accumulation of stuff in the yards last night to justify a -Third-118. Because good railroading means yard-sidings cleared, and -standing cars and freight, like passengers, kept constantly moving, he did -not hesitate at ordering her out. He found that there would be 32 cars -between tender and caboose, weighing approximately some 1200 tons, and so -he ordered from the roundhouse an engine of a class which the mechanical -department guaranteed capable of pulling from 1,000 to 1,500 tons, -gross weight. - -[Illustration: _Courtesy of the "Railroad Age Gazette"_ - -THE ELECTRO-PNEUMATIC SIGNAL-BOX IN THE CONTROL TOWER OF A MODERN -TERMINAL] - -[Illustration: THE RESPONSIBLE MEN WHO STAND AT THE SWITCH-TOWER OF A -MODERN TERMINAL: A LARGE TOWER OF THE "MANUAL" TYPE] - -[Illustration: "WHEN WINTER COMES UPON THE LINES THE SUPERINTENDENT WILL -HAVE FULL USE FOR EVERY ONE OF HIS WITS"] - -[Illustration: WATCHFUL SIGNALS GUARDING THE MAIN LINE OF A BUSY RAILROAD] - -The yardmaster had given the numbers of the cars that were to make -Third-118, just as he received them from one of the despatcher's -assistants, to a switching foreman, who arranged them, with the quick -facility that comes from long practice, into an order that would permit -them to be set off at various points up the line, with the least possible -amount of switching. That practical sequence worked out in pencil and -paper, a stubby switch-engine effected in reality. The cars and the -caboose, in proper order, were ready, with the crew, and inspected when -the 1847 backed to them and Third-118 came into her being. - -A yard caller had summoned the train-crew while the roundhouse caller was -rounding up the two men of the engine-crew. Collins, the conductor, and -his brakemen had reported at the yard-office, and were assigned to -Third-118. Collins found the cars and caboose waiting just a few minutes -before the 1847 had been coupled to them, with little ado and no formality -whatsoever, beyond the testing of the air-brakes. Into his train-book he -had entered the number of each car and the initials of the road owning it, -its destination, its empty or tare weight; the weight of its load, and the -sum of these or its gross weight. He sees to it that each box-car is -firmly seal-locked. If not, he refuses to accept it from the yardmaster -until it has been resealed, and makes a note of the occurrence. Like the -engineer and the hostlers in the roundhouse, he takes no chances, no -responsibilities that do not fairly belong to him. - -With both conductor and engineer ready, Third-118 starts upon her day's -run. The yard operator has telegraphed the despatcher's office that 3-118 -is awaiting instructions. In that despatch he has given the locomotive -number, the number and total weight of the cars it hauls, the name of both -engineer and conductor. The train-despatcher enters these details of -train and crew at the head of a column of his train register. On that -register there are spaces for the entries of arriving and leaving times of -the train as telegraphed him by the operators at each telegraph station on -the division. - -The train once so entered by a despatcher's clerk, the despatcher sends a -clearance card to the telegraph operator at the little yard office who -repeats it back for accuracy. Then the yard operator presents that -clearance order to the engineer and conductor, who read it aloud to -him--also for accuracy, of course--and then sign that they have read and -understood the order. The signatures are then reported to the despatcher's -office, which wires "Complete." "Complete" goes in writing upon the copies -of the order made in manifold, which go to engineer, to conductor, and to -the operator's own files. The engineer reads his order to the fireman, who -repeats it back to him; the conductor follows the same routine with his -brakemen. That all sounds complicated, but quickly becomes mechanical and -rapid; the danger is that it may become so mechanical and rapid as to -permit of serious errors passing unchecked through the routine. But the -railroad has done its part. It has, for itself, taken every possible -precaution against error and resulting accident. - -We are privileged, and we climb into the caboose of Third-118. We hold -credentials to Collins, her conductor, and they are unimpeachable. We can -see that from his face as he holds his lantern over them: he would not -even let us into his caboose until his own mind was set. After that there -was barely time to jump aboard. The 1847 is beginning to clear the yard -before we have had time for a good look at the inside of the little -caboose. - -"You won't find our hack any fancy place," says Collins. "But we've had it -nine years now, and it seems kind of homelike to us after all this time." - -The "we" consists of Collins and his rear brakeman. The forward brakeman, -who is held responsible for the front half of the train, has his -headquarters in the cab of the 1847. The caboose is a home-like place, -snugly warmed by a red-hot stove placed in its corner and lined with bunks -made into beds, Pullman fashion; only never was there a Pullman sleeper -that gave you less sense of the impressive and a greater sense of a snug -cabin. Squarely placed in its centre is a sort of wooden pyramid and the -steps up this lead to the lookout from where the long snaky train can be -watched. - -"Kind o' ol'-fashioned, that," apologizes Collins. "Th' las' time I had -th' cabin into the shops for over-haulin', they offered to take it out an' -put in th' ladders; but I says 'no'; an' this is why." - -One by one he lifts its hinged steps. This is a pyramid built of lockers, -a regular treasure house of railroad necessities. There are all sorts of -ropes and jacks and wrenches, extra parts against every emergency. There -is a food closet, and another locker filled with neat stacks of -stationery. - -"They give us more forms to fill out now than th' super's office got -twenty years ago," he laughs. "I spend more than half my time at that -desk." - -The clerical work on Third-118 is considerable. Collins has to keep all -the way-bills of his train--32 cars, almost $100,000 worth of merchandise, -and if he makes a serious error it is apt to cost him his job. He writes a -neat hand, and his records, like his caboose, are kept in ship-shape -fashion. He is a careful student of the ethics and the practices of -railroad management and operation. He has his own ideas on each of these, -and when you get to them they are good ideas. Of such as he railroad -executives are every year made in America. - - * * * * * - -We slip up the line, slowly threading our passage through the mass of -passenger trains, fast and slow, that all times have the right-of-way over -the third sections of rather ordinary freights. Collins sometimes thrusts -his orders into our hands in order that we may see something of the -great detail of this branch of operating. Each is wonderfully specific, -and we know by that "complete" on the corner that it has been given in -detail. - -"No. 1 Engine 2236 will wait at Morris Level until 10:00 A. M. for 3-118, -Engine 1847." - -The signature is that of the initials of the division superintendent, the -numerals have been spelled out. It would seem as if the railroad had taken -every possible precaution for safety. And yet again, remember that great -accidents have happened upon American railroads just because men's minds -have perversely refused to read what eyes and ears have read. And yet -there seems to be nothing to be done, more thorough than is already being -done. - -"Are all these freights upon schedule?" you may ask Collins, after you -meet a few dozen of them within the limits of a single-track division. He -is decent enough not to laugh at your ignorance. - -"Schedule?" he repeats. "It's a joke. They give our first section a time -to get out on, in the time-card and then one o' them bright office-boys -gets a figger out o' his head an' puts it down for an arrivin' time. He -never hits it an' he never expects to. So more an' more they're gettin' to -move this freight on special orders. They can better regulate it then, -'cordin' to volume of business. Mos' of the men carry the schedules of the -fas' an' th' way-freights in their domes. Th' coarse tonnage stuff doesn't -even get special orders. When they get enough of it, down on th' main -line, they get an engine out o' th' roundhouse, give the train th' engine -number, and start off. Railroad traffic along the freight end follows -business conditions mighty close." - -It is still daylight when we halt at a junction, across a frozen river -from a city. The city is set upon a steep hillside, and its houses rise -from the river in even terraces. At the top a great domed structure--the -State House--crowns it. It is a still winter's morning, and the smoke -from all the chimney-pots extends straight heavenward. We wait patiently -upon a long siding until everything else has been moved--through fast -expresses heavily laden with opulent-looking Pullmans, jerky little -suburban trains, long draughts of empty coaches, being drawn by -consequential switch-engines in and out of the train-shed of the passenger -station. Finally a certain semaphore blade drops, we cross over to the -important main line and begin pulling on a sharp curve, across the river, -clear of the station with its confusion, through and past the city to a -busy division yard. - -In a very little time, for this is their home town, Collins and his crew -are registering at the yardmaster's office. The engineer of the 1847, and -his fireman, turn in their time-slips and proceed with the locomotive to -the roundhouse where they make a report upon its condition. Their names -are posted on the "in" list or register, and they are off duty until they -are summoned by the callers at this end of the division. The despatcher -has, of course, been apprised of the safe ending of the run of Third-118. - -In the despatcher we have a high type of railroad official who works -almost unknown to the great travelling public, and yet accepts a very -great measure of the responsibility for the safe operation of the lines. -His orders, sent by telegraph and bearing that cabalistic initial -signature of his superintendent, are the products of his own mind. There -can be no mistake in these, and he knows it. Each message that he sends -may produce disaster, and he knows that. - -He is an executive of a type that is not to be passed by lightly. He has -risen from the ranks of the telegraphers, most likely from some lonely -country station or forlorn signal-tower, and his knowledge of railroad -operation, both theoretical and practical, must approach perfection. On -sunny, serene days he proceeds with the theoretical railroading; when -storms or unexpected influxes of traffic come to harass the division, he -will need every bit of his practical knowledge. Handling a number of -special trains--freight or passenger--is a strain, and that strain is most -felt at the despatcher's desk. - -Now and then your morning paper tells of a railroad wreck, and laconically -adds, "The despatcher was at fault." The stories of the wrecks that were -forestalled by the sheer genius of the men who sit night and day at the -telegraph instruments at headquarters are the stories that are for the -most part untold, and that far surpass in thrill and interest the stories -of the failures. - -The despatcher must also be the full measure of a man. He is, like the -silent figure upon the bridge of a great ship, of unquestioned authority -as he sits at his desk. He may or may not have a map of the line before -him as he sits there, but you may be certain that he knows where every -moving train on the division is at the moment you see him, just as clearly -as if it were all visible there to the naked eye in some sort of picture -map. No trains proceed without his express orders. He has "reliefs" and -there is no hour of day or night when one of these is not at the -despatcher's desk, having the work of the line under his exact -supervision. - -The order that any train receives from the despatcher by means of the -telegraph will, as we saw in Collins's case, direct it to proceed to a -certain point on the line, and will specify every train, regular or extra, -that it will meet, and the meeting point. When the train has proceeded to -the end of its orders there will be more orders from the train-despatcher -to be receipted for, and so it will proceed to the end of the route. It is -quite possible that at any stage of the journey orders will come from -headquarters nullifying those already issued, in part or entirely; and -these must be accounted for in the same thorough and accurate fashion. -Some of this seems "red tape" to the men on the line, and there come times -when they are a bit disposed to rebel at what seems to them useless -formality. There also come times when trains crash into one another; and -at those times the railroad, with its infinite system of recording its -orders, is generally apt to be able to place the blame pretty accurately. -Those are the times when the system of train orders justifies its worth. - -Recently the telephone has come into something more than an experimental -use in despatching trains upon American railroads. Various causes have -contributed to this. For one thing, the use of the telephone enables the -average road to make good use of its veterans, men who would indignantly -refuse to become pensioners, and yet who have come to a time in their -lives when they must set their pace in gentler key. A trusted old -employee, a man crippled perhaps in loyalty to the company's service, a -keen-witted responsible woman, any one of these can competently handle -train orders over a telephone, without having to have the education and -the wonderful expertness that comes only from long experience in -telegraphy; and they all become available in the despatching service. -Still another cause has contributed to the change, which is being reported -each week from some fresh corner of the country--the telegraphers, -themselves. Within the past few years they were able to induce Congress to -reduce their day's work to eight hours. Translated, this meant that the -average way-station which had been manned by one or two operators would -correspondingly need two or three operators. The telegraphers, by reason -of the expert training needed in their business, kept their wage-scale up, -and the railroads felt that eight-hour bill keenly in their treasuries. So -there may have been the least bit of retribution in their seeking the -telephone as a relief. The change has certainly been made in the keen hope -of effecting economy. No railroad operator would feel ashamed to admit -that fine impeachment. - -Modern railroading simply makes the same demand of the telephone that it -makes of the telegraph--that it keep the probability of safety high. It -makes the same demand of the men who maintain the signals, the track, the -bridges, and other portions of the right-of-way. Let us consider them in -the passing of an instant. - -You know the signals along the line of the railroad--those gaunt, uncanny -things that spell danger or safety to the men in the engine-cabs. A little -while ago, we stood beside a man in the sun-filled tower of a great -railroad terminal and watched him operate the most complicated switch and -signal system in the land, watched him with the crooking of a finger upon -the lever of an electric machine raise this blade, lower that, as he made -new paths for the many trains, coming and going. - -A plant of that sort is known as the interlocking. In its simplest form, -it will guard a junction between two single tracks. The mast of the signal -will rise, according to standard custom, at the right of the track in the -direction of travel, and there will probably be two semaphore blades, the -upper of which guards and signals the straight main-line or "superior" -track, the lower, the diverging branch, known as the "inferior" track. The -blade raised--automatically showing a red light--indicates that the main -line is closed to the engineer. "Stop!" "Danger!" are the words it tells -him. The blade lowered, a green light is automatically displayed, and the -engineer knows that he can go ahead at full speed on the main line. The -road is clear for him. The lower blade gives similar indications for the -branch diverging line. Normally, both blades stand at "stop" and "danger," -and the one guarding the line for which the train is destined, is dropped -only on the approach of the train, itself. In fact, to facilitate the -movement of trains, these guarding signals--known to the signal experts as -"home signals"--are generally interlocked with "distant signals" several -hundred feet down the line, on which blades indicating the diverging -tracks forecast the story that the "home signal" is to tell the engineer. -The blade raised--by night displaying a white or safety signal--on the -"distant signal" indicates that the line it guards is blocked at the -"home signal," and that the engineer must be prepared to bring his train -to a full stop. Dropped--showing the green safety light--that particular -line is open and ready, and the engineer can be prepared to pass the -junction without a very great diminution of speed. - -That is the fundamental rule of the signal. Some roads have experimented -with other forms of indicators--disks of one sort or another, semaphore -blades that turn upwards rather than drop. The devices are numerous, but -the principle is the same. When the tracks begin to multiply, and the -signals begin to multiply in even greater proportion, they are generally -carried over the tracks on a light bridge construction--our English -cousins call it a "gantry"--and a series of small semaphore masts built up -from the bridge. One of these masts, or "dolls," will be assigned to each -track; and if there chances to be an unsignalled siding-track of little -importance passing under the bridge, it will have its own "doll" rising -from the bridge although quite devoid of semaphore blades. So it is all -quite as clear as print to the engineer, even when forty or fifty lights -blink at him from a single bridge. The signals tell their story to him -quite as simply as to the man in the tower, who is setting their blades in -accordance with his carefully arranged plans. - -Where signals are not of this interlocking type, guarding some junction, -railroad grade crossing, draw-bridge or other point of possible danger, -they are likely to resolve themselves into the block system. This system, -in a rather crude form, with the use of operators at each block-tower or -way-station, has been in development for something less than thirty years -upon the American railroad. In brief, it divides a line--usually -double-tracked, but sometimes used by the so-called "staff" method upon a -single-track road--into sections, or blocks, of from three to five miles -each. On double-track under this system, no two trains, even though -travelling in the same direction are permitted in the same block. At the -entrance to each block stands a tall mast with two of the conventional -signal blades. The upper of these raised denotes that a train is still in -the block, and an engineer must stop his train and wait till it drops, -before he can proceed. The lower blade, when raised, indicates that a -train is in the second block ahead, and the engineer must proceed only -with caution and expecting to find that block closed against him. It is -all quite simple; and if the engineers followed the signals absolutely, -there never could be any rear-end collisions on lines protected by block -signals. As a matter of fact, there rarely ever are, although the -engineers do take chances time and time again. - -"Why should I stop for that thing," said a veteran engineer on a fast -express train as we went whirring by one of those upper blades raised and -commanding us in a blood-red point of light to stop, "when I can look down -this straight stretch and see they're clear? Like as not something's got -into the mechanism of it and let her flop that way." - -Do not insult the intelligence of that engineer. A little while before, he -had told us, with a deal of pride, that the rolling stock of "his road" -placed end to end would reach from New York to Omaha, a distance of some -1300 miles. Keenest of the keen, he had a sort of contempt for a rule-book -in such a case as that. - -"Isn't it sort of positive?" we began. "Good excuse anyway--" - -"It is," he shouted back, "but somehow it don't go if you fall behind on -your running time. We're here to use ordinary good sense--and bring our -trains in on time." - -And yet the railroad has a sharp way of insisting upon compliance with -that book of rules by making, once in a great while, surprise tests. A -signal is set at danger, without any more apparent reason than in the case -just cited; a secret watch is kept, and judgment and discipline are -visited upon the heads of the engineers who permit themselves to run past -it. - - * * * * * - -To operate the signals calls for one body of men, and to maintain them for -faithful service against all manner and stress of wear and weather, -another; just as there must be a working corps to keep the right-of-way in -working order. This last is a mighty brigade of the railroad's army; for -one man in every four who works for it is employed in keeping the track in -order. One dollar in every six that the railroad spends goes for that -purpose. - -Maintenance of way on each division divides itself into a superintendent -of bridges and buildings, who sees to the upkeep of those facilities; and -a roadmaster, who specializes upon the track itself. This last officer, -almost invariably one who has begun to shoulder himself up in the ranks of -the railroad army from the very beginning, has his territory divided into -sections from two to five miles in length on double-track, from four to -ten on single. In command of each section a faithful hand-car and a group -of more or less faithful section-hands, figured on an allowance of one to -each mile of track, is a section-boss. The section-boss is a wry and a -wise soul, or should be. He may not know as much about the formulas for -compensating curves as that bright boy who has just come out of a "tech" -school to stand his turn at a transit, but he has a marvellous sort of -intuitive sense in keeping his little stretch of track in order. He can -sight his rail and discover flaws in alignment as a blind man can find -surface flaws with the developed tips of his fingers, and all the while he -may be growling at the railroad management for adding to the weight of its -rolling-stock and "pounding the elevations out of his track." - -In summer he is expert with the "track jacks" and constantly putting in -bits of ballast here and there; and in the winter, when the frost and snow -have made it impossible to touch the ballast, he keeps his elevations by -means of "shims." A "shim" is a piece of wood, from shingle thickness to -the width of two ties piled one upon the other, and is wedged between the -tie and the rail till summer comes and the line can be corrected by -ballasting. - -The section-boss must keep pace with a job that is no sinecure. If his -gang, in eagerness to be on dress parade, almost throws dirt on the rear -steps of the boss's private car as it goes whizzing down the line, he must -also see to it that they keep plugging at it where there is not even a -locomotive whistle within sound. He must be thrifty, economical. He must -remember that the humble cross-tie which once cost a quarter now costs -almost a dollar, and that for one of these to be found neglected in the -ditch is almost a capital crime. He must have an eye for loose spikes and -angle-plates, for the big boss has hinted at the annual loss to the road -in these simple factors. - -At his call and that of the superintendent of bridges and buildings is a -work-train, made up of a few flat-cars and discarded coaches, doing -boarding-house Pullman service in their declining years, which looks after -work too sizable for the section-boss and his little gang, and yet not -large enough for the attention of the dignified gentlemen who are known as -the reconstruction engineers. Yet some of the feats of these work-train -gangs have the crackle of engineering genius. It takes brains to rip out a -little timber span and replace it in the interval between two trains -spaced a couple of hours apart, and in the railroad, brain work often -comes from the shabby workman, from the man who graduates from the command -of his own battered hand-car. - - * * * * * - -All this elaborate system of railroad operation has been built up through -many years of practice. Experience has been more than a teacher in the -business, which becomes yearly more and more nearly a developed science; -she has been a whole faculty and a curriculum, too. Methods that promised -well at the outset have been found faulty after trial, and rejected. -Committees of trained experts have pondered and reported voluminously; the -standard railroad codes of every sort have been born because of them. The -operation of the railroad has been brought close to science. It would seem -as if the entire field had been completely covered. - -And yet new situations constantly arise, the like of which have never -before presented themselves, even to the railroad veterans. Traffic moves -in unequal volume, particularly freight traffic. There are single-track -stretches through the Middle West that starve through eleven months of the -year, and for the other thirty days handle in grain more tonnage than a -double-track trunk-line in the East. Obviously such lines cannot be -double-tracked for thirty days of business; quite as obviously the -overtaxed division, its equipment, and its men must rise to every -necessity of the floodtide of business. There are fat years and there are -lean years. There come years of bumper crops, years when the factory -lights burn from sunset to dawn, and wheels turn unceasingly, and then the -superintendent wonders how his equipment and men are going to stand the -strain. Engines are kept from the shops and in service; nothing that is -even a semblance of a car is kept out of service; the demand for men is -keen; prosperity strains the resources of the railroad. - -In the lean years, engines are sometimes kept from the shops because the -railroad feels that it must hold down its running expenses to keep pace -with reduced revenues, and such a course it can stoutly defend as nothing -else than good business. Equipment begins to stand idle. Engines are -tucked away on empty sidings, boarded and forlorn; and if the year be very -lean indeed, the superintendent may find it necessary to send out a -wrecking crane and begin lifting empty cars off the rails and leaving them -in the ditch at the side of the right-of-way, until the golden times come -again. At such seasons his ingenuity is tested quite as much as in the -times of floodtide. Orders come to cut expenses, and his big expense is -the pay-roll. When he begins to blue-pencil that pay-roll, some one is -going to be hungry. The superintendent knows that. He must move with great -care in such emergencies. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE FELLOWS OUT UPON THE LINE - - MEN WHO RUN THE TRAINS MUST HAVE BRAIN AS WELL AS MUSCLE--THEIR - TRAINING--FROM FARMER'S BOY TO ENGINEER--THE BRAKEMAN'S DANGEROUS - WORK--BAGGAGEMAN AND MAIL CLERKS--HAND-SWITCHMEN--THE MULTIFARIOUS - DUTIES OF COUNTRY STATION-AGENTS. - - -One man in every twelve in the United States is on the pay-roll of a -railroad. No wonder that that great organism comes so close to human life -throughout the nation, that we seem to touch it at every turn. - -This one out of twelve is the great army of industrial America. Composed -of nearly 1,500,000 men, it is an army that inspires loyalty and -coöperation within its own ranks, and confidence and admiration from -without. To a nation whose creed is work, it stands as the uniformed host -stands to a fighting nation like England or France or Germany. The army of -industrial America inspires not one whit less affection than those great -crops of paid fighters in Europe. - -Ninety-six per cent of this army of railroaders are engaged in the -business of maintaining and operating the great avenues of transportation, -an overwhelming proportion in the last phase of the business. The -operating department is, to the average mind, the railroad. Its members -are the men with whom the public come oftenest in contact; they are the -men who are oftenest called upon to hazard life and limb in the pursuit of -their callings. The romance of the railroad--a romance that is told in -unending prose and verse--hovers over the men who operate it. The men who -labor in the shops and keep engines and cars safe and fit for the most -efficient service have no small responsibilities. Moreover, their work, -forging and finishing great masses of metal, is not without its own -hazards. The men who give their time and talents to the maintenance of the -track and the structure of the railroad have equal responsibilities. It is -not doubted for an instant that both of these are important functions in -the conduct of railroad transportation, and each in turn will have full -attention given to it. - -In a previous chapter we have considered the men who control the actual -operation of the railroad, the safe conduct of its trains up and down the -line. How about the privates in the ranks of this industrial army, the -men, who by their loyalty and ability form the very foundations of -successful operation, who also form the material from which executives are -chosen every day? - -There are no common laborers in this phase of railroad work. A man with -stout muscles and less than the average amount of brains can ofttimes -shovel ballast out with the track-gangs; there are many, many -opportunities for crude labor in the heavy metal work of the railroad's -shops; there are none within the scientific activity that gives itself to -the running of the trains. The humblest of these folk must have a -particular talent, a talent so peculiar that it might almost be described -as "latent Americanism." The lowest-priced man in the train-service must -understand the entire complicated theories of railroad operation to a T. -He may be the man on whom responsibility--the responsibility for the -safety of not one but many human lives--may suddenly be thrust. A -gate-tender at a highway crossing has not ordinarily a place of gravest -responsibility; yet in some least expected hour this humblest employee of -the operating department may hold the fate of human life in the balancing -of his steady hands. - -Americans run the American railroads. For this great service men must -possess not only the mental capacity for understanding the technique of -operation, but the physical strength to meet the stress of hard labor, and -of every sort of weather, and of long hours spent upon moving trains. -Moreover, there is a requirement of morals--that a man must fully know and -quite as fully accept the responsibility for human life that is placed in -his hands. These things combined make that "latent Americanism" of which -we have just spoken; and the railroad that digs deep into this mine of -"latent Americanism" finds its material, not in the great cities with -their vast colonies of foreigners, but on the farms of a broad, broad -land. The boy standing in the pasture sees the express train go skimming -past him from an unknown great world into another unknown great world, and -straightway he has the railroad fever. He drives to the depot with the -milk cans, and there he comes in contact with the personnel of that link -of steel that stretches across the farm where he was born. It is only a -little time after that before he is applying for work as a railroad man. - -So it is that the railroad finds fine timber for its service. It picks and -chooses. For its choice it has the pick of American timber, the ironwood -of our national forests of humanity. It gathers its army of men, inspects -them carefully for physical, mental and moral requirements and then it -impresses upon them the necessity of good living, the absolute necessity -of deference to an established and rigid system of discipline as a -requirement in the successful handling of the different transportation -business. - -Thus we have the railroad men as the best workers of the nation. If you -want proof of that, ask any of the great mail-order concerns which class -of business they prefer and they will tell you without hesitation that it -is the railroad man. Come closer home and ask the merchants of any -community the same question. Their answer will be the same. Rigid -conditions, out-of-door life, sober habits make desirable citizens out of -this class of workers. There are none better anywhere. - -In the train service, the ordinary route of promotion is through the -freight service to the passenger. Thus, for the farmer's boy who hankers -to sit in the cab of the locomotive that hauls the Limited there is a long -hard path. Chances are that at the beginning the road foreman of engines -will start him at odd chores, calling crews, wiping engines, and the like, -around some one of the big roundhouses. He will work hard, but here he -will begin to absorb the romance of the line, the romance that, like fog -and engine smoke, lies around the engine house, thick enough to cut. -Perhaps after a while they will give him a little authority and make him a -hostler. The "hostler" and the "stalls" in the roundhouses are quaint -survivals of the most primitive railroad days, when horses were really -motive power. - -At odd times, night times perhaps, the boy will ride in engine cabs and -gradually acquire a knowledge of one of these great machines such as no -text-book would ever give him. Then comes his first big opportunity. There -is a vacancy among the engine crews; the road foreman of engines gives him -a good report, and he begins to have dealing with the train-master. He is -made a fireman, and he travels the division end to end, day in and day -out. - -Now he knows why the railroad requires physical tests as well as tests of -eyesight and of hearing. Even after he has taken another step in advance -and been promoted to the passenger service (we will assume that ours is a -bright, ambitious boy), he will only find that his labors in the -engine-cab have been increased. It is no slight task, firing a heavy -locomotive over 100 or more miles of grade-climbing, curve-rounding -railroad. It is a task that fairly calls for human arms of steel; for some -firemen handle some 17 tons of coal in a single run. The appetite of that -firebox is seemingly insatiable. There is hardly a moment during the run -that it is not clamoring to be fed, and that the fireman is not hard at it -there on the rocking floor of the swaying tender, reaching from tender -coal to firebox door. - -But the day does come, if he sticks hard at it, when he becomes an -engineer. He has learned the line well, during his countless trips over it -as fireman. He has come to know every signal, every bridge, every station, -every curve, every grade, every place for slow, careful running, every -place for speeding, as thoroughly as ever river pilot learned his course. -There have been many times when he has had to assume temporary charge of -the engine. He is a qualified man at least to sit in the right hand of the -cab, to have command over reverse lever and over throttle. - -His work is of a different sort already. The hard physical labor is a -thing of the past, most of the time he sits at his work. But -responsibility replaces physical stress, and the farmer boy now realizes -which of the two is more wearing. Upon his judgment--instant judgment time -and time and time again--the fate of that heavy train depends. After he -has been promoted from freight engineer to passenger engineer he has a -train filled with humanity, and he knows the difference. By day the -inclination of a single blade, by night the friendly welcome or the harsh -command of changeable lights must never escape him. One slip, and after -that-- - -The engineer prefers not to think of that. He prefers to think of a safe -trip, terminal to terminal, to think of the long line covered, once again -in safety, to think of the station at the far end of the division, where a -relief engine and engineer will be in waiting to take the train another -stage in its long journey across the land, to think of the home and family -awaiting him. He is a big passenger man now. When he gets to the end of -the run, there will be a crew to take his locomotive away to the -roundhouse. He will have a bit of a wash and in a few minutes he will be -bound through the station waiting-room, well dressed, smoking a good -fifteen-cent cigar, quite as fine a type of American citizen as you might -wish to see anywhere. You would hardly recognize in this well-dressed man -of affairs, the keen-eyed, sound-bodied man in blue jeans who stood -beside his engine, oil-can in hand, at the far end of the division. - - * * * * * - -The same type holds true through the man in care of the other parts of the -trains. Take the brakeman--they call him trainman nowadays in the -passenger service. In the old days this was a slouchy, somewhat slovenly -dressed individual of a self-acknowledged independence. Time has changed -him in thirty years. An increased respect for the service has taken away -from him his slouchiness; a feeling that good work and hard work will take -him through the ranks, through a service as conductor, perhaps to -train-master, to superintendent, goodness knows how much further, has -replaced that bumptious independence. - -He began as brakeman on a freight. There were two, possibly three, of -these men to the train, under command of the conductor, back there in the -caboose, and they were supposed to distribute themselves pretty equally -over the top of the train. The forward brakeman would work from the cab -backward, the rear brakeman from the caboose (he also probably calls it a -"hack"), forward, the remaining man when a third was assigned to the -train, having the middle. It was thought and confidently predicted that -with the universal use of the air-brake to freight equipment the days of -clambering over the tops of the cars to man the brakes were over. Brakemen -twenty years ago were dreaming of the day when they might sit in a cab or -caboose and have the difficult work of slacking or the stopping of a -1,500-ton train accomplished, through the genius of mechanism, by a -hand-turn of the engineer upon an air-brake throttle. But what looked so -well in theory has not worked quite so well in practice. The railroads -have found the wear and tear on the air-brake equipment, particularly with -the steep grade lines and heavy equipment, a tremendous expense. For the -sake of that and for the sake of still greater safety--following the -railroad rule to use each possible safety measure, one upon the -other--the brakemen are still compelled to keep to the top of the cars. - -[Illustration: "WHEN THE TRAIN COMES TO A WATER STATION THE FIREMAN GETS -OUT AND FILLS THE TANK"] - -[Illustration: A FREIGHT-CREW AND ITS "HACK"] - -[Illustration: A VIEW THROUGH THE SPAN OF A MODERN TRUSS BRIDGE GIVES AN -IDEA OF ITS STRENGTH AND SOLIDITY] - -[Illustration: THE NEW YORK CENTRAL IS ADOPTING THE NEW FORM OF "UPPER -QUADRANT" SIGNAL] - -On a pleasant day this is a task that can give the average brakeman a sort -of supreme contempt for the man whose work houses him within four walls. -If the road lies through a lovely country, if it pierces mountain ranges, -or follows the twisting course of a broad river, he may feel a contempt, -too, for the passenger who observes the lovely scenes only through the -narrow confines of a car window. To him there is a broad horizon, and he -would be a poor sort of man indeed if he did not rise to the inspiration -of this environment. - -There is quite another side of this in the winter. Let wind and rain and -then freezing weather come, and that icy footpath over the top of the -snaky train becomes the most dangerous way in all Christendom. It consists -of only three narrow planks laid lengthwise of the train, and between the -cars there is a two-foot interval to be jumped. Hand-rails of any sort are -an impossibility, and the brakeman now and then will receive a sharp slap -in the face that is not the slap of wind or of sleet, and he will fall -flat upon the car-roof or dodge to the ladders that run up between the -cars. That slap was the slap of the "tickler," that gallows-like affair -that stands guard before tunnels and low bridges and gives crude warning -to the man working upon the train roofs of a worse slap yet to come. - -There are other dangers, not the least of these the possibility of open -battle at any time of day or night with one or more "hobos," tramps, or -"yeggmen," who seem to regard freight trains as complimentary -transportation extended to them as a right, and train-crews as their -natural enemies. The list of railroad men who have lost their lives -because of these thugs is not a short one. It is one of the many records -of railroad heroism. - -Still the brakeman has a far easier time of it than his prototype of a -generation or more back. The air-brake is a big help. When a train breaks -in two or three parts on a grade, the pulling out of the air-couplings -automatically sets the brakes on every part, and if you do not know what -that means ask one of the old-timers. In the old days of the hand-brakes -the very worst of all freight accidents came when a section of a freight -train without any one aboard to set its brakes, broke loose and came -crashing down a hill into some helpless train. Ask the old-timer about the -hand-couplings and the terrific record of maimed arms and bodies that they -left. The modern automatic couplings have been worth far more than their -cost to the railroads. - -In the course of time and advancement the brakeman leaves the freight and -enters the passenger service. Now he is called a trainman and is attired -in a natty uniform. He has to shave, to keep his hands clean, wear gloves -perhaps, and be a little more of a Chesterfield. He must announce the -stations in fairly intelligible tones, and be prepared to answer -pleasantly and accurately the thousand and one foolish questions put to -him by passengers. - -As a conductor he will probably begin as Collins began, in the freight -service. When he comes to the passenger-service there will be still more -book-keeping to confront him, and he will have to be a man of good mental -attainments to handle all the many, many varieties of local and through -tickets, mileage-books, passes, and other forms of transportation -contracts that come to him, to detect the good from the bad, to throw out -the counterfeits that are constantly being offered to him. He will have to -carry quite a money account for cash affairs, and he knows that mistakes -will have to be paid out of his own pocket. - -All this is only a phase of his business. He is responsible for the care -and safe conduct of his train, equally responsible in this last respect -with the engineer. He also receives and signs for the train orders, and he -is required to keep in mind every detail of the train's progress over the -line. He will have his own assortment of questions to answer at every -stage of the journey, and he will be expected to maintain the discipline -of the railroad upon its trains. That may mean in one instance the -ejectment of a passenger who refuses to pay his fare, and still he must -not involve the road in any big damage suit; or in another, the -subjugation of some gang of drunken loafers. The real wonder of it is that -so many conductors come as near as they do to the Chesterfieldian -standards. - - * * * * * - -In the forward part of the train are still other members of its crew, some -of them possibly who are not paid by the railroad, but who are indirectly -of its service. Among these last may be classed the mail clerks, who are -distinctly employees of the Federal Government, and the messengers of the -various express companies. If the road is small and the train unimportant, -these workers may be grouped with the baggagemen in the baggage-car. If -the train is still less important the baggageman may assume part of the -functions of mail clerk and express messenger. If so, he is apt to have -his own hands full. The mere manual exercise of stacking a 60-foot -baggage-car from floor to ceiling with heavy trunks (and the commercial -travellers and theatrical folk _do_ carry heavy trunks) is no slight -matter. But that is not all. The trunk put off at the wrong place or the -trunk that is not put off at all is apt to make the railroad an enemy for -life and the baggageman is another one of the many in the service who are -permitted to make no mistakes. - -When he has United States mail-sacks and a stack of express packages to -handle, his troubles only multiply. His book-keeping increases -prodigiously, and his temper undergoes a sharper strain. Give him all -these, then a couple of fighting Boston terriers, which must, because of -one of the many minor regulations of railroad passenger traffic, ride in -the baggage-car--a cold and draughty car--and you will no longer wonder -why the baggageman has a streak of ill-temper at times. His office is -certainly no sinecure, neither is he in the direct path of advancement -like his co-workers, the fireman and the brakeman. - -These train-workers who are so little seen by the travelling -public--baggagemen, mail clerks and express messengers alike, ride in the -most hazardous part of the equipment, the extreme forward cars of the -train. Read the list of train accidents, involving loss of life, and in -nine cases out of ten you will find that these have headed the list of -killed or injured. There work is hard, their hours long, their pay modest. -They form a silent brigade of the industrial army that is always close to -the firing line. - - * * * * * - -There remains in the operating service a great branch of the army that -does not scurry up and down the line. Some of these men are at lonely -outposts, forlorn towers hidden at the edge of the forest or set out upon -the plain, where a desolate man guards a cluster of switch levers and -hardly knows of the outer world, save through the clicking of his -telegraph key or the rush of the trains passing below his perch. He knows -each of these. If his is a junction tower or a point where two busy lines -of track intersect or cross one another, it is his duty to set the proper -switches and their governing signals. - -It seems a simple enough thing, and it is. But even the simple things in -railroading must be executed with extreme care. If the towerman set those -switches and signals 319 times in the course of a day, they must be set -absolutely correct 319 times. There can be no slurring in this work. - -Those men in the towers have their own records of bravery. They are the -sentinels of the railroad, and faithful sentinels they are. The lonely -tower, like so many other scenes of railroad activity, gives long -opportunity for thought and meditation; and so it is not so strange, after -all, that one of them has recently given the country a most distinguished -essayist upon national railroad conditions. - -There are even humbler positions in the operating service, each of them -demanding a fine loyalty and a fair measure of ability. Even the young boy -who draws a baggage-truck knows that the path of advancement starts at his -very feet; and the humble track-walker feels that a good part of the -railroad safety and the railroad responsibility rests upon his broad -shoulders. His is also a forlorn task, as he trudges back and forth over a -section of line, hammer and wrench in hand, looking for the broken rail or -other defect, slight in itself, but capable of infinite harm. - -By day his task is dreary and arduous enough. By night it is far more so. -With his lantern in hand he must patrol the line faithfully, even if the -wind howl about him and the snow come to block his progress. The -passengers in the fast express trains that whirl past him and who see, if -they see anything at all without, only a blotch of a tiny spark of light, -do not know that it is a part of their protection. There is a deal of -"behind the scenes" in railroad operation. - -And so it goes. There are hundreds of hand-switchmen who make the safe -path for the train and upon each of them hangs responsibility. It is a -trite saying that each of them knows that, and that each lives up to the -full measure of his responsibility. - - * * * * * - -The station-agent, even in the smallest towns, has a less lonely time. He -comes in contact with the outside world, and ofttimes his life goes quite -to the other extreme. A local train may be due within three minutes, and -here comes Aunt Mary Clark, delayed until the train is already whistling -the station stop. Aunt Mary is deaf and it takes her some time to buy her -ticket and to ask endless questions which must bring an endless string of -answers. At that very moment the agent's telegraph sounder begins to call -him. A message, upon which the safety of the operation of that train -depends, is being poured into his ear, and he cannot afford to miss a -single click of that instrument; the responsibility will be his if -anything goes wrong in its delivery. On top of all this some commercial -traveller may be clamoring for the checking of his trunk. The -representative of the railroad in the small town has to keep his wits -about him in such times. - -Of course, if the town is of considerable size he may have a staff about -him. In such a case, he may have a baggage-room with baggageman and -baggage-handlers installed; he may have assistants to mind the telegraph -instrument and to sell tickets, other assistants to look after the -freight. He may even attain to the dignity of a station master in uniform -or else have such a dignitary reporting to him. - -But in the majority of railroad stations throughout the United States the -station-agent is the staff; he is lucky if he has a man to "spell" him in -his "off" hours. He probably is the agent of the express company in -addition, and probably the agent of the telegraph company, too, which, by -arrangement with the railroad, transacts a general commercial business -over its wires. There are frequent instances when the local post-office is -situated within the depot and the agent proves the versatility of his -profession by acting as postmaster, too. He serves many masters, as you -can see, and not all of these are outside of the railroad. He is not only -answerable to the superintendent, in almost every case he is -freight-agent, too, making out the bills of lading and figuring the -complicated rate sheet. For this part of his work he is under the control -of the general freight-agent. The general passenger-agent is also his -superior officer. To him he must account accurately for his ticket sales, -and that is not always a very easy matter. The question of passenger rates -is a fairly complicated one. - -Still, the agent must not only be able to figure the rate to South Paris, -Me., or to Oshkosh, Wis., within two minutes, but he must make out a long -and correct ticket within that time, while the railroad's patron demands -information about some branch line connection on another system a thousand -miles away. The country station-agent earns every cent of his humble -salary. He works long hours; and then occasionally one of the railroad's -travelling representatives will drop in upon him and casually suggest that -in his leisure time he might get out and solicit a little business for the -company! - -There is not much loafing at the little yellow depot in the country. -Sometimes a group of trainmen from some freight awaiting orders will -gather there to swap stories and the keen wit of the railroad. These are -the exceptions. The most times are the times of long, hard grind, work, -work, work like the men out upon the trains. This railroad army is truly -the army of hard work. It was gathered for labor. - -Yet the station-agent leaning over his telegraph instrument in the bay of -his office, and watching the Limited scurry by the little depot, and -seeing the president's big and gay private car hitched on behind, knows -that that very executive in charge of many miles of railroad and thousands -of men, came from another little country depot like this. The time may yet -come when he himself will have a private car and a deal of authority. -There is a great goal for every man in the railroad service. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -KEEPING THE LINE OPEN - - THE WRECKING TRAIN AND ITS SUPPLIES--FLOODS DAMMED BY AN EMBANKMENT-- - RIGHT OF WAY ALWAYS GIVEN TO THE WRECKING-TRAIN--EXPEDITIOUS WORK IN - REPAIRING THE TRACK--COLLAPSE OF THE ROOF OF A TUNNEL--TELEGRAPH - CRIPPLED BY STORMS--WINTER STORMS THE SEVEREST TEST--TRAINS IN QUICK - SUCCESSION HELP TO KEEP THE LINE OPEN IN SNOWSTORMS--THE ROTARY PLOUGH. - - -A cub reporter shouldered his way into a railroad superintendent's office. -Outside, a late winter's storm howled around the terminal; the morning was -nipping cold, the air curtained with myriad snow-flakes, a great railroad -was making a desperate fight against the mighty forces of nature. - -"My city editor wants to know what you folks are doing to get the line -open," demanded the reporter. - -The big superintendent swung in his swivel chair and faced him. It was a -place where angels might well have feared to tread--a place surcharged -with the electricity of fight. The superintendent's mind was filled with -the almost infinite detail of the fight, but he liked the cub reporter and -greeted him with a smile. - -"You can tell your city editor," he replied slowly, "that it is as much as -a man's job here is worth for him to think that the line is going to be -opened. I'd fire him if he as much as thought that it was ever closed. We -don't die. We fight. It's a hard storm, sonny, but we make muscle in -storms like this. We don't _get_ the line open, we are _keeping_ the line -open. D'ye see?" - -In that the big superintendent had sounded one of the biggest principles -of railroad operation. - -The line must be kept open. That slender trail of two rails, stretching -straight across the open land and writhing and twisting through the high -hills, is a living organism. The railroad is no mere inanimate -organization, like a store, for instance. It is a right-hand of the -nation's life; it is life. The railroad is like a great living thing, its -many arms reaching long distances back into the land. You cannot cut off -the living arm and then bring it back to pulsing life. - -Just so the railroad arm cannot be severed--the line must be kept open. -Strange things may come to pass: the right-of-way may be littered with the -wreckage of trains, brought together through a defect in the physical -machine of the human; unexpected floods of traffic may seek to overwhelm -the outlet; in spring the power and might of flood may descend upon it; -winter's storms may seek to paralyze it; still, always the railroad must -be kept open. - -"We can't lie down," the superintendent explained to the cub reporter. -"We've got to get the traffic through. Do you know what it would mean if -we were to follow the path of least resistance to-day--to let this storm -get the best of us? Let me give you an idea of just one thing. There's -food coming in here in trainload lots every night--fresh meat, fresh -vegetables, fresh milk. Folks would go hungry if we were to say 'We can't, -this storm is a gee-whilicker. We give up.'" - -To keep the line open, the railroad affords every sort of protective -device; it trains men for especial duties. - -Take the matter of wrecks, for instance. The railroader does not like to -think of wrecks, but his methods for removing them must be prompt and -thorough: the line must be kept open. Each year sees equipment increasing -in size and weight, and each increase brings additional problems in -handling wrecked cars and engines. - -Twenty years ago, the wrecking-equipment of most of the big roads was -comparatively simple. It was generally built in the railroad's own shops. -To-day 60-ton cars and 100-ton locomotives require something of a -wrecking crane or derrick to lift them from the right-of-way; and the -wrecking-train is a device thought out and built by specialists. - -These wrecking-trains are the emergency arms of railroad operation. They -stand, like the apparatus of a city fire department, at every important -terminal or division operating plant, awaiting summons to action. You may -see the wrecking-train at every big yard, waiting on a siding which has -quick access to the main-line tracks. It consists of from four to six -cars--a tool-car with all sorts of wrecking-devices--replacers, blocks and -tackle, extra small parts of car-trucks for emergency repairs, and the -like. There are more of these extra parts--axles and wheels and four-wheel -trucks on a "flat" that is fastened to the tool-car; and if this -wrecking-train has a couple of miles of heavy traffic line to serve, there -may be three or four of the "flats" with tools and spare equipment. You -cannot have too many of those in a big wreck. The wrecking-train is sure -to have a crane--a big arm of steel, compressed to come within the slim -clearances of bridges and of tunnels, but capable of reaching down and -tugging at a 100-ton locomotive with almost no effort whatsoever. And -quite as important as the crane is the cook-car--generally some old-time -coach or sleeper descended to humble service on the road. The cook-car has -a rough berth and a kitchen; and you may be mighty sure that there is a -good griddle artist upon it. You cannot expect a wrecking-gang to get into -a twenty-four hour job without being pretty constantly provisioned while -it is at work. - -Only a little while ago, one of the officers of an Eastern trunk-line -railroad and a member of one of the State railroad commissions were coming -toward New York. The trip was in the nature of an inspection on the part -of the State official, but as a matter of comfort and convenience to the -two men, it was made upon the former's private car. The comfort and -convenience suddenly ceased while the two were still nearly 300 miles away -from the seaboard. The road rested there for many miles in heavy country; -its rails found their curving way in the crevices between high hills. It -had rained steadily for a fortnight; the little mountain brooks were -raging mill-races. In the low flatlands of one deep valley lakes were -being formed. There were long stretches where the four rails of the -double-tracked trunk-line railroad lost themselves under the glassy -surface of the waters. Up and down the valley trains were standing -helpless between those lakes, their passengers fuming at the delay. Fast -freights stood axle-deep in water; their title, for that moment, was an -occasion for joyous humor. The comfortable, convenient trip of the -railroad operating man and the railroad commissioner was at an end. - -An embankment that the railroad had built for a branch down the valley was -blocking the waters, and orders had come from New York to dynamite out -that embankment. It would cost the railroad nearly $50,000 to destroy that -half-mile of track but it might save the valley millions. There had been -no hesitation on the part of the "old man"--the road's tried executive. -That is a phase of American railroading not often brought to light. - -Orders came that the engine hauling the "special" of the operating man and -the railroad commissioner was to be taken for a work-train down at that -damming embankment. That's the way with railroading. When the clattering -telegraph keys sound the note of trouble, even that mighty soul, the -chairman of the board, may find himself "laid out" at some jerkwater -junction, while his pet engine goes into service with a wrecking-train. -But the chairman of the board, whose time is real money, offers no -protest. He knows that to block the main line costs his road $250 a minute -for the first 60 minutes; that that figure doubles and trebles in the -second hour; in the third, his auditors may check off $1,000 a minute, at -the least, as the cost of a blocked railroad. No wonder that they insist -that it is "keeping the line open." - -Before the engine of that special was cut off to go scurrying down to the -embankment where the skilled workmen were making preparations to dynamite -away a half-mile of track, the operating man lifted his hand. He had, like -any trained railroader, been listening to the clattering telegraph key. - -"They've come away without their cook--those wreckers," he told the -gentleman who regulated public utilities. "I think I'll go down with the -'eats.' There's an old hotel across from the railroad track down at the -next station, and the landlord, Uncle Dan Hortley, will fix me up." - -"I'll go with you," said the State official. "I want to get my finger in -the pie." - -So it came to pass that they both went, the private car stopping at the -little hotel long enough to get in an overwhelming supply of bread and -ham. As they whizzed through the scene of trouble all hands joined at -making sandwiches. - -"Butter them on both sides," said the railroad commissioner. - -"They're better with the butter on one side," insisted the operating man. - -The commissioner was not used to back-talk from railroaders, no matter how -high their office, and he stuck to his point. - -"Both sides," he insisted. - -"One side only," reported the big operating man. - -"The commission has closed its hearing and issues an order for both -sides." - -"The railroad appeals." - -But the commission won--it almost always does--and the men down at the -embankment ate their sandwiches with a double thickness of butter. - -Sometimes a refrigerator train comes under the skilled hands of the -wreckers, and the cook-car may have more than an abundance of good -material right at hand. Beef, chickens, milk--all manner of edibles have -been spilled like waste along the right-of-way, and there have been no -regrets among the men of the wrecking-boss's crew. Once, a speeding -cook-car hurrying to the relief of the laborers upon a wrecked meat-train -that had tried to go tangent to a mountain curve, brought reinforcements -in the form of ham sandwiches. The wreckers were pretty hungry, but it -needed all their hunger to tackle those sandwiches. The meat-train had -been filled with ham; it had caught fire. Somehow, three or four hours of -work hauling out smoked hams gave no appetite for sandwiches of the same -sort. - - * * * * * - -On main-line divisions, where traffic runs exceeding heavy, a locomotive -stands, steam-up, with the four cars of the wrecking-train. Even on -side-line divisions the call for the wreckers will bring the fastest and -best engine out of the roundhouse, no matter what her train assignment may -be. Things on the railroad stand aside for the wrecker. Limiteds may paw -their nervous heels upon sidings while she goes skimming up the line--all -time-table rights are hers from the moment that she goes into service. - -A wire from the seat of trouble brings her into service. - -"Second Four-twelve in ditch at Grey's Bridge. Broken rail. Engine and two -cars derailed. Both tracks blocked. About four killed and injured." - -That wire has itself had the right-of-way. When "W-K, W-K, W-K" comes -persistently calling over a railroad wire, every key closes. "W-K" is the -"C-Q-D" of railroading. It is as much as any operator's job is worth, to -ignore it. - -When a despatch of the sort just cited comes into headquarters, things -start to move. The despatcher, if he is after the manner of most -despatchers, turns to his telephone and calls the yardmaster to order out -the wrecking-crew. There is no more excitement in his voice than if he -were ordering out any ordinary sort of special. He rings off quickly, -calls up in turn the superintendent, trainmaster, perhaps the division -engineer, the claim department. If there is a fatality list--the wreck one -of those fearful things that sometimes show themselves upon the front -pages of the newspapers--he will get the hospitals and the doctors. The -list of surgeons who are allied to the railroad in every town on the -division hangs above the despatcher's desk. - -He may run a special hospital train with doctors and nurses and emergency -equipment. On one memorable occasion the hospital train was on its way out -upon the main line before the wreck had been reported over the wire. The -despatcher saw that the hospital special had a clear track; he gave a -multitude of directions as to its running, with the quick clear word of a -self-possessed man--then turned and shot himself dead. He had -miscalculated: the human machine sometimes does. He knew that he had sent -the two crack-a-jack trains on that single-track division, curling its way -among the mountains, into each other at full speed. No need for him to -know exactly where they met. - -But even if the wreck is no holocaust; if it is one of those minor smashes -that are bound to come now and then on the best of lines, he must keep his -head. As he caught up his telephone to get orders to that wrecking-boss -out at the roundhouse, his assistant took instant notice of the wreck, -first notifying the stations on either side of the accident to set -danger-signals against all trains. After that, while the despatcher -himself was busied with details, the assistant arranged to handle all -traffic. If both tracks were blocked, there were plans to be instantly -made to forward the fast through trains by detouring them over other lines -of railroad. The assistant despatcher, wishing to know how long he -could afford to hold his heavy traffic (remember that the line must always -be kept open), wired the nearest station for additional details. Most of -all he wanted to know how long the tracks would be blocked. Perhaps before -he got his wire through there came a second message from the wreck, giving -more facts about it. By means of code, great detail can be given in a -short wire; headquarters gets a clear understanding of the trouble. After -that the wire chatters constantly; there are a thousand orders to be -given, a thousand details to be arranged. - -[Illustration: THE WRECKING TRAIN READY TO START OUT FROM THE YARD] - -[Illustration: "TWO OF THESE GREAT CRANES CAN GRAB A WOUNDED MOGUL -LOCOMOTIVE AND PUT HER OUT OF THE WAY"] - -[Illustration: "THE SHOP-MEN FORM NO MEAN BRIGADE IN THIS INDUSTRIAL ARMY -OF AMERICA"] - -While the first of these wires are beginning to swing back and forth the -despatcher will hear the wrecking-train, pulled by the neatest and -swiftest bit of motive power from their big roundhouse, go scurrying by -down the line. The road is cleared. Everything stands aside, and for weeks -after, the stove committee in every roundhouse on the division will be -telling how she made the run. - -They don't talk about the run when they get to the accident. They pile off -the train and get to work quickly. Every man is a trained wreck-worker, as -a fireman is trained to his peculiar business. In such hours as they are -not out on the road, the wreckers are repairers of cars. It keeps them -busy during the long seasons when the line is lucky and has no wrecks, and -it gives them the skill with which to tackle the difficult problems that -confront them after a smash. By day these men--eight or ten or twelve of -them to a crew--work in the yard close to the waiting wrecking-train; by -night the telephone at the head of the bed of each man will bring him -quickly to the near-by yard. - -"How do you handle a wreck?" we once asked an old-time wrecking-boss, a -man grown gray in keeping his line open. - -"I don't know," was his frank response. "I've probably handled a thousand -wrecks--perhaps more--but I have yet to see two that were the same. -Different cases demand different treatments. Any surgeon will tell you -that; and you know," this with a bit of a laugh, "we are the surgeons of -the steel highway. - -"We've only one rule that is absolute, and that rule is to take care of -the folks who are hurt in the first place, and in the second place to get -the line open. If it is multiple-track line--two or three or four tracks -in operation--and the muss is sprawled over the entire right-of-way we get -a through track working in shortest interval. When we can wire "number two -open" or whatever it is, the despatcher down at headquarters will catch -the stations where there are crossovers and he'll be handling his -first-class traffic of all sorts past us while we'll still be stocking the -arm of the old bill crane down into the smash." - -The arm of that crane can lift a freight-car--if there is enough -freight-car left to lift--off the rails and into the ditch in almost a -twinkling. Two of these great cranes can grab a wounded mogul locomotive -and put her out of the way. The wrecking-trains on a first-class road are -kept along the line in profusion. Each is supposed to cover a territory of -100 miles or so in every direction from headquarters, and a sizable smash -will bring two or more to work in unison. Two wrecking-cranes working into -the remnants of a head-on collision from each direction can accomplish -marvels. They will come together finally at the chief test of their -strength--the point where two locomotives have firmly locked horns in -dying embrace. That is a point that finds the nerve and ability of every -wrecking-boss. - -But all these wrecking-bosses have nerve and ability. They could not hold -their jobs without both. They know when equipment--cars that might be made -as good as new in the shops--must be burned like driftwood, and when the -burning of a wreck would be criminal waste. That requires -judgment--judgment to determine whether it is cheaper to burn than to -lose valuable time; to delay traffic on a main-line division or to let the -traffic on a less important side-line division wait for a little longer -time. Judgment is part of a wrecking-boss's equipment. His superintendent -knows that; and when the super grows nervous and gets down to the wreck -himself, although he knows that he is ranking officer in charge of the -work he shows good judgment, on his own part, in letting the wrecking-boss -give all orders. That makes for skill, it makes for speed. If the -wrecking-boss is not doing good work the superintendent can fire him -to-morrow, or (what is far more usual) find him an easier berth somewhere -on the division. - -There are times when the work-train must be summoned, when laborers by the -dozen must get to work to build new track. A wash-out may require a -half-mile of track to be laid in a night, and the railroad can do it. A -young man wrote a very able story for _The Saturday Evening Post_ a few -months ago, in which he told how an emergency track was laid across a -highway bridge and a test fast-freight put through on schedule. That feat -was but one of the many ordinary tasks that come in the lifetime of every -operating man. - -Clearing a wreck may be a tedious business. - -There is a deep sink on the parade-ground of the Military Academy at West -Point that is a monument to the nastiest railroad wreck from the point of -view of time, that the Eastern railroaders have ever known. Just under -that parade-ground the West Shore Railroad passes through a long tunnel. -On an October night more than twenty years ago, the Chicago & St. Louis -Express of that railroad was slowly poking through that bore, when a -portion of the roof of the tunnel collapsed. It buried itself between the -rear part of the baggage-car and the forward part of the express-car and -the train came to an abrupt stop. - -Engineer William Morse saw in an instant the damage that had been done. -He cut loose from that penned baggage-car and made record speed up the -line to Cornwall, the nearest station. From there he a sent a wire -post-haste to the despatcher up at Kingston, then the headquarters of the -line. - -"Train caught by collapse of West Point tunnel," that despatch read in -part. "Only engineer and fireman escaped." - -They began to get their hospital train ready at Kingston, notified Newburg -to get all the doctors in sight and hurry them on a special to West Point. -The chief despatcher went through the worst quarter of an hour of his -life. He began to call Weehawken, the southern terminal of the line. -Weehawken wires were all busy, and he could not cut in there. - -Weehawken wires were getting reports from Conductor Sam Brown of the -Chicago & St. Louis Express, who had come running out of the tunnel to the -West Point depot. - -"Wire headquarters," he shouted to the agent, "that we've run into an -avalanche. Morse and his fireman are crushed under the tunnel roof." - -And they began to get the wreckers busy down at Weehawken. - -When the chief despatcher up at Kingston finally got Weehawken, they told -him about Sam Morse's fate. The truth of the thing came to him in an -instant. He laughed hysterically, and his assistant jumped up. The -despatcher's bad quarter of an hour was over. He jumped to his telephone, -caught the yardmaster with it. - -"We won't need that hospital train," he said. "There isn't a soul hurt." - -And there was not. But there remained the worst railroad block on record. -It was three months before they pulled the baggage-car out of that tunnel, -and then they had to use dynamite. After that it was found necessary to -line the entire bore with solid masonry. That was an accident that might -not have been so lucky on repetition. - - * * * * * - -Enough of wrecks. They are not the only test when it comes to keeping the -line open. Sometimes a crippled telegraph service may be quite as -effective. Out on the Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburgh a couple of -years ago a severe wind and sleet storm levelled more than 40 miles of -telegraph poles, in most cases dropping them across main-line tracks in -the dark. A few months later--the never-to-be-forgotten inauguration day -of President Taft--a similar storm did similar work on the lines leading -to Washington. Thousands of militiamen and excursionists never reached the -inauguration at all. In both storms the resources of a great railroad were -well tested. - -An old-time Erie man remembers wire troubles of a different sort. It was -in his salad days, when he was serving as assistant superintendent over -the Meadville, in the western part of Pennsylvania. They had but one -telegraph wire for railroad purposes on the division then, and one night -it "grounded." Keys were silent, the road might as well have had no wire -at all. - -The assistant superintendent started that evening with two linemen on a -hand-car to find that "ground." They went miles from Meadville, and every -test showed the wire working. Finally they came to a deserted little depot -at a cross-roads and the railroader lifting his lantern high against the -window verified his suspicions: the careless agent had gone home and left -his key open. The superintendent broke open the window, climbed in, -removed the telegraph set, placed it in his overcoat pocket and closed the -circuit. He knew that he would hear from the agent on the morrow. He did. -Word came by tedious train mail, a formal report on the road's yellow -stationery. - -"Station at A---- burglarized last evening," that formal report read, "and -agent's telegraph set, best pants, and ten dollars taken." - - * * * * * - -The real test of keeping the line open comes when winter descends upon the -land, when the heaviest freight traffic of the year comes, together with -those forces of nature that sweep off the summer joys of railroading. The -mighty battles of the western transcontinentals with the snows of the -Rockies have long been known, their miles of snow-sheds making safe -crawling bores for through trains under the snow-banks, and the avalanches -of the mountain-sides are as familiar to the tourist as the Great Salt -Lake or the wonders of the Yellowstone. Only a few months ago the -newspapers told the story of how a passenger train, stalled at the -entrance of a Washington tunnel, had been carried by an avalanche down a -great cliff. Every railroader, east and west, knows full well the hazard -of mountain line in the depths of a treacherous winter. - -There is a snow-belt extending around the south edge of the Great Lakes -that annually gives the Eastern railroad men a good opportunity to -sympathize with the Westerners. Long years ago a little railroad reaching -north in this belt from the main line of the New York Central became -discouraged in the all but hopeless task of keeping its line open. It had -been a hard enough battle to find the rails of its main line from Rome to -Watertown through one blizzard crowding upon the heels of another. There -had been ten days when Watertown was entirely cut off from the world to -the south of it. But that little railroad owed some obligations to its -chief town, and it kept at its brave efforts although every night the -fresh wind blowing down from the Canadas across Lake Ontario filled the -long miles of railroad cuts, and nightly erased all trace of rails. But -there was a branch from Watertown to Cape Vincent run at a dead loss -throughout the entire winter, and in that hard winter the railroad gave up -the branch, and hired a liveryman to take the mails in his cutter over the -country drifts. It was one of the few instances on record of a railroad -giving up the fight. - -After the railroad had been abandoned a fortnight a delegation of citizens -from Cape Vincent drove to Watertown and there confronted H. M. Britton, -the general manager of the line. They made their little speeches, and -those were pretty hot little speeches--hot enough to have melted away one -good-sized drift. - -"When are you going to cart that snow off our line?" finally demanded the -spokesman of the Cape Vincent folk. - -Britton looked at the delegation coolly, and lighted a fresh cigar. - -"I'm going to let the man that put it there," he said slowly, "take it -away." - -And he did. It was thirty-two days before a railroad engine entered Cape -Vincent from the time that the last one left it. - -In recent years, that nasty stretch of railroad line has kept the -railroaders still busy. Within the decade it was blocked for six long -days, while a force of snow-fighters and a battery of ploughs forced their -way into the drifts. And while the superintendent up at Watertown grew -nervous, then desperate, there came the worst blow of all: the telegraph -wire no longer brought news from the front. - -Afterwards that super knew the reason why. His train-master was at the -front with ploughs and the hungry, tired, straggling men. The train-master -was nervous, too, wearied explaining to his boss. He remembered Dewey at -Manila, and he cut the cable! He lost sight of the outer world for long -hours, for days, for nights, until that January evening when he brought -his battered snow-fighting force triumphant into Richland Junction. - -When a big road whose rails rest through a snow belt finds the winter -clouds blackening, it puts on its fighting armor. Every man at -headquarters sticks by his desk. The superintendent will get bulletins -from each terminal and important yard every hour, perhaps oftener. Those -bulletins will give him exact information--the amount of motive-power -ready at each roundhouse, freight congestion, if any, amount and direction -of wind, cloud and snow conditions. - -In other days the signal for an oncoming storm was followed by quick -orders from headquarters to pull off the snow-freights. Traffic was -quickly cut down to passenger and perishable-freight trains, and, if the -blizzard grew bad enough, the perishable-freights were run in upon the -sidings. The railroad concentrated its motive-power upon the passenger -trains and the ploughs. Nowadays they do it better. Not that the old -fellows of the last generation were anything less than prize railroaders, -for remember they did not have the locomotives in those days that even -side-line divisions possess in these. - -So to-day the superintendent can growl at the first of his men who even -hints that a scheduled train of any class be sent upon a siding. - -"We keep the traffic moving," said one of the biggest the other day. "We -keep the line open. A train every thirty minutes over our rails will do -more toward keeping them usable than a rotary going over them after a -night's inaction. - -"So when she begins to blizz, we just fall back on our roundhouses, that's -all. We cut our local freights down to 1500 tons, then to 1200, 900, 600, -rather than send them into shelter. We tackle our through freights in a -like proportion and while we are cutting off cars, we are adding power. -Everything that goes out of this yard will be double-headed as long as -there is danger in the air. There will be two engines to a passenger-train -and ahead of each a rotary, with two or three locomotives to push her. -You see the value of reserve motive-power, don't you? Why we have -half-a-dozen extra engines trying to gather rust over there in the -roundhouse. They're worth their weight in gold in a pinch of this sort, -though when they're done with a week of snow fighting, they're fit -candidates for the shops." - -A rotary plough has no powers of self-propulsion, but the mighty engine -within her heart, driving the shaft of her great cutting-wheel has the -power of three locomotives. That cutting-wheel approximates the width of a -single-track in diameter. It will bore into a solidly packed drift, twelve -or sixteen feet in height, suck in a great volume of snow, and then throw -it--as a fire engine throws water--through a nozzle 60 to 100 feet to the -right or left of the line. The nozzle is close to three feet in diameter, -and the stream that it throws will bury a small barn. The man who sits in -the lookout of the rotary controls the nozzle, changes it from side to -side so as to avoid buildings. - -These rotaries are giants. Where the great flange or wing ploughs--the -ordinary snow-fighting artillery of a railroad--fail, they come into -service. Theirs is ever a mighty task to perform. We have seen a rotary -spend sixty minutes in going sixty feet through a heavy drift, a drift -three miles long and twenty deep. Snow can drift, and wet snow can pack, -pack until you almost begin to think of dynamite as a resource. - -Three days of such snow-fighting would completely weary the ordinary man. -Up in the snow-belts, they are likely to get a hard storm every week from -December to March, and that atop of the heaviest traffic of the year. It -is the sort of fighting that marks the fine-grained timber of a man; that -sends him down to headquarters in some metropolitan city along the -seaboard, to fight the weightier battles of traffic and of operation, -which are unending within and between the mighty railroads of America. - -Sometimes the battle to keep the line open is fought close to a busy -terminal. Here, before you, once again, is the division superintendent of -one of the great lines entering Jersey City. Let him tell you of the nasty -storm on Christmas night last, a storm that laid low all street -transportation in every city along the North Atlantic seaboard. He will -tell you how it was the first Christmas that he had spent with his family -in seven years; the first holiday in three. He lives in a little suburban -city within the 20-mile radius of New York City Hall, and in his bedroom a -telegraph sounder, connected with the division's main wire, clicks in the -early morning and late at night. - -Over that wire on Christmas night last, the superintendent gave orders. -There was snow in the air at dusk when they finished their late afternoon -dinner; by eight o'clock he had ordered the flanges (ploughs) on all his -regular road engines. Along the entire line orders had gone to keep a -sharp lookout for trouble. The superintendent turned into bed at ten -o'clock, hoping for a clear winter's sky in the morning. - -He turned into bed but not into sleep. He had cut out his telegraph wire -for the night but a telephone message from the agent down at the depot in -the suburban city made him sit up wide awake. The storm was gaining. They -were beginning to get trouble reports down at headquarters. The -superintendent turned out of bed and began dressing. He cut in on the -telegraph wire and began giving orders. - -He caught his train-master at the neighboring town and told him to meet -him at 495, the last train into Jersey City that evening. He turned from -the telegraph to the telephone and ordered the local livery man to get up -to his house and take him down to the 11:42. He called the depot agent to -hold that 11:42 until he arrived. - -[Illustration: "WINTER DAYS WHEN THE WIND-BLOWN SNOW FORMS MOUNTAINS UPON -THE TRACKS"] - -[Illustration: "THE DESPATCHER MAY HAVE COME FROM SOME LONELY COUNTRY -STATION"] - -[Illustration: "THE SUPERINTENDENT IS NOT ABOVE GETTING OUT AND BOSSING -THE WRECKING-GANG ONCE IN A GREAT WHILE"] - -When that superintendent came puffing into his office in the Jersey City -terminal it was one o'clock of a blizzardy Sabbath morn. He dropped into a -chair beside his chief despatcher and took the entire situation in -hand. Things looked pretty bad from every point of view. From up in the -foothills came reports of discouraging nature, trains were losing time, -they were having added trouble every hour in handling switches and -cross-overs. At the terminal the switches were a most prolific source of -annoyance. The intricacy of the interlocking system was being bothered by -ice freezing about its exposed working parts. - -The superintendent was perplexed, but he did not show it. He kept lighting -cigars and throwing them away half-smoked. And all the while he was -sending orders over his wire. If a narrow strand of steel, stretching for -miles through darkness and through storm could carry infectious courage, -that wire carried the superintendent's courage out to every far corner of -his division through those early hours. - -"Keep at it," was the tenor of his message. "Keep everlastingly at it." - -And between times he was planning how to help them to keep everlastingly -at it. Men were summoned to report Sunday morning at the shops--they might -need to make some quick repairs, and it is a matter of record on that -division that a locomotive has been torn apart, entirely overhauled and -placed in service again in twenty-four hours--others were ordered to stand -by important switches against breakdowns in the interlocking. - -There were special problems in plenty to be considered, a new one arising -every hour. One of them will suffice to show the measure of that -superintendent's problem that night. - -Up in a narrow pass between overhanging hills a much-delayed local, with a -light road-engine, was still struggling to get the Christmas celebrators -home. It was a hard proposition; and just a block back of the suburban -train was chafing the midnight express through to Chicago--one of the -road's best trains. The superintendent saw in an instant that his main -line stood in imminent danger of being blocked. He caught Middleport, the -station ahead of the struggling local, and ordered it side-tracked there -for a moment. - -"I want to get that midnight with her big engine ahead from there," he -explained to his despatcher. - -But the towerman at Middleport said that he could not move the -siding-switch there; it was packed in with ice and snow. - -"Tell him to get a pick-axe and shovel and get in at it," said the -superintendent. - -"He says that it's 20° below up there; they've swiped his shovel, and he -hasn't anything but a broom," the despatcher returned. - -"A broom! Tell him a broom's a God-send. He can sweep with the one end and -pick with the other." - -Eight times that towerman tried there in the midst of the storm to open -that switch and eight times he reported failure. Eight times the -superintendent kept at him with his kind persistence, and the ninth time -they reported that the midnight express with the best type of motor power -on the division was ahead of the weak engine on the local. - -And while the superintendent struggled at the far end of a telegraph wire -with that towerman, there were a dozen other Middleports, each with its -own different and equally difficult problem. Each required quick, -intelligent solution. He solved each. The line stayed open. The -superintendent stayed at his desk. - -All that Sunday it snowed, and all that Sunday the superintendent was at -his desk. He did not know the passage of the hours; the clicking sounder -held his attention riveted. He worked all Sunday night and into Monday -morning. There were 200 suburban trains to be brought into the terminal on -Monday morning, and the commuter is a fussy soul about his train being on -time. The superintendent knew that, and he was ready. He had extra men at -the switches in the terminal yards, took particular pains to have snow -swept from the platforms of even the lowliest suburban station. - -The trains came in on time that Monday morning, all save one. On that one -train the regular fireman had been snowbound at his home upon the -mountainside. They had to put on a green man to fire the engine--a -raw-boned lad just off a freight. He made slow work of it, and the train -was fourteen minutes late. That was the only exception to a clean record, -a record made possible by long hours of work. - -"They ought to have been proud of that fight," you say to the big boss. He -grins at your ignorance. - -"Proud?" he laughs. "They raised hell with me because we had 387 laid out -fourteen minutes." - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -THE G. P. A. AND HIS OFFICE - - HE HAS TO KEEP THE ROAD ADVERTISED--MUST BE AN AFTER-DINNER ORATOR, - AND MANY-SIDED--HIS GENIALITY, URBANITY, COURTESY--EXCESSIVE RIVALRY - FOR PASSENGER TRAFFIC--INCREASING LUXURY IN PULLMAN CARS--MANY PRINTED - FORMS OF TICKETS, ETC. - - -We have already called the division superintendent the Prince in the realm -of railroad operation. But there is another, whom we see when we leave -operation and consider traffic--another who might also be called -Prince--Prince Charming. This prince of charm of the railroad is the -general passenger agent. To a large proportion of folk he is almost the -personification of the railroad itself. His signature, appearing upon each -of the railroad's tickets and time-tables, is multiplied a million times a -year. In his own self he appears many, many times as the road's -mouthpiece. His evening clothes must always be kept in press and -moth-balls, for his oratory is at all times close to the tap. His wit is -ready, his tongue a good arguer for his line. At dinners of Chambers of -Commerce and Boards of Trade, his urbanity is profound, his remarks to the -point; and the road gets the advertising. - -For the general passenger agent is _per se_, an advertiser. There are two -affiliated and yet quite distinctive functions to his office. The older -function, the one for which it was really created when railroads were -young, is that of issuing tickets and selling them. The newer function, -and to-day the all-important function, is that of keeping the road before -the eyes of the travel-mad public--an advertising function. A few years -ago, a big Eastern road had to change general passenger agents because of -this very thing. The man who had held the job was in almost every way -absolutely efficient. He had been reared in the routine of his office; he -knew its vast details as well as any man might ever hope to know them. But -he was a detail man, and there he stopped. The road needed more of a -figurehead, a better advertiser. The late George H. Daniels was in many -respects the best passenger agent that American railroading has ever -known. He was the forerunner of the general passenger agent of to-day--a -well-known figure in the great State that his railroad served, being -interviewed by reporters--and lady reporters, too--on every conceivable -subject in the public eye; addressing dinners in metropolitan New York, or -in suburban Yonkers, or anywhere else in the State, with rare facility, -yet now and then adroitly bringing in reference to the "four-track trail" -by which he was employed. - -Other roads took heed of Daniels. The general passenger agent became less -and less a man of office routine and of ticket detail, more and more of a -public figure. He called Mayors of important cities by their first names; -he kept close to the pulsing heart of the public press by friendly -intimacy with the reporters; spoke at two, three, four dinners a week. The -Prince Charming of the railroad is, indeed, a development. - -But behind the smiles of this prince, behind the phraseology of words -spoken or written that glorify "the road," there is a serious aspect of -his life. He must capitalize that splendid urbanity, that jocose wit, into -ticket-sales. In the beginning he was created to sell tickets, and sell -tickets he must. On his ability to sell tickets, and not as a popular -public figure, will he be measured by the board of directors--that -delegation of grim-faced gentlemen, who place small market value on either -urbanity or jocosity. - -So, while the general passenger agent presents his smiling face to the -outside world, he is a man of system, no mean executive there within the -inner. He must organize to sell his tickets. There is an inner -organization of no small moment in the passenger office of any sizable -railroad. In the first place, the area from which traffic is to be drawn -is divided into districts. General agents or assistant general passenger -agents (the title varies widely on the different railroads) are assigned -to each. This traffic area is far larger than the area covered by one -railroad system. It is generally nation-wide, while some of the biggest of -our railroads maintain ticket-offices in the large cities all the way -around the world. They are to-day fighting almost as sharply for American -traffic in Paris or in London as they fight in Clark Street, Chicago, or -in Broadway, New York. - -For it is a fight and an endless fight, which the Prince Charming--he of -the urbane smiles--must wage. Despite the constant consolidating processes -of our railroads, there are few large territories that are the exclusive -field of any one road. The most of them must fight for their -business--particularly for their profitable long-distance business. The -fight divides itself between the freight and passenger traffic -departments. No wonder, then, that the general passenger agent must be a -many-sided man. - -From his district offices, there scurries forth a corps of smooth-tongued, -quick-witted young men--the travelling passenger agents. These young men -are skirmishers. They are up and down the steel highways of the nation, -thirty days out of the month, skirmishing for business. Each carries in an -inner pocket a wad of annual passes--such as might make any statesman -green with envy. Those passes cover every steam line in the territory that -is assigned to him and are return courtesy for the neat little cards which -his road in turn issues to the traffic solicitors of other roads. - -In other days these skirmishers carried forth business which sometimes -approached cut-throat tendencies. The weaker lines in hotly competitive -territory--lines which, running fewer high-grade trains and running them -at slower speed--which were naturally at a disadvantage, sought to obtain -at least their normal share of passenger traffic, by sharp work. After -that their stronger brethren often showed their religious belief in -fighting them by fire. Tickets were sold at less than advertised rates to -certain favored individuals; sometimes a few passes, adroitly placed, did -the business. In these days those sharp things are forbidden, and the -young man, soliciting railroad traffic, who breaks the rules of the game -runs the risk of worse than facing an angry boss, getting discharged; -perhaps he can see the doors of a Federal prison opening for him. - -So the fellow who skirmishes for the weak road has a hard time of it in -these piping days. Passenger traffic, like kissing, seems to go by favor -nowadays; and how hard the travelling passenger agent works to curry that -favor! He drops off a local at some way-station, there is a smile and -perhaps a cigar for the country-boy who sells tickets there, for the -Interstate folk have not sent any one to prison yet for offering either a -smile or a cigar. The T. P. A. knows that the local agent cannot, under -the rules that govern him, recommend routes that connect with and extend -beyond the line which gives him employment. Still, sometime the country -agent may be approached by a man who demands that a connecting road be -suggested for him, and the T. P. A. can see that man, without even -shutting his eyes. If the country agent will only remember the nice T. P. -A. that the Transcontinental sent in there a month before, and the good -kind of cigars he dispenses, the Transcontinental may get a part of the -haul on a long green ticket. Perhaps the man will be taking his wife, and -there will be two of the long green tickets. Perhaps there will be a whole -party to be routed over the Transcontinental--the T. P. A. can imagine -almost anything as he swings overland in the dreary locals from -way-station to way-station. - -Sometimes a wire from his chief quickly changes his schedule. The -Magnificent Knights of the Realm--or some other impressive order of that -sort--are to hold their annual convention at Oshkosh, and the T. P. A. -must hustle down to Bingtown to see that Transcontinental gets the haul of -the delegation that will go to Oshkosh from the bustling little community. -He scurries into Bingtown to locate the officers of the local lodge of the -M. K. O. R. there. On the train there may be a T. P. A. from some rival -system--they are all partners in misery. The Transcontinental man will -probably drop off the opposite side of the train at Bingtown from the -crowded depot platform--it's an old trick of the T. P. A.--and be tearing -over the pages of the Bingtown directory before that train is out of town -again. Once located, the officers of that lodge of M. K. O. R. must be -pleasantly instructed in the advantages of Transcontinental--the speed of -its trains, the safety of its operation, the convenience of its terminals, -the scenic splendors along the way, the excellence of its dining-car -service; all these things are spun with convincing eloquence by the -travelling passenger agent. - -A few years ago, two travelling passenger agents, whose lines supplement -one another to make a through route across the continent, went down into -an Eastern manufacturing city to land business bound west to a national -convention of one of the biggest of the fraternal orders. There were other -passenger men heading toward that same territory, and the two men from the -connecting lines made an offensive and defensive alliance. When they -reached this town, they found that the chief officers of the local lodge -were two city detectives and a police justice. All three of the city -officers showed little enthusiasm about the coming convention. The -passenger men took off their coats--figuratively--and pitched in. - -For three days, they ran up an expense account that must have all but -paralyzed the auditors of their companies, but they accomplished results. -After the first day of entertainment, the police justice said that there -would be an even dozen of them for the three-thousand-mile run, which was -going some. Most passenger men would have rested content on those laurels, -but this combination used that first day only to whet their appetites. -They started briskly out on the second, a little fagged, but still in -fighting trim, and by that night the two detectives united in promising -one or two filled Pullmans. The third day saw the two traffic solicitors -nearly dead, and the well-seasoned city officials just in fine trim. The -trim must have been fine, for that night they completed arrangements for -one of the biggest special train movements of that year: two hundred and -fifty enthusiastic brethren went three-quarters of the way across the -continent and back as a result of the work of these passenger men. - -Once a travelling passenger agent went nearly too far in this -entertainment business. He got business, miles and miles and miles of it, -but he also got drinking far too heavily. One day, when he came into the -general offices very much the worse for entertaining, he bumped into no -less a man than the president of the road. That president was a strict old -soul. He had church connections, and he used to lecture his Sunday School -class on the evils of the liquor habit. He decided to make an example of -this young whelp of a passenger agent from off the road. - -But just as the sentence was about to be pronounced, the general passenger -agent interfered. He went straight to the president and the wrath of an -honest man was in his eye. - -"We don't intend to have drunken men working here," the president kept -saying. "It's the example--" - -"If he drinks," said the G. P. A., "it's my fault, and I'm the man to let -go." - -The president let his eyeglasses drop in astonishment. - -"You?" he said. - -"I'm guilty," said the G. P. A. "This man goes everywhere to get business -for us, and he gets it. He kneels with the preacher, he talks high art -with the Browning societies, and he gets drunk with the drinkers--all in -the name of this railroad system. Now we propose to kick him out, still in -the name of this railroad system." - -The president saw the point, and together they took hold of the T. P. A. -and made him a decent, sober man. To-day he is one of the most efficient -officers of that very road, and he owes it all to that broad-minded G. P. -A. - -Geniality, urbanity, courtesy are the major part of a travelling passenger -agent's equipment, as they are part of his chief's in these days, when the -rates have ceased to enter into the fight for traffic. - -Rates? - -The rates must be the same nowadays by all routes of the same class; and -so the T. P. A. _must_ bring out the excellence of his line, leaving none -behind because of a false sense of modesty. He is silent about other -roads, save as they may lead to and from the system that he represents. -You want to go to Kickapoo. You could go to Milltown by the -Transcontinental and get from there to Kickapoo most easily by the main -line of the St. Louis Southwestern, but the travelling passenger agent -frowns his first frown at the very suggestion. The St. Louis Southwestern -is the worst competitor that Transcontinental has for passenger traffic, -and the T. P. A. does not propose to send business over its rails. So he -ignores your suggestion. - -"We have our own line into Kickapoo," he tells you--the old smile -returning. "You won't have to leave Transcontinental." - -And such a line! It happens to be a branch of the worst jerkwater type. To -reach Kickapoo over Transcontinental you must go to Milltown and change -from the comfortable Limited to a less comfortable train, which takes you -to Quashalong Junction. There you find a seat on a local which jogs along -at twenty miles an hour for the greater part of the afternoon until you -get into Miller's Forks. When you reach Miller's Forks you almost abandon -hope. For the thirty-mile stretch from that cross-roads over into Kickapoo -is a grass-grown stretch of half-neglected track over which a combination -freight and passenger-train--adequately described on the time-card as -mixed--ambles once in twenty-four hours. By the time you have finished -that trip you will have arrived in Kickapoo without leaving the rails of -the Transcontinental, but you will also probably have registered a vow -never to travel on them again, if they can be avoided. - -Right there is a traffic mistake. If the T. P. A. had been wise he would -have swallowed his hatred of St. Louis Southwestern and recommended that -you use it for that stretch from Milltown to Kickapoo. He let his zeal for -his road overrun his business judgment. A good many of them do. Only the -other day a man walked into a railroad station of a small city in the -Southern Tier of New York State and announced that he wanted to hurry -through to Binghamton. - -"We have a train in five minutes, our 12:12," said the agent, all smiles. - -The man hesitated. He wanted to do two or three errands in that small city -before he went on to Binghamton, and so he asked the leaving time of the -next train. - -"Nothing until 6:18," the agent told him. - -"That will be too late for me to get into Binghamton," the passenger said. -The agent did not reply, but turned his attention to other persons who -were waiting at the ticket-window. But the man from Binghamton was still -perplexed. An agent of the news company who ran the stand in that station, -came over and helped him out. - -"The ---- (mentioning a rival and paralleling road) gets a train out of -here for Binghamton at 3:30," he explained. - -The passenger thanked the news-agent, for his problem had been lightened -and started out for the other station. When he was gone, the -ticket-seller summoned the newsman and threatened to have him fired. - -But there is a new order of things coming to pass even in this hot rivalry -for getting passenger traffic. Long ago, C. F. Daly, who is to-day -vice-president in charge of traffic for the New York Central lines, was in -charge of the city ticket-office of the Burlington, in Omaha. Those were -days when no loyal traffic-man was ever supposed even to breathe the name -of a competing road. But Daly held his loyalty firm, and still went -straight against that absurd rule. If a woman came into his office and, -after the way of some women travellers, finally decided that she wished to -travel over the rival Northwestern, he would not let her get out of his -office. He would give her a comfortable seat, and perhaps a magazine or -paper to read, and send one of his office-boys over to the Northwestern -office to buy a ticket for her. Sometimes before the office-boy could get -out of the place the woman would change her mind in favor of the -Burlington. If she did not, Daly did not worry. He knew that he was of the -new order of railroaders. - - * * * * * - -Come back, for a final moment, to the travelling passenger agent. He may -be forgiven an over-zeal for the line which employs him, for that has been -his training from the beginning, and--which is far more to the point--he -is being measured by the results that he accomplishes. The road does not -pay him a salary and pay his heavy expense account (which the auditor -generally permits to contain various unvouchered items for entertainment) -without expecting results. - -If he is a new man in the territory, he is measured against his -predecessor. Afterwards, he is measured month by month, against the -corresponding month of the preceding year. All tickets which were sold -from his territory, and in which his road shares, are credited to his -influence. It becomes a matter of cold calculations and of dollars and -cents. If this April does not show an increase over April of last year, -the T. P. A. must make a mighty good explanation to his chief. It will -have to be famine or pestilence or something nearly as bad to justify the -slump in ticket sales. An insinuation on his part that a reduction of the -service of his road was responsible for the slump would never be accepted -at headquarters. - -[Illustration: THE NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD IS BUILDING A NEW GRAND -CENTRAL STATION IN NEW YORK CITY, FOR ITSELF AND ITS TENANT, THE NEW YORK, -NEW HAVEN & HARTFORD RAILROAD] - -[Illustration: THE CONCOURSE OF THE NEW GRAND CENTRAL STATION, NEW YORK, -WILL BE ONE OF THE LARGEST ROOMS IN THE WORLD] - -[Illustration: SOUTH STATION, BOSTON, IS THE BUSIEST RAILROAD TERMINAL IN -THE WORLD] - -[Illustration: THE TRAIN-SHED AND APPROACH TRACKS OF BROAD STREET STATION, -PHILADELPHIA, STILL ONE OF THE FINEST OF AMERICAN RAILROAD PASSENGER -TERMINALS] - -So, all in all, the life of the travelling passenger agent is no sinecure. -It is easiest when he is in the home territory of his road, rather -pleasant when that road is non-competitive. But when he is out in -"foreign" territory, fighting for a road which is hardly more than a name -to the folk with whom he comes in contact, his difficulties increase; -when, if his road is one of the weaker fry, its trains slower and less -frequent than some of the other trunk-lines, his difficulties increase. -The differential-fares by which the slower competing roads are permitted -by their stronger brethren to charge a reduced rate between important -distant traffic points were adopted to help to equalize this difficulty. -But the differentials do not count, neither do the differential lines now -get their share of the through business. Last year fifty per cent of the -passengers between New York and Chicago went on the eighteen-hour train, -even though the regular full fare of $20 in each direction is increased by -an excess fare of $10, aside from the Pullman rates. Twenty-five per cent -more travelled on the limited trains, which makes an excess of $5, in -addition to Pullman rates, in each direction. It begins to look as if the -American public were willing to pay for added comfort and convenience. -Pullman operation has doubled within the past ten years. Pullman -chair-cars are operated to-day on hundreds of miles of branch line -railroads that would not have dreamed of such a luxury a decade ago. - -In fact, we are moving toward first-class and second-class passenger -service by leaps and bounds. Less than twenty years ago the New York -Central established its Empire State Express between New York and -Buffalo, and, by means of the almost marvellous resources of its -advertising department, made it the most famous train in the world. Save -for a single parlor car or two, it has always been a day-coach train, no -excess fare being charged. Yet for many years (in recent years its -running-time has been slightly lengthened) it was the fastest regular -long-distance train in the world. Still, in the judgment of railroaders -to-day, another Empire State would be a mistake, even though the original -is, day in and day out probably one of the most popular and profitable -express trains in the world. But the judgment is different: the Lehigh -Valley, running the competing Black Diamond, between New York and Buffalo, -has already found it advisable to make its equipment all Pullman. - - * * * * * - -Just as the travelling passenger agent forms the stock from which many of -the general passenger agents are finally formed, so does the country agent -aspire to the day when he will be given territory and sent out with his -gripsack, to sell transportation upon the road. Sometimes, though, as in -Daly's case, the road to traffic titles comes by way of the city -ticket-offices. These form an important function of the railroad's -passenger department. They are regulated carefully, through an -inter-railroad harmony, as expressed in the great national passenger -associations. We have already seen how they sell mileage-books and "scrip" -on their own account. For instance, a sort of tacit agreement specifies -how many ticket-offices a railroad may maintain in a given city. -Otherwise, the biggest and richest road might completely overshadow its -weaker neighbor in the number as well as in the magnificence of its -agencies. So an unwritten agreement, which is as strict in its way as the -law on cutting rates, states that this city may have so many offices for -any road, and that so many. It has become an exact rule. - -The city ticket-offices, situated at advantageous corners in the various -busy centres of metropolitan towns, and towns having metropolitan -ambitions, save the average man a long trip, perhaps, to the station. They -will sell tickets, check baggage, answer innumerable questions. Answering -questions remains one of the big functions of the passenger-man. - -Only recently, a sign was hung in a city ticket-office of one of the large -railroads in New York, which read: - -"Remember that we are Here to Sell Tickets as well as Give Information." - -That sign was a mistake. It was an affront to every person who entered -that ticket-office, and remember that every person who enters a -ticket-office is at least a potential passenger for the railroad that -operates it. It is only charitable to believe that the agent meant to say: -"Remember that we are here to give information as well as to sell -tickets," for the giving of information is a function of a passenger -ticket office. So important has this function become, that the railroads -have established desks in the largest of these city offices at which no -tickets are sold, but where questions are answered and railroad, -steamship, and hotel folders given out. "Public Service stations," the New -York Central has begun to call its city ticket-offices and, furthering -this idea of courtesy and affability, its general passenger agent has -opened a school for the training of its agents. They are taught to answer -questions quickly and accurately, and to be, above all things, courteous -to the persons who come before them and the potential travellers. - - * * * * * - -Just a final look before we leave this passenger department, at its -equipment. Its complications are large. Take this matter of tickets, for -instance. While the financial department of the road will receive the -money that comes in for their sales, and the auditing department takes -good care as to the accuracy of the agent's returns, the passenger -department has charge of printing and issuing the contract slips by which -it agrees to convey its passengers. There is a multiplicity of forms of -these, each bearing the signature of the general passenger agent. - -On smaller roads, the number of forms of local tickets is greatly reduced -by writing or stamping the name of the destination on tickets. On a single -branch line, with 25 stations, just 600 different styles of printed -railroad tickets would be required otherwise; you can imagine the number -of styles required for an average system of 1,000 stations. Fortunately, -for the passenger department, the use of simplified forms of tickets, -where adroit cutting and tearing makes possible the use of a single ticket -form for an entire division, has reduced the big ticket-printing bills. -Only recently, a machine, on the order of a cash register, has been -invented, from which a ticket, accurately stamped and dated, with the -destination indelibly printed, can be delivered as demanded. - -Still, with all these simplified forms of tickets, a big road will hardly -carry less than 5,000 standard forms. Then there will be anywhere from a -dozen to twenty special forms a week that will have to be printed--for -excursions, conventions, and special train movements of every sort. The -ticket-printing bill of a big road will easily exceed $40,000 a year. Its -folders will cost not less than $50,000, while the twelvemonths' bill for -newspaper advertising will more than exceed the combined figure of these -two. - -All these details come under the jurisdiction of that urbane general -passenger agent. He supervises, in another department, the making and the -readjustment of rates--this last a seemingly endless task. - -To make up rate-sheets, either in the freight or in the passenger -department, requires expert work. The fare between the same points on -competitive railroads must, in the present order of things, remain equal. -To cite an interesting instance: The A---- railroad long ago established -$6.00 as its passenger charge from N---- to S----. The B---- railroad, -although charging a higher rate per mile over its line, is obliged to meet -this rate of $6.00 in order to secure business from N---- to S----, even -though that makes many perplexing problems in its local rates. The -B----railroad mileage from N---- to S----, up its main line, is 288 -miles--practically the same as that of its competitor. For the 146-mile -ride to G----, the first large way-station, it charges $4.50, for the -208-mile ride to M----, the next, $5.00. If a man were to go over its line -to S---- and stop off at G---- and M---- his fare from N---- to S----would -be $8.80. That is a typical case, and one that is repeated in every corner -of the country. Where a road comes into competitive territory its rates -must adjust themselves to those of its lowest-priced rival, otherwise it -could hardly hope for a fair share of the business. So the rates must -shade here and there; the rate-clerk must take good care to see that -wherever it is in any way possible, no combination of tickets can be -formed that will sell at less rate than a through ticket. When the -rate-sheet is completed and copies of it forwarded to the railroad -commission, it is, indeed, a sensitive organization. - -But no sooner will the cumbersome rate-sheet be completed, before some -little road off in a distant corner of the country will send a printed -announcement of some slight change in its passenger charges. In an -instant, the whole mighty fabric of the rate-sheet must be torn apart and -reconstructed. If the St. Louis Southwestern, by reason of a single change -in the rates of the little Blissville, Bulgetown and Beyond (with which it -connects) is enabled to charge a few cents less than the rival -Transcontinental, its rate-sheet must be torn asunder and a new one -adopted. - - * * * * * - -Beyond the long desks where the rate-clerks keep at their tedious jobs of -constant readjustment of local and through rates, the passenger department -has located its ticket redemption bureau. It announces publicly its -willingness to redeem unused portions of its tickets, and the work of -figuring out the amount due on a ticket, sometimes half or three-quarters -used, requires a rate-clerk of ability and patience. The redemption clerk -holds a ticket up to the light for your inspection. - -"They tried to put this over on me," he says as he shows a local ticket -which had been sent to him for redemption at full value. The pasteboard is -filled with small burned holes. "The breezy young man who forwarded this -exhibit to me claimed that he had used no portion of this ticket and then -apologized to me for its condition. His small boy, he said, had burned it -with Fourth-of-July punk. - -"Punk? That was punk. The small boy did not do a thorough job. Every hole -burned there was burned to hide a conductor's punchmark. You can see the -edges of three of them; and those three punch marks show that the ticket -issued from B---- to T---- was used 300 miles from B---- to A---- and not -used from A---- to T----. When that young man threatened us with trouble -on that ticket deal, we threatened him with arrest. After that he shut -up." - -So does the general passenger agent come in constant contact with the -great American public. His outside mail is probably the largest at -headquarters, and it contains letters of every sort, asking innumerable -questions, praising and damning his road with equal interest and force. -One letter will commend a courteous conductor, the next will find some -fault with the dining-car service. It is not so very long ago that a big -Eastern railroad sent out a general order that the raw oysters on its -dining-cars should be served affixed to their shells, because a woman from -Sioux City had written a positive assertion that the shells were being -used over and over again for canned oysters. - -Some of the railroads have already begun to systematize this whole matter -of complaints. One New York City line which sells a large amount of -transportation in small packages every day (two million passengers is its -average in twenty-four hours) has a Harvard man at high salary just to -receive those letters and give diplomatic answer to each of them. Each -complaint is first acknowledged and then investigated; the person who made -the complaint is notified of the final action taken. If a matter of fare -is involved (the complicated transfer systems of New York make such -questions frequent), and the company is wrong, it cheerfully acknowledges -its fault and forwards car tickets as reimbursement. Many times when a -conductor or a motorman has forgotten his manners, he is sent to make a -personal apology to the aggrieved passenger, as a price of holding his -position. That street railway company has won many friends out of persons -who had complained to it, because of this method. - -But here is the general passenger agent of a big steam road, who holds a -considerably different view of this very matter. - -"We never get in writing on one of these complaints," he says. "We send a -man every time to make the matter right, and the man must be a diplomat. -He must understand human nature, and so well does he understand it, that -he makes the matter right in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred--turns an -enemy into a friend, a liability into an asset, makes a firm patron for -our road." - -"Liabilities into assets!" That then is the work of the general passenger -agent and his remarkable department. "Liabilities into assets!" In these -days of cold judgments upon the managements of the big railroad -properties, such a man is worth his weight in gold to a big system. He -measures his worth in the assets that he brings to it. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE LUXURY OF MODERN RAILROAD TRAVEL - - SPECIAL TRAINS PROVIDED--PRIVATE CARS--SPECIALS FOR ACTORS, ACTRESSES, - AND MUSICIANS--CRUDE COACHES ON EARLY RAILROADS--LUXURIOUS OLD-TIME - SLEEPING-CARS--PULLMAN'S SLEEPERS MADE AT FIRST FROM OLD COACHES--HIS - PIONEER--THE FIRST DINING-CARS--THE PRESENT-DAY DINING-CARS--DINNERS, - TABLE D' HÔTE AND A LA CARTE--CAFÉ-CARS--BUFFET-CARS--CARE FOR THE - COMFORT OF WOMEN. - - -If a man stops you in Nassau Street, New York, in the late afternoon, and -you miss your favorite eighteen-hour train; if it is imperative that you -be in Chicago the next morning at ten o'clock, and (this a most important -"if") if you are willing to spend your money pretty freely, the railroad -will accomplish it for you. If you are well known, and your credit -accomplished with the railroad folks, it is highly probable that you will -find your special, ready to accomplish an over-night run of nearly 1,000 -miles, standing waiting in the train-shed when you hurry to the station. -Even if your credit is not so established, the sight of several thousand -dollars in greenbacks will accomplish the trick for you. The train will be -ready in any event almost as soon as you. - -If you are planning a novel outing, you may ring for a railroad -representative and he will bring to your house or to your office tickets -on any train and to any part of the world, or he will be prepared to -arrange a special train for a night's run or for a three months' swing -around the country. Your train may be of any length you desire and are -willing to pay for. You can hire a car and it will be handled either as -regular express trains or with special engines. You pay the bills and you -have your choice. - -A run in a private car is the acme of luxury to the average man. These are -used for a variety of purposes in these comfort-loving days, and the sight -of one or more of them attached to the rear of a heavy train has ceased to -excite comment. The average luxury-loving millionaire has one--possibly -two--of these expensive toys attached to an entourage that embraces -ocean-going yachts, complete stables, and dozens of motor-cars of every -description. If he can claim some sort of responsible connection with a -large railroad system, he is likely to have his car hauled free from one -ocean to the other; and the millionaire likes these little perquisites. He -is not so far removed, after all, from the man who huddles in the corner -of the smoking-car and secretly hopes and prays that the conductor will -forget to collect his ticket. - -To appreciate the number and variety of these cars take a look at the -passenger sidings at any of the large Florida beach hotels in midwinter. -Better still, run down to Princeton or up to New Haven at any large -football game. You will see parked there at such a time from sixty to one -hundred of these palatial cars, some of them private property, others -chartered for the occasion. - -Even in the middle of the night this branch of luxurious railroad traffic -is still at your disposal. An emergency call summons you out of town for a -distance, and the night train schedules do not meet your needs. The night -train-master will meet your needs. He will act as the agent of the -railroad and arrange, while you hold the telephone receiver in your -fingers, the entire schedule for you. Trains will be held, connections -made; the telegraph is capable of arranging the details. If you demand -speed, the railroad will give it to you--if you are willing to pay the -price and give a release against damage to your precious bones. Increased -speed means increased risk to your railroader. - -Maude Adams uses a special many Saturday nights to carry her down to her -Long Island farm at Ronkonkoma. Her place is far out of the regular -suburban district, and there are no regular trains that will enable her to -reach it after the evening performance. For ordinary service she is quite -content with a private car--the mania has its deathly grip on a good many -of our prosperous theatrical folk. - -Lillian Russell used to live down in the Rockaway section of Long Island, -hardly outside of the New York City limits. When she played in the -metropolis a special train carried her six nights in the week out to her -suburban home. There were plenty of regular trains--theatre trains, in the -colloquialism of the railroaders--but the prima donna would have none of -them. She had acquired the private-car mania while she was on the road. So -her special stood night after night in the big railroad terminal in Long -Island City--a neat little acquisition for a prosperous lady. The nightly -ride cost her fifty dollars to the railroad company; and the generous tips -she lavished, from the engine-cab back, doubled that sum. - -Hardly a prosperous star, these days, but demands in the contract a -fully-equipped car for the long, hard days on the road. The car has some -value for advertising; its greatest value, however, lies in the maximum -degree of comfort that it affords, as compared with the constant changing -from one country hotel to another. Sometimes the biggest of these folk let -the mania seize so tightly upon them that they go to excess. - -Paderewski, on his first trip to America, made a flying journey up to -Poughkeepsie to bewilder the fair Vassarites. He shuddered at the thought -of what he was pleased to call the provinces. He had the popular European -notion of American small towns and their hostelries. Poughkeepsie has very -comfortable hotels, but Paderewski would not risk them. He would not sleep -in them, neither would he eat in them. A private car solved the first of -these problems; the second was met by bringing two cooks and a waiter up -from the New York hotel in which he was staying. He was paid $1,000 for -the concert, and his travelling expenses cost him more than half that sum, -which was a pretty good ratio. - -Still, stage folk are not in the habit of counting either ratios or their -pennies, and the average prima donna would make some sacrifices at the -savings-bank in order to indulge herself in this extravagant and purely -American mania. The grand-opera folk indulge themselves to the limit, -invariably at the expense of the beneficent _impresario_. But even this -long-suffering publicist does not feel the expense so bitterly. Special -trains for opera companies make splendid advertising, but they do not cost -one cent more than regular transportation. For the railroads, acting under -the guidance of an all-wise and all-powerful commission down at -Washington, will issue, without extra cost, from sixty to one hundred -tickets for the man who orders a special train at two dollars a mile. In -this way the wise theatrical manager keeps his little flock segregated -while _en route_, and reaps gratuitously the prestige and the advertising -that ensue. - -Even the cheaper companies have their own cars--gaudy affairs most of -them, their battered sides still reflecting the brilliancy of some gifted -sign-painter. You must remember seeing them in the long ago, back there at -the home-town, stuck in the long siding next the coal-shed, and surrounded -by admiring youth, getting its first faint taint of the mania. The -All-Star Imperial Minstrel Troupes, and the Uncle Tom shows, are the -graveyards of the private cars. Proud equipages that in their days have -housed real magnates and have been the theatres of what we like -mysteriously to call "big deals," once supplanted, drop quickly down the -scale of elegance. In their last days they come to the hard use of some -itinerant band of entertainers, to squeak their rusty joints and worn -frames as if in protest against a fly-by-night existence over jerkwater -railroad branches. - -Come back again to those cars you see at the college football games, the -travelling private palaces that migrate up to Newport, the White -Mountains, and the Adirondacks in summer; that flock south in the winter -like the birds. The astonishing thing is that few of these cars are owned -by the persons who are using them. Of course, as we have already said, if -a man can lay claim to some railroad connection, he can get his car hauled -free over other lines and, perhaps, get it built for him; but more of that -in a moment. There are probably not more than 40 private cars in the land -that are owned by persons not connected with the railroads. This is an -astonishingly low figure, considering the number of these craft that are -constantly drifting about our 200,000 miles of track. Some society folk -have cars as a part of their daily life, but the storage costs are apt to -cause a man to think twice before he buys one. Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. -Morgan have managed to worry along very comfortably without contracting -the disease. As a rule, both of these men are willing to accept the -comfort of any of the fast limited trains that form part of the luxurious -equipment of the American railroad. - -But the fact remains that the average citizen, when he is felled by an -intermittent attack of the private-car mania, is content to hire one of -the very comfortable equipages that the Pullman Company keeps ready at big -terminals at various points across the country. The arrangements for these -are exclusive of the price paid to the railroad companies for their haul. -A complete private car, equipped with staterooms, baths, private -dining-room, observation parlor and the like, costs seventy-five dollars a -day. For two or more days this rate drops to fifty dollars a day. An extra -charge is made for food; but the railroad will deliver the car without -charge at the point from which you wish to begin your journey. - -[Illustration: CONNECTING DRAWING ROOM AND STATE ROOM] - -[Illustration: "A MAN MAY HAVE AS FINE A BED IN A SLEEPING CAR AS IN THE -BEST HOTEL IN ALL THE LAND"] - -[Illustration: "YOU MAY HAVE THE MANICURE UPON THE MODERN TRAIN"] - -[Illustration: "THE DINING-CAR IS A SOCIABLE SORT OF PLACE"] - -For the haul of these cars the railroads will charge you according to -their regularly filed tariffs, unless you have that valued connection with -some common carrier. This varies from a minimum of from eighteen to -twenty-five first-class fares. In other words, let us assume that the -minimum in a particular case is twenty fares. That particular railroad -will carry up to twenty persons in the car at its regular fares; if there -are more than twenty aboard it will get a full fare ticket from each over -the minimum allowance. That is all a matter established as the special -train rates are established, not by whim, but by law. - -Strange as it may seem, the private car mania, in chronic form, seems to -attack some railroad presidents most violently. For reasons which show -that railroading is a business filled with fine tact and diplomacy, these -cars are called business cars. It is also remarkable that for size and -elegance they vary in almost inverse ratio to the size and importance of -the railroad that owns them. Big railroads, like the Pennsylvania, the -Harriman lines, and the New York Central rather pride themselves upon the -simplicity of their official cars. Some of these are plain almost to the -point of shabbiness. Contrasted with these are the private cars belonging -to the head of a great interurban electric line in Southern California, a -car so wondrously beautiful that it was carried all the way to Washington, -in the Spring of 1905, so that a thousand foreign railroad managers there -gathered in convention, might see the attainments of American -car-builders. Another Western railroad, a small steam line this time, -boasts a president's car with a dining service that cost $2,500. A little -Mississippi lumbering road spent $40,000 in providing a private car for -its operating head. - -The big Eastern roads know about all of these cars. Their heads get -frequent invitations to take a run over the K., Y. & Z., or some other -enterprising jerkwater road that runs from the back waters to the bad -lands. Of course, they never take the trip, but they invariably see the -next step in the developments. It comes in the form of requests for a -"pass for haul of car and party" from Chicago to New York and return. -Time was when the New York Central and the Pennsylvania were laid low -under the avalanche of requests of this sort. Some of their slower trains -were laden down with long strings of these deadhead caravans, and on one -memorable occasion a whole section was made up of the prominent private -cars of decidedly unprominent railroad officers. - -Since the introduction of the eighteen-hour trains between these two most -important cities of the country this burden has been lessened. These -fastest trains will absolutely not haul any private cars at any price; it -is a rule that would not be abrogated for the President of the United -States. So the railroaders of the West, from the big men like Stubbs and -Kruttschnitt of the Union Pacific down to the small fry, leave their cars -in the roomy terminal yards at Chicago and come to New York most of the -time on one or the other of the eighteen-hour trains. About the only time -their cars come East nowadays is when they are bringing their families to -the seashore for the Summer. - -So much for the private cars. They are perhaps one of the most typical -things of the America of to-day, as we have seen. Actresses and -millionaires use them for their private comfort and convenience; tourist -parties roam forth in them; delegations proceed in them to conventions; -civic bodies find them agreeable aids to junketing. Sometimes a party of -sportsmen will charter a car and hie themselves off to a secluded spot -where the railroad roams through the forest, find an idle siding and use -their car for a camp for a week, a fortnight, or even a month. Cities and -States use private cars as travelling museums to exploit their charms, -some of them are travelling chapels for religious propagandism. The uses -of the private car are nearly as manifold as those of the railroad itself. - - * * * * * - -In the beginning things were different. Our great grand-daddies drew no -class lines when they travelled, but were content to find shelter from -the storm, or upon pleasant days from the showers of sparks scattered by -the locomotive. But when the railroad began to stretch itself and to be a -thing of reaches, it was found advisable to run trains at night in order -to make quick communication between distant points. Travelling at night in -the crude coaches of the early railroads was an abominable thing, and -before the forties the old Cumberland Valley Railroad was operating some -crude sort of sleeping-cars. Within another decade there was much -experimenting of this sort. Old-timers on the Erie still remember the -sleeping-cars that were built on that road soon after the close of the -Civil War. There were six of them, more like summer cottages than cars, -for the Erie was then of 6-foot gauge, and its cars were 12 feet wide. The -berths were made up in crude form by hanging curtains from iron rods and -bringing the bedding from a storage closet at the end of the car. There -was a little less privacy in them than in the modern Pullman, but in the -eyes of Jim Fisk, whose love of elegant luxury was first responsible for -their construction, they were nothing less than palaces. One of them was -named after Fisk and carried his portrait in an immense decorative -medallion on each of its sides. The other cars were the _Jay -Gould_--without decorative medallions--the _Morning Star_, the _Evening -Star_, the _Queen City_, and the _Crescent City_. All you have to do -to-day, to set an old Erie man's tongue wagging, is to speak of one of -these cars. They were triumphs, and away back in that day and generation -they cost $60,000 each. - -But while many men were fussing in futile ways to build comfortable cars -for long journeys, a man named George M. Pullman, over in Western New -York, was packing his goods and making ready to go to Chicago and build -his world-famed car-works there. Pullman's cars survived the others. He -bought in the Woodruff Company and some lesser concerns, and for many -years his only important rival was the Wagner Palace Car Company, a -Vanderbilt property. In course of time this too was absorbed, and the -Pullman Company had virtual control of the luxurious part of American -traffic, few railroads caring to run their own parlor and sleeping-car -service. - -There are economic and sensible reasons for this in many cases. Some -railroads have great through passenger traffic, demanding Pullman -equipment in summer and little or none in winter. Others reverse this need -and so whole trains of sleeping and parlor cars go flocking north and -south and then north again with the private cars. Special occasions, like -great conventions, call for extra Pullmans by hundreds; and because of the -enormous capital that must be tied up, a single supplying company is best -able to handle the problem. Still, big roads like the New Haven, the -Milwaukee, and the Great Northern have been most successful in building -and operating their own sleeping and parlor-car service. A great road like -the Pennsylvania might do the same thing, and because of that possibility -the Pennsylvania was one of the first roads in the country to make the -Pullman Company pay it for the privilege of hauling its cars. As a rule, -the railroad pays the Pullman Company for hauling by the mile--a very few -cents a mile--and the Pullman Company also takes the entire receipts to -itself. - - * * * * * - -The body of Abraham Lincoln was carried to its final resting-place in the -first real Pullman car that was ever built. President Lincoln rode in one -of Pullman's earliest attempts at railroad luxury, some sleeping-cars that -he had remodelled from day coaches on the Chicago & Alton Railroad and -that were put in service between Chicago and St. Louis in 1860. These cars -were almost as crude as the barbaric predecessors that had induced Pullman -to tackle the problem of railroad comfort approaching the standards of -boat comfort. - -Leonard Seibert, a veteran employee of the Chicago & Alton, told a few -years ago of Mr. Pullman's first attempts to remodel the old coaches of -that road into sleeping-cars. Said he: - -"In 1858 Mr. Pullman came to Bloomington and engaged me to do the work of -remodelling the Chicago & Alton coaches into the first Pullman -sleeping-cars. The contract was that Mr. Pullman should make all necessary -changes inside of the cars. After looking over the entire passenger car -equipment of the road, which at that time constituted about a dozen cars, -we selected Coaches Nos. 9 and 19. They were 44 feet long, had flat roofs -like box cars, single sash windows, of which there were fourteen on a -side, the glass in each sash being only a little over one foot square. The -roof was only a trifle over six feet from the floor of the car. Into this -car we got ten sleeping-car sections, besides a linen locker and two -washrooms--one at each end. - -"The wood used in the interior finish was cherry. Mr. Pullman was anxious -to get hickory, to stand the hard usage which it was supposed the cars -would receive. I worked part of the Summer of 1858, employing an assistant -or two, and the cars went into service in the Fall of 1858. There were no -blue prints or plans made for the remodelling of these first two -sleeping-cars, and Mr. Pullman and I worked out the details and -measurements as we came to them. The two cars cost Mr. Pullman not more -than $2,000, or $1,000 each. They were upholstered in plush, lighted by -oil lamps, heated with box stoves, and mounted on four-wheel trucks with -iron wheels. The berth rate was fifty cents a night. There was no porter -in those days; the brakeman made up the beds." - -Pullman built his first real sleeping-car in 1864. It was called the -_Pioneer_ and he further designated it by the letter "A," not dreaming -that there would ever be enough Pullman cars to exhaust the letters of the -alphabet. The _Pioneer_ was built in a Chicago & Alton car shop, and it -cost the almost fabulous, in those times, sum of $18,000. That was -extravagant car-building in a year when the best of railroad coaches could -be built at a cost not exceeding $4,500 each. But the _Pioneer_ was -blazing a new path in luxury. From without, it was radiant in paints and -varnishes, in gay stripings and letterings; it was a giant compared with -its fellows, for it was a foot wider and two and a half feet higher than -any car ever built before. It had the hinged berths that are to-day the -distinctive feature of the American sleeping car, and the porter and the -passengers no longer had to drag the bedding from closets at the far end -of the car. - -The _Pioneer_ was not only wider and higher than other passenger cars, it -was also wider and higher than the clearances of station platforms and -overhead bridges. But when the country was reduced to the deepest distress -because of the death of President Lincoln, the fame of Pullman's _Pioneer_ -was already widespread, and it was suggested that the fine new car should -be the funeral coach of the martyred president. This involved cutting -wider clearances all the way from Washington by the way of Philadelphia, -New York, and Albany to Springfield, Ill.; and gangs of men worked night -and day making the needed changes. Pullman knew that the increased -convenience of an attractive car built upon proper proportions would -justify these changes in the long run, and it is significant that the -height and width of the Pullman cars to-day are those of the _Pioneer_; -the changes have been made in the length. Not long after that car had -carried President Lincoln to his grave, General Grant started on a trip -west, and the Michigan Central Railroad anxious to carry him over its -lines from Detroit to Chicago, widened its clearances for the same -celebrated car. After that there were several paths open for the big car, -and work was begun upon its fellows. It went into regular service on -the Chicago & Alton Railroad; and the Pullman Palace Car Company was -formed in 1867. The alphabet soon ran out, and the company to-day operates -between four and five thousand cars in regular service. There is a popular -tradition, several times denied, to the effect that Pullman for many years -gave his daughters $100 each for the names of the cars, and that that -formed the source of their pin money. - -[Illustration: AN INTERIOR VIEW OF ONE OF THE EARLIEST PULLMAN -SLEEPING-CARS] - -[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A STANDARD SLEEPING-CAR OF TO-DAY] - -While the dimensions of the car were largely set, improvements in its -construction have gone steadily forward, as has been told in an earlier -chapter. The interior of these luxurious modern cars has not been -neglected. From the beginning they have been elaborate in rare woods and -splendid textile fittings. The advancing era of American good taste has -done much toward softening the over-elaboration of car interiors--the sort -of sleeping car that George Ade used to call "the chambermaid's dream of -heaven." The newest cars present the quiet elegance and good taste of a -modern residence. Nothing that may be added in wealth of material or of -comfort is omitted, but the foolish draperies and carvings that once made -the American car the laughing-stock of Europeans have already gone their -way. - -To make for luxury all manner of devices have been added to these cars. -The superintendent sometimes hears complaints from a traveller that the -sharp curves on some mountain division have spilled the water on his -bath-tub; and the switching-crews at the big terminals know that -turntables are kept busy turning the big observation platform cars so that -they will "set right," and the big piazza-like platform will rest squarely -at the rear of the train. For those persons who wish to pay for the luxury -there are staterooms, and the best of these staterooms have the baths and -big comfortable brass beds. After many years of unsatisfactory experiment -the electric light has come into its own upon the railroad train; and -even upon unpretentious trains the night traveller no longer has to -wrestle with the difficulties of dressing or undressing in an absolutely -dark berth. - - * * * * * - -Once the problem of housing folk at night had been met and solved, another -rose. If travellers might sleep upon a train, why might they not eat -there, too? The American eating-houses had met with a degree of fame. -There are old fellows who will still tell you of the glories of the -dining-rooms at Springfield, at Poughkeepsie, at Hornellsville, and at -Altoona. But the eating-house scheme had its great disadvantages. For one -thing, it caused a delay in the progress of through fast trains to halt -them three times a day while the passengers piled out of the cars and went -across to some lunch-counter or dining-room to ruin their digestions in -the twenty minutes allotted for each meal. For another thing, the process -of clambering in and out of the comfortable train in all sorts of weather -was unpopular. The well-established and equally well-famed eating-houses -along the trunk-line railroads were doomed from the time that the Pioneer -won its first success. - -No more should a train tie up at meal-time than a steamboat should tie up -at her wharf for a similar purpose. The first dining-cars were called -hotel-cars; and the first of these, the _President_, was placed in -operation by the Pullman company on the Great Western Railway--now the -Grand Trunk--of Canada, in 1867. The hotel-car was nothing more or less -than a sleeping-car with a kitchen built in at one end and facilities for -serving meals at tables placed at the berths. It was well enough in its -way, but travellers demanded something better, something more hygienic -than eating meals in a sleeping place. - -Pullman went hard at his problem, and in another year he had evolved the -first real dining-car, the _Delmonico_, which went into regular service on -the Chicago & Alton Railway. The _Delmonico_ was a pretty complete sort -of a restaurant on wheels, and not far different from the dining-car of -to-day. - -To-day there are 750 successors to the old _Delmonico_ in daily service on -the railroads of the United States. A small regiment of men earn their -livelihood upon them; some genius, handy with a lead pencil, has estimated -that these serve some 60,000 meals--breakfast, lunch, and dinner--every -day. The amount of food and drink consumed is a matter that is left to the -statistician. - -The average full-sized dining-car seats 40 persons, but that does not -represent the business it does. Unless the car can be completely filled -two or more times at each meal, it is not considered a profitable run. The -European method of reserving seats at "first table" or "second table" has -never obtained in the United States, and the wise man on a popular train -sacrifices his dignity and hurries toward the dining-car at the first -intimation that the meal is ready. - -To take care of the hungry folk a dining-car crew of nine men is kept -busy. The car is in absolute charge of a conductor or steward, who is held -sharply accountable by the dining-car superintendent of the road for the -conduct of his men and of his car. He signs a receipt for the car -equipment before starting on his run out over the line, and he must see to -it that none of that equipment, not a single napkin or spoon out of all -his stock, is missing at its end. He is held in as strict account for the -appearance and behavior of his men. The waiters must be neatly dressed, -must have clean linen; the conductor himself must be something of a Beau -Brummel, carrying a certain polite smile toward each one of the road's -patrons, no matter how disagreeable or cranky he or she may be. For all of -these things and many others--maintaining a sharp guard over the car's -miniature wine-cellars, adding "specials" to the bill-of-fare for a given -day, acting as a cashier for the service--he receives a princely salary, -varying from $75 to $110 a month. - -His crew, as far as the passengers see it, consists of five men, almost -always negroes. Back in the tiny kitchen is the chef, with two assistants, -preparing the food. The kitchen is tiny. It is less than five feet wide -and fifteen feet long, and the three men who work within it must have a -place for everything in it, including themselves. Obviously there is no -room for the waiters, and these receive their supplies through a small -wicket window. - -If the kitchen is tiny, it is also marvellously complete. An ice-box fits -upon and takes half the space of the wide vestibule platform; the range -has the compact dimensions of a yacht's range; sinks, pots, and kettles -fit into inconceivably small spaces. Yet in these tiny cubbyholes one -hundred, ofttimes many more dinners, of seven or eight courses each, are -carefully prepared, with a skill in the cooking that is a marvel to -restaurateurs. - -The _table d'hôte_ dinner--the famous "dollar dinner"--of the American -railroad has almost disappeared. The constant increase in foodstuffs is -most largely responsible for this. The Pullman Company long ago gave up -this particular feature of passenger luxury, save in a few isolated cases. -It had ceased to be a particularly profitable business, this serving of -fine meals for a dollar each; and so the railroads themselves took it up -and prepared to make it a cost business for the advertising value to them. -Each railroad plumed itself upon its dining-car service--some of them -still do--and each was willing to lose a little money, perhaps, to induce -travel to come its way because of the superior meals it served upon its -trains. But as the price of food-stuffs continued steadily to rise, the -advertising feature of these meals began to be more and more expensive, -and the dollar dinner quickly disappeared. A high priced _à-la-carte_ -service took its place, and the railroads sought to establish their -commissary upon a money-making basis. - -The attempt has not been very successful. For the lifting of the -dining-car prices and the attempt to reduce running expenses has, on -some roads in particular, hurt the reputation of these "restaurants on -wheels," and so in due season hurt their patronage; brought their patrons -from folk who went out of their way to eat on dining-cars to folk who eat -there only because of dire necessity. And these last still have found -prices high and the result is to be eventually a return to former methods -in part--slower trains stopping again for meals at important stations, the -faster trains returning to the _table d'hôte_. Beginnings have been made -along that line recently. The dollar dinner may never return to some -roads--although it remains a joy and a delight to travellers upon the New -Haven system--but the "regular dinner" at least, capable of quick service -in a crowded car, bids fair to have a renaissance. - -While the problem of dining-car economy, and profit even, remains a -problem, the idea is nevertheless being steadily extended all the while to -branches and to trains that could not support full-sized dining-cars. To -meet these needs smaller cars--generally called _café_-cars--in which the -dining-compartment is much reduced in size, have been built and operated. -In these two cooks, two waiters and a steward form the working force and -the fixed charges of the outfit are correspondingly reduced. They are -further reduced in the operation of the so-called broiler-coach, which is -nothing more or less than a day-car with a kitchen built in, the entire -service being performed by one or two cooks and a like number of waiters. -Some sleeping-cars and some parlor cars still have kitchens where a single -accomplished negro may act as both cook and waiter, and these cars are -designated commonly as buffet sleepers or buffet parlor cars. - -The dining-car department of the railroad will probably have more to do -than supervise the operation of these various sorts of equipment. -Restaurants and lunch-rooms at terminals and stations along the line may -fall under its direct supervision, and it will probably also conduct the -cuisine of the private cars of the railroad's officers. - -The dining-car department has direct charge of all the men employed on -cars and in the lunch-rooms; it sees to it that the railroad's culinary -equipment is fully maintained; it buys food and drink, linen, silver, -china, kitchen supplies of every sort. The routing of the cars is -carefully planned to secure the most economical use of them. Few trains -running from New York to Chicago will carry a single diner throughout the -entire trip. These trains will use two, sometimes three cars during a -single-way trip between the cities. A single car will generally make the -daylight run with the train, to be dropped at night to continue its course -west again at daylight upon some other train needing meal service. The -first train will pick up a fresh diner in the morning to carry into -Chicago. In this way, a diner may take a week or more to make the round -trip from New York to Chicago. Obviously, her commissary must meet all -needs along the way. Staple supplies, liquors, dry groceries are all -placed aboard the car at the terminals. Fresh meats and vegetables are -picked up along the route. This town has an especial reputation for its -chickens; this for its grapes; this other for its celery. The dining-car -department knows all these, and it selects under the rare opportunity of a -housewife who has a market nearly a thousand miles long within which to do -her marketing. - - * * * * * - -Just as the glorious comfort of the American river steamboat of the -fifties was responsible for the plans for eating and sleeping aboard the -railroad trains, so it was responsible for the introduction of a finer -luxury in railroad travel, until to-day, when the resources of the general -passenger agent are taxed to discover some new ingenious joy to add to the -pleasure of going by this particular line. The full development of the -protected vestibule platform and the opportunity it afforded of easy -intercourse between the coaches of a train led to many new devices to make -the long cross-country trip of the traveller more than ever a thing of -joy. First came the buffet-car, with all the conveniences of a man's club; -and the car-builders have shown remarkable ingenuity in imitating the -mission-like grillroom interiors, despite the many limitations placed upon -them. No club was complete without a barber-shop, and soon every -fast-rushing limited of any consequence had a dusky servitor whose -sharp-bladed razor was warranted not to cut even when the train struck a -sharp curve at fifty miles an hour. Stationery, books, and magazines -became features of the buffet-car. After that there came a stenographer, -whose services were free to the patrons of the train. - -Most of these things were for the comfort of men, who form the majority of -patrons of the railroad. But a considerable portion of femininity travels, -and it sent in a complaint that its comfort was being neglected. The -general passenger agents gave quick ear. The men's buffet, with its -comfortable adjuncts of smoke and drink was at the forward end of the -train, the women were considered in the big, comfortable observation cars -at the rear. They were given more stationery, more magazines, even a -caseful of books, running from the severe standard works to the gayest and -lightest of modern fiction. Ladies' maids were installed upon the trains, -and the girl running from New York up to Albany could have her nails -manicured while upon the train. - -These are all details, but each goes to make the comfort of the traveller -upon the American railroad train. Such comfort is not equalled in any -other country in the world. From the moment he steps from his cab, the -American traveller passing through the magnificence of superb -waiting-rooms enters palatial trains, superior to the private trains of -royalty upon the other side of the ocean. A corps of well-trained -_attachés_ look to his comfort and his ease, every moment that he is upon -the train, whether his ride be of an hour's duration or a four-days' run -across the continent. Other railroaders whom he does not see, engine -crews, changing each few hours upon his run, signalmen in the towers along -the route, telegraphers, despatchers, train walkers, car inspectors help -in their small but important ways to make his trip one of comfort and of -safety. The entire organization of the railroad lends itself to that very -purpose. - -The railroad does not stop at the mere exercise of its great function as a -carrier; it does not even stop with the exercise of its every ingenuity -toward safety in its transportation; it goes a little further and gives to -the man or woman who rides upon its rails, a degree of luxurious comfort -equal to if not even greater than that man or woman can receive at any -other place. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -GETTING THE CITY OUT INTO THE COUNTRY - - COMMUTERS' TRAINS IN MANY TOWNS--RAPID INCREASE IN THE VOLUME OF - SUBURBAN TRAVEL--ELECTRIFICATION OF THE LINES--LONG ISLAND RAILROAD - ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY SUBURBAN--VARIED DISTANCES OF SUBURBAN HOMES FROM - THE CITIES--CLUB-CARS FOR COMMUTERS--STATEROOMS IN THE SUBURBAN - CARS--SPECIAL TRANSFER COMMUTERS. - - -When the Commuter slams his desk shut at the close of a busy day, he is -fully aware that he is a superior being. Other mortals condemned to hard -labor in the city may squeeze within the ill-ventilated confines of -trolley-car, elevated or subway train, may find their way to stuffy -apartments, which, if their fronts were to be suddenly removed, would look -for all the world like shoe-boxes stuck tier upon tier in a shop. The -Commuter thrusts out his chest. Not for him. His is a different life. He -even feels justified in thinking that his is the only life. There is -nothing narrow about the Commuter; the open breath of the country has -tended to widen him. - -He finds his way to the showy railroad terminal, down the crowded -concourse with a human stream of other Commuters to the 5:37. That train -is part of his regular calendar of life. It has been such ever since he -took flight to the country, a dozen years ago. If the 5:37 should ever be -stricken from the time-card the Commuter would feel as if the light had -been extinguished. Once, when some meddler violently assumed to change it -into a 5:31, the Commuter was one of a committee who visited a terrified -general passenger agent and had the course of time set right again. There -is only one other train which must approach the 5:37 in regularity; that -is the 7:52, on which the Commuter slinks sorrowfully into the dirty town -each morning. Other trains may be jumped about on the time-card, the -Commuter is oblivious of their fate. But let his 7:52 be ten minutes late -into the big terminal three mornings in succession, and the Commuter -begins to write letters to the papers and to the officers of the railroad. - -Once aboard the 5:37 the Commuter trails his way into the smoker. Jim, the -brakeman, who is the source of all trustworthy information about the -railroad, and who can even foreshadow the resignation of the president, -has stored away the table and the cards. They are produced for the daily -consideration of a dime and a game that runs week in and week out is ready -to begin. Smith, of the Standard Oil crowd, drops into his seat; Higgins, -the lawyer, into his; the others are quickly filled; packages--foodstuffs -from the cheaper city markets and hurried purchases made at noon from -handy shops--go into the racks, and the Commuter is oblivious until, as if -by instinct, a familiar red barn goes flying backwards. The game is off -again until to-morrow morning; he is sorting his own packages out of the -rack. The train halts for a single nervous moment, and he is on the -platform. The cars roll past him; the party are at a three-handed game -now. - -The Commuter finds his way up a steep road to his home on the hillside, -his very own home. It looks as sweet, set in there among the bushes and -the trees, as it did the day he bought it; and that day it looked to him -as Paradise. When night comes, there comes a peace and quiet, a peculiar -country coolness in the air. The city is steaming from the hot day, and -through the night the pavements and the roofs still emit heat. The -Commuter has forgotten the city. He sleeps as he slept as a boy on a farm, -where a city was but a hazy dream in his mind. When he awakes he is -refreshed, invigorated. The country has repaid him for the trouble that he -has taken to reach it. He goes into town again on that blessed 7:52, -twice as good a workingman as the man who has the next desk to his, the -poor chap who had to sit on the apartment steps until after midnight in -order to get even a miserable degree of comfort. - -That is why the city goes out into the country. - - * * * * * - -The Commuter is apt to settle his thoughts upon himself, to forget that he -is but an infinitely small part of a mighty home-going army that nightly -calls all the passenger resources of the railroad into play. There are -more than 100,000 of him alone in the metropolitan district around New -York. The busy Long Island Railroad takes a host of him nightly off to the -garden spots of that wonderful land from which it takes its name; the -Central Railroad reaches off into the lowlands, and the Erie and the -Lackawanna into the highlands of New Jersey; the New York Central and the -New Haven tap the picturesque shores of the Hudson and the Sound. - -Boston repeats New York in this human tide that ebbs and flows daily -through her gates. From both her North and South stations mighty armies of -Commuters come and go until one wonders sometimes if any one really lives -in Boston itself. There are more than 60,000 of this army at the Hub. In -Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania and the Reading handle from their terminals -an army of equal size each night; another finds its way from the smoky, -dirty heart of Pittsburgh out into the attractive towns that perch the -hills in her vicinage. - -Middle West cities, even those of good size, differ from Eastern in the -fact that they are rarely hampered in their growth by natural conditions. -In big towns like Cleveland and Detroit, for instance, the natural and the -artificial electric transit facilities are so good as to bring the -commutation business to a minimum. Not so with Chicago. The Illinois -Central from the south, the Northwestern and the St. Paul from the north, -serve rapidly growing suburban areas that will compare with some of the -best in the East. Then, after the Commuters in the East are safely home, -another army is finding its way across the bay, and off to the north and -the south of San Francisco. These are the big centres of commuting as the -American railroads know it. In smaller measure it exists at every large -city in the country. The familiar monthly card ticket, representing its -cousin, that holy-of-holies--the annual pass, is issued from good-sized -villages and pretentious country seats. The Commuter is already a national -institution. - - * * * * * - -Conductor John M. Dorsey, who used to run an Erie train out of Jersey City -in the long ago, once showed us what he thought was the first example of a -pure commutation business. It was a list issued to Erie conductors in -1860, and containing the names of 162 persons who travelled daily in and -out of New York by the way of Jersey City. These folk lived in Passaic -(they called it Boiling Springs in those days), and in Paterson, and all -the way up the line to Goshen and Middletown. When a man wanted to commute -then he paid a monthly fee to the railroad and they printed his name on -this official list. Such a scheme would be obviously out of the question -these days. - -When New York refused to stop growing, and more and more people began -making the daily trip in and out of Jersey City, the handy method of the -commutation ticket was substituted for the cumbersome printed list, and -the Erie and all the other railroads began to cater to the Commuter with -special short-distance trains. Committees came to railroad officers from -various small towns and aided them in fixing a definite basis of fare, -which remains to-day at something between six-tenths and three-quarters of -a cent a mile. In later years, the real estate business became the science -that it is to-day, and the suburban business began to move forward in long -leaps. - -[Illustration: "EVEN IN WINTER THERE IS A HOMELY, HOMEY AIR ABOUT THE -COMMUTER'S STATION"] - -[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE GREAT FOUR-TRACK OPEN CUT WHICH THE ERIE -HAS BUILT FOR THE COMMUTER'S COMFORT AT JERSEY CITY] - -[Illustration: A MODEL WAY-STATION ON THE LINES OF THE BOSTON & ALBANY -RAILROAD] - -[Illustration: THE YARDMASTER'S OFFICE--IN AN ABANDONED SWITCH-TOWER] - -"It seems incredible," said a railroad officer just the other day "but -this suburban problem is all but overwhelming for us. It does not increase -our revenues at so wonderful a pace, but it does increase in volume from -20 to 25 per cent a year; and think how that keeps us hustling, making -facilities for it. There is not a railroad entering New York to-day that -could not dismiss its passenger terminal problems to-morrow, if it were -not for the Commuter. There is not a railroad coming into New York that -could not handle all its through business in a train-house of from four to -five tracks. Instead of that, what do we see? The Erie with five through -trains requiring a terminal of sixteen tracks; the Lackawanna, with the -same number of through trains, a new terminal of even greater size, the -overwhelming passenger terminal problem being repeated at every corner of -New York, just because of the tremendous annual increase in the suburban -passenger business." - -The great reconstruction of the Grand Central terminal facilities in the -heart of New York, and the erection of a new station there, as described -in detail in an earlier chapter, is directly due to the Commuter. When the -new station with its double tier of tracks is finished, there will be -thirty-two platform tracks in the double train-house, an amount far in -excess of that needed for even the great volume of through business that -goes and comes over the lines of the New York Central and the New York, -New Haven, & Hartford, the two systems that use it. And the new station, -involving a tremendous expenditure of money, of brains, and of energy, is -not all. - -The New Haven has electrified its four-track main line all the way out to -Stamford, Conn., in order that it may in some measure cope with this -increasing flow of suburban traffic over its already crowded main-line -tracks. It has wrestled with the unanticipated problems of electrification -because it has been facing a situation that left it no time to experiment -elsewhere and approach its main-line problem with deliberation. More and -more folk were settling in the suburban towns in its territory each month, -and deliberation was quite out of their calculations. The Commuter is -rarely deliberate. - -So the New Haven, with all the resources of a giant carrier, has found -each new measure of relief swallowed up in the new flood and has turned to -more radical methods. It has been apparent to its managers for some time -past that even the new Grand Central, with its wonderful capacity, would -some day prove inadequate, for the reason that the New York Central--the -actual owners of the property--was also trying to cope with its own great -increase in suburban traffic, and would eventually require more and more -space for its own Commuters. With such a possibility in the future--not a -distant future with the suburban business doubling in volume every four or -five years--the New Haven sought to develop an unimportant freight branch -leading from New Rochelle down to the Harlem River. It has almost finished -the work of transforming this into a great electric carrier, six tracks in -width. Railroad engineers show no hesitancy in saying that eight-track -trunks will be needed out of New York in every direction within a dozen -years. The Harlem River branch of the New Haven, once it is provided with -a suitable terminal, will become a great artery of suburban traffic. It -will give trunk capacity to make possible the development of a great new -area lying just inland from the Sound, and yet within from 40 to 50 miles -of New York City. - -A third project in which New Haven capital is known to be interested is -that of a high-speed, four-track suburban electric railroad also to reach -into the Sound territory as far as Port Chester, with an important branch, -diverging to White Plains, the shire-town of Westchester County. This line -will feed into the main line of the New York subway, and so avoid cramping -the terminals still further. The terminals are the crux of the whole -great problem of handling suburban traffic. - -The New York Central has also electrified its tracks for a zone of some 40 -to 50 miles from its terminal. This work was started primarily by a -distressing accident in its old smoke-filled tunnel, that ran the length -of Park Avenue under Manhattan Island, but New York Central officers are -to-day free to admit that the electrification was close at hand in any -event. The operation of a terminal so closely planned as the new Grand -Central, with its train-sheds and yards built in layers, would have been a -physical impossibility with smoky, dirty, steam locomotives. - -The New York Central has been, as we shall see in greater detail in the -chapter on the coming of electricity, the first of the standard steam -railroads entering New York to provide suburban trains of multiple unit -motor-cars, similar to those used in rapid transit subway and elevated -trains. The great advantage of these trains over trains handled by either -steam or electric locomotives is an operating advantage. The train may be -so quickly turned in terminals as to bring the terminal problem down an -appreciable percentage, and so to give a greater hauling capacity to -main-line tracks. The Central, wedged in tightly by the high hills that -lie to the north of the metropolis, has had to pin its faith to plans that -utilize the present tracks to the uttermost capacity. - -The railroads crossing New Jersey and reaching the west bank of the Hudson -have not been behind the routes that enter from the north in providing for -the suburban business. The recently opened McAdoo Tunnel, linking the -Jersey terminals of the Erie, the Lackawanna, and the Pennsylvania with -both the downtown and the uptown theatre, hotel, and shopping district of -Manhattan, has been a great stimulus to the suburban development across -the Hudson. - -The Lackawanna has done its part by boring a second tunnel under the -Bergen Hill, parallel to its original tube, giving a four-track entrance -to its fine new terminal, and relieving the congestion of suburban traffic -night and morning at its worst point, the neck of the bottle. The Erie has -already completed, as a part of its extensive terminal reconstruction-work -in Jersey City, a similar project, a four-track open cut through the stout -backbone of Bergen Hill. The open cut replaces completely the so-called -Bergen Tunnel, which has already become a matter of history. - -We have already told of the Pennsylvania terminal in New York. The -Pennsylvania built the new station for through travel rather than for the -Commuter, at the outset. But the Pennsylvania, with the exception of a -brisk traffic out to Newark, is hardly a big suburban road, in the New -York metropolitan district. The great volume of Commuters who will flock -to its station nightly, will be bound east, not west. The Long Island -Railroad, its property stretching less than one hundred miles east from -New York, through what is one of the most attractive residential -localities in the world, is almost exclusively a suburban system. Long -Island is not a manufacturing or agricultural territory of consequence. -There is not a town of 10,000 souls east of the New York City line. -Freight traffic and through traffic, aside from some summer excursion -business, is conspicuous by its absence. Yet the Long Island operates -through its local station at Jamaica (an even dozen miles distant from the -new Pennsylvania terminal), more than 800 trains a day. That, of itself, -represents a volume of traffic, and speaks wonders for the desirability of -the broad and sandy island as an escape from the city to the country. - -"We have from 18,000 to 20,000 Commuters all the year round," said a Long -Island official, just the other day; "and this branch of our traffic--our -chief stronghold--is increasing at the rate of 25 per cent annually. We -are trying to increase our facilities to keep pace with the demand made -upon them; that is why we became tenants in the new Pennsylvania Station. -For our share of that work we will pay $65,000,000--some money. But we cut -twenty minutes off every Commuter's trip in each direction every day, and -that is worth while in a day when every road is reaching out for new -business. We do not consider that $65,000,000 to save a man forty minutes -a day is money ill-spent; but I am frank in saying that we also expect our -25 per cent annual increase to remain for several years in order to make -good such an expenditure." - -Part of that $65,000,000 is yet to be spent on the electrification of the -Long Island suburban lines, within a zone of from 30 to 40 miles out from -the new terminal. The through trains running to the far eastern points of -the island will run direct from the Pennsylvania Station as far as Jamaica -by electricity, heavy motors hauling the standard equipment. At Jamaica, -in a million-dollar transfer station that is part of the big improvement -scheme, the steam locomotives will take up their part of the work. -Electricity for long stretches of standard railroad where the traffic is -comparatively slight is still an economic impossibility. - -So much for New York, where the lead has been taken in providing suburban -service on the railroads operated by electricity. The problem is being -approached in Boston--who, like her larger sister, refuses to stay "put." -South Station and North Station, on opposite sides of the city, are of the -largest size, but they are beginning to feel the strain of traffic, which -forges ahead every year. The Metropolitan Improvements Commission of that -city has already made a careful study of the problem. It plans to relieve -the situation by constructing a four-track tunnel from one station to the -other, and operating both of them--as far as suburban traffic is -concerned--as through stations rather than as terminals. In a word, Boston -& Maine local trains entering North Station would not end their runs -there as at present, but would continue through the proposed tunnel to a -second stop at South Station, where they would become outgoing New York, -New Haven, & Hartford suburban locals. The same operation would be -continued in a reverse direction. A more complicated adaptation of the -scheme from a construction standpoint would still use the connecting -tunnel and provide car-yards for the Boston & Maine trains outside of -South Station, with a similar yard for the New Haven locals just beyond -North Station. The main gain made by such a plan is the elimination of -switching--the same point at which the New York Central and the Long -Island have aimed in making their suburban trains of multiple units. With -the hauling in and out of empty trains to and from a terminal eliminated, -the capacity may be almost doubled. Another gain is the convenience to -passengers who under such a plan would be enabled to reach either side of -the city without changing cars, and a recourse to street transit -facilities. The Boston plan, of course, embodies a change from steam to -electricity as a motive power. It is one of the most comprehensive plans -yet submitted for the solving of the great problem of getting the city out -into the country. - -In Philadelphia, they are feeling the pressure of the Commuter at both the -big downtown terminals, the Pennsylvania and the Reading, while the first -of these roads is already planning to electrify its suburban lines and to -give Broad Street Station exclusively to this class of traffic. -Philadelphia is such a wide-spreading and sprawling town that the trolley -lines have afforded little real rapid transit to the outlying sections, -while relief by subways and elevated lines has so far been meagre. As a -result, a great burden of interurban as well as suburban traffic has been -laid upon the railroads there, and they have been compelled repeatedly to -enlarge both track and station facilities. - -The Illinois Central, carrying a heavy traffic south of Chicago, has -prepared plans for the electrification of 325 miles of its suburban lines, -and radical enlargement of terminal facilities. The Illinois Central has -been very progressive in its methods of handling the Commuter traffic. Its -side-door cars, permitting quick loading and unloading, have long marked a -progressive step in equipment. The Chicago and Northwestern, in its -splendid new white marble terminal on the West Side of Chicago, will give -its chief use toward the upbuilding of a suburban traffic, already strong -and well developed. - -The Commuter covers a varied zone. His station may be less than a mile -from the terminal and his home still within the crowded confines of the -town, or he may be the last passenger of the train as it reaches the far -end of its suburban run. The average commutation district runs about 30 -miles out, with by far the heavier part of the traffic in the first 15 -miles of this. Most of the railroads that cluster in at New York, however, -issue commutation tickets out over a 70 or 80-mile radius. One man for -many years held the record as a long-distance Commuter. He preferred to -sleep nights within the quiet confines of Philadelphia and his 90-mile -trip to New York, with a 90-mile return at the end of every day became a -mere incident in his life. His record was beaten this year. A man arrives -and departs from the Grand Central Station five days out of the week, who -travels 320 miles on every one of them. He catches a fast train from his -home town at seven o'clock in the morning, breakfasts on the train, and is -at his New York office at 11:30 o'clock. He leaves his desk at 3:30 -o'clock, dines on the returning express, and is home by eight. His daily -trip, with all incidental expenses, aggregates more than $12.00; so he -deserves to rank as the Champion Commuter. - -If few Commuters can approach the mileage record of this man there are -many who do not hesitate at extra expenditures for their comfort. About -all of the best suburban expresses that come into New York carry some sort -of club or private-parlor cars. The club car is one of the most elaborate -developments of the entire Commuter idea. It is a comfortable coach, which -is rented to a group of responsible men coming either from a single point -or a chain of contiguous points. The railroad charges from $250 to $300 a -month for the use of this car in addition to the commutation fares, and -the "club" arranges dues to cover this cost and the cost of such -attendants and supplies as it may elect to place on its roving house. It -must guarantee a certain number of riders to the railroad every trip, so -the membership of the "club" is kept high enough to allow for a reasonable -percentage failing to use the car daily. Some railroads go at the thing in -another way. They supply the car and its attendants and make a monthly -extra charge, in addition to commutation. The car is entirely filled with -regular riders, so it is in a sense a club car. - -Such a car has been running for some years on one of the suburban trains -of the Harlem road. It is unique in some ways, and in these an outgrowth -of early customs. The first of these began years ago, when the Oldest -Commuter began his habit of riding to and from town in the baggage-car. -There is something about a baggage-car that fascinates the ordinary man -traveller. Perhaps it is the solemn rule of the railroad that attempts to -prevent him from riding in this form of conveyance. At any rate in this -particular case the Oldest Commuter gradually picks up an acquaintance -with the baggageman; and, presuming upon that acquaintance gradually -appropriates the baggageman's old chair for his own use. The baggageman -was good-natured, for the Oldest Commuter was a generous fellow and never -forgot Christmas-times and the like. He got another old chair from -somewhere, and all was well until the Next Oldest Commuter absorbed the -baggageman's chair, and the baggageman had to bring a third into his car. -The Next to the Next Oldest Commuter swallowed that up, and after a time -there was a row of comfy old-fashioned chairs all around the edge of the -dingy baggage-car, and an atmosphere of smoke and good stories that warmed -the cockles of the baggageman's heart. You could have raised $100,000,000 -for an enterprise from the crowd of men who rode regularly in that little -car, but the baggageman neither knew nor cared about that. He simply knew -that there was a good crowd of Commuters who rode with him daily. - -After another little time the railroad took cognizance of that particular -baggage-car. The general passenger agent, who was a fellow both wise and -solemn, talked with the general manager, and one day that little club of -Commuters had a surprise. Instead of their baggage-car, the down train -hauled a bright new car all fitted with fancy things--curtains and carpets -and big stuffed chairs, and the baggageman was rigged out in a fine new -uniform as an attendant. The general passenger agent fondly imagined that -he had made the one really happy stroke of his existence. - -He had not. His was a colossal mistake. The "club" called for its -baggage-car back again. Its members were men who were surfeited with -mahoganies and impressive stuffed chairs and thick carpets. They demanded -their old dingy car, with its four little windows, its rough board floor -and the wooden armchairs. They got it back. The big, new, showy car was -sent off upon another route; and the baggage-car--itself a club to which -many a soul enviously craves for admission--makes its run six times a week -on one of the fastest expresses on the line. - -Groups of men have staterooms regularly reserved for them in the parlor -cars of the finest suburban expresses, and there is never a word said of -what goes on behind those closed doors. There come whispers of "antes" -that are as high as a church steeple, but the railroad does not concern -itself with the morals of its passengers to the point of breaking in upon -closed doors. The porters may know, but the porters are traditionally wise -and more than traditionally close-mouthed. One big New York editor hired -a stateroom for his daily ride in and out to his suburban home. His -secretary and his stenographer are closeted in it with him, and on the -50-minute ride twice each day he dictates the daily editorial utterances -that delight a great congregation of his readers. - -Special trains for Commuters are no particular novelty. Almost every big -system has some daily suburban trains that are on its working time-tables -and not upon the schedules that are given out to the public. A group of -aristocratic Commuters living north of Boston in the district around -Manchester have their private special into the North Station every summer -morning. It is an all-parlor-car train, the most luxurious suburban on the -line, yet not one Commuter in a thousand knows a thing about it. A similar -train arrives and departs daily at the South Station. Others are in -service out of New York. You can buy both exclusiveness and elegance from -the railroad. - -The Commuter is not more concerned about that 5:37 than is the railroad. -It makes train and Commuter both its concern, because that is the way it -seeks to build up its profitable suburban traffic. - -"We are getting more of the city out into the country each year," says a -big suburban passenger agent; "and with the wide increase in the use of -electricity as a motive power for the standard railroads this business is -bound for increases that we can hardly foresee to-day. I think that I am -quite safe in predicting that another decade will see the belt of from 30 -to 50 miles outside of New York terminals as thickly settled as the belt -from 10 to 30 miles is to-day settled. The railroaders have done their -part by expensive increase in terminal and track facilities; they have -helped the real-estate men in their broad advertising of the possibilities -of suburban life: the harvest is all that now remains to be reaped." - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -FREIGHT TRAFFIC - - INCOME FROM FREIGHT TRAFFIC GREATER THAN FROM PASSENGER--COMPETITION - IN FREIGHT RATES--AFTERWARDS A STANDARD RATE-SHEET--RATE-WARS - VIRTUALLY ENDED BY THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION CLASSIFICATION - OF FREIGHT INTO GROUPS--DIFFERENTIAL FREIGHT RATES--DEMURRAGE FOR - DELAY IN EMPTYING CARS--COAL TRAFFIC--MODERN METHODS OF HANDLING LARD - AND OTHER FREIGHT. - - -In England they speak of it as "goods" and regard it as almost a minor -factor in the conduct of their railways. In the United States it is -freight-traffic, and is the thing from which the railroads derive by far -the greater part of their revenues. In England it is represented by -delicious little trails of "goods-wagons," four-wheelers of from five to -eight or nine or ten tons' capacity, the "goods" often left exposed to the -rigors of winter, save for possibly a tarpaulin covering; in the United -States, fast-freights and slow-freights crowd upon one another's heels; -the sixty-ton steel car has long since come into its own. - -If you do not realize the importance of the freight traffic, you should -talk to those shrewd old souls in Wall Street who measure a carrier, not -by its ticket sales, but by that fascinating thing that they call -"tonnage"; you should go out upon the line and ask any operating man how -his territory is holding up in traffic. He will answer you in tons, in -freight-cars moved within a single twenty-four hours. If you are still -unconvinced, go to the passenger man you know best. He will tell you that -while he is pleading vainly with the biggest boss of all for some new -Limited, eight or ten passenger cars all told, some shouldering -freight-hustler has been welcomed into the inner sanctum and comes out -with an O. K. for 800 or 1,000 box-cars or gondolas in his fist, a dozen -new freight-pulling locomotives in addition, for good measure. There is -your answer. - -The passenger terminals may have all the magnificence in which we have -seen them, but the freight terminals are the real core of a railroad's -entrance into any town. For when you come to even the roughest figures, -you find that in extreme cases--such as the New Haven's, where there is a -congested territory, closely filled with thickly populated cities and -towns--the passenger receipts will hardly do more than approach a balance -with those from freight. In some cases the passenger earnings are hardly -25 per cent of the railroad's entire income; and cases like these are more -common than the New Haven, holding New England as its own principality. -Wonder not that Wall Street looks askance at any new line until it can -prove itself able to develop "train-load"--freight traffic, measured in -thousands of tons. - -Your general freight agent, who is a sort of official cousin to the -general passenger agent, is the man who studies tonnage. More likely in -these days of the exaltation of titles, he is the freight traffic-manager, -with a group of subordinates around him and a traffic-skirmishing corps -out on his own road and the other connecting roads, who are making friends -with shippers, just as the young travelling passenger agents round up the -theatrical managers and the brethren from the lodges. The travelling -freight agents hang around sidings and breathe affection for manufacturers -and wholesalers; they welcome to their very arms the business -traffic-managers, who are really glorified shipping clerks for great big -concerns. And while they cultivate the road in detail, their big boss -studies the territory in general. The trade papers and the market -bulletins litter his desk; he can tell you strength or weakness in this -thing or that--why cotton is off, and wheat rushing upwards. Moreover, the -freight traffic-manager, himself, is not above friendships. He will pack -his own evening suit into a bag and go 500 miles willingly to give -shippers his own private explanation of the national rate complication. - -Did we say rate complication? That seems almost too simple a name for the -subtle and intricate structure which tells us how much we must pay the -railroad for the transportation of our goods. When we were visiting the -passenger office, we saw something of the work of the rate-clerks there. -We learned that, in fact, the railroad creates various classes of rates in -the first place; local or round-trip tickets, at, say, three cents a mile -for occasional travellers; mileage books for more constant travellers, -which bring a wholesale rate of two cents a mile; a third and lowest rate -of something less than a cent for that urbane soul, the Commuter. For -excursions, where many, many persons were to be moved at one time, perhaps -upon a single train, other very low passenger rates were created. We also -saw how the railroad, trying to base its passenger charges on the number -of miles covered, is compelled to make delicate adjustments on through -charges between competitive points. - -We speak of these things now, because in a way the passenger tariff -resembles the freight, and yet compares with it as a child's primer with a -Greek lexicon. In an earlier day the thing was very much worse. In fact, -at the very beginning there was no real scientific way in which the -railroad might regulate its charges, and on some of the very earliest of -steel highways the rates were made just half what they had been on the -toll-roads, and without regard to the cost of transportation. Thus the -competitive feature had its way early in the formulation of a rate-sheet; -and there is evidence to assert that in those early days when the railroad -had an opportunity it made its tariff as high as it thought folk would -stand without a riot, and thus the now historic phrase "what the traffic -will bear" came into coinage. As a matter of fact, in those days when -scientific bookkeeping was unknown the railroad had no way of accurately -knowing just how much it cost to operate, and how that cost should be -fairly apportioned between the different classes of its traffic. - -The thing went from bad to worse as the great land carriers developed. -Each made its rate-sheet according to its own sweet will; it classified -freight precisely as it pleased, and the man down in New Orleans sending -goods to New Hampshire was puzzled as to the charges that would accrue -upon his shipment when it finally reached the northeastern corner of the -country. The competitive feature grew to be the strongest in the making of -the rate-sheet, unless it was the subtle influence of the railroad's -favored friends, an influence that showed its ugly head oftener in the -practice of rebating than anywhere else. The fierce competition that ruled -between the railroads in the seventies has never been approached at -another time. Ruinous rate-war after rate-war followed upon each other's -heels, and little roads kept dropping into bankruptcy, one after another. -There was a time in 1877 when a man might ship a carload of live-stock -free from Chicago to Pittsburgh, from Chicago away through to New York for -five dollars; and there is hardly a more expensive commodity for the -railroad to handle, than cattle. To appreciate what these wars meant to -the carriers, bear in mind that the week after this particular one was -settled it cost the old rate--$110 a car--to ship cattle from Chicago to -New York. - -Out of such guerilla warfare came the one possible thing--coöperation. The -railroads were not then big enough to consolidate their properties, J. P. -Morgan had not then developed his fine art of welding them together. So -they did the next best thing and made secret contracts--pooling. That is, -they established a standard rate-sheet in their mutual territories and -bound themselves to abide by it for a certain length of time. They figured -out their relative percentages of business at the beginning of any -agreement, and took from the combined earnings of the pool, the same -percentages of receipts. The bitter outcry that went up across the land -against pooling still echoes. That practice with another now also -prohibited--rebating--really gave birth to governmental regulation of -railroads. - -[Illustration: "THE INSIDE OF ANY FREIGHT-HOUSE IS A BUSY PLACE"] - -[Illustration: ST. JOHN'S PARK, THE GREAT FREIGHT-HOUSE OF THE NEW YORK -CENTRAL RAILROAD IN DOWN-TOWN NEW YORK] - -[Illustration: THE GREAT ORE-DOCKS OF THE WEST SHORE RAILROAD AT BUFFALO] - -In 1887 the Interstate Commerce Commission was born, and ruinous -rate-warring practically came to an end. The Commission required the -railroads to file with it copies of all their rate-sheets, both freight -and passenger, and ordered that in almost every case thirty days' notice -should be given of any change in the tariff. This meant that the old -practice of tearing a rate-sheet apart in a single night, so as to jab -vitally into the heart of a competitor, was at an end. And a dignified -rate-war, with the opponents giving thirty days' advance notice of their -strategic intentions, is almost an impossibility. - -Now come to the present. The freight-rate system of to-day is intricate, -fearfully intricate, but it is a system. It begins by classifying all -manner of freight into groups, for it must be apparent to any one that to -the railroad the cost of handling different commodities must vary -tremendously. Several factors make for such variation: the value of the -shipment and the degree of risk for its safe transportation that the -railroad must assume; its bulk, its weight, and the cost of handling at -terminals, as well as the cost of any special equipment that may be -necessary to carry it over the rails. No one would expect a railroad to -haul a box-car filled with several hundred thousand dollars' worth of silk -for the same price that it hauled the same car filled with coke. So the -railroad has grouped its freight into six general classes--varying from -the most difficult and expensive to handle down to the easiest and the -cheapest; and the rates for these six different classes also run in a -rough proportion. - -Some 8,000 articles, ranging from arsenic to step-ladders and from -Christmas trees to locomotives, are grouped into these classes. Into them -has gone about everything that the railroad will handle, save coal and a -few other specialties which are rated as specific commodities and have -special published rates. So a man shipping feather dusters from South -Brooklyn to Ogdensburg, N. Y., would find that they came under Class 1, -and that he would have to pay 44 cents a hundred pounds for the haul. If -he was shipping steel beams between the same points he would find them -under Class 4 and he would find the tariff at 23 cents a hundred. These -six classes have been made standard throughout the country by all the -railroads in coöperation. The roads north of the Ohio River and east of -the Mississippi use the so-called Official Classification; south of the -Ohio and still east of the Mississippi, the Southern Classification; while -all those west of the Mississippi use the Western Classification. So the -shipper is no longer in much doubt in these matters, particularly in view -of the fact that the three classifications are very much the same in all -save minor details. - -So much for the classification at this moment. It is quite simple when you -come to place it beside the tariff sheets themselves, the printed form of -an intricate structure, so great as to be almost shadowy in its workings. -You ask a freight traffic-manager about rates. He is a skilled man, a man -skilled in the economics of common carriers, and he tries his best to -explain simply to you the basing charges for the transportation of -commodities. - -"Our rates," he says, "are formed by many things. In a general way, by the -competitive territory into which we go, and in specific cases by the -volume of business that comes or goes from a single point. The direction -of the movement, including whether cars must return empty or loaded, is -another factor. Then, of course, there is the great factor to which both -passenger and freight rates must comply--the necessity for the railroad -earning more than it pays out. Acworth, the English economist, says that a -railroad must pay for three things, the expense of maintaining the -organization, that of maintaining the plant, and that of doing the work. -Our revenues, from one source or another, must meet that triple expense." - -Ask this big freight-man about charging "what the traffic will bear" and -he looks grieved. He turns about sharply and asks you: - -"The earning-sheets of every railroad are public and they will show you -that they are but making expenses, in a few cases paying about half the -dividends that a healthy national bank or trust company or manufacturing -enterprise might be expected to return to its investors. That makes it -look as if we had begun to get some sort of scientific adjustment between -expense and revenue, does it not?" - -You dodge the point. You have no desire to quarrel or to delve into high -railroad finance, and so you say you simply want to know about rates. - -"It's a little simpler than Sanscrit," says the freight-man. "We begin to -figure on common or basing points--" - -You interrupt and inquire as to what a "common point" really is. Then the -traffic expert gets down to primer talk and begins to explain the thing to -your real understanding. It seems that some years ago, when the railroads -first "pooled" they had to find an equitable method of making a -rate-sheet. Everybody made suggestions, and a Pennsylvania freight-clerk, -named James McGraham, made the right one. It was adopted and became the -standard of to-day--which goes to show that good can sometimes come out of -iniquity. - -In this arrangement, the rate for each of the six different classes and -all the special commodities, between New York and Chicago was made 100 per -cent. Other towns, both further and less distant from New York than -Chicago were given proportionate percentages, St. Louis being fixed at -117, Pittsburg 60, Cleveland 71, Detroit 78, Indianapolis 93, Peoria 110, -and Grand Rapids at 100--the same as Chicago. At the eastern end of this -particular bit of territory--the Official Classification--a reduction of -two or three cents a hundred was made from the New York rates in favor of -Baltimore and Philadelphia, a corresponding addition of two or three cents -to meet the increased haul to Boston. No matter how you ship freight, -these rates now hold standard, as long as the railroads remain faithful to -their traffic associations. You may ship from Indianapolis to New York by -way of Cleveland and Albany, by Marion and Salamanca, by Columbus and -Pittsburgh, or by Cincinnati and Parkersburg, and although there is quite -a wide variance in mileage between these routes, the rate is the same on -all the different roads that go to form them. - -This standard, simple as things go in freight-rates, was not adopted in a -moment. Bitter contentions on the part of cities and of shippers had to be -settled before it ruled. After it ruled, it was easy for each road to -build its own tariff upon it. Together these form a vast structure, one -that is constantly changing, as one road or another changes its tariff -under the pressure of shippers or of civic bodies, or possibly a desire to -establish more equitable schedules; and the work these changes make can be -imagined when it is stated that a single one of them in the Official -Classification territory causes more than eight thousand changes in the -rate-sheets of the railroads. - -The choosing of Chicago as the "one hundred per cent" city in the -northeastern territory of the United States repeated the compliment to her -prowess as a traffic city, that the great yards which hedge her in for -miles have paid her for many years. She is one of the very greatest basing -points, where multiple rates or percentages are built from the single. -Most of the very important commercial cities share this distinction, which -is further shared sometimes by comparatively unimportant points that -happen to be the terminals of rather important railroads. Thus we find -Cincinnati and Henderson, Louisville and Evansville, St. Louis and -Davenport, Chicago and Peoria, Omaha and Sioux City, Kansas City and -Leavenworth, all possessing this railroad distinction. - -So much for the standard rates. Just as certain railroad lines running -from New York to Chicago are permitted to charge two dollars less for -tickets than other "standard lines," because of slower running time, so -does the same factor make a "differential" in freight rates. Big roads -boast that they can haul the first-class freight--the "preference -freights"--from one city to the other in sixty hours. Others take a longer -time, and are permitted by their larger competitors to make their prices a -shade lower because of slower running time in freight service. Such a -"differential" is the Grand Trunk, handling New York-Chicago freight by a -roundabout route, from New York by water to New London, Conn., and thence -over the Central Vermont up into Canada and the Grand Trunk's main line. -Obviously such a longer route adds to the running-time and would be at a -keen disadvantage in securing travel, without a lower rate as bait for the -shipper. We have used New York-Chicago differentials simply as -illustrative cases. The differentials are apt to be found in any corner of -the country where there are long hauls and a number of railroads fighting -to secure them. - -But the Grand Trunk as a factor in Chicago traffic to and from Boston -brought one of the earliest and most interesting decisions from the -Interstate Commerce Commission. St. Albans, Vt., complained to that board -that its local freight rate by Boston & Maine and Central Vermont from -Boston was higher than the through rate from Boston to Chicago. On the -face of it, it seemed as if justice must have rested with St. Albans, but -the railroad was able to prove its case and win a decision. It showed that -it could not live on shipments between Boston and St. Albans and other -local non-competitive points, or on the business interchanged between -these points. To earn its bread and butter it must fight for the rich -Chicago traffic; and to be in a position to fight for that traffic, -despite some disadvantage of location, it must make very low rates. - -It proved that these low rates were possible for business that went -through in solid trains, like Boston-Chicago traffic, and that each of -these trains earned its proportion of the railroad's profit. For when you -come to handle freight at St. Albans, more particularly the case in still -smaller towns, you bring on a new traffic expense, and because of this -expense we get what is known as "back haul." - -On the "back haul" small towns suffer and must probably continue to suffer -until a still more equitable system of railroad rates can be devised. -Sometimes it may come about in such a case at the St. Albans one just -cited; in other times because of water competition, as in the famous -Spokane case, to which we shall again refer; and sometimes it is merely an -arbitrary charge laid by the railroad. In such cases the railroad reasons -that it would cost, in time and train delay ten dollars for every dollar's -worth of freight switched off and delivered at certain small towns; and so -it figures upon hauling to the nearest large division point with large -yards, and sending it back from there on a way-train. When such a small -town is nearer the division yard at the far end of the route the back haul -charge develops, and the small town must grin and bear it. If the small -towns and the small cities, with their vigorous organizations, begin to -complain too bitterly of the present system, the traffic experts will turn -to them and say: - -"Devise a better system. Perhaps you would like the Australian system, -where the charges diminish per mile, for each additional mile covered by a -consignment?" - -That may look good to the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, who has -come down to headquarters with wrath in his eyes; it looks absolutely -equitable to every one; and he nods yes. The traffic-manager gleams with -joy. His quarry has stepped into the trap. He turns upon him. - -"Where would your dandy little town of 35,000 contented folks be under the -Australian system?" he demands. "The Australian system would concentrate -all business at water traffic points, along the seaboard and the great -lakes and rivers; it would concentrate all manufacturing at the points -from which comes the raw material. Where would the seven wholesalers of -your town that we are all so proud of be located under the Australian -plan? If the railroads were to adopt it, it would save millions of dollars -in bookkeeping alone, but there would not be an interior distributing -point in the entire country." - -The Secretary of the C. of C. is flustered. He was a young newspaper -reporter before he reached his present high estate. He flounders. The -traffic man is a man of ready wit and even readier figures. Still the -young Secretary feels that he must show a few grains of wisdom, and so he -gently makes inquiry about the Spokane case. - -That Spokane case, also a famous decision of the Interstate Commerce -Commission, shows another factor in railroad rate-making, the serious -influence of water competition. Indirectly it also includes the principle -of the back haul. Spokane, which is much nearer Chicago than Seattle, was, -like St. Albans, paying a higher rate for the "short haul" than Seattle -was paying for a much longer haul. But Seattle is a prosperous port, and -if the railroad did not make a very low rate to it, all the slow freight -would go to it by water, where much lower transportation expense -invariably makes much lower rates, and the railroad, to save its own skin, -as it were, must make a low through rate there, charging a back haul or -higher rate to Spokane from the large eastern points. If it charged -Spokane a proportionate rate of the one to Seattle, which would then be -lower, all the other inland towns would demand the same privilege, and the -railroad would then be hauling property at a loss--a business which can -have but one inevitable result. - -"You see how complicated it all is," the traffic manager tells the young -Secretary, "and how we must use judgment all the while. We've got to -figure individual cost for certain distances and localities and directions -of traffic, figure in the varying cost of handling different sorts of -freight, and then put in a percentage of the general cost of the business, -just as the restaurant-keeper makes each patron pay proportionately for -the cost of bread and butter, heat, light, service and rent, no matter how -large or how small his check may be on any one occasion. - -"We must use judgment, and we must make rates to keep the goods moving all -the while. Suppose that both nails and crowbars are made in Pittsburgh and -only nails are made at Williamsport. Suppose then that the rate from -Pittsburgh to New York for both crowbars and nails is fifty cents a -hundred, but that the rate from Williamsport to New York was but 38 cents. -What chance would the nail manufacturer in Pittsburgh have against his -competitor in Williamsport, when both men are making annually nails in -tens of thousands of tons? It is to help the Pittsburgh man that we make a -special 38-cent rate on nails from his town to New York; and when we keep -filing these commodity rates at Washington, your shippers ask why we can't -have a standard rate-sheet, or the Australian system. The next time some -one of them finds that he cannot sell plough shares in Texas because a man -down in Fort Wayne has him beaten on standard rates, you watch him hurry -here and ask for a special one. - -"It is out of this clamor and contention of almost myriad interests, the -ambitions of just such thriving little cities as your own, out of the -skilled arguments of brainy men that the rate-sheet is born and kept -living in a state of perpetual healthy change." - -We are tired of rates and the factors that go to make them, and inquire -what is the A, B, C of a freight transaction between the railroad and a -shipper. The traffic-man makes it quite clear to us. - -"When one of our agents receives a consignment of freight," he says, "he -immediately issues a bill of lading to the shipper, or consignor, as a -receipt and as a contract for the shipment. From his duplicate of this -bill of lading he makes out a way-bill, or manifest, which will accompany -the car until the freight reaches its destination. This way-bill describes -the shipment and the car into which it has been loaded, specifies the -shipping point and the destination, the consignor and the consignee, the -rate and whether or not the charges have been paid in advance or are to be -collected at destination. A copy of this way-bill is given to the -freight-conductor, who gives the station agent a receipt for the -consignment. At that place of destination a freight-bill, containing a -description of the shipment similar to that of the way-bill, and showing -in addition the total charge collected or to be paid, is rendered to the -consignee, and his receipt is taken for the shipment when it is -delivered." - -"It seems quite simple," you breathe softly. - -"It is not," is his reply, "for it has its complications. I'll show you -one of them." - -We step through swinging doors of green baize and for a moment from a -traffic into an operating department, but an operating department that for -the telling in a work of this sort is best allied with the story of the -freight traffic. The traffic-manager points to a man sitting at a square -and littered desk, his thoughts with sturdy intent upon the mass of -correspondence which he is quickly sifting. - -"He is the best car-service man in the country," says our guide; and you -recall when you were in the auditor's office, that an accounting was being -kept between the lines for the use of one another's cars that went on -through runs off upon strange or "foreign" lines. The traffic-man -continues: "Ours is not a big road, as some roads go. Yet we receive about -40,000 cars a month and, of course, deliver something like the same number -in the same thirty days. Yet there is not an hour of any day of the month -that this man cannot tell where any one of these cars is, just how long it -has been upon our tracks, just how much free time the consignee has for -unloading it, or just how much he will have to pay the railroad for his -delay in emptying it, so it can get back into service once again." - -That waiting charge, the traffic-man explains, is known in the parlance of -his business as "demurrage"; and it is another keen example of the -constant use to which a railroad puts its equipment, of the tremendous -economy that is beginning to be practised in the modern science of -railroading. You are introduced to the car-service man, bend low over his -desk as he explains a bit of his work to you. Here, for example, is a car -filled with automobiles bound from Detroit to a dealer in Worcester, Mass. -This car, in a train of some 60 others, leaves Detroit east-bound over the -Michigan Central Railroad. At Buffalo it is switched to the tracks of the -New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. On the evening of the second day -it arrives at Rensselaer, across the Hudson River from Albany, and is -given over to the Boston & Albany Railroad. To make a concrete instance, -let us see how the B. & A. handles the thing through its car-service -department. - -That department swings into quick action automatically, as soon as the car -strikes B. & A. rails at Rensselaer. The freight agent there makes a note -of the car and its contents from the way-bill which accompanies it; makes -special note, perhaps, of the fact that it is a car designed particularly -for the transportation of automobiles. Now let us presume that this big -box-car is owned by the Michigan Central. The Boston & Albany will pay -that owner railroad 35 cents a day rental--"_per diem_," in the -phraseology of the railroads--for the time it is upon B. & A. rails. There -are at that very time perhaps hundreds of B. & A. cars on the Michigan -Central, and at the end of 30 days these accounts and many, many others -are sent to the auditor's department, where they are balanced between the -roads with the general freight and passenger accounts. - -This movement of freight cars makes a valuable barometer of the general -condition of business. The daily papers have a custom of making national -compilations of car-service reports part of their most interesting market -news. In dull seasons the cars come home from long service on other roads. -But in very busy seasons all roads have little compunction about borrowing -"foreign" cars for use in their local service. With shippers begging cars -from every quarter and threatening all manner of dire things, 35 cents -daily is a small rental to pay for the use of a roomy car. Besides, the -other fellows are all doing the same thing, and no one road can hope to -get all its cars back even with the use of a vigilant corps of young men -who search "foreign" yards. But in the dull seasons they come trundling -home, like lost cattle finding the big barn once again. In the business -depression of 1907, a Western car-service man received cars that had been -absent from the home road for seven years. - -We turn from the car-service men back into a department that is strictly -traffic. Coal service is one of the principal sources of income for this -particular railroad. It stretches some of its branches into bituminous -fields, and others through the anthracite fields that Nature, in some -freakish mood, implanted in just a few counties of Northeastern -Pennsylvania. That entire country is comparable to a cut of beef, the coal -veins resembling streaks of fat that run hither and thither. As in beef, -the lean predominates. The fat streaks are the valuable coal veins, the -lean the earth, slate and rock in which the coal was planted during some -great convulsion of Nature in the process of the creation of the world. -How it got into this particular spot science cannot tell. What it is, -further than the fact that it is mostly carbon, science only guesses. It -guesses that it was originally bituminous coal and that by some process of -intense squeezing in an upheaval of Nature, the oil and tar and gas of the -bituminous coal was squeezed out and the much more valuable anthracite -deposits created. - -Mining consists in getting the streaks of fat anthracite out of the bulk -of lean earth and rock. The veins run well down into the mountains, and, -as do the little streaks of fat, lose themselves in the rock, or lean, to -continue the simile. Some of the veins are but a few feet in thickness, -while some run to as high as twenty and thirty feet, and, as a rule, the -farther down into the earth they go the better the coal; and the farther -down you go the more difficult and expensive is the mining. - -Now, here is a traffic that demands and receives special attention. In -other days the mining of anthracite coal was, itself, merely a department -of operating for the half-dozen systems that stretched their rails into -that valuable Pennsylvania corner. That work has now been removed into the -control of separate mining companies; but the handling of coal is a great -function of not only these roads, but of the systems that reach their -tendrils into the valuable bituminous fields here and there about the -country. - -[Illustration: THE GREAT BRIDGE OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL AT WATKINS GLEN] - -[Illustration: BUILDING THE WONDERFUL BRIDGE OF THE IDAHO & WASHINGTON -NORTHERN OVER THE PEND OREILLE RIVER, WASHINGTON] - -To fill the coal-bins of New York City alone, requires some 10,500,000 -tons of anthracite yearly. Now you cease to wonder why this road has a -coal traffic expert, a man of surpassingly good salary. He keeps keen -oversight over the operating department in its handling of this giant -traffic, sees to it that the trains come over the mountains and into the -great terminals at Jersey City in good order, and that the railroad's -marine department is ready with tugs and scows and lighters to handle the -product as it comes in, in thousands of tons every twenty-four hours. -This would all be quite simple if the trains and the boats were always -running on schedule. But the unexpected constantly comes to pass in -railroading, and so the railroads provide against emergencies by -establishing great coal storage plants outside of New York and other large -cities--communities that would be in dire distress if their coal supply -were cut short even for twenty-four hours. Sometimes about 500,000 tons -will be kept in a single one of these storage piles--a black mountain -running lengthwise between sidings and served with giant cranes. - -We are back in the traffic-manager's comfortable office for a final word -with him. He is fumbling with his own correspondence. It seems that a -lawyer down in Washington has been saying that he could save the railroads -of the land a million dollars a day in the economical operation of their -property, and the railroader is exceedingly wroth at that assertion. - -"He speaks of pig iron, and says that we should teach our laborers the -minimum movements necessary to put a single pig in a car--just as masons -have been taught to handle brick with minimum effort and a maximum economy -in work accomplished has been effected." The traffic-man laughs, rather -harshly. "The lawyer is all right, except for two things; and his anecdote -about the brick is certainly well told. Only it just happens that the -railroad does not load or unload freight by the carload--that is the duty -of the consignor and the consignee--and it also happens that pig iron -rarely is handled "L.C.L." In carload lots it is not loaded or unloaded by -hand, but by big magnets on a crane which picks up a ton of the bars at a -time and thinks nothing of it." - -The freight traffic-manager has made his point once again, and he is -satisfied. He tells a little of the modern methods in freight handling, -one of them how an ingenious packing-house expert in Chicago saved -thousands of dollars annually in the handling of lard. In other days lard -was rolled aboard box-cars, a barrel to a hand-truck, a rather slow and a -rather costly process. The Chicago man devised a method of melting lard -and, while it was fluid, pouring it, like petroleum, into a tank-car. When -it reached its destination at some big terminal, the lard was again melted -to fluid and poured out from the tank. That is the science of big freight -handling to-day. Not alone do cranes, with magnet-bars handle pig-iron and -castings by the ton, but great hoists at Cleveland and Conneaut and the -other big lake towns close to the Pittsburgh district reach deep into the -hearts of giant ships, bring from them the ore of Lake Superior's shores, -and fill the whole waiting trains within fifteen or twenty minutes. Into -the empty holds of the ships they pour bituminous coal from Western -Pennsylvania and West Virginia, a carload at a time. The hoist-crane -reaches down to the dock siding for a gondola, snaps the car-body off from -the trucks, lifts it aloft over the open hatch of the waiting vessel, and -turns it upside down. In less time than it takes to tell it, the coal is -in the ship, and the car-body is being slipped back again upon its -trucks. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE DRAMA OF THE FREIGHT - - FAST TRAINS FOR PRECIOUS AND PERISHABLE GOODS--CARS INVENTED FOR - FRUITS AND FOR FISH--MILK TRAINS--SYSTEMATIC HANDLING OF THE - CANS--AUCTIONING GARDEN-TRUCK AT MIDNIGHT--A HISTORIC CITY - FREIGHT-HOUSE. - - -Perhaps you have seen a gay Limited in green and gold start forth with -much ado from some big city station, and have concluded that the romance -of the railroad rests with it; that the long lines of murky-red freight -cars have little of the dramatic about them. If you have thought that, you -have thought wrong. - -Romance and drama reach high climax sometimes in the transportation of -commodities. Fast trains, running upon the express schedules of the finest -Limiteds, sometimes bring silk, $2,000,000 or $3,000,000 worth to the -train, across the continent. A special may be hired by some impatient -manufacturer to send a shipment through half a dozen States. There are -notable speed records in the handling of fast freight, records of notable -trains that are as well known among the traffic specialists as the -Limiteds are known to the outside world. - -There is drama, too, when the railroad brings the food up to the city, for -it counts as one of its greatest functions this filling of the city's -larder. It sets aside certain high officers in its traffic department for -the handling of market produce; it provides special facilities for -gathering it, special facilities for moving it, special terminal -facilities for delivering it in the hearts of the great cities. Sometimes -it even goes further and provides and organizes great wholesale markets, -building up its traffic by going as far as possible in facilitating the -constant replenishing of the city's larder. - -That is why these long dark caravans, the fast preference freights that -are the pride of the railroad's traffic head, go so quickly over the rails -to town. One of them halts in block for an instant to let a brightly -lighted passenger train go in ahead of it. While it is halted we climb -aboard and engage its conductor in conversation. He is a clever fellow, of -the type of the coming railroader. Only last summer, we found a freight -conductor thumbing his "Sartor Resartus," and discussing Carlyle as a -stylist. - -"Yes, we do bring some food up to town," he admits. "I've got enough grub -aboard these eighty cars to feed several regiments. We've two -refrigerators of meat from Omaha, two from Kansas City, one from Chicago. -The Chicago car has been iced twice--at Elkhart and at Altoona. The other -cars had to have an extra filling at Hammond, on the outskirts of Chicago. -Soon we'll have crisp cold weather and we can cut out the icing. - -"The boss? The boss will be worrying still. Just as soon as he can cut -down his refrigerating stations at the division yards, he'll be fretting -about getting those big ice-houses filled for next summer. He's got a lake -tucked up in the mountain divisions somewhere, and we've got a branch -running in a couple of miles there, and we just pull out the ice during -the winter months. You take any of these trunk-lines and it has to have a -lake for its refrigerating stations. It's just one of the many little -kinks in running a road." - -We express a desire to see the big preference train, and--the block being -still set against her--we go forward in the black shadows of the cars, the -train boss's arm-set lantern showing our way to us. He stops beside a -string of white and yellow box-cars. - -"California fruit," he says; "they don't think anything of sending it all -the way across the continent. You might have thought those ranchers over -there on the Pacific coast would have been discouraged when they were told -that there were a dozen icing stations between the two oceans, and that -the icing cost was prohibitive. They weren't a bit. They just sat down and -did some tall thinking, and after a while they developed this type of car. -We call it pre-cooled. The car is cleaned and brought to a chill before -loading. After that the temperature is not allowed to rise while the fruit -is being piled away inside. It is closed and sealed, while still ice-cold, -and icy-cold she comes bumping her way east over three or four thousand -miles of track. It may be scorching down there along the S. P.; they may -be just gasping for air in the Missouri bottoms; but that pre-cooled car -comes right along, keeping its cargo fresh and cool and pure. We can -deliver her anywhere here on the Atlantic seaboard, and no risk of -spoiling the stuff." - -We slip along another half-dozen cars. The conductor halts again and -fumbles with his way-bills. - -"There's the boy," he laughs. "He's halibut. There's half a dozen halibuts -along here in a string." - -We do not like to show an utter ignorance of the food question and we -venture an assertion. - -"Halibut comes from Newfoundland?" we ask. "How do you get it around -here?" - -The freighter grins sympathetically at our lack of knowledge. - -"Bless you," he says. "That little fishing pond up there on the Banks -isn't big enough for a land which has 27,000,000 folks gathered in its -cities. These cars have come in from big Yem Hill's road--all the way from -Tacoma up on Puget Sound--State of Washington. Some of those people who -live in Boston might have a fit if they knew that their beloved halibut -was born and raised in the Pacific Ocean; but that's the truth of the -matter. - -"This fish (and some of it's going straight to Boston to be sold in the -very shade of Faneuil Hall), has come 7,000 miles to be eaten on the very -shores of the Atlantic. When the fishing ship that caught this cargo was -fifty miles off the docks, she began calling Tacoma with her wireless. The -yardmaster of the Northern Pacific was ready there for the news from that -rat-a-tap. He had a string of refrigerator cars ready; they were ready and -set out along the wharf by the time the ship was made fast. - -"Five minutes later the fish were being loaded into the cars. They had a -gang of stevedores working there clock-like, as those fellows work around -the big tents of a three-ring circus. First there went in a layer of ice, -then a layer of fish, then another of ice. In thirty minutes the job was -done. In forty-five minutes that string of fish-cars was coming east on an -express-train schedule. It was knocked apart at St. Paul and again at -Chicago. Here's our share of the spoils, and we're not loafing here on the -old main line. - -"We're preference freight, if you please, and no old bumpety-bump with -coal and ore taking the low-grade tracks. They sandwich us in among the -all-Pullmans, even when we're on the four-track divisions, for food is -quick; food won't keep forever; and those folks down in the city are -getting hungry." - -He starts to say more, but the engine call halts him. The block is clear -once again. The conductor catches a car step, the "preference" starts -forward with all the rattling shakes and bumps peculiar to a long freight -train. In a minute or two the red tail-lights are grinning at us from half -a mile down the track. Another big freight goes scurrying by us--more -market stuff, more meat, more fish for the hungry town, a town which -houses 4,000 folk within a single congested tenement square. A third train -follows; all refrigerator cars it is too. They come in quick succession, -these market trains, to the metropolis. The railroad is doing its part. -To-night again, the food is going up to the city. - -The scene changes. Now we are off in the rolling country of -up-State--dairy country, if you please. The railroad that stretches its -thick black trail the length of the valley is no four-track line, with -heavy trains coursing over it every three or four or five or ten minutes. -This is but a single-track branch; in the parlance of the railroaders it -is a "jerkwater"; and the coming of its two passenger trains and that of -the way-freight each day are events in the little towns that line it. -Still, even this little branch is doing its part in the filling of the -city's larder. This branch has the filling of the city babies' milk -bottles as its own particular problem. - -At early dawn, the muddy brown roads that lead to the little depot there -at the flour mills are alive. The farmer boys are bringing the milk to the -railroad. Down the track a few hundred yards beyond the depot is the -slick, clean, new milk-station. Over across the brook is the -cheese-factory, deserted and given over to the gentle fingers of decay. -Those two buildings tell the story of changing times; in their mute way -they tell the growth of the American city. - -In other days this township made cheese. To-day they drive the milk to the -depot. Each morning finds a big refrigerator car, built in the fashion of -passenger equipment, so that it may be handled on passenger trains, at the -milk station. The farmer boys are prompt with their milk, it is checked -and weighed and placed in the car, in cans and in bottles. Hardly has the -last big ten-gallon can gone clattering into the car before the whistle of -the warning local is heard up the line, just beyond the curve at the -water-tank. While the train is at the depot, in all the bustle of the -comings and goings at a country station, the engine makes quick drill -movement and picks up the milk-car. - -Farther down the line that same train picks up more milk-cars. By the time -it reaches the junction where it intersects the main line it is a -considerable train for a branch line. Indeed at the junction there are -more milk-cars, from other branches that ramble off into the real -back-country. There are enough of them now to make a train through to the -city. The trainmaster has a good engine ready for every afternoon, and the -milk express goes scurrying into town with passenger rights and on -passenger schedules. You cannot hurry the babies' milk through to town any -too quickly. - -This is all first-day milk. You can take a compass, place the pin-leg -squarely in the heart of the busy town--a place of brick and asphalt, of -steel and concrete, without ever a hint of growing things--and with the -pencil-leg trace a segment of a circle--the outer line some 200 miles -distant from the centre. Afterwards you can draw a second circle segment, -its outer line some 350 miles from the same town centre. From within the -inner circle comes the first-day milk, delivered to the railroad during -the early part of a day and on the householder's table in the big city the -next morning. From without this inner circle and within the outer, comes -the second-day milk which has another twenty-four hours in its transit to -town. The whole thing, once rather badly handled by itinerant single -dealers, has been reduced to scientific business by skilful coöperation -between the big milk-dealers of the present day and the railroads. - - * * * * * - -It is night. - -The last of the office lights in the towering buildings has been snuffed -out. Downtown is quiet--quiet for a little time, for soon after sun-up it -will be a vortex once again; these narrow, deep-canyoned streets will be -astir and human-filled once again. But at nine o'clock in the evening the -policeman's footfall on the pavement echoes in lonely streets. A tired -bookkeeper scurrying home after a vexatious hunt for his balances gets -sharp scrutiny from the policeman. Downtown is asleep. - -Then, from around the turn of a sharp corner comes a night train of -wagons, drawn by a small brigade of horses. These are not filled with -market-truck; market-truck will not reach the town till midnight at the -earliest. These are great high-boxed vans, painted white, a bit gaudy in -lettering. They make you think of those long-ago days when you used to go -down to the depot to see the circus come in, for the big wagons are -precisely like those that used to shroud mystery as they rolled from the -trains down to the show-lot. We follow this procession of half a dozen -great vans, follow it through the twisting, narrow streets of downtown, -across a famous old ferry, straight up to the long sheds of a railroad -terminal. - -On the one side of the terminal, the passenger trains are coming and going -at all hours. By day this shed at which the big vans back, each into its -own carefully marked place, is a general freight-house; by night it is -given over to the stocking of the city babies' milk bottles. The ferried -vans are hardly emptied of their empty cans and cases before the first of -the milk trains comes backing in at the other side of the long covered -platform. Hissing arcs up under that slimsy roof throw high lights and -deep shadows here and there and everywhere. They show the platform-men -tugging at the car fastenings before the brakes are fairly released. In -another minute, the big side-doors are thrown open, almost simultaneously, -in still another, the place is alive with the rattle of trucks. The -milk--tons upon tons of it--in ten-gallon cans and in cases of individual -bottles, is being loaded within those circus-like cans. A second -milk-train comes bumping in at a far platform. There is another brigade of -vans waiting for it there. A third train is due to arrive in another -half-hour. The vans that it will fill are already beginning to back into -place and unload their cans and cases upon the platforms. - -Here are almost 200 great four-horse trucks being filled simultaneously, -and all working with the almost rhythmic harmony of organization. You want -to know how they do it? Ask that man over there, he in a short rough -coat, who carries a lantern on his arm and with it peers interestedly into -every one of the cars. That man's word is law on this platform, for he is -its boss. He has been filling the babies' milk bottles from this -particular terminal for almost a quarter of a century now. His railroad -was the first to bring milk into a large city. - -"We get it over," he will tell you, "by the experience of some little -time, and by planning. You saw the numbers on the team side of this milk -platform. That's only half the problem. There are a dozen different -milk-handling concerns doing business at this shed, and their stuff comes -together on this one train. Yet we get the thing out by having each -concern--each truck--come up to its own position at the team side. The -other half of the problem we solve by having a certain position for each -milk-car. - -"Here is the Hygienic Milk Company up on the Heights. You have seen their -fancy dairies all over town. Well, the Hygienic has a station up at -Bottger's, on our Lancaster & Essex division, that fills two cars at that -station every blessed day. Their two cars stand in beyond this No. 14 -pillar every night; so we know just where to direct their trucks. That's -business--just system. We spot the cars every night." - -"Spot the cars?" you interrupt. He smiles a bit at your ignorance. - -"This train is made up in just the same fashion every night," he explains. -"These two Hygienic cars are always the fifth and sixth. If they were the -eighth and ninth some nifty evening--if some smart Aleck of a yardmaster -up the line would take to shuffling up these cars as you shuffle a deck of -cards--we would have a near riot here, and I couldn't get these platforms -cleared of the milkmen for that market-truck train that backs in here from -the south every night at 11:55. - -[Illustration: INSIDE THE WEST ALBANY SHOPS OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL: -PICKING UP A LOCOMOTIVE WITH THE TRAVELLING CRANE] - -[Illustration: A LOCOMOTIVE UPON THE TESTING-TABLE AT THE ALTOONA SHOPS OF -THE PENNSYLVANIA] - -[Illustration: "THE ROUNDHOUSE IS A SPRAWLING THING"] - -[Illustration: DENIZENS OF THE ROUNDHOUSE] - -"So they keep closely to the formation of our trains, and that of -itself is no terminal problem. Away up the line 90 -miles--150,--250,--everywhere that we have a big junction yard, the yard -boss has his positive instructions about these milk trains. By the time -this fellow has cleared out of P---- J----, 90 miles up the road and our -nearest road yard outside of the metropolitan district, it's always in -just the shape you see it to-night. After that there's nothing to be done -here except cut off the road engine at our terminal yard and pick out a -switcher to back her into position at this shed. It's nice work, and night -after night that engineer of the switcher does not vary four inches in the -locations of these car-doors." - -He lifts his lantern, and we peek into the interior of one of these cool -milk-cars. This has the bottled milk in cases. The cases are packed four -tiers high--never higher--and your guide explains to you that four cases -is the limit of a hand-truck. All these things make for simplicity in -handling. You peer into another car. The ten-gallon cans are in long -diagonal rows, covering the entire floor of the car. They form a regular -tessellated pattern, like the marble tiling of old-fashioned hotels and -banks. - -"Those little farmer boys," says the platform boss, "sure do that trick -well. That speaks pretty neat for Sullivanville. They all used to put the -cans in straight rows, running lengthwise of the car. One day one of the -smartest of those Sullivanville boys discovered that by putting the cans -in diagonal rows, this-wise, he would gain a hundred cans in the loading. -That added a thousand gallons to the capacity of the car. The Super gave -him a good job, and some day you'll see he'll be running a railroad of his -own." - - * * * * * - -Midnight. - -Downtown is still more deserted, if that is possible, than when we first -saw it three hours ago. The stillness of the deep night is hard upon the -city; yet here on this broad quay street which runs its stone-paved -length up and down past the wharves of the harbor-front, all is alive. - -This is the midnight market. Under the very noses of the steamships that -have brought this garden-truck up from the south, it is being auctioned -off to a hundred or so keen-nosed, keener-witted wholesalers. They wander -about under long awning roofs erected in the centre of the street, through -the gaunt open shadowy spaces of the piers, poking into the tops of -barrels, pinching, tasting, critically examining all the while that they -are dickering in prices. When the day is fully born and downtown alive -once again, there will be other wholesale markets, more sedate-looking -affairs in rooms that have been built for the purpose by the traffic -departments of the railroads. In these rooms, with the seats arranged in -tiers and each seat having a broad writing arm like a college classroom, -fruit and vegetables will be sold in carload lots. There will be records -of prices--quotations. The thing will approach the dignity of those -bourses where cotton and coffee and metals and securities are sold. - -But the midnight market scorns such formalities, such dignities. It clings -to its own hubbub--its own unsystematic way of accomplishing a great -business. It prefers to sell as the stuff is unloaded; that has been its -method for three-quarters of a century and any method that has stood 75 -years is at least entitled to a measure of consideration. But not all its -offerings have come by these big coasting steamships, whose outlines show -vague at their piers in the darkness of the night. For, grinding against -the piles of these same wharves, as the unseen tide changes, are groups of -car-floats that have been ferried from the great railroad terminals across -the river. Each car-float has two trackfuls of refrigerator cars--12 or 14 -or 16 in all--lined against a long roofed platform running just above -keel. When the pert and busy little tugs have pushed and pulled and bunted -the floats all into position, the platforms are quickly connected by -gangways, canvas-covered against the stress of hard weather. A great -freight-house, almost Venetian in type, floats upon the surface of the -silent river and becomes part and parcel of the pier itself. After that it -is quick work to open each of the cars--to wheel out sample barrels of -potatoes, of cabbage, of celery, of lettuce, of cauliflower--all the -growing things of country farms that go to feed the hungry city. - -The trading here is over in an hour, or two hours at the longest when the -shipments are heavy; and then the wholesalers are wheeling their wagons -into place to cart away their purchases to their own stores and -warehouses. From these the retailers--the men who carry on their -businesses in stalls in the public market-houses and those that have their -own little shops on the street corners--make their selections. If you are -a city man, you may now know that your grocer at the corner is up betimes, -when the sun is just showing himself on lazy September mornings. He has -been poking his way with his own horse and wagon down to the wholesalers, -buying his day's stock and getting it placed just before the earliest of -the housewives begins her marketing. - -You demand a concrete example of a city freight-house; and here it is--the -historic St. John's Park of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad -in New York. Up over the lines of the Central, back for hundreds of weary -miles, you may hear the railroaders speak of "the Park," you may see long -strings of cars, bearing merchandise tagged through to it. At Sixtieth -Street, where the big freights of the New York Central come to a final -halt, you see the cars sent south in long strings, each hauled by a red -dummy locomotive and preceded by a boy astride a horse and holding a red -flag, a familiar sight to all New Yorkers who reside upon the far west -side of the town. - -St. John's Park handles a very large percentage of all the perishable -food that comes into New York each day. It is the dingy freight-house that -fills the double block between Hudson and Varick and Beach and Laight -Streets; and when you ask, "Where is the park?" they will tell you that -there was a day when the entire site of this freight-house--possibly the -most congested in the world--was a gentle tree-filled square that faced -old St. John's Church. There is never a trace of the park nowadays. The -old church now faces a narrow street wherein truckmen shove and elbow and -disappear in the gates of the freight station. - -On the Hudson Street side of the structure six pairs of railroad tracks -curve into it; and far above on the cornice of the structure one can see -the benign figure of the old Commodore--a heroic bronze surrounded by -replicas of the trains and the steamships that he loved so well. The -building of the large freight station on the site of St. John's Park away -back in 1868 was a real accomplishment to the first of the house of -Vanderbilt. Think of it: that freight-house could hold 100 cars. There was -nothing else in all the broad land quite like that! - -Into St. John's Park at dawn come trainloads of produce. Even before the -doors of the freight-house have opened, at six, a string of "coolers" has -stopped in Hudson Street and the commission men are carting out the -poultry. As soon as the station gets down to real business, butter and -eggs and cheese pour in through it in carload lots. - -"It doesn't bother us much," the foreman tells you. "Still, on the Monday -before Christmas we had a fairly brisk day. We had 155 cars of turkeys -alone that morning." - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -MAKING TRAFFIC - - ENTICING SETTLERS TO THE VIRGIN LANDS OF THE WEST--EMIGRATION - BUREAUS--RAILWAYS EXTENDED FOR THE BENEFIT OF EMIGRANTS--THE FIRST - CONTINUOUS RAILROAD ACROSS THE AMERICAN CONTINENT--CAMPAIGNS FOR - DEVELOPING SPARSELY SETTLED PLACES IN THE WEST--UNPROFITABLE BRANCH - RAILROADS IN THE EAST--DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC FARMING--IMPROVED - FARMS ARE TRAFFIC-MAKERS--NEW FACTORIES BEING OPENED--HOW RAILROAD - MANAGERS HAVE DEVELOPED ATLANTIC CITY. - - -Your railroad manager of other days was content with the traffic that was -offered him--if indeed he deigned to accept it all. For those were the -business methods that obtained everywhere in the other days. When -competition became the moving force in modern business, the railroad felt -it. The land had become gridironed with tracks; business did not offer -itself so freely as it had at the outset. When there came a division -between routes of a traffic that had formerly belonged to a single route, -earnings fell away and stockholders began to ask uncomfortable questions -of the men who operated their railroad properties. Then the fight for -business began--at first, as we have already seen, by a lively rivalry -which showed itself in a merciless slashing of rates. Such fighting -methods reacted on the railroads, and their rate-sheets became code and -law, only a little less holy than the Federal Constitution, long before -the Interstate Commerce Commission exerted its beneficent paternalism over -the railroads of the land. But with the rates equalized between the -railroads, the competition remained. The one obvious solution of the -situation which was left was put into effect. The railroads began to make -traffic. - -The making of traffic is the most recent and the most highly developed -branch of the science of railroading. The first of this specialized -business-getting began just before the Civil War. Some of the railroads -had put their lines back a little way from the western portion of the -Great Lakes along in the late fifties, and they needed folks to live along -those lines. It goes without saying that a railroad going into an -unpopulated country would never be any great "shakes" of a railroad until -people came to dwell along its lines. So the railroad from Galena to -Chicago--afterwards the foundation stone for the mighty Northwestern--the -Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, and one or two others started emigration -bureaus. Then men who owned those early railroads knew the possibilities -of the virgin lands into which they stretched their rails. The proposition -that confronted them was to let the folk who lived in the East and even -those who were herded in the crowded lands across the Atlantic, know these -same possibilities. By means of their first emigration bureaus they -accomplished their proposition. Advertising was a crude science in those -days, but advertising helped. Throughout the troublous years of the war -the men from the East who had read of the glories of the Middle West, who -had listened to the tales of the agents of the railroad and coupled them -with those of returning travellers, began pouring over the new and -struggling railroads. They carried their goods and chattels with them; and -so the railroad men knew that they were not going back to the old homes -again. - -At the close of the war these tides rose to flood. The railroads no longer -struggled. There was a steady flow of traffic over their rails, and they -were able because of it to engage capital to stretch their rails a little -farther west. After they had moved another stretch, the tides of -emigration still flowed. That process might have gone ahead in orderly -fashion until the Pacific had been reached, if the scheme had not been -upset. - -They built too many railroads, they overworked their idea. In the broad -reaches of the Middle West, lines of steel crumbled into rust, and -cross-roads dreamed vainly that they would become villages. Many a -struggling village failed to become the city that her enthusiastic -residents had fancied. They had the big boom in Kansas, and the bigger -collapse that followed. After that, folk stayed East for a while, and the -business of making traffic in that territory became an advanced science. - -There was another factor in the situation. You will remember that the -Summer of '69 saw the first continuous railroad across the American -continent--the combination of Central Pacific and Union Pacific. The huge -success of that railroad was inspiration for others. In the generation of -men that followed the rails that reached from Atlantic to Pacific were -multiplied. After that there was a new problem for the owners of the -transcontinental railroads. Their statistical charts of originating -traffic showed great black masses at either end of the line--where -connections were made with the great traffic-bringers from the East, and -where the rails ran upon the docks of the Pacific shore. Between those two -points was a thin black line, like spider-thread. To make that line black -and firm at all points, to bring masses of new traffic at intermediate -points, was the demand that the railroad-owner made of his -traffic-manager. - -It is being done to-day. It has taken time, money and almost incredible -patience; but it is being done. This is a broad land, and there is still -much to be done. In Montana, there is a single county with an area -exceeding that of Maryland and a population less than that of the smallest -ward of Baltimore; and near-by there is another county, as large as -Delaware and Connecticut combined, with mere handful of residents. These -are typical. There are great open stretches to the southwest; and the -Santa Fe, working hand in hand with the Harriman lines, is busy populating -and developing these. In the North Country, James J. Hill's railroads and -the new outstretched arm of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul are doing -much to exploit the unfarmed lands of Montana, and the intensive -possibilities of Washington for fruit-raising, market-gardening and the -like. Up and down the Pacific coast, the railroads are uniting in similar -campaigns of development. - -Hill began the campaign in Montana. He is a dreamer and a far-seer. When -he began making presents of blooded bulls to the farmers out along the -Great Northern, folk laughed at him, some of his directors thought that he -had gone crazy. They thought differently when they knew the results, when -they got the traffic reports of the cattle business that was growing along -the line. - -That thing was typical. The railroad--Hill's railroad and all the other -big transcontinentals--lent itself to the fine development of all the -traffic that might possibly be obtained within its territory. Heretofore -it had roughly combed traffic possibilities, now it began to screen them -with a fine mesh screen. The emigrant bureau did its part of the work; the -railroad went further and set itself to develop every inch of available -land along its lines. Attractive excursions brought settlers to the new -country, the railroad was of practical assistance in finding locations for -them. Everything is being brought toward the development of those great -new States of the West: cross-roads are beginning to become villages; -villages, cities. A little time before his death, Mr. Harriman announced -that there would be four great cities spread across the American -continent--New York, Chicago, Salt Lake, and San Francisco. He then took -it upon his own rather roomy shoulders to make Salt Lake City worthy of a -place in the file. - -From this activity in the West, the Eastern railroads have stolen a -lesson. Originally built in many cases to serve the needs of the farmers -of some particular locality, they have become merged and welded in a way -that has caused them to serve the industrial interests of the country more -particularly than the agricultural. One of the valuable old properties of -the Pennsylvania Railroad in New Jersey rejoices in the name of Freehold -and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad. - -When, after the serious slump in traffic that followed the panic in 1907, -the railroads of the East found themselves, for the first time in a -decade, with more facilities than freight, they began to cultivate more -carefully the traffic branch of transportation science. They took quite -readily to the lesson that the transcontinentals gave them. Then they -proceeded to put it into effect in practical fashion. - -For some years past the problem of the unimportant branches has been a -serious one with the big Eastern systems. These branches, many of them -once profitable feeders, have been allowed to deteriorate and retrograde, -while main-line traffic developed and increased under active conditions of -competition. The little towns along the branches seemed to retrograde too; -while the busy cities of the country, strung along the main lines of the -railroad, absorbed new growth and new energy. Sometimes the branch lines -were paralleled by interurban electric railroads, which were able to -operate at far less cost than steam railroads, and consequently to charge -lower rates of fare; and their slight passenger traffic continued to grow -lighter. The freight traffic had long since dwindled to slim proportions; -the branch lines were almost entirely agricultural railroads; and the -farmers of the East were discouraged and disheartened. - -The new movement began in Western New York, which is fairly gridironed -with a network of these unprofitable branch railroads. It was started even -before the panic of 1907. New York State, with its great resources and -its fat treasury, has long been engaged in the development of scientific -farming--which means farming for the largest profit that can be brought -from the soil. It has a great agricultural school as a part of Cornell -University, and an interesting experimental school along similar lines at -Geneva. These schools have done a great work. They have educated young men -to be modern farmers, in every sense of that phrase; and they have sent -leaflets to every corner of the Empire State. But even these methods were -not far-reaching enough. It is not every farmer's boy in these days who -can afford to go down to Ithaca for a college education in the tilling of -the soil; few of the older men care to mingle with the boys at such an -institution. Even the pamphlets sent out from Geneva were not sufficient. - -So when the railroads, seeking to make traffic in a dull time and to -rehabilitate their branches in the farming districts, made alliance with -the agricultural schools, special trains were sent out into the farming -districts, and these trains carried a competent corps of instructors from -the schools. Day coaches made good school-rooms for the itinerant -institutions; and a baggage-car, filled with specimens of fruit and grains -grown under scientific methods, was generally attached. The Western roads -had used similar trains with success in building up their virgin -territories. The use of the scientific schools in connection was the -Eastern adaptation of the idea. - -A train of this sort will "make" half a dozen towns in the course of a -day. The towns are not far apart, and the schedule generally permits a -stop of about an hour in each. The coming of the "farmers' special" has -been thoroughly announced by handbills, posters, and the local newspapers. -Whether the day be wet or fair, the appreciation of the enterprise that -started the special out is sure to be manifest in a crowd that packs the -day-coaches and not infrequently causes overflow meetings to be held -from the rear platform of the train. - -[Illustration: IN THE FAR WEST THE FARM-TRAIN HAS LONG SINCE COME INTO ITS -OWN] - -[Illustration: "EVEN IN NEW YORK STATE THE INTEREST IN THESE ITINERANT -AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS IS KEEN, INDEED"] - -[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE DAIRY DEMONSTRATION CAR OF AN AGRICULTURAL -TRAIN] - -There is no cause for disheartenment in the soul of the farmer after he -has been down to the train. He learns the things that his land is capable -of and yet has never reared for him. Take the perennial and hardy alfalfa, -for instance. Crowd into the car, where a hundred earnest men from the -country-side are gathered and listening to the man from the State -Agricultural College, who talks on it. - -"An acre of good alfalfa," he is saying, "produces twice as much -digestible nutriment as an acre of good clover. It is therefore profitable -to our farmers to make every effort to establish alfalfa fields. Your -climate is favorable to alfalfa, which can be grown on a variety of soils. -The most favorable is a gravelly loam with a porous sub-soil. There must -be drainage, fertility, lime, and inoculation. Alfalfa is a lime-loving -plant, and if you haven't a limy soil, apply lime at the rate of one to -two thousand pounds per acre. These figures will be given you in a -pamphlet as you leave the car." - -And so it goes. If the train is in one of the great fruit-growing -districts of western New York, fruit is the theme of the lecturers. There -is no product that the soil may give, directly or indirectly, that is too -humble for the attention of the farmers' special. All the roads in Western -New York have taken part in the campaign--the New York Central, the Erie, -the Lehigh Valley, and the smaller roads have sent out the train over the -lines, each in due turn. - -The idea has gone into the Middle West and back to Pennsylvania. The -Pennsylvania Railroad, which creates traffic from every conceivable -source, has operated since November, 1908, four agricultural specials and -two fruit-tree and shrubbery specials. The agricultural schools of the -great territory it traverses have furnished the lecturers and the -material. Now it is preparing to establish down in the Eastern Shore -country between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, a development -farm, in which it will show the farmers of that agricultural district the -greatest use that they can make of their land, the greatest results that -it can be brought to yield. It has gone down into the sandy southern part -of New Jersey and made the potato crop for New York and for Philadelphia -into a vast yield,--a profit both for the farmer and for the railroad -which has created the traffic. - - * * * * * - -The first of these development farms in the East was that established by -H. B. Fullerton, under the auspices of the Long Island Railroad, at Wading -River, N. Y. The Long Island possesses a territory that particularly needs -development of that sort. It has a good suburban territory adjacent to New -York City, but after that there is not a town of importance the entire -length of its lines. There is no manufacturing of consequence out upon its -line and it has been driven to the necessity of making traffic. - -Fullerton's Farm is another traffic-maker by educational process. He has -taken the worst of the sandy soil that makes thousands of acres at the -east end of the Island, and he has created from it a model farm. The farm -has had to pay its way. It has not been nurtured under any extensive -appropriations from the railroad, but it has had to win its success under -the same conditions that would confront the farmer who measured his -capital in hundreds, rather than in thousands of dollars. It is teaching -the lesson that it has sought to teach. Arid soil, on the very hearthstone -of a metropolitan city, is being given over to profitable truck-farming; -and the Long Island Railroad for its modest farm investment is beginning -to harvest appreciable traffic returns. - -The New York Central, under the guidance of its president, W. C. Brown, -who is keenly interested in the revival of farming in the East, and who -personally directed the operation of the "farm specials" over its lines, -has purchased two demonstration farms--one in Central, the other in -Western New York. It has hired a competent farmer to have charge of -them--T. E. Martin, of West Rush, who made a famous record for himself in -growing 300 bushels of potatoes to the acre on land that had never before -grown more than sixty. They will also serve as object lessons, and when -they have been developed to their capacity, they will be sold at a far -higher price than the song for which they were purchased in rundown -condition. The proceeds will be turned over to the purchase and -development of neglected acres in other sections along the lines of that -system. - -The New York Central is also making its own special development of the -"farm special" idea, by taking two coaches and making them into -"agricultural cars" at its West Albany shops. These cars will not run -sporadically on special trains but will be in use the entire year round, -being dropped at one little town after another for a day or two days or -three days, in order that the farmers from the surrounding district may -drop in to receive a little practical information. - -Through the schools of a number of corn-growing States, into which this -work has spread, boys and girls are being stimulated by prizes to plant -little patches of corn. Out of each community where such an exhibit is -held, ten prize-winning ears are sent to the country fair. From this the -best ten ears are sent to the State fair, and interstate competition is -already being developed. - -There is another side to this. The railroads are making more than a new -traffic for themselves, they are making a new wealth for the communities -through which their rails are stretched. It has been estimated by a -Pennsylvania agronomist that the value of the staple farm crops in the -Keystone State in a single year exceeds $170,000,000; and that some -224,000 farmers entered into this production. If by training and -education each of these farmers can increase his yield of corn one bushel -to the acre, the additional corn revenue from that one State would be -$1,044,000. Further than that, he says that $780,000 would roll into the -pockets of these farmers if they would choose their seed corn carefully -and thus add ten kernels to each ear of corn grown by them in the course -of a twelvemonth. That sort of thing looks like a cooperative benefit from -almost any angle from which you may view it. - -The Rock Island Railroad has begun to preach dry farming down through the -Southwest. Wheat six feet in length is exhibited by that railroad in its -offices throughout the East as sample of what the farmers in its territory -do, under its help and supervision. That sort of thing silently makes -traffic every day in the year. It is worth a dozen times what it costs the -railroad. - -But the railroad is not confining its efforts at making traffic to the -products of the soil. What is good method with the farmer is similarly -good method with the manufacturer. So you now see the railroads, east and -west, working with the aid of industrial commissioners. The industrial -commissioner is like a High Minister of Commerce. - -Take, for instance, a typical railroad running from New York to Chicago. -It has ample docks upon the sea board, extensive ramifications within the -coal-mining districts; in the West it taps both the Great Lakes and the -transcontinentals, which reach across the land to the Pacific. In all this -district it is under hard competition, gaining its traffic--every ton of -it--by the sweat of the general traffic-manager's brow. That railroad has -its Industrial Commissioner, and if you are a prospective manufacturer -looking for a site for a new plant, you are sure to come to him. You tell -him that you want to build a factory. He tilts back his chair and looks at -you easily. - -"What kind of a factory?" he asks. "We've room for 10,000 more along our -rails. If it's a silk mill I can suggest Paterson, where the help is -trained, and the dyes and raw materials handy. If you are going to turn -out a steel product somewhere in the Pittsburgh district, Youngstown, -Ohio, is the most economical point in the United States to-day for the -turning out of finished steel. Perhaps yours is a canning factory," he -laughs. "If you want to can fruit we can fix you out up in Western New -York among the orchards; if you want to can tomatoes, well, sir, there is -nothing like Indiana for tomatoes." - -You specify your new business and its requirements in some detail. The eye -of this practical Minister of Commerce illumines. - -"I have the very thing you want," he says, without hesitation. "Over at -W----, just half a mile above the city limits along the river. It has -siding facilities." (You may be fairly certain that the siding facilities -give chief access to the railroad that employs this particular -Commissioner.) "And you say you want fresh water. Well, there's five -thousand gallons a day of the purest soft water in the East for you." - -His eyes shine with enthusiasm. He reaches for his paper block and the -next instant he is sketching the plot for you with remarkable accuracy, -and with a similitude of scale. Here is the river and there is where you -can build your dam. Over there is the main line of the best railroad in -America (he leaves no doubt in your mind as to that); and your siding can -go in there with less than a quarter of one per cent grade. The highroad -is there, and close by it the trolley leading into town. - -"They've a surplus of help of the kind you want in W----," he adds. -"You'll never run short of hands there." - -It sounds good, and within a week you are bound to W---- with him to meet -the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. If things are as he has -represented them to you, and your mind is unbiased, you build your -factory, and the railroad picks up 200 tons a day off your siding. That -single transaction has been worth the Commissioner's salary for a year to -it. There is a variety of method in making traffic. - - * * * * * - -The general passenger agent has to keep his end up. Any G. P. A. of to-day -found entertaining the old-fashioned idea that the traffic that flows of -its own volition up to the ticket-wickets is going to be sufficient to -satisfy his employers is out of present-day development. The general -passenger agent who gets patted on the back nowadays is the man who goes -to the president in a dull season with a sheet showing gains over a -preceding busy season. He may have to bring water from stones to increase -that tide of traffic, but it must be increased. There are no two ways -about what is expected of him. - -So he gets out, like the traffic people from the freight end of the -railroad, and he keeps in constant touch with his territory, with the -towns along the line and the agents who are working under him. If he is -instrumental in locating a big convention at some point where his line -will receive the lion's share of the business, that is a good trick and -worth while. A lively convention will do a lot toward bracing up a weak -passenger sheet in some dull month. - -One railroad reaching out of New York into the mountains at the -northeastern corner of that State and losing itself at some obscure town, -a railroad without valuable connections and ramifications, has made its -passenger business a little gold-mine by scientific nurturing. It sent its -passenger representatives up into the country towns, and they sought to -improve conditions of every sort there. They started agitation for better -roads from the railroad into the uplands where city folk were prone to -wander; they helped the boarding-house landlord and the country -hotel-keeper to bring their facilities up to attractive standards. In some -cases they induced capital to come in and build new hotels. In every case -they offered free space in the railroad's summer resort literature. -Under a single general passenger agent pursuing such a campaign -unflaggingly the passenger receipts of that small railroad increased 125 -per cent in eight years! - -[Illustration: THE FAMOUS THOMAS VIADUCT, ON THE BALTIMORE & OHIO AT -RELAY, MD., BUILT BY B. H. LATROBE IN 1835, AND STILL IN USE] - -[Illustration: THE HISTORIC STARUCCA VIADUCT UPON THE ERIE] - -[Illustration: THE CYLINDERS OF THE DELAWARE & HUDSON MALLET] - -[Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF THIS GASOLINE-MOTOR-CAR ON THE UNION -PACIFIC PRESENTS A MOST UNUSUAL EFFECT, YET A MAXIMUM OF VIEW OF THE OUTER -WORLD] - -Take the case of Atlantic City. That town used to be a collection of -wooden hotels, set along a sandy, pleasant beach, which were content with -six or eight weeks of good business in midsummer. The railroads that -stretched their rails down to it registered good earnings during that hot -season, and they had to put in extensive plants to handle that six or -eight weeks of heavy traffic. The extensive--and expensive--plants were -idle a great part of the year, and there was a lot of capital wasted. The -managers of the railroads told the summer hotel proprietors that, and -asked why beach property should be a losing investment ten months out of -the year. That was a new sort of proposition for a summer resort hotel -proprietor but it seemed sound argument and the hotels extended their -seasons at either end. They combined with the railroads in making -attractive special rates for these duller parts of the season, and before -long the spring was well nigh as popular and as profitable as midsummer. - -Folk came over from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and up from Baltimore and -Washington, to spend their summers at Atlantic City, and the scientific -business-making there created a fashionable season for Northerners from -Easter forward. The building of wooden hotels ceased, and fireproof -structures of brick and stone, steel and concrete, began to rise along the -beach. Capital ceased to lie idle at Atlantic City. The hotels began to -keep open the year around, and the scientific method of the biggest of the -railroads had been so effectual that it built a million-dollar bridge -across the Delaware at Philadelphia to handle through traffic down to -Atlantic City. - -Still the railroads worked in harmony with the hotels, and the fashionable -season began at Christmas instead of Easter. Before long they will make -the fall fashionable, and then the hotels will be crowded all the year -round. When there is a lull in the season they bring on half a dozen -conventions and fill the trains and the hotels with the delegates. That -Atlantic City plant does not lie idle much of the time. There are nearly -800 hotels there to-day--more than fifty of them huge structures--and on a -busy day 300,000 people are along the famous boardwalk above the beach. In -dull days the big hotels are comfortably filled. The hotel men have made -fortunes, the railroads have added millions of dollars to their passenger -earnings because of Atlantic City. - -There you have the best example of this new creed of the practical -railroader--making traffic. It is not a lost example. Across the land -every city and town, every resort, from the haughty spa with a cluster of -brilliant hotels down to the humblest inn that ever cuddled by the shore -of a silvery lake, is taking notice of the creed. The farmer is bending -himself to increase the yield of his land, while the railroad reaps a -benefit. The marketman from town is reaching out for better sources for -his needs; the railroad helps him and reaps a benefit. The resort hotel -arranges a joint rate and ticket with the railroad, which covers both -transportation and board for a "week-end" in the dull season, and the -passenger receipts are swelled in some degree. - -That is what the railroader calls making traffic. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -THE EXPRESS SERVICE AND THE RAILROAD MAIL - - DEVELOPMENT OF EXPRESS BUSINESS--RAILROAD CONDUCTORS THE FIRST MAIL - AND EXPRESS MESSENGERS--WILLIAM F. HARNDEN'S EXPRESS SERVICE--POSTAGE - RATES--ESTABLISHMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF GREAT EXPRESS COMPANIES-- - COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF EXPRESS MATTER--RELATION BETWEEN - EXPRESS COMPANIES AND RAILROADS--BEGINNINGS OF POST-OFFICE - DEPARTMENT--STATISTICS--RAILROAD MAIL SERVICE--NEWSPAPER DELIVERY-- - HANDLING OF MAIL MATTER--GROWTH OF THE SERVICE. - - -While the great transportation functions of the railroad are devoted to -the comparatively simple problems of soliciting and carrying both -passengers and freight in ordinary channels, there are, nevertheless, -special functions of the carrier that demand some slight attention in -passing. These functions might quite properly be known as the by-products -of transportation. The most important of them are the carrying of small -packages of rather greater value than that the railroad ordinarily gives -to the goods that it handles in its own cars, and the carrying of letters -and periodicals. These last two are handled as a monopoly by the Federal -Government, which also competes with a half-dozen big private corporations -in the transportation of merchandise in small individual lots. The -Government calls its service the railroad mail and it is the bone and -sinew of the Post-office Department. The private corporations, creeping in -upon what is also generally a government monopolistic privilege in other -lands, handle what they are pleased to call the express business. Their -business has grown up alongside of that of the United States Government -and the development of the two has run in very similar channels. - - * * * * * - -The express business, like a good many other big businesses, began in -rather simple fashion. Before the railroad came into being, the citizens -in the different towns of the young and rather sprawling nation along the -Atlantic seaboard found it a difficult problem to communicate with one -another. They used to entrust letters and valuable packages to the drivers -of stage-coaches or to the captains of coasting-vessels. If the drivers or -the captains remembered the letter-packet or the package, it was safely -delivered. If they forgot--! So, when the railroad came and drove the old -stage-lines out of business, the conductors of the trains were asked to -accept this side responsibility as an informal part of their work. As long -as this messenger function remained a slight thing, the railroads paid -little attention to the practice, but after a while, the conductors got to -paying more attention to it than to running the trains and the railroads -finally had to stop it. - -In the golden age when the conductor's job was developing this valuable -perquisite, William F. Harnden had charge of a passenger train on the old -Boston & Worcester Railroad--a part of the Boston & Albany, which, in -turn, is a part of the New York Central lines. Harnden had entered -railroad service in 1834, when he was but twenty-two years old. He foresaw -the day when the railroads would have to put a stop to their conductors -acting as messengers for the general public, and so, a few years after he -had gone to work for the Boston & Worcester, he went to the superintendent -of that highly prosperous little line, as well as to the highly prosperous -Boston & Providence, and asked for an exclusive contract for an express -service over it as part of a through route between New York and Boston. So -it came about that in a Boston newspaper of February 23, 1839, the -following advertisement appeared: - - "Boston and New York Express Car. William F. Harnden has made - arrangements with the Providence railroad and the New York Boat - company to run a car through from Boston to New York and vice-versa - four times a week commencing Monday, March 4. He will accompany the - car himself, take care of all small packages that may be entrusted to - his care and see them safely delivered. All packages must be sent to - his office, 9 Court street, Boston; or 1 Wall street, New York." - -That "car" was a flight of Harnden's imagination, because for several -months a valise sufficed to carry all the packages that were entrusted to -his care. But he progressed, and after a little time he found it necessary -to engage his brother and still another man to act as messengers with him. -The following year he extended his express service to Philadelphia and to -Europe. You may be sure that the success of Harnden's experiment was being -noticed by the thrifty New Englanders. Alvin Adams, who had been in the -grocery commission business up in Vermont, established an express service -of his own in 1840, which in due course of time was to become the Adams -Express Company. It is possible that there might have been to-day a -Harnden Express Company as well, if America's pioneer expressman had not -died six years after establishing his interesting venture. - -After Alvin Adams, came a host of express services springing up all over -the eastern end of the United States. Henry Wells, who had been the -associate of Harnden in the development of his business, formed a -partnership with one George Pomeroy for a service between Albany and -Buffalo. William G. Fargo, the freight-agent for the one-time Albany and -Syracuse Railroad, was the freight-agent for Pomeroy and Wells at Buffalo -in 1842. Wells and Fargo eventually got together, and in the throbbing -days of the late forties and the fifties, Wells, Fargo & Co. became an -express service of magnitude, a concern not to be lightly reckoned with. - -Strangely enough, the express companies came to their first prosperity -through the thing that they are now forbidden to carry--letters. For in -the early forties the United States Post-office Department demanded six -cents for carrying a letter thirty miles, eight cents for sixty miles, ten -cents for one hundred miles--the ratio steadily progressing until -twenty-five cents was charged for 450 miles. Those rates had been in -effect since the department was first established, and the service was -fearfully slow, and untrustworthy into the bargain. The new express -companies took advantage of their opportunity and--to cite a single -instance--they would carry a letter from Buffalo to New York for six -cents, while the Government charged twenty-five cents for a similar, but -an inferior service. - -In 1850 the express services were beginning to be merged--Livingston & -Company and Wells & Company had already formed the American Express -Company. Four years later, Adams & Company, Harnden & Company, and some of -the smaller express services united in the formation of the Adams Express -Company,--and in that year the minstrel men began to ask the question: -"For whom was Eve made?" The United States Express Company was also -organized in 1854, and all this while Wells, Fargo & Company were forming -history for themselves in the Far West--carrying mail out to the gold -miners and their precious dust east in return. - -[Illustration: A PORTION OF THE GREAT DOUBLE-TRACK SUSQUEHANNA RIVER -BRIDGE OF THE BALTIMORE & OHIO--A GIANT AMONG AMERICAN RAILROAD BRIDGES] - -[Illustration: "IN SUMMER THE BRAKEMEN HAVE PLEASANT ENOUGH TIMES OF -RAILROADING"] - -[Illustration: A FAMOUS CANTILEVER RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING--THE SUBSTITUTION -OF A NEW KENTUCKY RIVER BRIDGE FOR THE OLD, ON THE QUEEN & CRESCENT -SYSTEM] - -By the beginning of the Civil War, there was a well established business, -a business established with admirable foresight. Such men as Adams, Wells -and Fargo, and Benjamin F. Cheney, one of the founders of the American -Express Company, said that the express business should be kept within -narrow limits--so within narrow limits it has been kept, and to-day when -Harnden's suitcase has developed into a business paying luscious -dividends on more than a hundred million dollars of capital stock, there -are five great companies: the American Express Company, the Adams Express -Company, the Wells, Fargo Express Company, the United States Express -Company, and the National Express Company. The interests of these -companies are closely interwoven--for instance: while the National Express -Company is operated as a separate business, it is absolutely controlled by -the American Express Company. In addition to this Big Five, there is a -cluster of smaller companies, such as the Great Northern Express Company, -of J. J. Hill's system, the Southern Express Company, the Long Island -Express Co., and two thriving carriers in the Dominion of Canada. These in -turn are more or less closely affiliated with the larger companies. - -The express companies no longer force a man to bring his shipment to their -offices. In every considerable town, there are whole fleets of wagons that -reach to the outermost limits, both for collection and for distribution. -In this service the automobile truck has begun readily to displace the -older type of horse and wagon. The wagon service brings the express -package, no matter how small or how large, to a central distributing -depot, where all are gathered together and sent, in through railroad cars, -to their destinations, being handled very largely as we have seen the L. -C. L. freight handled in the great transfer houses of the railroads. The -express company guarantees the safe delivery of the package that is -entrusted to its care. This package may be of the smallest sort -imaginable, or it may be a consignment of a million dollars in specie. In -either case, the express company still accepts the entire responsibility. - -If there are whole brigades of delivery wagons in the cities there are -also whole platoons of special cars owned by the railroads and dedicated -to the express service. This brings us to the crux of the express -question--its relations to the railroad. These are embraced in voluminous -contracts and subcontracts--which are generally placed among the secret -archives of all the companies that subscribe to them. The Interstate -Commerce Commission, at Washington, has had, however, access to most of -these contracts and of them it has said: - - "The contract between an express company and a railroad company - usually provides that the express company shall have the exclusive - right to operate upon the lines named for a definite term of years; - that all matter carried on passenger trains, except personal baggage, - corpses, milk cans, dogs, and certain other commodities, shall be - turned over by the railroad company to the express company; that the - railroad company shall transport to and from all points on its lines - all matter in charge of the express company; that special or exclusive - express trains shall be provided by the railroad company when - warranted by the volume of express traffic; that the railroad company - shall furnish the necessary cars, keep them in good repair, furnish - light and heat and carry the messengers of the express company as well - as all necessary equipment; that the railroad company shall furnish - such room in all its depots and stations as may be necessary for the - loading, unloading, and storing of express matter; that the express - company may employ during the pleasure of the railway any of the - agents of the latter as express agents and may employ the train - baggage-men as its messengers. - - "The express company, on its part, agrees to pay a fixed per cent of - its gross receipts from handling express matter; to charge no rate at - less than an agreed per cent of the freight rates on the same - commodity--usually one hundred and fifty per cent; to handle, free of - charge, money, bonds, valuables, and ordinary express matter of the - railway." - -The railroad mail service is, in many ways, closely analogous to that of -the express service. To it also, are devoted whole platoons and brigades -of especially equipped cars, and it comes under the direction of the -capable traffic officers of a great government department. - -The Post-office Department is practically as old as the nation itself. For -it was away back in November, 1776, that Ebenezer Hazard, who had been -appointed Postmaster General to the Continental Congress, filed a -memorandum of gentle complaint because of the long distances he was -compelled to travel to keep pace with the wanderings of the Continental -Army. But it was not until George Washington had become President of the -United States, in April, 1789, that the Post-office Department came into -any real semblance of organization. Samuel Osgood, of Massachusetts, was -the man to whom was given the task of making a real business out of what -had once been a haphazard courtesy of the past of stage-drivers and ships' -captains. Some men had made individual businesses out of the management of -stage-routes--in fact, Benjamin Franklin was an early postman. But the -United States Government from the beginning created the mail service as a -monopoly for itself--following the rule of other nations. - -In 1789 the Post-office Department was a crude enough affair. The -Postmaster General had but one clerk, there were but 75 post-offices and -1,875 miles of post-roads in the whole country. In the first year of the -department's activities the cost of mail transportation is given as being -$22,081, with the total revenue $37,935. The total expenditures of the -department that year were $32,140, leaving a surplus for the twelvemonth -of $5,795, a somewhat better showing than has been made in some years -since that time. - -The report of the Post-office Department for the year ending June 30, -1910, lies before us as we write this chapter. It tells the graphic growth -of a great business in one hundred and twenty years. For in this last -twelvemonth the receipts were $224,128,657--a really vast sum compared -with that modest $37,935 for 1789-90. The expenditures for this year -ending June 30, 1910, were even higher--$229,977,224--leaving a deficit of -$5,848,567. The Postmaster General has asserted, however, that he will -have succeeded in turning that loss into a slight profit for the year -ending June 30, 1911. These figures do not alone show the growth of the -mail service of a great land that has become entirely dependent upon this -great function of its business and social life. Think of the 75 -post-offices of 1789, compared with the 59,580 offices of 1910--and that -because of the marvellous development of the rural free delivery during -the past ten or twelve years, a decrease from the high-water mark of -76,688 in 1900. Figures are sometimes impressive and the statistics of the -Post-office Department show that 78,557 postmasters, clerks, and carriers -give the major portion of their time to its service. In addition to these, -those same statistics enumerate 40,997 rural delivery carriers, who bring -the entire post-office force up to the astounding total of 119,554 men and -women. - - * * * * * - -Without the railroad the Post-office Department could not have come to its -present great development as one of the chief arms of government activity. -The postal service is an interesting adjunct of the railroad; the railroad -is a vital factor in the successful conduct and development of the postal -service. Away back in 1836, Postmaster General Barry, in his annual -report, spoke of the rapid multiplication of railroads in all parts of the -country and asked if it was not worth while to secure the transportation -of mail upon them. He added: - -"Already have the railroads between French Town, in Maryland, and New -Castle, in Delaware, and between Camden and South Amboy, in New Jersey, -afforded great and important facilities to the transportation of the great -Eastern Mail." - -As General Barry wrote, the Baltimore & Ohio was spinning its extension -lines from Baltimore to Washington, and he expressed an opinion that with -that line a through mail service from New York to Washington might be -accomplished in sixteen hours. That service is now made between those -cities in five hours. General Barry's appeal must have brought fruit, for -Congress, on July 7, 1838, passed an act approving every railroad in the -United States as a post-route. - -The railroads accepted this responsibility with alacrity. The Baltimore & -Ohio equipped compartments in baggage-cars running between Baltimore and -Washington, which were kept tightly locked and to which only the -postmasters of those two cities had access. Still the early methods of -handling merchandise of every sort were crude and it was not until the -days of the Civil War that the railroad mail service began to attain -anything like its present precision and dispatch. Most great organisms are -apt to trace their development to the brilliancy or the inspiration of one -man or a group of men, and the railroad mail service has been no exception -to that rule. - -W. A. Davis, a clerk in the post-office at St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1862, -conceived the idea that railroad mail could be assorted on the cars before -it reached St. Joseph. In those days, St. Joseph was a pretty important -sort of a place. The overland mail started west from there, and Davis -thought that if it could be at least partly assorted before it reached St. -Joseph, there would be no delay in starting overland. The Post-office -Department encouraged him and he began what was destined to become the -most important and interesting function of the railroad mail service. - -In the same years that Davis was studying out postal problems at St. -Joseph, Col. G. B. Armstrong was assistant postmaster at Chicago. He was -asked by Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, of President Lincoln's -Cabinet, to undertake the development of the railroad mail service. He -accepted the task August 31, 1864, and a little later was made General -Railway Mail Superintendent, a position which he held until 1871, when he -was compelled to retire because of ill health. Col. George S. Bangs, of -Illinois, succeeded him, and to Col. Bangs was given the opportunity of -the third great development in the railroad mail service. In his report -for the year 1874 he discussed the possibilities of establishing a fast -and exclusive mail train between the two great postal centres of the -land--New York and Chicago. To quote from Colonel Bangs' report: - - "This train is to be under the control of the department so far as it - is necessary for the purpose designed, and to run the distance in - about twenty-four hours. It is conceded by railroad officials that - this can be done. The importance of a line like this cannot be - overestimated. It would reduce the actual time of mail between the - East and the West from twelve to twenty-four hours. As it would - necessarily be established on one or more of the trunk lines having an - extended system of connections, its benefit would be in no case - confined, but extended through all parts of the country alike." - -Postmaster General Jewell liked Col. Bangs' idea and told him to arrange -with the Lake Shore Railroad and the New York Central & Hudson River -Railroad for a fast mail train to leave New York at four o'clock in the -morning and make Chicago in twenty-four hours. But the Post-office -Department, while it might grandly order fast mail trains into service, -had no appropriation from which to pay for them. Nevertheless, Col. Bangs -appealed to the older Vanderbilt, owner of both the New York Central and -Lake Shore Railroads. Commodore Vanderbilt was not a sentimentalist. He -had little use for men who came to him with risky propositions and empty -pocketbooks. Nevertheless, the mail train idea appealed to the old -railroader, and he turned to his son, William H. Vanderbilt, and asked him -what he thought of the idea. The younger Vanderbilt suggested building the -special cars needed for this service and placing the train in operation, -with hopes of remuneration by the following Congress. He felt that the new -trains would instantly become so popular as to compel Congress to provide -for their up-keep. - -"If you want to do this, go ahead," said Commodore Vanderbilt, "but I know -the Post-office Department, and you will, too, within a year." - -William H. Vanderbilt went ahead. He constructed and placed in service -such trains--of glittering white and gold--as the railroad had never seen. -Nightly they made their spectacular run between New York and Chicago with -clock-work regularity. They never missed connections. The Pennsylvania -Railroad quickly followed the example of its traditional rival. Within a -half-year the United States had such a mail service as it had never -dreamed of possessing, a mail service a quarter of a century ahead of any -other nation in the world. - -And yet Congress did the very thing that the sagacious old Commodore -Vanderbilt had predicted. It absolutely refused to pay for the fast mail -trains, and they were taken out of service. There was another factor in -the situation, however, and that always a lively factor--the public. When -the man out in Sioux City found that his mail was again taking eighteen -additional hours to reach him from New York, he rose up in all the fulness -of upstrung wrath and let his Congressman hear from him. And he was only -one of tens of thousands whose business comfort had been heightened, quite -imperceptibly, by the new trains, and upset very perceptibly by their -withdrawal. They were returned to service in 1877, and have since become -so recognized and useful a function of the mail service that it would be a -brash Congress or Postmaster General who would even attempt to tinker with -them. - - * * * * * - -Sometimes you brush elbows with the railroad mail service. You notice -perhaps, the big heavy car up forward in the long train, with its open -door and its gallows-like crane for snatching mail-bags, at cross-road -stations, where the through train does not even deign to slacken speed. If -you have had an important and delayed letter to post, you may have -breathed your little prayer of thanks to the railroad mail because you are -able to drop it into the slot of a car that stood, that was halted for an -impatient minute or two in its race overland. But these are hardly more -than superficialities of the service. If you wish to come closer to its -heart, present yourself sometimes just before dawn at one of the great -railroad terminals of a really metropolitan city. You had better present -yourself in spirit and not in flesh, because this busy time--when most -honest men are asleep--is not a time when visitors are welcomed. The -Government is singularly diffident about showing the inner workings of its -Post-office Department. - -But these inner workings are alive and alert at three o'clock of the -morning that you come to the platform sheds of the big terminal--you can -see the shadowy outline of the darkened building itself rising up behind -you. Most of its platforms which by day are constant and brisk little -highways, are also darkened. The long files of empty coaches that line -these platforms reflect in their many windows the signal lights of the -outer yard. Now and again you catch the flicker of a pointed yellow light -against the background of blackness--the bobbing of a watchman's lantern -as he sees that all is well in the few hours of comparative quiet that -come to this great terminal. - -This one train platform is alert and alive--brilliant under the -incandescence of electricity. A brigade of shirt-sleeved men line it, -while to its outer edge one great wagon after another--each showing the -red, white, and blue of government service under the reflections of the -arcs--comes rolling up, with a fearful clatter over the rough pavement of -the station yard. From the cavernous recesses of these great wagons their -stores are poured forth--dozens and dozens of mail sacks of leather and -canvas, each tagged and directed with absolute accuracy. - -The grimy granite bulk of the general post-office is a scarce half-dozen -blocks away from this terminal--an easy span for each of the great -mail-wagons. Into that general post-office the mail--letters, newspapers, -packages, all of inconceivable variety--has been pouring at flood-tide -ever since the close of business nine hours before. The carriers with -their heavy pouches began this tide; wagons bringing their contribution -greatly swelled it. From the nearer stations the mail came, silent and -unseen, through the giant pneumatic tubes that reach out from the general -post-office, under city streets, like great arteries. Underneath the -ghastly green mercury lamps of the distributing floor of the general -post-office, the first steps were taken toward separating the flood. -Expert mail-clerks, working under tremendous tension, made a rough -classification of all that come under their trained fingers--sometimes by -counties, again by States, or even a group of States. One great -subdivision was transcontinental and transpacific. This train with its -close connections on the Western lines will reach San Francisco just in -time to catch there a big, red-funnelled steamship about to depart for -Yokohama and Hong Kong. At Hong Kong the red-funnelled boat will connect -with a P. & O. steamer whose screws will hardly cease revolving until she -reaches Calcutta. The railroad mail service is a thing that reaches much -farther than the rights-of-way of the railroads themselves. - -There are seven cars in this train--five cars for the postal service and -two chartered by the morning newspapers. There are no coaches. Now and -then one of these flyers will deign to carry a single sleeper, but such is -the exception. The fast mail does not stop to quibble with such trifles as -passengers. It even turns its shoulders upon the express companies--they -have their own fast special trains across the continent. - -The last of the mail-wagons has delivered its valuable load to the cars. -The final newspaper wagon comes dashing up to the platform--its horses -a-froth and its driver on the edge of profanity. - -"Here's the firsts," he yells. "Big fire down the water-front and they -wanted to make the edition with it. We were three minutes late." - -Three minutes late! Seventeen minutes ago the last of the smoking-hot -forms came from that newspaper's stereotyping rooms and here are the first -ten thousand copies of the morning's run--fresh and damp smelling of the -forest. Before the driver began his hurried explanation of delay, the -copies were being thrown into the last car. He had hardly finished before -a big bell, high-hung somewhere in the invisible blackness, speaks its one -brief note of authority; lanterns are raised alongside the full length of -the train--the seven big cars are softly getting into motion. And before -this train is fully in motion the newspaper's messengers are busy with the -papers that have been thrown in at the open door; before it has bumped its -way over the wide-spreading "throat" at the entrance of the terminal, they -are bringing the first semblance of order out of the miniature mountain of -newspapers piled high on the car floor. - -Chaos, did we say? Well, hardly that. The circulation manager of the -metropolitan morning newspaper has been called a "field marshal of the -empire of print," and field marshals incline to order rather than to -chaos. It is less than seventeen minutes from the first of that torrent of -newspapers pouring from the hopper of the grinding press, yet here they -are, each in an accurate bundle of not more than two hundred and fifty -copies, and accurately tagged. The label of each bundle bears in big clear -letters the news company or dealer to whom it is consigned, the town, the -railroad and its connections. There is not much chance for errors here. - -As the newspaper messengers begin to arrange their stock--the papers for -the nearest towns on top so that they may be most easily reached, to be -thrown off while it is still dusk, so that Mr. Early Riser may read his -favorite metropolitan journal as he sips his breakfast coffee--so are the -mail-clerks in the cars ahead bending to their tasks. Roundabout them are -rows of pouches held in iron frames, with their hungry throats held wide -open, and infinite racks of small pigeon-holes--the same kind that you -remember in the up-country post-offices. When the pouches first come into -the car they are opened and their contents "dumped-up," to use the -parlance of the service, upon the shelf-like tables that run the length of -the place. The next process is "facing-up"--bringing addressed sides of -all the matter uppermost for facility in distribution. And after that the -distribution itself--no easy matter when all the world is constantly -writing to all the world, and the criss-cross currents are all but -innumerable. - -So come all classes of mail to these swift-flying cars--letters, -newspapers, packages, the specially protected registered mail,--and for -all of these classes the apparently endless sorting goes steadily forward, -while the train rounds sharp curves and sends the ordinarily sure-footed -clerks clutching handrails for balance, under the dead glow of acetylene, -holding each separate mail-piece for a fraction of a second--sometimes -longer if it be a "sticker" in the chirography or the detail of its -address--and then shooting it into the proper pigeon-hole or open-mouthed -pouch. Some of these cars are destined for cities or States or groups of -States--the wheels under one of them are not going to cease revolving for -any length of time until it stands on the long Mole, opposite San -Francisco, and the through pouches, with the British coat-of-arms and the -meaningful "G. R." stamped upon them, are being shipped aboard the -red-funnelled steamship which is to carry them on the last leg of their -long journey over two seas and a broad continent, from London to Hong -Kong. - -These trains are no longer novel on the modern railroad. They are -established features of the train service. From New York City goes forward -one-sixth of all the mail matter originating in the United States. The -aggregate circulation of all the New York morning newspapers is somewhat -larger than the aggregate circulation of the morning newspapers of the -other cities of the country, so from New York there goes forth between -midnight and dawn a flotilla of special mail and newspaper trains. Two of -the fastest of these start from the Grand Central Station. The "Boston -Special" of the New York, New Haven & Hartford leaves that spacious -terminal at just 2:10 A. M., no matter what desperate excuses may be -telephoned at the last moment by some circulation manager who is -confronted by a disabled press, or some such disaster. It slips through -the suburban territory without halting--the nearby commuters are served -with their papers and their mail by the early morning locals. Bridgeport, -at 3:31 A. M., is the first halt; New Haven, at 3:52, the second. At New -Haven, the papers for Hartford, Springfield, and the whole Connecticut -valley country are thrown off. At New London, which is reached at 4:53 A. -M., go the papers for Norwich, Worcester, Newport, and New Bedford. One -more halt, at Providence, and the train, running as fast as the fastest of -New Haven flyers, is at the South Station, Boston--at just 7:20 o'clock. A -Boston & Maine flyer, taking mail and newspapers away up the coast through -three States, leaves the North Station at 8:01 A. M., and so there follows -a quick transfer of mail and newspapers through the twisting streets of -the Hub. - -The other early morning flyer leaves the Grand Central at 3:05 o'clock, -and it makes its course over the main stem of the New York Central Lines. -It reaches Albany at 6:30 o'clock and not only distributes there for -Western Massachusetts and Vermont, the upper Hudson Valley and the Lake -Champlain territory north to Montreal, but overhauls a passenger train -that left New York a little after midnight. It continues its course -through the heart of the Empire State--reaching Syracuse at 10:05 A. M. -and Rochester at 11:47 A. M. At Buffalo, which is reached at 1:20 P. M., -there are important connections for the West and Southwest, and the -Chicago letters in that grimy train are going out on the first delivery -from the Chicago post-office the next morning. - -The Pennsylvania hauls two great trains--built up of mail sections from -its new terminal on Manhattan Island, which has a great post-office in -process of growth, built over a portion of its platform tracks, and -newspaper sections from the old Jersey terminal, which is still most -convenient to a majority of the metropolitan papers. The first of these -trains is bound for the South and the Southwest. It leaves New York at -2:20 A. M., passes Philadelphia at 4:25, and steams into Baltimore at 6:40 -A. M. Another hour sees it in Washington and transferring its load to the -mail-trains that are about to start for the long journey to Atlanta and -New Orleans. A New Yorker sojourning for a part of the winter at Palm -Beach, Florida, can be sure of having his favorite Sunday paper not later -than Tuesday morning. - -The second Pennsylvania train leaves thirty minutes later and follows the -main line of that much-travelled highway all the way to Pittsburgh, which -it reaches just at noon. Other railroads out of New York start fast -newspaper and mail trains just before dawn and combine regular passenger -facilities with them--the Lehigh Valley despatching a flyer at 2:00 -o'clock from the old Pennsylvania terminal in Jersey City for the populous -northeastern corner of Pennsylvania and the so-called Southern Tier of New -York State. The Lackawanna reaches a somewhat similar territory by its -fast express, which leaves Hoboken at 2:30 o'clock. - -A similar cluster of mail and newspaper flyers starts out of Chicago early -each morning--east over the Lake Shore, the Michigan Central, and the -Pennsylvania, south over the Monon and the Illinois Central, and west and -northwest over the Northwestern, the Rock Island, and the Santa Fe. Other -great cities follow the same programme in lesser scale--there are many -important fast-mail trains that make their departures from initial -terminals throughout all the daylight hours and late into the evening. A -regiment of mail-cars make their way over the face of the land on fast -through expresses of every sort. The postal service is a business of -magnitude within itself. - -The Postmaster General's report for the year ending June 30, 1910, gives a -clear conception of its magnitude. He showed then that there were 176 full -railroad post-office lines, manned by 1,736 crews of 8,332 clerks. There -were also 1,392 compartment railroad post-office lines--lines in which a -portion of a baggage or smoking-car is partitioned for the sole use of the -postal service--manned by 4,085 crews of 5,407 clerks, 18 electric car -lines with 20 crews and 22 clerks, and 55 steamboat lines with 98 crews -and 86 clerks. Of the cars built for the exclusive use of the railroad -mail service, 1,114 were in use and 206 held in reserve, while 3,208 of -the compartment cars were in use, 559 of these being held in reserve. In -addition, the Post-office Department operates 25 trolley mail-cars. - -Great progress has been made in the substitution of steel mail-cars for -wooden ones--a real step forward when one pauses to consider the dangerous -position in which the mail-cars are placed in most trains. The records of -the Post-office Department are filled with stories of heroism on the part -of mail-clerks in saving, both the extremely valuable merchandise that is -given to their care, and vastly more valuable human lives. The list of the -post-office employees who have met death while on duty in the railroad -mail service is not a short one. - -But the railroads are coöperating with the Government in giving the -finest type of steel cars to its mail service,--sixty of these are already -in use on the Pennsylvania system,--for, as we stated at the outset of -this chapter, the transportation of Uncle Sam's mail is no slight function -of the modern railroad. The big operating men across the land are -constantly bending their heads with those of the post-office officials -toward the betterment of that transportation. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -THE MECHANICAL DEPARTMENTS - - CARE AND REPAIR OF CARS AND ENGINES--THE LOCOMOTIVE CLEANED AND - INSPECTED AFTER EACH LONG JOURNEY--FREQUENT VISITS OF ENGINES TO THE - SHOPS AND FOUNDRIES AT ALTOONA--THE TABLE FOR TESTING THE POWER AND - SPEED OF LOCOMOTIVES--THE CAR SHOPS--STEEL CARS BEGINNING TO SUPERSEDE - WOODEN ONES--PAINTING A FREIGHT CAR--LACK OF METHOD IN EARLY REPAIR - SHOPS--SEARCH FOR FLAWS IN WHEELS. - - -To care for its rolling-stock the railroad creates two distinct functions -of its business. All the care of its permanent way, including tracks, -tunnels, bridges, comes under the control of the Maintenance Way -Department. Similarly, the Mechanical Department assumes control of the -cars and engines, sees to it that each is maintained to its fullest -efficiency, both by care in daily service and by certain visits to the -shops at regular intervals, for repairs, reconstruction, and painting. - -To do all this requires a large plant, both in buildings and machinery. It -is distributed at every important point along the railroad. At terminal -and operating points, roundhouse facilities of greater or less extent are -sure to be located, and at the headquarters of each division these are -generally expanded into shops for the making of light repairs and to avoid -handling crippled equipment for any great distance. One large shop plant -is apt to suffice the average railroad for the heavy repair work. If the -road stretch to any extraordinary length, even this feature is apt to be -duplicated in order to concentrate this repair work as far as possible. - -All this concerns the care and repair of the locomotive--which the -railroader quickly groups under the title "motive-power." To care for the -engines while they are in use out upon the line, to see to it that -engineers and firemen alike handle these mechanisms with economy and -skill, is a responsibility that is placed upon the road foreman of engines -of each division. He has supervision over smaller roundhouses but at any -of the larger of these structures there is a roundhouse foreman in direct -charge. The railroad long ago learned that its best economy rested in -having plenty of executive control. That has come to be one of the maxims -of the business. - -There is a master mechanic in charge of the division shops and in many -cases he has authority over the road foreman of engines and the roundhouse -foremen. Then under him he has his various assistants, forming a working -force not at all unlike that of the average iron-working shop. All this -organism is gathered together under a superintendent of motive power, who -in turn may report to a general mechanical superintendent. This official -answers only to the general manager, or, in some cases, to a -vice-president to whom these functions of the care of the railroad are -delegated. - -The proposition of the cars is generally treated quite apart from that of -the locomotive, and separate shops under the direction of a master -car-builder and his assistants are located at a few points upon the -system, where they may be of fairly easy access. Rough repairs (the -car-builders term these "light" repairs) to cars are carried forth at each -division yard. This work is almost entirely confined to the freight -equipment, and a good part of it goes upon "foreign" cars--cars that do -not belong at all to the railroad making the repairs. - -This feature of the repair work is a direct result of an elaborate system -of interchange in freight equipment upon American railroads, in order to -prevent the breaking of bulk in the shipment of merchandise from one line -to another. Cars will break down when they are many hundreds of miles away -from home, and the railroad upon which they are operating at the time -carts them to the nearest temporary repair yard or to its own shops, makes -the necessary repairs, and charges for them in accordance with a scale -prepared by the national association of Master Car-Builders. This -necessitates a vast deal of bookkeeping and is only one of the many -complications brought about by our extensive plan of railroading in -America. - -The railroad will probably build the greater part of its freight -equipment, although in these days of the supplanting of wood by steel in -car-construction the companies are apt to stand appalled at the cost of -the steel working machinery, and to buy their cars direct from the -manufacturers very much as they purchase their locomotives. Passenger -equipment is almost invariably secured in this way. It is a big railroad -indeed that seeks to construct for itself the huge travelling palaces that -the passenger of to-day has come to demand for his comfort. The repairing -and the painting of these elaborate vehicles is enough of a proposition in -itself. - - * * * * * - -To begin at the beginning, one first comes in contact with the mechanical -department as it comes into constant contact with the operation of the -railroad. This is the more quickly observed at the roundhouses, those -great circular structures that are a feature of the railroad section of -every important town. In England the "engine sheds," as they are there -known, are simple enough structures, housing a series of parallel tracks, -which are served by either a transfer table or switches. Such a plan is -pursued in this country only where space is at a premium--as in the heart -of some great city where realty is exceedingly high-priced; for the heads -of our railroads have held tenaciously to the easily operated turntable -and roundhouse scheme. The table, generally driven by electricity or a -small dummy engine, forms the centre, the roundhouse a segment of the -entire rim of the wheel. The great advantage of its simple design lies in -the fact that it is instantly possible to get at any one of the fifty -or more locomotives that it houses. It is this feature that has endeared -it to the railroad man for many years. - -[Illustration: TRIPLE-PHASE ALTERNATING-CURRENT LOCOMOTIVE BUILT BY THE -GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. FOR USE IN THE CASCADE TUNNEL, OF THE GREAT NORTHERN -RAILWAY] - -[Illustration: HEAVY SERVICE, ALTERNATING AND DIRECT CURRENT FREIGHT -LOCOMOTIVE BUILT BY THE WESTINGHOUSE COMPANY FOR THE NEW YORK, NEW HAVEN & -HARTFORD RAILROAD] - -[Illustration: THE MONOROAD IN PRACTICAL USE FOR CARRYING PASSENGERS AT -CITY ISLAND, NEW YORK] - -[Illustration: THE CIGAR-SHAPED CAR OF THE MONOROAD] - -The locomotive that hauls the train goes to its "stall" in the roundhouse -directly after its work is done. Its crews, having finished their run, -desert it for the time being, and it comes within the charge of the -roundhouse foreman and his "hostlers." These old terms are reminiscent of -the days when the roundhouse was a real stable and its denizens flesh and -blood horses. Now the denizens of the roundhouse are iron horses, and in -their great size as they rest within their house they are indicative of -the progress that has been made in the design and construction of railroad -equipment. - -On the way to the roundhouse, possibly on the way from it (the practice -varies on different railroads) the engine will stop at the ash-pit. It -will have its fires cleaned in a long pit that runs underneath a section -of track, and then pass on to the coaling-shed. The long pit at some -points is filled with iron buckets that run on wheels into which the ashes -are dumped and these are emptied by overhead crane apparatus into a nearby -line of empty gondolas, ready to be taken away to be disposed of. - -At the coaling shed the tender is filled, some twelve or fifteen tons -being required if the engine is large; the water-spout fills the capacious -tanks, while the hostlers take good care to see that the sand-box is -filled, as a precaution against slipping on the next steep grade. Then on -to the turntable and the waiting stall, until ready to go out again upon -the regular service or extra duty. During that time it will be both -cleaned and inspected. The fireman may be held responsible for the cleanly -appearance of his engine above the running-board. Below that, the work -will be delegated to the roundhouse force. The fireman will probably feel -that it should clean all the engine. When he feels particularly aggrieved -over the matter it is time for him to meet one of the veterans of the -service, who will tell him of the days when the engines were gayly -ornamented with brass and light-colored paints, and the fireman's career -had added to it an endless campaign with his wiping rag against the -tendency of the bright-work to tarnish. There are some things that -decidedly favor the fireman of the present time. - -There are not always sufficient roundhouse facilities at every point; the -traffic of our railroads has a way of constantly running away from the -facilities; and so there are many times when the engines must be housed in -the open. But the vigilance and the care upon them are never relaxed. The -railroad that is foolish enough to try to save upon the maintenance of its -motive power sooner or later pays a terrible price for its penurious -folly. - -So it comes to pass that every engine makes a regular visit to the shops, -generally at periods of from ten to fourteen months, depending upon the -service in which it is engaged. On some of these visits, it will be pretty -completely dismantled, and a travelling crane running the full length of -the erecting shop will soon lift the heavy boiler from frame and wheels -and carry it down to the boiler-makers, with no more difficulty than an -automatic package carrier in a dry-goods store would have. There is a deal -of pride and rivalry between the men as to the facility and speed that can -be shown in taking an engine in hand, dismantling it completely, making -necessary repairs, setting it up again and placing it in service once -more. The men of the Erie shops at Hornellsville succeeded in doing the -trick a year or so ago in the remarkably short time of twenty-four hours. -In that brief time a locomotive came in from the road, bedraggled and -begrimed and marked "TBMF" for the benefit of the shop-men. "TBMF" -translated means "Tires, Boxes, Machine, Flues," so specifying the engine -parts to be repaired. In the slang of the repair shop the men say "To Be -Made Fast." These four requisites are the ones most necessary to make the -locomotive fit for from 50,000 to 75,000 miles of service before she -shall again turn into the shop. To make them in twenty-four hours required -some planning on the part of the Erie shop foremen at Hornellsville, and -yet it was only a few weeks after 1734 had come out of the Hornellsville -plant fit for revenue service in a single day and night, before the men of -the rival Susquehanna shop wished a chance at a contest of that sort. -"TBMF" generally keeps a locomotive in the shop for from a fortnight to -three or four weeks; the Canadian Pacific considered that it had done a -remarkable thing in effecting these repairs on a locomotive, with a -super-heater, at its Winnipeg shops in 57-1/2 hours. The Hornellsville -record was one most remarkable. But the Susquehanna shop men took 2018 in -off the road after 70,000 miles without repairs; took in the big puller at -7 o'clock in the morning, made the heavy "TBMF" repairs, and turned her -out for revenue service at 7:34 o'clock in the evening--thirteen hours and -thirty-four minutes. At midnight she was pulling a heavy through freight -west once again, and a most astounding record in American shop work had -been consummated. - - * * * * * - -The United States have few such towns as England possesses in Swindon and -in Crede, railroad towns in the distinctive sense that they were the -absolute creation of the railroad in the first instance. There is many a -town from one ocean to the other that has owed its stimulus and -development to the location of large railroad shops and terminals within -its boundaries, but the railroads have, as a rule, dodged the creation of -distinctive towns. Pullman, within the outskirts of Chicago, was a -monumental failure in this very sort of enterprise. It was designed and -built to accommodate the great car-building shops of that man who did the -most of all men to make luxury in railroad traffic--George M. Pullman; and -no greater care was shown in the construction and design of the works than -was given toward the stores, the churches, the schools, and the homes of -the workmen. Pullman was decidedly a model town; yet Pullman was a -failure. Other model towns of the same sort in Europe have been marked -successes, and that very thing may well serve to illustrate the difference -in temperament between the American and the European workingman. The -American resents too much being done for him; he is instinctively jealous -of his individuality. - -Away back in the long-ago the Erie created a railroad town at Susquehanna -in the extreme north part of Pennsylvania. It built shops there and soon -after repeated the experiment at Hornellsville in the southwestern part of -New York State. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad similarly developed -Cumberland, Maryland; and the Lake Shore, Elkhart, Ind. These are few of -many instances where a great railroad shop has served to develop a sizable -town. In some others they have developed important suburbs of large -cities, as the Lake Shore's plant at Collinwood, at the eastern edge of -the city of Cleveland; and the great shops of the New York Central at -Depew, in the outskirts of Buffalo, which were built when the plant at -West Albany could no longer accommodate the rolling-stock of a rapidly -growing system. - -In Altoona, Pa., the United States possesses probably the only distinctive -railroad town of extent within its boundaries. Altoona was the creation of -the Pennsylvania Railroad more than half a century ago, and its progress, -carefully stimulated, has proceeded step by step in company with the -progress of one of the largest of American railroad systems. The mistakes -of Pullman have not been repeated at Altoona. If the Pennsylvania Railroad -has ruled the city in the hills, it has ruled it tacitly and tactfully at -all times. It has avoided even the appearance of paternalism, and the -growth of Altoona has been measured by the growth of the country, which in -its turn is measured with marvellous accuracy by the growth of the -railroad traffic. So a trip to Altoona and through its great shops will -be illustrative of the very best practice in the construction and -maintenance of a railroad's car and engine. - -The Altoona shops are unusual in the fact that both locomotives and cars -of the highest capacity and finest type are built within them, in addition -to a great repair and refurnishing work being carried forward there at all -times. To do this work, the plant, employing during the seasons of -heaviest traffic something like 15,000 men--is divided into several -divisions that stretch themselves along the railroad tracks for about six -miles. - -The first of these divisions consists of the foundries, devoted largely to -the manufacture of cast-iron car-wheels of every size and grade. Extensive -cupolas, core-rooms and moulding-floors are provided for making 1,000 -car-wheels every 24 hours. There is the blacksmith shop as part of this -particular plant. The blacksmith is one of the handiest of men about a -railroad shop and one of the few to survive the almost universal -introduction of machine processes. There are also the machine and pattern -shops, together with a large foundry for the manufacture of castings for -cars and locomotives, having a capacity of 200 tons a day. - -The second division of industrial activity at Altoona is the locomotive -repair shop. This is the largest of all the individual plants at that -point, employing about 5,000 men, and with its three- and four-story -structures built closely within a busy yard it is a veritable city within -a city. It has a capacity of about 1,800 reconstructed and repaired -locomotives a year and is a shop well calculated to fill any one with -respect. - -The third division is the Junction shops, where the new locomotives are -built; 1,800 men are employed within it, and there men take the new -castings and forgings (most of the castings coming up from the giant -foundries that we have just noticed), and from them they create that -almost human thing, the railroad locomotive. When the locomotive emerges -from that shop it takes its turn upon the testing-table, the mechanical -experts place their final stamp of approval upon it, and at last it goes -out from the shop, under its own steam, to perform the great work for -which it was created. - -The testing-table is one of the most interesting of Altoona's activities. -The engine is run upon a series of wheels that fit exactly underneath its -own; it is fastened snugly into place; connections are made with a score -of pipes and rods that fit upon its mechanism, and it starts off for a run -up over the division. It runs miles and miles, snorting furiously over the -hard grades and under the heavy loads it has to haul, and yet it does not -move even the finest fraction of an inch from that testing table. Its -mechanism throbs with energy, its wheels revolve at a fearful rate; yet it -is a helpless caged creature in a seemingly impotent energy, as the men in -charge of the test watch a dozen dials, notebooks in hand. The big driving -wheels turn only upon the friction wheels beneath them but the engineers -who are conducting the test can tell the speed at which the locomotive is -travelling--in theory--by the almost human needles upon the dial-faces. -There is more delicate scientific apparatus behind the engine. It is -stripped from its tender for this test, and by this apparatus the pull of -the engine upon the dead load of the train can be exactly estimated in -pounds and ounces. Nor is this all. The friction wheels underneath the -drivers are controlled by powerful water brakes, and by the regulation of -these brakes, strains or handicaps can be placed upon the engine exactly -similar to those of the grades it may have to reach over a heavy -mountainous stretch of railroad. - -There is no guess-work about modern railroading. Many hundreds of -thousands of dollars are spent each year in expert scientific tests of -every sort, in the salaries of men who devote their entire time to this -work; and the railroads reap the benefits in many more hundreds of -thousands of dollars in operating economies. Railroading is a pretty exact -science; the big engine on the testing-table at Altoona is only one of a -host of evidences of the skill and genius that are being brought to bear -upon the operation of the great railroad properties of the country at the -present time. - -This engine goes upon diet. Dr. Wiley down at Washington with his young -men sustaining themselves scientifically upon measured and selected foods -has something of the same method that is shown with the test engine up at -Altoona in the hills. Its supply of coal is carefully weighed and analyzed -by sample. An accounting of the amount consumed down to ounces is -carefully kept, the water supply is also examined and measured with great -care. When the test is finished and the big chaotive engine has covered -miles of theoretical grades with a long theoretical train hitched on -behind, the experts get busy with their pencils and begin to prepare the -reports upon which their chief may rely when he goes ahead to construct -another gross of 100-ton locomotives. - - * * * * * - -The car shops rank next in importance to the locomotive shops. The foreman -of this plant tells you casually that it has an annual capacity of 300 new -passenger cars and 3,600 new freight cars. It is a great plant of itself, -some seventy acres of ground covered with great construction buildings. -Some of these are in roundhouse form, for convenience in handling -equipment under construction; others are set side by side and easily -reached by use of a long transfer table. - -The work of erecting the freight equipment is carried on quite separate -from that of the passenger car work. The almost universal use of steel in -the manufacture of every sort of freight car, save the box-cars, which -still have wooden walls and roof built upon a steel foundation, has made a -large steel-working shop a necessary adjunct of every car-building plant. -One of the most interesting features of the Altoona car-building plant is -a giant hydraulic press situate in the open, just outside of the -steel-working plant. This press brings a dead weight of 1,500 tons down -upon the sheet of steel that it receives. It is used in making the sills -of the freight-cars--"fish-bellies," the master car-builders call -them--and under that giant press a sheet of steel, one-half inch in -thickness and from thirty to forty feet in length, is bent into shape as -easily as you might bend a sheet of soft cardboard within your fingers. -The press makes many hundred "fish-belly" sills every working day, and it -pays its way. - -The steel-working in this shop has been carried forth into passenger car -construction and a great shed given over for that work. Within it one sees -the gaunt frames of the cars that are to be, gaining shape, until at the -far end of the shop is a line of the cars, completed as far as the steel -workers can carry them, and ready to be swung by one of the ever-busy -switch-engines to the finishing shop, and then finally to the paint shop. - -Even with the steel car coming into its own, there are still hundreds of -thousands of wooden cars in operation; and the construction of wooden cars -will not cease for many years. While steel as a raw material is not far in -advance of the cost of wood these days, the cost of fashioning it into -cars is still so excessive as to make it impracticable save in cases of -extremely profitable operation. One of the strongest points in favor of -steel in car-construction is that of the economy of its maintenance, -always a strong point with railroad men. The wooden car feels the wear and -tear of life upon the rail keenly; in the case of a wreck it is not to be -even compared with the steel car. - -It should not be forgotten, though, that the railroads have many thousands -of wooden passenger-coaches still in service, and the substitution of -steel equipment for these has only just begun. The average life of a car -approximates twenty years, and the simplest of railroad economics demands -that these cars be retained for their active life. As they wear out steel -cars can be, and they already are being, substituted by the great systems. -This new equipment is being used at first upon the main lines and through -trains, where both speed and density of traffic demand the railroad's best -equipment. Gradually it will be spread to the trains and branch lines of -less importance. - -With the wooden car still a factor in railroad equipment, the carpenter -has not yet lost his vocation in the shops. There is much of the coarser -work on the freight cars for him; in the elaborate passenger coaches, -dining-cars and other equipment of that class, the great mass of cabinet -work still demands the cunning of his hands. Here in the miscellaneous -carpenter-shop he is at work upon a seat frame for a day-coach, a shade -fixture, a broken chair from a dining car, a baggage truck from some -station; there is plenty of work for the carpenter around a car-shop. - -It is a matter of pride with the railroad to keep its passenger equipment -bright and shiny and new of appearance. It is part sentiment and part good -business. For a railroad cannot hope to attract passengers with dirty, -unkempt, weather-beaten cars. So it is that the paint-shop is a large -function of the car-shop. American railroads may not go quite as much into -gaudy car decoration as do the railroads of England and continental -Europe. Each year the canons of simple good taste are driving the -car-designers to plainer models, but no expense is spared to make -car-surfaces, within and without, as bright and shiny as those of a -private carriage or an automobile. - -So it is that a passenger coach spends from eighteen to twenty days in the -paint-shop alone, in its period of refurbishing. It is primed at first and -then it receives from three to five coats of surfacer. This is all -hand-work, requiring both strong muscles and infinite patience on the part -of the painters. Two or three coats of the standard color of the railroad, -by which its equipment is known distinctively, are given to the exterior. -Lettering and striping follow, then finally two coats of fine varnish are -flowed and rubbed to a high and brilliant polish. - -The car is now ready for the dust and the dirt of the line. About every -year it will come back again for re-varnishing and at the end of about -eight years it will again undergo practically the same treatment within -the paint-shop as was given it at the beginning. It will come in rusty and -begrimed after many thousands of miles up and down the toilsome line. -Within three weeks it will emerge from the paint-shop fresh and radiant, -having obtained a new lease of life. - -If the same process were to be applied to the freight equipment, the -paint-shop would be of almost unlimited size. But freight-cars are not -varnished. They are merely painted with the best of time-resisting -pigments, usually a dull and sombre red. The freight-cars literally go -through a bath in the paint-shop. Expert painters stand, like -fire-fighters, with a hose-nozzle in their hands. Through the hose the -paint is forced, gallons upon gallons of it; and when it is all over the -freight-car is a fine, even red, just like the painters themselves. The -lettering is a quick matter, with the use of stencils. - - * * * * * - -There remain two other great divisions of a central plant of this -sort--locomotive repair shops and car repair shops, for the needs of the -immediate divisions with their heavy traffic. These shops, extensive in -themselves, present no radical differences from the usual division shops -which a great railroad maintains at every division operating point in -order to keep its rolling stock in the best of order. They are used to -make light repairs. The master mechanic is a discerning man. He must know -and judge accurately when a disabled car or locomotive should go to the -company's main shops, when the repairs can best be made at the local -plant. It is one of the points upon which the economy of the shop system -depends. - -On this matter of shop economy whole volumes might be written, and have -been written. In the beginning of shop practices there was little system -in these matters, just as the shop work was reckoned far below its real -importance. One of the earliest of real railroads was the Columbia & -Philadelphia--nowadays one of the main stems of the Pennsylvania's trunk -line--and it was from the beginning a railroad of quite heavy traffic, -double-tracked and reaching into a fat country. Yet a shop at Parkersburg, -halfway up the line, employing forty men in all, was considered quite -enough for the maintenance of equipment. If one of those early engines -broke down at either terminal, the engineer, the fireman and perhaps the -local blacksmith had to make their own repairs. - -Nothing was standard, not even the sizes of such simple affairs as nuts -and bolts. Years of railroading have changed all this. The -master-mechanics and the master car-builders meet in annual sessions; and -by means of reports from their expert committees have been evolved -standards in every detail of rolling stock--standard materials, standard -compositions, standard sizes, even standards in nomenclature of railroad -apparatus down to the smallest parts. - -Even with this assistance there still remains a mass of detail in every -railroad shop; and a large clerical force is one of its greatest -efficiencies. A sharp and accurate accounting is kept of the cost of -repairs upon each locomotive and car, even such general shop costs as gas -and heat are pro-rated against it. There is no time that the railroad -cannot tell to a nicety the precise cost of each unit of its equipment. - -These units are not, in many roads, increased, without precise orders from -the board of directors or the executive committee of the board. In order -to get around this rule some niceties in reconstruction have been known. A -single timber of a worn-out freight car has kept the unit and the number -of the old car, and going into the new has prevented the creation of a -forbidden unit. - -The system upon which cars and locomotives are numbered varies greatly -upon different systems. In some cases the first figures of the numbers -indicate the class and style of the car or locomotive, in others they mean -nothing. When a car or a locomotive is nigh worn out its number passes -from it and is given to some newcomer. The old servant has a neatly -painted "X" placed before its number. That "X" is its death warrant. In a -little time it leads the way to the scrap heap. - - * * * * * - -The men who labor in the railroad shops see little of the romance of the -line. Their work is much like that of the men who work in every sort of -large shop. Their responsibility is not less than that of the other -railroaders, the men to whom 150 or 300 miles of line and out-spread towns -are as familiar as the very rooms of their own homes. A flaw in the steel, -a careless bit of shopwork, may serve to derail the express at the least -foreseen moment, to cause disaster in the ringing way that every railroad -man sees at one time or another. It may not always be possible to trace -the responsibility for such an accident. But there is a responsibility, -and the men who work at forge or lathe, at press or planer feel that it is -there. They form no mean brigade of this great industrial army of America. - -Such responsibility continues outside of the main shops to the smaller -shops, down to the roundhouse forces, by whose care and vigilance the big -locomotives are kept fitted for their important work; down still farther -to the car-inspectors, who, blue signal-lights in hand, creep through the -long freight-yards of a winter's night to strike the flaw in the metal, to -sound the note of alarm before the worst may come to pass. Some of these -last you hear in the night as you scurry across the country. As you rest -in your berth, and the express is changing engines at some division point, -you may hear the car inspectors coming along the train, striking with -their hammers against the wheels, listening intently for the false ring -by which they may detect trouble. If you trouble yourself to lift the -curtain of your berth, you may see them, a grimy crew, working busily with -their hammers, thrusting their torches in among the trucks to see that all -is well. - -Responsibility for the safety in railroad operation does not cease at the -doors of the mechanical department. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE RAILROAD MARINE - - STEAMSHIP LINES UNDER RAILROAD CONTROL--FLEET OF NEW YORK CENTRAL-- - TUGS--RAILROAD CONNECTIONS AT NEW YORK HARBOR--HANDLING OF FREIGHT-- - FERRY-BOATS--TUNNEL UNDER DETROIT RIVER--CAR-FERRIES AND LAKE ROUTES-- - GREAT LAKES STEAMSHIP LINES UNDER RAILROAD OWNERSHIP. - - -In the beginning land transportation must have looked up in something -resembling fear and awe to water. We can picture the railroad of the -thirties as a slender but resourceful David facing the veritable Goliath -of water carriage. In earlier chapters of this book we have shown how the -canals, representing a distinct phase of water transportation, sought to -throttle the railroads at the beginning. But the modern railroad has no -fear of water rivalries, either upon the coast or inland. Just as the -first railroads were ofttimes timidly built as feeders or complements to -water routes, so to-day almost every inland water route is part of a -railroad--in operating fact if not in actual ownership. The tables have -been turned--the railroad finally dominates. Nine-tenths of all the great -water routes in and aroundabout the United States are more or less -directly owned and controlled by the railroads. They have become, in every -sense, corollaries to land transportation. - -This is more distinctly shown in some sections of the land than in others. -For instance, up in New England, where the interests owning the New York, -New Haven & Hartford Railroad have accomplished direct or indirect control -of all but a comparatively few miles of the steam and electric railroads -in five great States, they have also acquired the steamship interests of -that district. The New Haven's original excursion into the steamboat -business was when it absorbed the Old Colony Railroad--almost a score of -years ago--in order to ensure its entrance into Boston. The Old Colony -owned a well-famed and highly prosperous steamboat line from Fall River, -Massachusetts, to New York City, part of its through New York-Boston -route. Eventually the New Haven acquired all the brisk and busy steamboat -lines which ran up the Sound from New York to several Connecticut -ports--Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford, New London, and Stonington. Any -one of these lines was not, perhaps, so much of an acquisition in itself, -but all of them were potentials in a future rate situation that might -arise. It was good executive management to have these potentials under -firm control, and so the New Haven established water routes as a -recognized factor of its business--under the separate corporation title of -the New England Navigation Company. Once when a new company, under the -mellifluous title of the Joy Line, sought to injure its coastwise business -by establishing cut-rates from Providence to New York, the New Haven -placed two of its older boats in a rival and lower-priced service, and, by -means of its great resources, was able to bring the Joy Line into its -fold. Later, when the Enterprise Line tried a like programme, the New -Haven followed the same aggressive tactics and brought the Enterprise Line -to bankruptcy. These things are mentioned here in no spirit of criticism. -But they are the facts that make it impossible for really independent -lines of steamboats to run between New York and Providence for any great -length of time, despite ample docking facilities and a great free port at -each of these cities. - -The Metropolitan Line tried to maintain an independent line between New -York and Boston with the two finest steamers ever placed in coastwise -service--the _Yale_ and the _Harvard_. One of these boats left each city -at five o'clock in the afternoon and performed the ocean voyage of 330 -miles over the "outside route" in just fifteen hours--and with amazing -regularity. But the New Haven Railroad found it to its interest to control -the coasting lines around about New England, and so the _Yale_ and -_Harvard_ were last winter banished to the Pacific coast. - -This is all part of the business of managing great railroad systems. For -similar reasons the Pennsylvania Railroad found it advisable to bring a -group of steamboat lines plying on Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries -under its control, the Harriman lines to reach out and establish ownership -of the lines plying up and down several thousand miles along the Pacific -coast--these are but a few instances out of many. As yet no large American -railroad has essayed to control a transatlantic line, although both the -Hill and the Harriman properties are interested in the transpacific -carrying business. The Canadian Pacific, however, has already -well-established lines across both of the great oceans--making a -continuous route under one management from Liverpool, England, to Hong -Kong, China. Moreover, it is now building four great steamships which are -to be finished simultaneously with the Panama Canal and which will ply -through it from New York direct to Hong Kong. The Canadian Northern has -also recently embarked in the transatlantic carrying business. The -Canadian Pacific and several of the large railroads of the northern part -of the United States maintain lines of sizable gross tonnage on the Great -Lakes--but of these, more in a little while. - -[Illustration: A MODERN RAILROAD FREIGHT AND PASSENGER TERMINAL: THE -TERMINAL OF THE WEST SHORE RAILROAD AT WEEHAWKEN, OPPOSITE NEW YORK CITY] - -[Illustration: HIGH-SPEED, DIRECT-CURRENT PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE BUILT BY -THE GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY FOR TERMINAL SERVICE OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL -AT THE GRAND CENTRAL STATION] - -Even if a railroad is not engaged in the steamship business, as such, even -to the extent of one or two small steamboats on inland waters, it may -still possess a considerable harbor fleet,--wharves, and slips--that, -taken together, make a sizable aggregate. Every railroad that has any sort -of ambition to be considered a trunk-line will count upon having one or -two or even more terminals upon navigable streams, and at these it will -protect itself by having its own wharves and landing-stages--even grain -elevators, if it is putting out its hungry fingers for the great traffic -in food-stuffs that sweeps out over the land and water transportation -routes of America. Such a terminal means a railroad fleet--ferries, scows, -lighters, a little company of stout and busy tugs. It means that the -railroad must pay attention to marine laws and marine customs. - - * * * * * - -When a railroad boasts of a terminal in such a city as Boston, New York, -Baltimore, New Orleans, or San Francisco, its fleet of harbor craft is apt -to be quite a sizable navy. Take, for instance, the New York Central's -fleet in and around New York harbor. It consists of 269 vessels, divided -into the following classes: 9 ferry-boats, 22 tugs, 7 steam-lighters, 50 -car-floats, 10 steam-hoist barges, 25 open barges, 6 scow barges, 105 -covered barges, and 35 grain-boats. And out of all these barges, 10 are -further equipped for refrigerator use. - -In such a fleet, eliminating of course the ferry-boats which have their -own peculiar uses, the tugs are almost the sole motive power. There is a -bit of poetry about them, too, even if they are short and stubby, ofttimes -poking their cushioned noses impertinently up against larger and far more -stately craft. But no captain, even though he walk the bridge of an -eight-hundred foot steamship, sneers at a tug. It takes eighteen of them -to place the new giant _Olympic_ in her wharf on the North River, and no -crack company of horsemen ever moved in more precise drill or better -coöperation than these noisy, punting, helping-hands of the harbor of New -York. For ocean ports are different from those along the lakes. A captain -sailing a five-thousand ton ship on fresh water would be ashamed to use a -tug at Detroit, or any other of the Great Lake ports, even where the -current runs almost like a mill-race, unless he was turning in a channel -whose width was but a wee bit more than the length of his ship. But -Detroit and Cleveland and Buffalo and Chicago do not have the tides--and -it is the tide that makes harbor navigation a finely specialized science -at the big ocean ports. - -All of the big Atlantic ports save New York have abundant track facilities -alongside the piers, where berth the ships from half the world over. In -New York, the same geographical conditions that have gone to make her so -superb a port and given her so generous a harbor-frontage have blocked the -railroads in their efforts to reach all her piers with unbroken rails. So -the railroads entering that harbor have found it necessary to provide -themselves with such fleets as we have noticed as belonging to the New -York Central. For inland shippers seem to have a preference for sending -their east-bound export merchandise through New York, because of the -frequency of sailings from her wharves to half the recognized ports of the -world. - -If you are a manufacturer--at Utica, N. Y., let us say--and you wished to -send a carload of your product to London, Eng., you would find that the -railroad definitely agrees to do certain things for you. On your minimum -basis of a carload lot it will place that carload at any pier in the -harbor of New York. Indeed, it would do a little more. If some of that -carload lot that starts down out of Utica is going to London, some more on -a different ship to Calcutta, and still some more on a tropic-bound liner -to South America, the railroad would make free delivery of your -consignment to the piers of these three ships. It limits, however, the -delivery of a carload lot to three different piers. - -This sounds simple, perhaps, and, in reality, is not. For in a single day -of twenty-four hours there may arrive at Weehawken and Sixtieth Street, -Manhattan--the two great freight terminals of the rails of the New York -Central system at New York--from four to six hundred, eight hundred cars, -perhaps, filled with merchandise bound for half a hundred different -piers, along from forty to sixty miles of water-front. - -Now you see the use of all this army of lighters and barges--stubby-nosed -craft, awkward craft, boats that have not even a single stanza of the -poetry of the sea written upon their contents. By night, by day, when an -imperial city throbs with the bustle of brisk endeavor, and still when it -tries to snatch a few brief feeble hours of rest, in summer, in winter, -when the two rivers and the great upper bay of New York harbor are alive -with gay pleasure craft, and in the trying hours when a pilot's path is -fraught with the dangers of drifting ice and laid through gray blankets of -mist, this great interchange of freight of every sort goes forth. The -eight or ten great railroads that terminate in New York are pouring export -merchandise to all of her piers, while from those long sprawling -structures they are drawing up imported goods to go forward to every -corner of the land. And in addition to this there is the vast local -commerce of the City of New York, which, as we saw when we were -considering the freight terminals, back in Chapter VII, is no slight -matter of itself. But this traffic, as well as much of that of the great -interchange between the railroads terminating at New York, is handled most -effectively by the car-floats on each of which twelve to sixteen standard -box-cars may be loaded with great expedition. - -But the clumsy barges and the lighters and the still clumsier car-floats -are of little use without the tugs, and these last are the quick couriers -of the harbor. Twenty of that New York Central fleet are kept in constant -use in the North and East Rivers, and along the harbor shores to Jersey -City, Bayonne, and the southern parts of Brooklyn. They do not lie idle, -save when they are finally forced to "lay up" for a little time for -repairs. And then a reserve tug is in service without delay. - -Here is the modern economy of railroad equipment--even though this be the -part of the railroad that is afloat. A tug pulls up to a dock, its crews -are off almost before their "relief" is standing at its station, and -making sure that the craft is in as good order as they left it. While the -"relief" is finding its tired way toward home the tug is off again. Its -work is constant. Its work is not easy. It does not seem to be systematic -and yet it is--wonderfully systematic. - -For here and there about the harbor the captains of these N. Y. C. tugs -get their orders--just as conductors of the trains upon the steel highways -get their clearance cards and yellow tissues. A half-dozen stations give -orders, and these are but the speaking stations of a single man who sits -before a telephone switchboard close by a narrow street of down-town -Manhattan and directs tug movements through the crowded harbor, just as -easily as a despatcher moves extra freights over a crowded stretch of -single-track line. - -The traffic runs flood-high and the station men gossip of the whispered -complaints of the tug-crews, but the man at the switchboard only smiles. A -traffic solicitor who plies his heartbreaking work on the floor of the -near-by Produce Exchange comes over to him and says: - -"I've promised Smith & Russell delivery of ten cars of flour at Pier 32, -East River, at seven o'clock to-morrow morning. We can't go back on them." - -The man at the switchboard does not lose that smooth-set smile, even -though the loudly ticking clock, just above the plugs and cords, shows him -that it is already six o'clock of the evening of a day when the harbor -freight has run flood-high. - -"All right," he laughs, "Smith & Russell can count upon us." - -And the next moment he is ordering Tug Twenty-seven to go from the -Sixtieth Street pier over to Weehawken to get that small mountain-range of -flour-bags that the "huskies" have already begun to build on a -pier-floor, alongside of a string of dusty, grimy cars that have bumped -their way east from Minneapolis. - -Perhaps you are interested in the personality of Tug Twenty-seven. Take -yourself away from the cool-witted despatcher and look down upon this -craft--the queen of a railroad pet marine. She is as resplendent in her -green and gold as any gentleman's yacht, and her crew even more proud of -her. She stands in the water, a mere 110 feet long and 24-1/2 feet beam, -but those wonderful shining engines in her heart can develop 1,200 -horse-power--as much as many steamboats of three times her size. Her -watertube boilers can withstand a locomotive pressure of 185 pounds to the -square inch, she has all the accoutrements of coast liners--steam steering -gears and electric lights among them. No wonder that her captain waxes -eloquent about her. - -Now ask him about what she can do. That he takes as personal achievement, -and these harbor men are a bashful lot. Still, you can worm it out of him, -and after a while you find that Tug Twenty-seven has just brought a -punt-nosed car-float, with sixteen loaded cars upon her rails, around from -Corlears Hook, through the press of shipping, and around the Battery where -cross-tides battle against one another and against craft of all sorts, up -to Weehawken "bridge" in forty minutes--which is not so very bad for a -ten-mile run through a congested harbor. - -"Time counts," adds the captain. "If they had given me another twelve or -fifteen minutes I could have brought around two of the floats--put -together 'V' fashion and the Twenty-seven with her nose stuck up into the -'V'." - - * * * * * - -In the harbor of New York is a great cluster of ferry-boats operated to -overcome her barrier rivers by the several trunk-line railroads whose -systems terminate at a long water-jump from the congested Island of -Manhattan. To compete with railroads boasting terminals on Manhattan -Island itself, these lines have been compelled to equip and operate -extensive ferry fleets across both the East and the North Rivers. Across -the first of these streams operates the navy of the Long Island Railroad, -while across the Hudson ply in an intricate interlacing more than a dozen -ferry routes of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Pennsylvania, -Erie, Lackawanna, and the West Shore Railroads. The recent completion of -the New York-Jersey City-Newark routes of the Hudson tunnels, as well as -the inauguration of passenger traffic through both North and East River -tunnels to the new Pennsylvania terminal in Manhattan, has caused the -abandonment of two ferry routes and curtailment of service upon several -others. Tunnel-diggers and bridge-builders make havoc with ferry routes, -which must always remain liable to many delays because of fog, floating -ice, and such other adverse weather conditions. - -Still the railroad ferries round about New York derive no small income -from the trucking service of a metropolitan city which has had to struggle -for many years against great intersecting rivers, and so they will -probably continue to be for many years interesting and picturesque -features of New York harbor. - -But perhaps the most interesting of all the ferry routes of New York -harbor is the attenuated line from the New York, New Haven & Hartford -Railroad's waterside terminal at Port Morris in the Bronx, for ten miles -through the East River, Hell Gate, around the sharp turn and tides of -Corlears Hook and again of the Battery, and across the Hudson River to the -old terminal of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Jersey City. Over this route -goes through traffic--freight and passenger--from New England to the South -and the Southwest. The freight-traffic is handled largely by car-floats in -charge of the busy puffing tugs, while the passenger traffic goes in -ferry-boats different from the others that ply in New York harbor. - -For these ferry-boats are really nothing more than a bettered type of -car-float--a type equipped with powerful engines for self-propulsion. -Through passenger trains run each day and each night between Boston and -Baltimore and Washington, and these trains are handled between Port Morris -and Jersey City upon them. The familiar _Maryland_, which is operated -jointly by the New Haven and the Pennsylvania systems upon this route, -will receive an entire passenger train of ordinary length, excepting, of -course, the locomotive, upon her great deck, which is, in reality, a -miniature railroad yard, equipped with two long parallel tracks that can -be quickly attached to the ferry-bridges at Port Morris and Jersey City. -The trip, with the loading and unloading of the train, is accomplished, -under favorable weather conditions, in about an hour. - -It makes a pleasant break in the day trip from the capital of New England -to the capital of the United States, to spend an hour tramping up and down -a broad ship's deck, or dining in a roomy, sun-filled cabin, while New -York itself is as completely ignored as any small way-station along the -run. New Yorkers themselves have long since become too accustomed to -seeing the long train ferried upon the water-way that separates the two -greatest boroughs of the city, to give it more than passing thought. This -ferry is also finally threatened by the bridge-builders. As this is -written, workmen are already preparing the pier foundations for a great -railroad bridge that is to span the East River not far from Hell Gate, and -which is to give an unbroken line of rails from the New Haven's terminal -at Port Morris, through Long Island City, to the Pennsylvania's tunnels -and terminal in Manhattan Island. - -So, also, have the tunnel-builders contrived to rob the through traveller -on the Michigan Central of the more or less thrilling water transfer from -Canada to the United States at Detroit. The Detroit River tunnel has -superseded one of the most important car-ferries in the country, but it -has given to the operating heads of the Michigan Central one of the very -shortest through routes from New York to Chicago and robbed them of one of -the fearful handicaps of their main line--the possibilities for constant -and exasperating delays to their through trains while being ferried across -the Detroit River. - -Do not underestimate the possibilities of those delays. Within the past -ten years, the transport _Michigan_, plying from Detroit to Windsor, the -Canadian town directly opposite, and carrying a Chicago-Montreal flyer, -was stuck for ten hours in the ice, so near the slip that a long plank -would have almost reached from her deck to the wharf. That, in the lesser -form, has been the history of winter after winter at the Detroit ferry. -Shipbuilders have done their best to meet the obstacle by building -car-ferries of tremendous power, sometimes even equipping them with both -side-wheels and screws. But the real problem of possible delay can only be -solved there by tunnels, and it is expected that the Grand Trunk, the -Canadian Pacific, and the Wabash--which still use the car-ferries across -the Detroit River--will sooner or later either tunnel beneath it or -acquire trackage rights through the Michigan Central tubes. - -The Detroit River is a narrow but important part of the tremendously -important water highway up the Great Lakes, and at every part of the whole -length of that highway the railroads have tried to break their way across. -It has not been found impossible to bridge the St. Lawrence or the Niagara -Rivers or the wide straits at Sault Ste. Marie, but there are other -points, even besides Detroit, that have as yet baffled the genius of the -bridge-builder. One of the most important of these is where Lake Michigan -forces its outlet into Lake Huron through the two peninsulas of the great -State that bears its name. To make the two parts of Michigan physically -one with unbroken rail will probably not be accomplished in many years. -In the meantime the stout and tremendously powerful ferry _Algomah_--built -so as to literally crush the ice down under her tremendous bows--plies -between Mackinac City, the Island of Mackinac, situated midstream, and St. -Ignace, on the north shore of the broad strait. Despite the fearful -severity of the winters in northern Michigan the _Algomah_ keeps that -important path open the year round--not only for herself but for the great -car-floats that follow in her wake. - -What is possible at the Straits of Mackinac is also possible across the -widest part of any one of the Great Lakes--excepting always the -emotionless Superior. At least that is the way the railroad traffic men -have argued for many years, and so for these many years car-ferries have -plied successfully across the very hearts of three of the lakes. Of all -the chain, Lake Michigan offers the greatest natural obstruction to the -natural traffic movements of the land--its great length, stretching north -and south, forming an obstacle to through rail movements, and contributing -not a little to the railroad importance and the wealth of Chicago. - -So it was that car-ferries were established many years ago across Lake -Michigan and are operated throughout the lake to-day--from Manitowoc, -Kewaunee, Milwaukee, Menominee, and Manistique on the west shore of the -lake, to Frankfort, Ludington, Northport, Grand Haven, St. Joseph, and -Benton Harbor upon the east shore. These vessels are of different -construction from the ferries that cross the narrow Detroit River. They -lack the low freeboard and the other typical ferry construction, and are, -instead, deep-gulled vessels, generally built of steel and always of great -structural strength. - -"Like the river ferries," says James C. Mills, "they are ice-crushers, but -of greater size and power. During two or three of the winter months the -lakes are frozen in a solid sheet of ice for twenty and thirty miles from -the shores, and in extremely severe winters the ice-fields meet in -mid-lake. To keep a channel open in the depth of winter even for daily -passages back and forth, is a hazardous undertaking for the hardy -mariners. The frequent gales which sweep the lakes break up the fields -into ice-floes which, driven one way or another with great force, pile up -in huge banks, often in the direct course of the transports and as high as -their upper decks. At such times they free themselves only after repeated -buckings of the shifting mass of ice, sometimes miles in extent, by -running their stout prows up on the edge of the mass, breaking it down by -their sheer weight, and ploughing through the ragged, grinding blocks of -ice thus formed."[1] - - [1] "Our Inland Seas," by James C. Mills, 1910. - -Four tracks, running the full length of the ship, generally fill the main -deck of these trans-lake ships. The loading of the cars on to these tracks -is accomplished at the stern, the bow being built high and, as we have -just seen, somewhat after the fashion of an overhanging prow. The main -deck is completely roofed over with cabins and deck-houses, so that, -viewed from the rear, the ship seems to be an itinerant pair of railroad -tunnels, dark and gloomy. The upper decks are gay with the resources of -the marine architect--for the greater part of these boats offer -accommodations for passengers as well as for from eighteen to thirty -freight cars. These great ferries form valuable feeders to the Grand -Trunk, the Pere Marquette, the Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids & Indiana, and -some minor routes crossing Michigan. - -Similarly, car-ferries crossing Lake Erie from Cleveland to Port Stanley -are considerable factors both in general merchandise and in the coal -trade. Another Lake Erie route of heavy tonnage extends from Ashtabula, -Ohio, to Port Burwell, Ontario. Within the last few years a car-ferry has -been established across Lake Ontario, from Charlotte--which is the port of -Rochester, N. Y.--to Coburg on the Canadian side, which has already -developed for itself a considerable traffic. - -But the car-ferries, extensive as they are, form but a small portion of -the railroad interests upon the waters of the Great Lakes. Almost all of -the great lines through those much-travelled waters are the property of -some railroad system whose rails touch one or more of their terminals. -Thus the Northern Steamship Company, running from Buffalo to Chicago and -Duluth, touches the rails of its parent company, the Great Northern -Railroad, at this last port. The Erie & Western Transportation -Company--popularly known as the Anchor Line--also running from Buffalo to -Duluth, is a Pennsylvania property. Both of these lines are operated for -passenger service, as well as freight. The New York Central and the Erie -cover the same territory with exclusively freight routes. The Rutland -Railroad has a line all the way from its western terminal at Ogdensburg, -on the St. Lawrence River, to Chicago. The Canadian Pacific and the Grand -Trunk operate important lines through Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. Even -a small road, like the Algomah Central, has its own freight and passenger -steamboats running south from the Soo as far as Cleveland, Ohio. It is a -pretty poor line with Great Lakes terminals that cannot boast some sort of -steamship service of its own. - -In the development of the coastwise and the inland waterways of the United -States, the railroad may be doing the nation a far greater service than it -imagines. For the general trend of railroad expansion in the country -to-day seems to be toward a development of the auxiliary water-routes -rather than toward their curtailment. The railroad has finally realized -that some coarse commodities can be carried far more economically by water -than by rail. It is to-day seeking to avail itself of that acquired -knowledge. If competing and feeding trolley lines are good things for -railroads to own--and the present-day judgment seems to be that they -are--the same rule holds doubly good in regard to both competing and -feeding water-routes. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH THE MEN - - THE FIRST ORGANIZED BRANCH OF THE RAILROAD Y. M. C. A.--CORNELIUS - VANDERBILT'S GIFT OF A CLUB-HOUSE--GROWTH OF THE RAILROAD Y. M. C. - A.--PLANS BY THE RAILWAYS TO CARE FOR THE SICK AND THE CRIPPLED--THE - PENSION SYSTEM--ENTERTAINMENTS--MODEL RESTAURANTS--FREE LEGAL - ADVICE--EMPLOYEES' MAGAZINES--THE ORDER OF THE RED SPOT. - - -The historic gray Union Station, which still stands at Cleveland, housed -what was destined to be the very first systematic effort of the railroad -to get in touch and keep in touch with its men. In that building, once new -and splendid, but now old and grimy, George Meyers, the depot master, -gathered a group of railroaders on a Sunday away back in 1870. The man -came again on a second Sunday, still again on a third; after a little -while those Sunday afternoon gatherings became habitual, and a new kink in -all the intricacy of railroading was established. The meetings were partly -religious and partly social, and eventually they led to a distinct -innovation in that depot. - -This little conference of Meyers was, in 1872, developed into the first -organized branch of the railroad Young Men's Christian Association. -General John H. Devereux, the general manager of the Lake Shore & Michigan -Southern Railway; Reuben F. Smith, of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, -and Oscar Townsend of the Big Four Railroad were chosen directors of the -branch. Henry W. Stage, a train-despatcher on the Lake Shore, was -earnestly and intensely enthusiastic in this work; and because of his zeal -and enthusiasm, together with that of George Meyers, this branch was -successful from the outset. - -The Lake Shore Railroad, whose headquarters were in that same Union Depot -at Cleveland then was and still is a pet property of the Vanderbilt -family, also owners of the great New York Central system. The heads of -that family began watching the Cleveland experiment with unusual interest. -The reports that came from them were unusual. That scheme of the depot -master's seemed to be making a better grade of railroader in and around -Cleveland, and any institution that bettered the type of railroaders -interested the Vanderbilts. So the thing that Meyers had founded soon had -wealthy patrons and strong friends. - -The Vanderbilts kept their shoulders to the wheels of the railroad Y. M. -C. A., kept it out of the ruts and from falling. They saw it introduced -here and introduced there on their group of railroads; saw it spread to -other lines; and finally, Cornelius Vanderbilt himself built a splendid -club-house for railroad men at the great terminal of his road in New York -City and turned it over to the management of the railroad Y. M. C. A. That -house, standing almost in the shade of the Grand Central Station, after a -quarter of a century, still ranks as one of the distinctly fine club-homes -of a city that is opulent in club-houses. It is still dedicated to -simplicity, to democracy, to decency, and to good fellowship. - -There is not a railroader coming into the big passenger terminal--from -either the New York Central or the New Haven system--who is not welcome to -it, day or night. Engineers, firemen, conductors, trainmen all come into -its hospitable door after a long hard run to find the clean comfort of -good meals, bath, comfortable beds, good fellowship awaiting them. There -is the peculiar and the successful field of the railroad Y. M. C. A.; -perhaps as much as any, the real reason for its pronounced success. - -Few railroaders in train service can leave their homes in the morning, -"double their runs," and be home at night. The hard part of the business -is that in most cases a man will have to spend one night, occasionally -two nights, out on the run. The difficulties of this are not readily -understood without a slight examination. In a large city the railroader -finds that it is a shabby sort of a hotel or lodging-house that can come -regularly within his scheme of economy. When he strikes the little town, -or frequently the big terminal or division freight-yard around which is no -town at all, the problem only multiplies. J. M. Burwick, a veteran -conductor of the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad, told that problem in his -own sincere way last year at a big dinner of railroad men in St. Louis. - -"I left home a beautiful morning in '72," said Mr. Burwick. "I went down -to Lafayette and to my first boarding-house; and up to that time I don't -think any railroad man ever found a boarding-house except it was tied up -to a saloon. I was in a place like that. Another place I was running into -was where they made a division point in a corn-field. The company built a -large building for the benefit of the men, and then they rented it to be -run as a hotel. But the man in charge ran it to make money, and the steak -he cut with his razor. I know he did, because it was so thin. At other -places we had to sleep in a hot yard, in a hot caboose not fit for a man -to try and sleep in; and then we had to stay awake on the road that -night." - -That was Burwick's testimony as to the conditions just before the coming -of the railroad Y. M. C. A. An engineer from the New York Central, a man -who had slept many nights in that comfortable club-house at the Grand -Central, went up into Canada a few years ago and took an engine on a -division running out of Kenora. The only place that a railroad man could -find board and lodging in that town at that time was a boarding-house with -the saloon attachment, and he was welcome there for but a limited time, -unless he was a reasonably liberal patron of the saloon. The engineer--his -name is McCrea--changed that order of things and established a branch -of the railroad Y. M. C. A., which in four years gained 300 members and -threatened to close the saloons of the place. - -[Illustration: THIS IS WHAT NEW YORK CENTRAL MCCREA DID FOR THE MEN OF THE -CANADIAN PACIFIC UP AT KENORA] - -[Illustration: A CLUBHOUSE BUILT BY THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC FOR ITS MEN AT -ROSEVILLE, CALIFORNIA] - -[Illustration: THE B. & O. BOYS ENJOYING THE RAILROAD Y. M. C. A., CHICAGO -JUNCTION] - -[Illustration: "THE BROOKLYN RAPID TRANSIT COMPANY HAS ORGANIZED A BRASS -BAND FOR ITS EMPLOYEES"] - -Now you get the reason for the welcome that the railroad-owners gave this -work of the Y. M. C. A. It was not the religious idea alone--men differ in -their views of that sort of thing--but one of the most stringent of all -railroad rules is that prohibiting the use of liquor by the men, or their -frequenting bar-rooms. The necessity of that rule appears upon the face of -it. But the Canadian railroad could do little toward enforcing it in a -place like Kenora, before McCrea, of the New York Central, arrived there. -The railroad Y. M. C. A., with its comfortable housing facilities, its -vigorous stand for better morals and better men, has made that rule one of -the easiest in the book to be strictly observed. That is why the -railroad-owners and the railroad heads, whose religious views have -sometimes been at variance with those of the Y. M. C. A., have given -hearty endorsement to its work along their lines. They like the sort of -man it finishes. - -So the railroad Y. M. C. A. has grown. It now has some 240 branches -reaching from Hawaii, in the West, to some important division points in -Eastern Maine. None of these have houses that can be compared, of course, -with the comfortable home at the Grand Central Station in New York. In -fact, some of them are still housed in crude fashion, in an abandoned shed -or depot that some railroad has fitted up as a start in the work, over -some store or freight-house perhaps; but each year sees these replaced by -neat homes, such as those at Harrisburgh, on the Pennsylvania; at -Collinwood, O., on the Lake Shore; at Baltimore, on the B. & O.; at the -St. Louis Union Station, and the Williamson, W. Va., on the Norfolk and -Western Railway. On a single system--the New York Central--there are 38 -associations, with 27 buildings built for the purpose and valued at -$700,000, and a very active membership of 12,799 railroaders. In the -national organization membership there are more than 85,000 men, -representing every department of the railroad service. An average of -15,500 meals--and mighty good reasonably priced meals they are, too--is -served daily, while more than 50,000 railroaders come to the club-houses -each twenty-four hours. - - * * * * * - -Beyond the necessity for maintaining the moral fibre of the railroader -(and it is astonishing how little maintenance such a corps needs) is the -decent necessity of taking care of him in case of illness. Railroading, -with all the safety devices that have multiplied in its service within the -past quarter of a century, is still a hazardous occupation to the men who -are out upon the line. The list of cripples, and the death-list of a -twelvemonth, are still appalling things--appalling in the aggregate, -fearful in any single concrete case, a case where there may be a helpless -wife and little children to be brought into the reckoning. - -The railroads have begun to shoulder their responsibility in this matter. -Legislation has helped in the matter but to-day big carriers are preparing -to do even more--to pay premiums and carry some form of casualty insurance -on each of their employees, who may be engaged in a hazardous part of the -work. That thing is going to do more than any other one thing possibly -could do. When a big railroad realizes that its bill for premiums is going -to be reduced by the addition of many simple protective devices, those -devices are going to be instantly adopted. That is the way of railroads, -and of business, although it is not to be charged for a single moment that -the American railroads have not done much within the past 25 years toward -raising the margin of safety for their employees. - -Of course, the railroaders have long since had their insurance, although -the regular life companies look upon them with distrust as risks. They -have been forced either to pay high premiums in the regular companies or -else to organize insurance of their own. Their brotherhoods have carried -forth this work with interest and with skill. These brotherhoods, or -unions, of the locomotive engineers, the firemen, the conductors, the -trainmen, and several other branches of the service, have been mighty -agents, too, in the development of the moral fibre of the American -railroader. Lack of space prevents a consideration of each in detail. To -do them but simple justice, to sing the epic of the mighty Brotherhood of -Locomotive Engineers, for instance (which has only recently finished a -great building of its own in Cleveland), would require a volume for -itself. - - * * * * * - -But the railroads have not been negligent in this matter. For instance, a -man on the Baltimore & Ohio can pay $1.00 a month out of his pay envelope -and have $1,000.00 life insurance. He can likewise pay $3.00 a month, and -$3,000.00 will be paid his heirs upon his death. The railroad company -stands back of this fund and guarantees the insurance. It makes good from -its own treasury any deficit or shortage that might be incurred in its -operation. - -For twenty years the Pennsylvania has conducted a similar work, under the -title of the Voluntary Relief Department. Membership in this is, as the -name indicates, purely voluntary, the road's employees being admitted, -after favorable physical examination, up to the age of 45 years and 6 -months. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company in this instance also stands as -guarantor of the insurance fund. - -A close examination of it in some detail may interest. The following table -shows the detail--the five classes into which employees may enter: - - 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th - Class Class Class Class Class - Monthly pay Any $35 or $55 or $75 or $95 or - rate more more more more - - Contributions per month: - Class $0.75 $1.50 $2.25 $3.00 $3.75 - - Additional Death Benefit, - equal death benefits of - class: - Taken at not over 45 years - of age .30 .60 .90 1.20 1.50 - Taken at over 45 years - and not over 60 years - of age .45 .90 1.35 1.80 2.25 - Taken at over 60 years of - age .60 1.20 1.80 2.40 3.00 - - Disablement benefits per - day, including Sundays - and holidays: - Accident: - First 52 weeks .50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 - After 52 weeks .25 .50 .75 1.00 1.25 - - Sickness: - After first three days and - not longer than 52 - weeks .40 .80 1.20 1.60 2.00 - After 52 weeks .20 .40 .60 .80 1.00 - - Death Benefits: - For Class 250.00 500.00 750.00 1000.00 1250.00 - Additional that may be - taken 250.00 500.00 750.00 1000.00 1250.00 - -An employee, however, who is under forty-five years of age, who has been -five years in the service and a member of the relief fund for one year, -may enter any higher class than that determined by his pay, upon passing -satisfactory physical examination. - -Payments from the fund vary from forty cents per day for sickness and -fifty cents for accident in the service, for members in the first class, -to $2.00 per day for sickness and $2.50 for accident with a death benefit -of from $250.00 to $2,500.00, according to class of membership and death -benefit held. - -Since the fund has been in operation, the following payments have been -made, to December 31, 1909, inclusive:-- - - For Accident death benefits $2,185,343.40 - Sickness death benefits 5,914,811.18 - Accident disablement benefits 4,076,636.89 - Sickness disablement benefits 7,855,069.73 - Superannuation allowances 415,367.55 - Operating expenses 3,207,131.06 - --------------- - Total $23,654,359.81 - -During the same period, the Pennsylvania has contributed to the fund in -operating expenses, gratuities, etc., exclusive of interest, the -following: - - For Operating expenses $3,207,131.06 - Special payment, etc. 424,571.91 - For deficiencies 733,913.89 - -------------- - Total $4,365,616.86 - -In addition to what the Pennsylvania is doing in the payment of the -pensions and contributions for the maintenance of the relief fund, the -relief and pension departments have the use of the telegraph and the train -service free of charge; and in case of accident in the service to -employees, free surgical and hospital attendance is furnished, and, where -necessary, artificial limbs or other appliances, without cost to the -employee. No figures are available as to the cost of surgical attendance, -or the furnishing of artificial limbs, but it is conservatively estimated -by the Pennsylvania officers as equalling the amount paid for the -operation of the relief department. - -The modern railroad does not wait, however, for a man to become injured or -to die before assuming any responsibility for his care. There may come a -day when the burden of years makes him a little less fit for the strenuous -service of railroading. It is Nature's way of telling man that he has -labored well and that he is entitled to a rest. In other days, the -railroad recognized this in a rather informal way. It took its veteran -employees, retired them into a comfortable ease, and had the paymaster -send them checks each month for a part of their old wages. Out of that -custom the railroad pension system was born, only with this sharp -distinction: In the old way the man was taught to believe his monthly -check a favor or gratuity on the part of the railroad; under the pension -system he comes to know it, not as an act of charity but as his right, a -right earned by long hard years of faithful service. - -This idea has begun to be recognized as fundamental by railroad managers. -Directors and officers now realize that the pension fund and some of these -other features that we have just considered, are causes directly -contributing to the efficiency of the railroad. The policy is merely one -of good management. Again, let us see the way the Pennsylvania handles -this matter, not because the Pennsylvania is alone in this thing, but -rather because it is one of the largest and most distinctive of American -railroads, and almost a pioneer in this work. Before it began paying -pensions to retired employees, the Pennsylvania had already long conducted -a relief fund and a savings fund, and had contributed to libraries and -railroad branches of the Y. M. C. A. - -The pensions are paid entirely by the company. In the year 1909, for -instance, $594,000 was paid out to the men who had retired between the -ages of 65 and 70. From the time the fund was established until the end of -1909, appropriations for it amounted to more than $4,000,000, now paid to -some 2,300 men annually. - -Employees may retire for age at 70, or for physical incapacitation between -65 and 69. If they have been in the service as long as 30 years, they are -granted an allowance based on one per cent of the monthly wages for each -year of service. The percentage is based on the wages received for the ten -years preceding retirement. - -Thus, if an engineer, or a brakeman, or a fireman, has served the -Pennsylvania 30 years, he may retire between 65 and 70 and receive not -less than 30 per cent of his monthly wages during the last 10 years of -work. - -The other railroads using the pension scheme have followed these general -outlines for their work. It has become an established feature of railroad -operation, and recently a second vice-president was created on the -Baltimore & Ohio for the express purpose of handling the company's relief -work. Sometimes the railroad organizes savings-funds for employees, paying -from three and one-half to as high as five per cent on their deposits, -limiting these to something like a hundred dollars a month, and making -every agent on the system a depositary of the fund. - - * * * * * - -The street railroad systems in the large cities, together with a few of -the larger interurban systems, have recently begun to adopt systematic -methods of keeping in touch with their employees. The Brooklyn Rapid -Transit Company, operating a great system in a part of metropolitan New -York, and employing more than 15,000 men, was a pioneer in this work. It -found that while the railroad Y. M. C. A. was efficient for the club-house -work on steam railroads, there were local conditions in Brooklyn that made -it best for the company to build and operate its own club-houses. - -The first of these was remodelled from an old car-barn. It became a very -interesting club, with reading-rooms, baths, a barber-shop, a gymnasium, -class-rooms for evening study, and a theatre, seating some 1,200 folk. For -the theatre the railroad hires vaudeville actors, and gives its great -semi-official family free entertainments--followed by dancing and -refreshments. On very especial nights the talent is furnished entirely by -the trolley-men and very effective talent it is, too. On all nights the -music is furnished by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit band, made up entirely of -street-car men and men from the elevated roads of the system. The railroad -company has furnished the music, the uniforms, the instruments, and the -directors--all that the men have had to furnish is their time and -interest, and these they have furnished in such good measure that there is -a waiting-list now large enough to equip a second full brass band. - -The Brooklyn system has also begun to establish model restaurants in its -outlying barns, where clean and good food is furnished to the men at cost. -The street railroad is, in some such cases as these, confronted with a -steam railroad problem. Many of the big car-barns are in sparsely settled -suburbs of the city where the only eating-places have been saloons or -their adjuncts. The street railroad can no more afford to have its men in -saloons, than its bigger brother. To take from them the one decent excuse -for being in such places it is establishing its restaurants, where the men -can have cleaner and better food than in the saloons, and without the risk -to the railroad. - -The Brooklyn road and the other large systems have adopted the relief and -pension funds; the idea seems to spread as rapidly among the electric as -it did among the steam railroads. Some of them have added odd and -efficient "kinks" of their own. For instance, the Boston Elevated Railway -makes presents of gold at New Year's Day, ranging from $20 to $35 each, to -each of its men who has a clean record for courtesy to patrons, and Boston -gains a reputation through that for the uniform courtesy of her -trolley-men. The Boston Elevated has also inaugurated a policy of giving -free legal advice to each of its employees who may need it. It has always -been a perquisite of high railroad officers to avail themselves of the -road's legal department for their personal needs. Under the Boston plan -this perquisite is extended to every man on the road--the young motorman -who had foolishly gone to a loan shark, and who is now being harried by -him; the old conductor who wishes to convey a house or draw a will. The -road's legal department will advise him sincerely, in his own best -interest. It will draw up his legal papers, do anything for him except -take his case into court, and even then it will advise an honest and -capable attorney for him. As for that motorman who went to the loan shark -when he found an immediate need of fifty dollars, the road stands ready to -advance him the money upon good cause, and will charge him only a nominal -rate of interest until it has gradually repaid itself from his wages. His -division superintendent is empowered to hear his story with sympathetic -ear, and to arrange for the loan. - -Employees' magazines have been decided factors in both bringing and -keeping the railroad in touch with its army of men. The Erie was a pioneer -in this work five years ago; the plan has since been adopted with signal -success by the Northwestern, the Illinois Central, the Santa Fe, the Pere -Marquette, and some other lines. These little magazines, made interesting -enough in a general way to catch and hold the attention of their readers, -are sent out each month to every man on the system with his pay-check. - -They spread railroad interest and railroad enthusiasm among their readers. -On one page they tell of styles for the engineer's wife, and on the next -they show an economical use of coal for the engineer; and so they may help -to pay their way. They tell of errors and mistakes among the railroad's -employees, without mentioning names, so that men may profit by them and -act differently. But they print the names of the railroaders who do the -good things, the novel things, the practical things, the economical -things, the heroic things, out along the line. And this roll of honor is a -long one. - -But it is not always in the big things that a railroad keeps in touch with -its men, sometimes it is in very small things. Some time ago, a division -superintendent on the Erie Railroad decided that for each of his engineers -who kept his engine in particularly good order for a given length of -time, he would have the number plate on the front of the boiler painted in -red. "We will have the Order of the Red Spot," laughed Superintendent -Parsons, of the Susquehanna Division, as he signed a bulletin announcing -the thing. Now that was a little thing. The cost of painting that red spot -on the breast of some proud locomotive was but nominal; but listen to the -result! - -A big Erie officer was up the line a few months later, and was loafing in -a junction-town on the Susquehanna Division, waiting for a through train. -He walked down to the end of the station platform and there stood a -passenger locomotive waiting to take a train in the other direction. It -belonged to the proud Order of the Red Spot, an order of which this -particular officer had not heard; and the engineer was already about it -with his long-handled oil-can. The officer did not reveal his identity, -but said: - -"Waiting to take out a special?" - -The engineer did not look up, but said: - -"We carry forty-six over the division." - -"I didn't think that forty-six was due for two hours yet," said the -railroad officer. - -"She is not," answered the engineer, "but I've been down here an hour and -a half already fussing with this baby to have her in shape. You may notice -that she belongs to the Order of the Red Spot." - -Then that particular man came to know about the Red Spots. All the way -back to Jersey City he kept looking for Red Spots, and every time he saw -one, he saw an engine slick and clean, as if she had just come from the -shops. That set him to thinking; and after he was done thinking, Parsons -was promoted in service, and the Order of the Red Spot was established for -the system. There has been an exalted division made of that order -recently. When a man can be assigned to one engine and he brings her into -the Red-Spot class and keeps her there, the railroad dedicates that engine -to him for the rest of his lifetime upon the system. His name, in gilt -letters, goes upon the cab-panel of the engine, whereas in other days you -used to see those of statesmen and of railroad-owners; and there it stays -until the engine goes to the scrap-heap. The other day the first of these -engines, drawing a Waldwick local, pulled into the Jersey City passenger -terminal; on its cab was "Harvey Springstead" so large and clear that you -could read it across the yard; in the cab-window was Harvey Springstead, -prouder for that moment than any earthly prince or potentate. - -Sometimes the competitive idea is the best to foster to accomplish results -from the men, and to bind them and the road a bit closer together. We have -seen how a fortnight of "T. B. M. F." repairs to a locomotive has been -quickened down under contest to 13 hours and 34 minutes. Many of the more -successful railroads began some years ago to institute annual contests -between their section-bosses. The section-boss who kept his stretch of the -right-of-way in cleanest, trimmest shape for a twelvemonth got a black and -gold sign at his hand-car house, so big that folk who rode in the fast -expresses could read the honor that it conferred upon him. Sometimes he -gets more--a trip pass for his wife and himself to some distant point, or -even a cash prize. Annually the superintendent of maintenance may run a -special train, with a specially devised observation grandstand at its rear -or pushed ahead of the engine. On that grandstand sit all the section -bosses and other track maintenance experts. They see the other fellow's -sections--and their own; and some time on that trip there is a little -dinner and the awarding of the prizes. - -Do not even dare to think that these things count for little upon the -railroad. They are mighty factors in the maintenance of one of its very -greatest factors, the human one. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -THE COMING OF ELECTRICITY - - ELECTRIC STREET CARS--SUBURBAN CARS--ELECTRIC THIRD-RAIL FROM UTICA TO - SYRACUSE--SOME RAILROADS PARTIALLY ADOPT ELECTRIC POWER--THE BENEFIT - OF ELECTRIC POWER IN TUNNELS--ALSO AT TERMINAL STATIONS--CONDITIONS - WHICH MAKE ELECTRIC TRACTION PRACTICAL AND ECONOMICAL--HOPEFUL OUTLOOK - FOR ELECTRIC TRACTION--THE MONORAIL AND THE GYROSCOPE CAR, INVENTED BY - LOUIS BRENNAN--A SIMILAR INVENTION BY AUGUST SCHERL. - - -It is barely more than a quarter of a century since electricity first -became practical for use as a motive power upon railroads. The early -experiments of Thomas A. Edison at Menlo Park, N. J., and upon the now -abandoned railroad up Mount McGregor, N. Y., soon gave way to real -electric street railroads in Montgomery, Ala., in Richmond, Va., and from -Brooklyn to Jamaica, N. Y. These, in turn, gave way to still better forms -of electric traction, until the trolley has not only all but entirely -driven the horse-car and the cable-car from city streets, but has -performed a notable new transportation function in giving quick -communication from one town to another in the well-settled portions of the -country. These enterprises are quite outside of the province of this book; -the cases where the electric locomotive and electric motor-car have -usurped the steam locomotive upon its own rails are pertinent. - -As soon as the electric railroad had begun to reach out into the country -from the sharp confines of the towns, the steam railroad men began to take -interest. It would have been even better for them if some of them had -taken sharper interest at the beginning. But the few men who were -long-sighted enough a dozen years ago to see the development -possibilities of a form of traction that was comparatively inexpensive to -install and to operate have been repaid for their sagacity. These men -began a dozen years ago to wonder if electricity could not be brought to -the service of the long-established steam railroad. - -In most cases the short suburban steam roads outside of large cities, -which were as apt to be operated by "dummy engines" as by standard -locomotives, were the first to be electrified, and in these cases they -usually became extensions of the then novel trolley lines. Folk no longer -had to come in upon a poky little "dummy train" of uncertain schedule and -decidedly uncertain habits, and then transfer at the edge of the crowded -portion of the city to horse-cars. They could go flying from outer country -to the heart of the town in half an hour, and upon frequent schedule, and -the business of building and booming suburbs was born. After these roads -had been developed, other steam lines began to study the situation. A -little steam road that had wandered off into the hills of Columbia County -from Hudson, N. Y., and had led a precarious existence, extended its rails -a few more miles and became the third-rail electric line from Albany to -Hudson, and a powerful competitor for passenger traffic of a large -trunk-line railroad. The New York, New Haven, & Hartford found the -electric third-rail of good service between two adjacent Connecticut -cities, Hartford and New Britain; the overhead trolley a good substitute -for the locomotive on a small branch that ran a few miles north from -Stamford, Conn. - -But the problems of electric traction for regular railroads were somewhat -complicated, and the big steam roads rather avoided them until they were -forced upon their attention. The interurban roads had spread too rapidly -in many, many cases, where they were made the opportunities for such -precarious financing as once distinguished the history of steam roads--and -they had in most of these cases made havoc with thickly settled stretches -of branch lines and main lines. In a great many cases the steam roads -have had to dig deep into their pockets and buy at good stiff prices the -very roads the building of which they might have anticipated with just a -little forethought. - -The New York Central & Hudson River took such forethought after some of -its profitable branches in western New York had been paralleled by -high-speed trolleys, and a very few years ago installed the electric -third-rail on its West Shore property from Utica to Syracuse, 44 miles. -The West Shore is one of the great tragedies in American railroading. -Built in the early eighties from Weehawken (opposite New York City) to -Buffalo, it had apparently no greater object than to parallel closely the -New York Central and to attempt to take away from the older road some of -the fine business it had held for many years. After bitter rate-war, the -New York Central, with all the resources and the ability of the -Vanderbilts behind it, won decisively, and bought its new rival for a -song. But a property so closely paralleling its own tracks has been -practically useless to it all the way from Albany to Buffalo, save as a -relief line for the overflow of through freight. - -So the West Shore tracks for high-class high-speed through electric -service from Utica to Syracuse was a happy thought. Under steam conditions -only two passenger trains were run over that somewhat moribund property in -each direction daily, while the two trains of sleeping-cars passing over -the tracks at night were of practically no use to the residents of those -two cities. Under electric conditions, there is a fast limited service of -third-rail cars or trains, leaving each terminal hourly; making but two -stops and the run of over 44 miles in an hour and twenty minutes. There is -also high-speed local service, and the line has become immensely popular. -By laying stretches of third and fourth tracks at various points, the -movement of the New York Central's overflow through freight has not been -seriously incommoded. The electric passenger service is not operated by -the New York Central, but by the Oneida Railways Company, in which the -controlling interests of the steam road have large blocks of stock. - -[Illustration: A HIGH-SPEED ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE ON THE PENNSYLVANIA -BRINGING A THROUGH TRAIN OUT OF THE TUNNEL UNDERNEATH THE HUDSON RIVER AND -INTO THE NEW YORK CITY TERMINAL] - -[Illustration: HIGH-SPEED DIRECT-CURRENT LOCOMOTIVE BUILT BY THE -WESTINGHOUSE COMPANY FOR THE TERMINAL SERVICE OF THE PENNSYLVANIA -RAILROAD, IN NEW YORK] - -[Illustration: TWO TRIPLE-PHASE LOCOMOTIVES OF THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY -HELPING A DOUBLE-HEADER STEAM TRAIN UP THE GRADE INTO THE CASCADE TUNNEL] - -[Illustration: THE OUTER SHELL OF THE NEW HAVEN'S FREIGHT LOCOMOTIVE -REMOVED, SHOWING THE WORKING PARTS OF THE MACHINE] - -Similarly, the Erie Railroad disposed of a decaying branch of its system, -running from North Tonawanda to Lockport, to the Buffalo street railroad -system, although reserving for itself the freight traffic in and out of -Lockport. The Buffalo road installed the overhead trolley system, and now -operates an efficient and profitable trolley service upon that branch. - -Perhaps it was because the Erie saw the application of these ideas, and -decided that it was better to take its own profits from electric passenger -service than to rent its branches again to an outside company; and perhaps -because it also foresaw the coming electrification of its network of -suburban lines around New York, and wished to test electric traction to -its own satisfaction; but five years ago it changed the suburban service -of its lines from the south up into Rochester from steam to electric. - -It is now preparing to continue this work further. The Pennsylvania, while -its great new station in New York was still a matter of engineer's blue -prints, began practical experiments with electric traction in the flat -southern portion of New Jersey. It owned a section of line ideally -situated in every respect for such experiments, its original and rather -indirect route from Canada to Atlantic City, which had since been more or -less superseded by a shorter "air line" route. The third-rail was -installed, and the new line became at once popular for suburban traffic in -and out of Philadelphia and for the great press of local traffic between -Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Of the success of that move on the part of -the Pennsylvania there has never been the slightest question. Regular -trains have been operated for several years over this route at 60 miles -an hour, and not the slightest difficulty has been found in maintaining -the schedules. - -But nowhere has the substitution of electric locomotive for the steam -worked greater comfort for the railroad passenger--to say nothing, of the -raising of that somewhat intangible factor of safety--than in long -tunnels. The Baltimore & Ohio, which was a pioneer among the steam -railroads in the use of electric locomotives, began to use them in 1896 in -its great tunnel that pierces the very foundations of the city of -Baltimore. That system, once adopted, became permanent. What was at one -time a fearful summer experience between Camden Station and Mount Royal -Station in that city has become merely a pleasant novelty upon the trip. - -What could be done at Baltimore has been done under the Detroit River, -twice. The Grand Trunk pierced underneath that stream in 1890, by a -single-track tunnel 6,000 feet in length, in which for seventeen years -both freight and passenger trains were hauled by special locomotives, -fitted for the burning of anthracite coal. Although these engines rendered -rather satisfactory service, it was found desirable to substitute electric -locomotives for them in order to remove the limitations of haulage -capacity in the tunnel; for it is a known fact that electric trains can be -operated much more rapidly and also more closely together than steam. The -change obviated the danger and inconvenience due to locomotive gases in -the tunnel. The electric locomotives first went into service in February, -1908. The tunnel is now clean, well-lighted, and safe to work in; and -trains of much greater length than before can be hauled, thus relieving -the congestion in the freight-yards on both sides of the river. - -Similarly, electric locomotives have become the tractive power in the -great new tunnel which the Michigan Central has just completed across the -Detroit River at Detroit, and upon the Cascade Tunnel where the Great -Northern Railroad pierces one of the great ranges of the Western Divide. -The Cascade Tunnel is interesting from the fact that it is entirely built -upon a heavy grade of 1.7 per cent for its length of more than three -miles. The steam locomotives are cut out from the service, while on the -heavy up-grade of the tunnels an electric locomotive, of tremendous -pulling power, will carry even the heaviest freights through the bore at -an average speed of fifteen miles an hour. These Cascade Tunnel -locomotives are the only ones in the country taking alternating current at -triple phase and at the tremendous voltage of 6,600 directly from an -overhead trolley wire. And that will bring us in a moment to another -consideration of this question of the development and the delivery of -power. - -The most recent of tunnel installations has just been completed in the -greatest of all American mountain bores--the Hoosac Tunnel. This famous -tube, four and three-quarters miles in length, gave itself very readily to -the skill of the electric engineer, with the result that the Boston & -Maine system, its present owner, finds the greatest impediment to the -operation of its main line from Boston to the west entirely removed. - -The earlier installations were all what is known as direct current; that -is, the power is brought directly from the dynamos in the power-houses and -by means of third-rail or overhead trolley it is delivered to the motors -of the locomotives of the cars. But some years ago the larger of the -distinctively electric railroads found that for great current demands over -a large distributing district, this system was expensive and -impracticable; that, for the chief thing, it required copper cables for -carrying long-distance current so large as to be of very great cost. So -some of these, with the aid of the electrical manufacturers, experimented -and developed the alternating current of high voltage and low amperage, -which is capable of being carried to distant transforming or sub-stations -and there reduced to low voltage and high amperage. This alternating -current system, because of its great operating economies, is rapidly -becoming the standard for the city railroad systems of metropolitan -communities, as well as for the great trunk-line interurban electric roads -that are beginning to gridiron the country. The New Haven Railroad, when -it first began to electrify its extensive suburban service into New York -City, was the first to bring it to the service of a standard steam road, -and by a clever adaptation of its locomotives was able to bring a -single-phase alternating-current directly to them at the enormously high -voltage of 11,000, without the use of transforming stations or -direct-current transmission. After some fearfully disappointing -experiments at the outset, the New Haven system has finally proved the -worth of its alternating-current, and the road is now engaged in erecting -its overhead transmission construction all the way from Stamford (the -present terminal of the electrical service) to New Haven, 72 miles distant -from New York. Within ten years its heavy New York and Boston traffic will -probably be entirely handled by electricity, and the run of 232 miles will -be made without difficulty in four hours or even less. - -At present the steam locomotives of these trains and the other trains that -serve almost all of New England are detached from the inbound movement at -Stamford, and the remaining 33 miles of the run into the Grand Central -Station is made behind a powerful electric locomotive. The process is, of -course, reversed on outbound trains. For the 12 miles from Woodlawn into -the Grand Central the run is made over the tracks of the Harlem division -of the New York Central Railroad which uses direct current at a voltage of -650, and third-rail instead of overhead transmission. The wonderful -adaptability of the alternating current is shown, not in the fact that a -change must be made from overhead trolley to third-rail alone, for that is -merely a slight mechanical problem, but in the fact that a locomotive -hauling a heavy train can, without a great slacking of speed, change from -receiving an alternating current of 11,000 volts to a direct current of -650 volts. Outbound, it reverses the process. - -The necessity of clearing out the smoke-filled Park Avenue Tunnel approach -to the Grand Central Station brought both the New York Central, its owner, -and the New Haven, its tenant, to electric traction for terminal and -suburban service at New York. The New York Central's system, as has -already been stated, is direct-current and it is supplied from two great -power-houses in the suburban district. Through trains are hauled in and -out of the station by electric locomotives, while suburban trains, which -make their round-trip runs entirely within the 25 or 30 miles of electric -zone, are run without locomotives, the steel suburban coaches having -motors set within their trucks, after the ordinary fashion of electric -cars across the land. The change from steam to electricity at the Grand -Central Station did more, however, than merely clear the long-approach -tunnel of smoke and foul gases, so that nowadays a man can ride on the -observation-platform over its entire length. The traffic in that -wonderfully busy station has for many years had sharp limitations because -of the four tracks in that tunnel, two tracks being used for the train -movement in each direction. The limited station-yard capacity at the -terminal has necessitated many trains being stored at Mott Haven yards; -and the drilling of these empty trains in and out of the station, combined -with the normally heavy movement of regular and special trains, has only -added to the great congestion. The minimum three-minute headway between -trains operated by steam through the tunnel, and its four-tracked viaduct -approach, fixed the maximum traffic at 40 trains an hour in each -direction. The capacity of the terminal with this limitation of service -was taxed to its utmost, and some relief for the constantly increasing -traffic was imperative. Now, owing to the improved conditions of electric -operation, trains may be run on a two-minute headway, or less--this one -measure thus increasing the station capacity by 50 per cent at the least. - -The New Haven road has also adopted the practice of running some of its -suburban trains without locomotives, but by means of motors underneath -each coach--the multiple-unit system, as electrical engineers have come to -know it. This is the system, with some slight variations, upon which the -elevated and subway lines of New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, and -Chicago are operated; and it is quickly applicable, as we have just seen, -to some phases of terminal operation for the standard steam railroads. But -the steam locomotive is to hold its own for many years, in many, many -phases of railroad operation; electric traction is practical and -economical only when there are fairly congested traffic conditions. The -coaches that are standard for it, and which it must haul for many miles -across the land, must be handled in the electrically equipped terminals by -electric locomotives of one type or another. These locomotives are -generally equipped with coal-heaters for maintaining the steam in the -heating-pipes of the through equipment; and in these days, when the -electric lighting of through trains is all but universal, they may supply -current for this purpose also. - -Electric locomotives have been completely successful where they have been -used, both alone and in connection with multiple-unit suburban trains, in -the Grand Central Station and the Pennsylvania Station in New York City as -the first complete installations. But what has been so successfully done -in New York will soon be repeated in other big cities in the land; Boston -is already insisting that the network of suburban lines that spreads over -her environs be electrified; Philadelphia is preparing for the -electrification of the Pennsylvania's fan-work of lines into Broad Street -Station; Baltimore is demanding that what has been done in one great -tunnel underneath her foundation hills be repeated in two others. Chicago -will see great installations of this service within the next few years. - -Nor is the use of electricity upon the standard steam railroad to stop -bluntly with these terminal changes and improvements; many and many a -decaying branch is yet to be fanned into new life, new strength, new -activity, through a skilful transformation of its tractive powers. What -has been done at the Detroit River and the Cascade tunnels is to be done -elsewhere across the land--through the dozens of points where railroads -pierce the mountains and go under the rivers by tunnels. Electric tunnels -are yet to bring the Pennsylvania at lower grade at Gallitzin and the -Southern Pacific through the high crest of the Sierras. Electric traction -for the big steam roads is still in its infancy. Only 1,000 miles out of a -total of 220,000 miles of steam railroad in the land are as yet operated -by electricity. The other day a big traffic-man sat in his Chicago office -and said: - -"The first railroad that electrifies for the thousand or less miles -between this town and New York is going to get all the rich passenger -business. Not a big portion of it, mind you, but every single blessed bit -of it!" - - * * * * * - -Consider for a final moment, in passing, the mono-rail, the gyroscope. If -you are a practical railroader you may laugh and say: "A toy." Perhaps it -is a toy to-day. But just remember history and you will recall that the -toy of to-day becomes the tool of to-morrow, and then give the mono-rail a -moment of sober thought. Less than 2,000 feet of this construction formed -a most interesting exhibit at the Jamestown Exposition of 1907. A railroad -man who rode on that experimental track said: - -"If you had built more than 300 feet of track you could have given a -better demonstration of your system." To this the inventor smilingly -replied: - -"You have gone over 1,800 feet." - -The investigator had ridden faster than 45 miles an hour and had not -realized the speed. You never do in the mono-rail car. It rides more -gently over the roughest bit of track than the finest Limited moves over -heavy rail and stone ballast, the best track that men can maintain. - -An actual railroad of the mono-rail type has been built and is being -developed in the suburbs of New York City. It supersedes a railroad of the -oldest type--horse-cars--from Bartow to City Island, in the Bronx. Balance -is kept for its cars by means of a light overhead metal construction, -hardly more conspicuous than that of the overhead trolley-work used in -city streets. This overhead work, like the trolley-wire, supplies electric -power to the cars; only in emergencies will it come into play to hold the -one-legged car erect. On this stretch of line speed and balance tests will -be made when passenger traffic is at low-tide. Upon the result of these -tests will be drawn the construction plans for a four-track rapid transit -railroad from New York to Newark, ten miles. This last plan has already -been financed by New York men who have made transportation their chief -problem for many years. It may be developed upon the rails of a -double-track railroad, more than doubling its capacity, without increasing -the width of the right-of-way. - -All of these mono-rail roads will become applicable to the gyroscope when -that wondrous man-toy becomes a man-tool. And the gyroscope demands no -overhead construction of any sort. It simply asks a single rail upon which -to find a path and offers no objections either to the steepest of grades -or to the sharpest of curves. The first model of gyroscope car showed its -ability to navigate easily the full length of a piece of crooked gas-pipe, -laid in rough semblance of a track. - -For there is a gyroscope car already--in fact, several of them. On May 8, -1907, Louis Brennan, a brilliant Irish inventor, living in England, -exhibited the first model of the gyroscope car, and the news was flashed -in detail all the way around the world. The little car he then showed was -enough to interest the keenest of scientists. It traversed every sort of -mono-rail track that could be devised, at varying rates of speed, it stood -still at the inventor's command and retained its balance perfectly. When a -man's hand was pushed against it as if to throw the car off its seemingly -slight balance, it pushed back, stanchly held that balance, and Brennan -laughingly said that there was something that compared with the velocity -of the wind. When he spoiled the even trim of his ship (it did look like a -boat as it sped around the lawn upon its narrow, guiding thread) and -placed the weights upon one side of the car, that side rose up to receive -them. The car still held its balance perfectly, and Brennan said that his -act represented forty or fifty persons moving suddenly across a full-sized -passenger coach. Finally, he placed his little daughter in the car and -sent it out over a deep gully where a single stout steel cable served as a -suspension bridge. The inventor's assistant swung that bridge like a -hammock but the car laughed at the old-fashioned domineering laws of -gravity, and the little girl waved her hand at her daddy. - -Well might she wave her hand at him. His achievement was a real triumph. -From a top revolving in a frame at any angle he had evolved the gyroscope -car, the one thing required for the successful development of the -mono-rail. From that car he has been steadily developing better ones. On -the tenth of November, 1909, he built a full-sized car upon which twenty -men and boys rode in glee. On that self-same day, by strange coincidence, -a German inventor, August Scherl, exhibited in a large hall in Dresden, a -mono-rail car, held at perfect equilibrium by a gyroscope which he had -quietly built and perfected. The car was 18 feet long and 4 feet wide, and -mounted on two trucks. The net weight was 2-1/2 tons, while the gyroscope -itself, turning in a vacuum at the fearful rate of 8,000 revolutions a -minute, weighed but 5-1/2 per cent of the total weight of the car. It -carried eight persons, and when first shown in Berlin it caused a -tremendous sensation, 60,000 persons witnessing the trial during a period -of five days. Even royalty took its turn at riding in the novel -conveyance. - - * * * * * - -The first question that the average man asks when he sees a gyroscope is: - -"Well, this thing may be all right when it is in motion, but how the deuce -is it going to support itself when it is standing still?" - -But it does support itself. The gyroscope wheels continue to revolve at -something close to 8,000 revolutions a minute, and they hold the car, so -that the fluctuation in the weight it carries, due to loading or -unloading, does not affect it, even in slight degree. The average man -remains unconvinced. - -"Suppose the electric power that spins the gyroscope goes back on you?" he -demands. The inventor tells him that that is easy enough. The gyroscope, -revolving in a vacuum, will keep on turning at sufficient speed to balance -the car for nearly an hour. Long before that the side-stays, that make the -car a three-pronged structure while out of service, can be dropped. - -When To-morrow finally comes and the gyroscope car is in its own, -provision will be made on all through mono-rail routes against just such -an emergency. At various points sidings will be constructed with low -walls, just high enough to receive the cars when their gyroscope -equilibrium ceases. These will be just as much a part of the equipment of -the mono-rail trunk line as wharves are a part of steamship service. It -will be a part that will receive less and less attention as folk begin to -realize how little dependent the gyroscope car is upon the old laws of -gravity. - -"We will have billiard cars in our fastest trains," says Brennan. "A man -will be able to play that delicate game on a railroad train all the way -from New York to San Francisco, if he chooses." - -Contemplate that, you railroaders and travelled folk of to-day. Those cars -will make the cars of to-day seem like pygmies. Each will be 200 feet in -length and 30 feet in width. No wonder that people can talk of billiard -tables. A train of six of these cars will be longer than the longest of -our transcontinental expresses of to-day. They will be fastened together -with vestibule connections, and the forward end of the first car will have -a sharp beak. The blunt front of an ordinary train begins to be a speed -obstacle at more than 50 miles an hour. - -Speed? Do you think that 50 miles an hour is speed? Our locomotives do far -better than that every day in the United States. A train on a standard -railroad and hauled by steam as a motive power has gone faster than the -rate of 135 miles an hour. With the mono-rail and the gyroscope, with the -countless mountain brooks and rivers harnessed and grinding out -electricity, the inventors say calmly that they will begin at 200 miles an -hour. - -Do you realize what 200 miles an hour means? It means that your grandson -or your grandson's son can leave New York in the morning, do half a dozen -errands in Cincinnati, and be back in his home in West Four Hundred and -Thirty-eighth Street in time for a late supper. It means that he can lunch -in Chicago, span half a dozen mighty States, threading the mountains, -through the towns and over the cities, skimming the broad expanses of fat -farms, and dine in New York the same night. It means that he can go from -one ocean across the continent to the other in twenty-four hours. - -But To-morrow is not yet here. Yesterday was just here. In Yesterday men -were boasting of their ability to go from New York to Philadelphia by -coach in two nights and two days and were asking: - -"What next?" - - - - -APPENDIX - - - - -APPENDIX - -EFFICIENCY THROUGH ORGANIZATION - - -In a local freight-house in an inland manufacturing city of thirty -thousand inhabitants between forty and fifty freight-handlers had been -employed for a term running from twelve to fifteen years. The -freight-house boss was of the old school. When he thought that he needed -more help, he made a fearful noise, scared headquarters, and more help was -given him. The strong-armed gang reported at seven o'clock in the morning -and then held a two-hour _conversazione_, while the book-keeping force in -the dingy office at the end of the freight-shed arranged the way-bills and -the bills-of-lading for the day's work. Before ten o'clock, if all went -well, the freight-house gang was generally at work pushing its way through -a seeming chaos of less-than-carload freight. - -After a time the old freight-agent died and a new one came in his place. -The new man was on his job less then three months before he arranged a new -schedule in that freight-house--and dropped twenty-five men from its -pay-roll. First he summoned the bookkeeping force together, and announced -that it would report at five o'clock in the morning, instead of seven; of -course, leaving two hours earlier each afternoon. The bookkeeping force -demurred. It was not pleasant getting up before daybreak in the winter -darkness of a chill northern town, and such a scheme interfered with the -social plans of one or two of the bookkeepers. But the new boss only -smiled and said, "Try it." - -And after they had tried it, the way-bills and the bills-of-lading were -ready at seven o'clock when the handlers reported for work, and the -freight-house got to work upon the shriek of the roundhouse whistle. After -that, the pay-list was cut--you may be sure that a house-boss who could -scheme out such a plan could weed out the shirkers and the idlers among -his staff--and, better still, the consignees began to get their freight -sooner than ever before in the history of that town. - -Eventually--and a wonderfully short "eventually" it really was--the -freight-agent climbed the ladder to the superintendent of that division -and under his bailiwick came a railroad which had recently become attached -to the parent system through the process of benevolent assimilation. The -ordinary less-than-carload business was moved out of the freight-house of -the smaller road and it was given over entirely to carriage and automobile -shipments--the inland city makes a specialty of manufacturing vehicles of -every sort. The division superintendent went over to the carriage -freight-house and saw that it took a dozen men to man it, although it was -not more than a six-car stand. Carriage bodies and automobile bodies -crated are both heavy and awkward, and the boss of that house was asking -for more help. - -The superintendent went straight from that freight-house to a local -foundry, sat there for fifteen minutes with its draughtsman and then and -there evolved an overhead trolley-arrangement, very much the same as the -big packing-houses use for handling heavy carcasses. A requisition for the -thing went through a-flying, and now the carriage-house in that city is -handled with two trained men. The scheme is fast becoming standard in the -newer freight-houses and in St. Louis, the M. K. & T. has just adopted it -for its splendid new terminal, whole fleets of platforms hung close to the -floor and suspended from an overhead "trolley arrangement" entirely -supersede the brigades of hand trucks formerly in use. - -That is the point of it. There must be dozens of other cities of thirty -thousand population, of sixty thousand, of ninety, of one or two or three, -of five hundred thousand, where a little such method would produce similar -results. In that first house, a saving of about $350 a week was made, when -the young freight-agent brought some system into the dusty place. A dozen -such savings or even greater, would be quite a help on the railroad's -balance sheet. At least that is the gospel which Louis Brandeis, of -Boston, preached, and which attracted world-wide attention when he made -the exact statement that he could save the railroads of the country a -million dollars a day in the operation of their lines. - -The railroads made a perfectly good legal case before the Interstate -Commerce Commission--or let us assume that, at any rate, in the present -instance. But one such clarifying statement as that of Brandeis' produced -more effect both upon the land and the Commissioners than all the legal -briefs that together were filed in advocacy of the raises in the freight -tariffs. At no time did the railroads successfully controvert Brandeis' -sweeping statement, and so they lost their fight. - -And yet the railroads are accomplishing some remarkable improvements in -their internal affairs--for which they are being given not an iota of -credit. And one of the most interesting of these is the promotion of -efficiency through organization, or better yet, through reorganization. - - * * * * * - -Along in the fifties, Herman Haupt, who was afterwards a brigadier-general -of the United States army and brevetted major-general, devised the -wonderful organization scheme of the Pennsylvania system, which is still -in use to-day on that well-managed property. The scheme has been adopted -since then by practically all the large railroads in the country. Before -General Haupt evolved it, there was no real organization among the great -railroads. Like Topsy, they "just growed" from the little individual horse -and steam lines from which they were formed and they were even more like -Topsy in some other details. But Haupt's plan brought dignity to a great -business that needed dignity--and system. For fifty years it has been -accomplishing something more than merely serving its purpose. But railroad -terminals and railroad equipment of fifty years ago are long since -obsolete, and so within recent years the larger railroads have found their -organization schemes not up with the times. The growing complexity of -their work, the intricacy of their relations with the various city, state, -and national governing boards, the constant tendency to enlarge and to -consolidate these, have all proved fearful taxes upon the Haupt plan. -Great masses of correspondence have accumulated, the whole business of -conducting the railroad has been enmeshed in whole miles of red-tape--and -men like Brandeis, of Boston, have been permitted to make their challenges -and stand uncorrected. - -Go back into the sixties for this last time, and pause for a moment at the -fighting of the American Rebellion. Men in the North were beginning to -hear that the Confederate army had something different, something better, -in its organization than the Union army. It was an intangible something, -but it seemed to make for efficiency, and, after all, that was the main -thing. So after the war was history, there were far-sighted Northerners -who said that it would be well to bring that intangible something into the -United States army. At such a time that thing was, however, tacitly -impossible, and it was dropped for more than thirty years. - -But Von Moltke picked up the idea, and incorporated it in the intensely -modern army of modern Germany. It helped to win the great Franco-Prussian -War, and when the other nations of Europe began to examine it it had a -name; it was beginning to be a tangible something. Military men called it -the "staff idea," and when you asked them to explain it they told you -that officers who handled men were known as "line officers," and those who -handled things as "staff officers." In other words, men could be -lifted--as it were, in an aëroplane of scientific organization--away from -their commands and their narrow environments, up to a point where they -could have perspective, where they could handle men, regiments, small -arms, heavy ordnance on a large scale. The staff officers work in things -in the abstract, just as the line officers mould men in the concrete. - -There then is the rough theory of staff organization which was picked up -and adapted to its use by the United States army at about the time of the -Spanish-American War. Of its value there can be no doubt; of its -efficiency no question. - - * * * * * - -A young man--Major Charles Hine--who had seen the operation of modern -staff in the regular army, decided that it was a good thing for the great -railroad systems of the country. Hine knew railroads. In order that he -might know them thoroughly, he one day packed his uniforms and his saddle -away in his trunk and went quietly out and got a job as brakeman on a -freight train. He did not stay on the car roofs very long; he has served -in about every conceivable post in railroad divisional organization, and -he has had a good chance to study the weaknesses of those very -organizations. - -"We have got to eliminate government by chief clerks," said Major Hine at -the very beginning. "We are growing too rapidly for the men higher up. We -are forced to delegate official authority to clerks and foremen, and then -we build up an autocracy around some person of official rank. It is -pernicious feudalism, this permitting the chief clerk, and a good many -times some other clerks, to sign the name of the officer whom they attempt -to represent." - -A railroad is really so spread out that its officers live a double -official life; a part of the time they are at their desks, and another -part out upon the line. Yet the average railroad officer, be he of high or -low degree, flatters himself that by some subtle method of personal -superiority, he is enabled to act intelligently in two places at the same -time. - -Major Hine saw how that worked at the very beginning of a special service -with the Southern Pacific Railroad. He was down in the Yaqui River country -in Mexico, where heavy construction work was under way. In company with -the division engineer, he was riding the line mule-back. The division -engineer had several parties under him, each in charge of a resident -engineer, and all engaged in laying out and checking the contractor's -work. The headquarters of the division engineer were presided over by a -ninety-dollar-a-month chief clerk, who was dealing in the absence of his -superior with one hundred and twenty-five dollar resident engineers. The -division engineer assured his guest that the telephone permitted close -personal contact with headquarters, that every hour questions were -referred to him. The vice-president of the company, desiring to change the -assembling point for luncheon, sought for two hours from engineering -headquarters to locate the division engineer, who was on the grade all the -time. - -The condition mentioned necessitates the chief clerk's signing the name of -his superior to heads of departments lower down, which heads are receiving -lower salaries, and are presumably of wider experience than the chief -clerk who essays to be their monitor. This is done in the name of routine -business. Unfortunately no two men often agree upon what constitutes -routine business. Almost every railroad officer will tell you that "my -chief clerk handles only routine business and never assumes too much -authority." When closely questioned, the same officer will reveal in the -utmost confidence the fact that the same condition does not obtain with -the chief clerk of the officer who is over the informant. Strangely -enough, if the complaining witness is promoted to his boss's job, the same -condition still exists, showing that the system is at fault, rather than -its individual members. Worst of all, the chief clerk has to break in all -the new bosses and thus has only limited promotion himself. - -Major Hine has said that the bigness of things on the Harriman lines, the -breadth of the policies of Napoleon Harriman and Von Moltke Julius -Kruttschnitt, the vice-president in the change of the operation of that -far-reaching group of railroads, strengthened his nerve to advocate -radical departure from preconceived notions of railway organization. Hine, -at his home in Virginia, had once acted as receiver of a suburban trolley -system, where he had introduced a simplified organization. He found, at -that time, that the underlying principle of that organization would apply -to a thousand times as many men on the great Harriman lines. Incidentally, -after the receivership was lifted, the new owners of the property -discontinued the organization which Major Hine had created, for they took -the ground that no other electric road had such a system, and that -therefore there could be nothing in it. - -Kruttschnitt decided to let Major Hine begin on the Harriman lines with -the reorganization of the divisions. He declined to order any changes, but -placed the burden of missionary work and conversions among his -subordinates on the shoulders of his special representative. There are not -a dozen letters bearing on this subject in Kruttschnitt's office. The work -was done by personal contact, which in two years involved over one hundred -thousand miles of travel by Hine. Major Hine states that, notwithstanding -the splendid spirit of the officers of the Harriman lines, little would -have been accomplished without the tactful support of Kruttschnitt, the -man whose supremacy and whose brilliant abilities are unquestioned in the -railway world. On the other hand, Kruttschnitt has been heard to say that -the credit lies with the enthusiastic younger man whom he attached to his -staff. - -Most of the divisions of the Harriman lines had an assistant -superintendent, engaged mainly in outside duties, with an office near the -superintendent's, presided over by a chief clerk. Both the superintendent -and the assistant superintendent had his own chief clerk, who consumed -reams of paper annually in intercommunications over their respective -superior's signatures. The new system provides, as a first step, that if -the division has no assistant superintendent, one shall be appointed. The -next step is to order the assistant superintendent to remain at -headquarters in charge of the office, in effect, but not in name, the -chief-of-staff idea, so successfully applied by the Germans through Von -Moltke. When necessary, an additional trainmaster is appointed for the -previous outside duties of the assistant superintendent. The old chief -clerk is placed in line of promotion by appointing him, when possible, to -a position with outside duties on the road. - -Next, the division shop is raided, the division master mechanic and the -travelling engineer (road foreman of engines) are moved bodily to the same -building with the division superintendent, where are usually already -located, the division engineer, the trainmaster, and the chief despatcher. -The old theory has been that the master mechanic should be at his shop to -supervise the shop force. The new conception is that the master mechanic -has passed the stage of a shop foreman; that, located at one shop, he -unconsciously comes to underestimate the importance of roundhouses and car -repair plants at outlying points on the division. He is brought to -division headquarters to get the atmosphere of transportation, to be in -touch with the train sheet, and to realize that motive power is one of the -component elements of transportation; that the shop is incident to the -railroad, not the railroad to the shop. - -The official family, now being gathered under the parental roof of the -superintendent, are politely requested to deposit the official -shooting-iron, the typewriter, in one official arsenal, from which all -shooting will be done in the future. The office files are consolidated in -one office of record. This idea is borrowed from the courts of justice, -where one clerk of the court, with as many deputies as necessary, records -all transactions regardless of the number of judges and other officers. - -You must have worked in a railroad office to appreciate the fearful -condition of official files in this year of grace, nineteen hundred -eleven. You ask for the file on that culvert at Jones' farm on the -Martinsburgh branch, and an anæmic office-boy staggers toward you with -enough manuscript to be the making of a novel. There are the contract -arrangements and the correspondence with the J. B. & G. concerning the -union station privileges that are enjoyed with it at Blissville; why, -there was a whole chapter given over to that episode of July, three -summers ago, when the leaders had to be renewed on that magnificent -structure, and its roof re-shingled. Here is the contract for handling -milk on a single side-line division--and the accompanying symposium of -thought from chief clerks and minor officers in the form of -miscellaneous--and entirely useless--correspondence. This is the agreement -with the bridge-builders' union--four inches thick. No wonder the shelves -of the record room sag, and that the clerks are hollow-eyed. Tons of -unprotected paper have been scrawled upon, perfect rivers of helpless -black ink have done the work--and all for that! - -The heaviest file in the office of the Harriman system to-day is half an -inch in thickness, and there is no one to deny that the property is being -run at a high stage of efficiency--particularly in comparison with some -other railroad systems of the land. As the result of a single record -system at any division headquarters, the astounding saving has been to -that group of railroads, of five hundred thousand letters a year, and it -now goes without saying that they were unnecessary letters. In a year or -two, that figure will cross the million mark--and you must take second -breath to imagine the time and thought that goes into the making of a -million letters in a twelvemonth. The material saving in stationery is -considerable--although trifling in the operation of a system that spends -about $225,000,000 a year, but the logical claim is made that the five -hundred thousand letters eliminated retarded rather than helped -administration, that they produced more harm than good. Deeper than all -this is the dwarfing effect upon the individual initiative of the man -below, for whom the letter attempts to think. - -Elimination of red tape is not the sole object of the new system. Mr. -Kruttschnitt regards this as incidental. What has appealed to him is the -final step in the organization which is to confer the uniform title of -"assistant superintendent" upon the former division engineer, master -mechanic, trainmaster, travelling engineer, roadmaster, and chief -despatcher. These officers retain their former duties and -responsibilities, but they broaden authority to meet emergencies on the -spot. This means increased supervision of employees, more scientific -management of men. The officials of the Harriman lines faced here a -ticklish problem. The attitude of organized labor was in doubt. Would the -men object to too many bosses? Would confusion result from several men -issuing orders that might possibly conflict? The results have been a -splendid vindication of the intelligence of the men who are close to -things. The men were often quicker to catch the idea than were the -officers. What appealed to them most of all was the dictum that no man -could sign another man's name or initials. - -"We old men do our work, no matter how many bosses there are; we realize -that younger men need more instruction than supervision," said a veteran -conductor on the Union Pacific, when the matter was brought to his -attention. "We used to make one report to the master mechanic and another -to the superintendent. Now one report addressed simply 'assistant -superintendent' is enough. It means less red tape. But what we like best -of all is that some smart Aleck of a clerk can no longer jack us up." - -That veteran ticket-puncher recalled that in older days conductors had -been dismissed for allowing operators to sign their names to telegraphic -train orders; perhaps the letter of dismissal was signed by the -superintendent's chief clerk. There was railroad system for you! - -After a year and a half of what the local officers called trial--for Mr. -Kruttschnitt and Major Hine have always regarded that period as -demonstration rather than as experiment--the system was broadened. It was -applied to some of the higher units. For nearly a year, the U. P. general -officers at Omaha have had five assistant general managers. In other days -there were a general superintendent, a superintendent of motive power, a -chief engineer, a superintendent of transportation, and an assistant to -the general manager. The new million dollar general office building of the -U. P. at Omaha will have its office space arranged according to the new -conception. Until it is completed, the consolidation of office records -will not be practicable, because the various general offices are now -scattered over town. But a start has been made, and plans laid for full -development. - -What is good at the east end of a railroad is generally as good at the -west end, and so the plan, working handily in general offices at Omaha, -has been transplanted to the general offices of another Harriman -road--the newly combined Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company -at Portland, Ore., and at Seattle, Wash. Other general headquarters of the -Harriman roads are only awaiting the construction of new and modern office -buildings, before they will be asked to fall in line with the plan. -Kruttschnitt does not order these things. He is far too wise a railroader -for that. He directs by suggestion and the family circle talks of Major -Hine. And yet twenty-three out of the thirty-three divisions of the -Harriman railroad group have fallen into the new groove within two short -years. - -"Consider for an instant the overwhelming importance of a title to some -railroaders," says a high officer of one of that group as he sits at his -desk. He is one of the men to whom a title is as hollow as a brass -cylinder. "I have known a man to almost froth at the mouth because some -stupid underling wrote a letter and addressed him as 'assistant to the -general manager' instead of 'assistant general manager.' We have gone -title crazy on some of our railroads. Take that overworked word -'superintendent.' We have more superintendents on this system to-day than -there used to be track hands on a good sized road, and we have what is -even worse, a superintendent of motive power, and a superintendent of -transportation ranking the division superintendent who is the head of an -important subordinate unit, and entitled to respect among the rank and -file of our men as such. Under the new plan, the superintendent of -transportation together with the superintendent of motive power, as you -have already seen, become assistant general managers. - -"Right there is an impersonality that is delightful--and efficient; it has -proved most efficient in division organization. Out on our ---- division -we had several washouts simultaneously last year. We sent at once an -assistant superintendent to each point of interruption and so we had at -each vital place, a man with sufficient brains and authority to use the -forces on the ground to the best advantage. Isn't that good railroading?" - - * * * * * - -It is good railroading all along the line. It is good railroading to -handle as big a question as the reorganization of a system employing a -quarter of a million men and women, without writing a whole library of -rules and regulations for its enforcement. Ask Major Hine, himself, how he -handles that problem. - -"Easily enough," will be his reply to you. "We have a constitution--also -unwritten like that splendid old bulwark of English liberties--and any -superintendent, any general manager, can make his own rules for his -division or his stretch of railroad as long as they will stand the tests -of that constitution. And the railroad's bulwark consists of but three -very simple principles: - -"The first of these is that no man may sign the name or the initial of -another. That is rank feudalism, and out of place in the twentieth century -sort of railroading. Our second clause is that there must be at all times -an assistant superintendent in charge of the office. Normally, this -assistant, in effect chief-of-staff, is the senior or No. 1 on the list. -Here again, elasticity is introduced. The unwritten law provides that -whatever assistant may be assigned to the office is the senior of the -others for the time being. The chief-of-staff reviews the incoming and -outgoing correspondence and reduces it to its lowest terms. Each assistant -superintendent signs his own communications, but they pass through the -focus of the administrative hour-glass on the desk of the watchful -chief-of-staff. - -"In the third place, correspondence must be addressed impersonally; from -below, 'assistant superintendent,' from above, 'superintendent.' This -requirement is based upon the idea that authority, as in the courts, is -abstract and impersonal, that the exercise of authority is highly -concrete and personal. The court exists if the judge is dead; the court is -silent until the judge speaks." - -Already there is noted a greater willingness to take responsibility. More -and more is heard about "this division" and "the company" and less and -less about "my department." The mathematical axiom that "the whole is -greater than any of its parts" is sometimes violated in corporate -administration, because there is no chief-of-staff to balance the -specialization of some department head. - -This system of playing trumps in the new science of railroads -incidentally, but not essentially, provides for rotation in the position -of senior assistant or chief-of-staff. Some conservative divisions have -not availed themselves of this feature. On one division the superintendent -in the first year of the new organization had four of his five assistant -superintendents, each occupy the senior chair at headquarters for three -months each. Finally, it came the turn of the old master mechanic. - -"I am sweating blood," he said, "but I never knew before how much there is -about a railroad." - -When that master mechanic returned to his shop interests, his vision had -been broadened, and he was more alert to protect the company's interests -when riding over the road. The sponsors for the new system deny that this -may lead to the neglect of an official's own special responsibility. They -point to the superintendent as a balance wheel to maintain proper -equilibrium. Over two years' experience has led the high officials of the -Harriman lines to lay some stress upon urging the assistant -superintendents forward rather than holding them back. The tendency has -been to settle back in former grooves. As long as no harm is done, those -who avail themselves of their new opportunities are becoming more valuable -assets both for themselves and for the company. - -When a division is reorganized, the persons concerned are assembled to -listen to a lecture by Major Hine. To their great astonishment, he usually -leaves town the same evening. He takes the position that the system which -depends for its success upon the presence of any individual is a system -which the company has no business to adopt. He says, "We have pushed you -off the bank. Now swim ashore." They all do. On the next visit of his -grand rounds, the instructor often finds his pupils beating him at his own -game. Dropping in one day at the headquarters of a large division on the -coast, he found the senior assistant superintendent and the old master -mechanic in frequent conference. The senior assistant tossed a letter over -the desk, and asked, "Did Jim here need to write this letter?" "It looks -good to me," said the instructor; "what is the matter with it?" "You told -us," said the interlocutor, "that one record in this office is enough. I -handled a letter this morning from the mechanical assistant telling the -foreman to repair this outfit car. Now I get another letter this afternoon -about the same thing." "You are dead right," said the major; "you fellows -will soon have me worked out of a job." - -The old master mechanic caught the spirit of the occasion and said: "Yes, -Jack, you caught that one, but there were two just like it this morning -that you didn't catch. Next time I won't have to dictate them." - - * * * * * - -There then is efficiency through organization--the playing of trumps in -the developing science of railroading. Other railroads have been watching -the reorganization plan upon the Harriman system with critical eyes, and -can find nothing but success in its workings. It is paving its own way, -and shouldering itself abreast of a railroad generation that figures not -in lines of from five hundred to a thousand miles each, but giant systems -of grouped lines that may easily stretch their steel cobwebs for fifteen -thousand miles--over whole sovereign States, from ocean to -ocean--properties whose management calls for a degree of skill not yet -demanded in the very greatest of our industrial or manufacturing -corporations. - -The old order changeth and giveth way to the new. - - - - -INDEX - - - Acworth, the English economist, 330, 331. - - Adams, Alvin, 371, 372. - - Adams, Maude, 293, 294. - - Adams Express Company, 371-373. - - Adams & Company, 372. - - Ade, George, 303. - - Advertising, railroad, 276; - bill for newspaper, 288; - open territory, 356. - - Agricultural schools maintained by the railroads, 360, 361, 363. - - Air-brake, 42, 125, 134, 249, 250. - - Albany, bridge at, 14. - - Albany & Syracuse Railroad, 371. - - Algomah Central, 417. - - _Algomah_, ferry, 415. - - Alleghany Portage Railroad, 11, 12, 48, 149. - - Allen, Horatio, 5, 6, 7, 8, 119. - - Altoona shops of Pennsylvania Railroad, 12, 61, 154, 394, 395-398. - - American bridge-builders do work of world, 74. - - American Express Company, 372, 373. - - American Locomotive Company, 126, 127. - - "American Notes," Dickens, quoted, 11. - - Anchor Line, the, _see_ Erie & Western Transportation Company. - - Ann Arbor railway, 416. - - _Arabian_, locomotive, 120. - - Armstrong, Col. G. B., 377. - - Ashtabula, Ohio, bridge disaster, 61. - - Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, 2, 32, 126, 127, 358, 386, 429. - - Atlantic City, 367, 368. - - Atlantic City Railroad, 127. - - Atlantic Coast Line, 127. - - Atlantic type of locomotive, 127. - - - Baggage, handling of, 93; - duties of baggagemen, 251, 252; - use of baggage-car, 322, 323. - - Baldwin, Matthias, 122, 123. - - Baltimore, railroad connections of, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19; - tunnels in, 49; - stations in, 96, 436. - - Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 2, 9, 15-23, 41, 49, 58-60, 64, 65, 77, 96, - 120, 126, 132, 139, 144, 376, 377, 394, 421, 427, 436. - - Baltimore & Potomac R. R., 20. - - Bangs, Col. George S., 377, 378. - - "Bends," cause and treatment of, 68, 70. - - Bergen Tunnel, 318. - - Bessemer, Sir Henry, 61. - - _Best Friend of Charleston_, locomotive, 8, 120. - - Big Muddy River, Illinois Central's bridge over, 78. - - Big Four, 27, 418. - - Binghampton, N. Y., 81. - - Black Diamond Express (Lehigh Valley Railroad), 286. - - Black River Road, 217. - - Blair, Postmaster General Montgomery, 377. - - Blizzards, fighting of, 268-275. - - Boards of directors of railroads, 156-158. - - Bollman, --, designer of bridges, 61, 63. - - Bonds, railroad, 36, 37. - - Boston Elevated Railway, 428. - - Boston, in 1831, 9; - railroad connections of, 10; - Josiah Perham's excursions to, 29; - stations in, 88, 95-99, 313, 319, 320, 384; - suburban traffic of, 98, 99, 319. - - "Boston Special" (New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad), 384. - - Boston & Albany Railroad, 60, 77, 98, 106, 136, 370. - - Boston & Lowell Railroad, 9, 10, 96, 98. - - Boston & Maine Railroad, 1, 98, 319, 320, 333, 384, 437. - - Boston & Providence Railroad, 95, 370. - - Boston & Worcester line, 10, 124, 370. - - Brakeman, duties of, 248-250. - - Brandeis, Louis, 451, 452. - - Brandywine Viaduct, 77. - - Brennan, Louis, 442, 443. - - Bridge-builders, personality and nationality of, 72-74. - - Bridges-- - at Albany, across Hudson, 14. - first across Mississippi, 28. - building of, 42, 56-79. - at Trenton, across Delaware, 57, 77. - at Springfield, across Connecticut River, 57. - of timber, 57-60, 62-64. - at Waterford, across Hudson River, 57. - Permanent Bridge, across Schuylkill River, 58. - of stone, 58, 59, 76, 77. - Starucca Viaduct, 58. - Thomas Viaduct, 58, 59, 76. - of iron, 60, 61. - of Rider design, 60. - B. & O. Monongahela River, 60. - Ashtabula, 61. - of steel, 61, 62, 76, 77. - at Portage, over Genesee River, 62. - forms of, 62-64. - through span, 64. - deck span, 64. - over Susquehanna River, between Havre-de-Grace and Aiken, 64, 65. - at Cincinnati, over Ohio River, 65. - suspension, 65. - cantilever, 65, 66. - over Kentucky River, 66. - Minnehaha, at St. Paul, 66. - over Niagara River, 66. - over Frazer River, 66. - at Poughkeepsie, 66. - personality of builders of, 72-74. - over Pend Oreille River, 73. - on line of Rio Grande & Western, 74. - replacing of, 75, 76. - Roebling's, at Niagara Falls, 75. - at Steubenville, Ohio, 75, 76. - over Hackensack River, 76, 206, 207. - of concrete, 76-79. - Brandywine Viaduct, 77. - Pennsylvania, over Susquehanna River, 77. - New Brunswick, over Raritan River, 77. - over Florida Keys, 78. - at Slateford, Pa., 78. - over Big Muddy River, 78. - at Washington, D. C., 78. - Moodna Valley, steel trestle over, 143. - at Towanda, Pa., 144. - first steel bridge in America, 144. - across the Delaware, 367. - - Brilliant cut-off (Pennsylvania Railroad), 148, 149. - - Britton, H. M., 269. - - Broad Street Station, Philadelphia, 88, 96, 97, 154, 320, 440. - - Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, its care for employees, 427, 428. - - Brooks plant, Dunkirk, 127. - - Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 423. - - Brown, George, 16. - - Brown, W. C., 167, 168, 362. - - "Brown system," _see_ Demerit plan. - - Bryant, Gridley, 6, 132. - - Buffalo & Attica Railroad, 27. - - Buffet sleepers, 307, 309. - - Burlington, _see_ Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. - - Burr, Theodore, 57, 63. - - Burwick, J. M., 420. - - - Cab, use of, 123. - - Caissons, their use in tunnel-construction, 52. - in bridge-building, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 77. - - Calvert Station, Baltimore, 96. - - Camden Station, Baltimore, 96, 436. - - Camden & Amboy Railroad, 10, 121. - - Campbell, Henry R., 122. - - Canadian Pacific Railway, 2, 32, 141, 142, 406, 414, 417. - - Canals, 4, 5, 9, 13, 34, 35. - - Car-ferries, 416, 417. - - Car-inspectors, duties of, 402, 403. - - Cars, storage of, 89; - cleaning of, 90; - construction of, 132; - platforms and vestibules of, 134, 135, 308; - use of steel for, 135; - "foreign cars," 389. - - Carroll, Charles, of Carrollton, 17. - - Carter, C. F., quoted, 24. - - Cascade Tunnel, 436, 437, 441. - - Cassatt, A. J., 160, 166. - - Cathedral Mountain, the spiral tunnel under, 142. - - Cattle, shipping of, on railroads, 328, 329. - - Central Pacific Railroad, 30, 31, 32, 45, 357. - - Central Railroad of New Jersey, 2, 313, 412. - - Central Vermont, 333. - - Charleston & Hamburg Railroad, 8, 123. - - Cheney, Benjamin F., 372. - - Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, 2, 10, 16, 18. - - Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 2, 127. - - Chicago City Railway Company, 177. - - Chicago Fast Mail, 189. - - Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, 3, 32, 300, 313, 356, 358. - - Chicago-Montreal flyer, 414. - - Chicago, railroad connections of, 27; - Northwestern station at, 88, 101, 106, 321; - La Salle Station at, 101. - - Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, 3, 28, 364, 386. - - Chicago & Alton Railroad, 144, 300-304. - - Chicago & Northwestern Railway, 3, 27, 28, 313, 356, 386. - - Chicago & St. Louis Express (West Shore Railroad), 265-267. - - Chief clerk, duties of, 220. - - Civil War, railroad building during period of, 19, 20; - might have been averted by railroad development, 35. - - Claim-agents, 174-179. - - Cleveland stations in, 96, 418, 419. - - Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, 418. - - Coal, handling of, 13; - as a freight business, 108, 109, 126, 339, 342; - substituted for wood as a fuel, 124; - mining of, 340. - - Collinwood, Ohio, the Lake Shore's plant at, 394. - - Columbia & Philadelphia Railroad, 12, 122, 401. - - Commuter, the, 311; - his use of rapid transit, 313-324, 327, 384. - - Competition among railroads, 355. - - Complaints of public in regard to railroad service, 290, 291. - - Conductor, duties of, 250, 251. - - _Consolidation_, locomotive, 124, 125. - - Construction work of railroads, 454. - - Cooper, Peter, 17-19, 120. - - Coöperation of railroads, 328. - - Cornell University, agricultural school at, 360. - - "Corridor trains," 134. - - Cowan, John F., 22. - - Crede, the English railroad town, 393. - - _Crédit mobilier_, 31. - - _Crescent City_, the, 299. - - Crocker brothers, 30. - - Crossings, railroad, 42. - - Cumberland, on the National Highway, 16, 19, 394. - - Cumberland Valley Railroad, 299. - - - Daly, C. F., 284. - - Daniels, George H., 277. - - Davis, Phineas, 120-122. - - Davis, W. A., 377. - - Davis & Gartner Co., 120. - - _Decapod_, locomotive, 126. - - Dee, River, bridge, 60. - - Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, 2, 44, 78, 88, 102, 145, - 313, 315, 317, 385, 412. - - Delaware & Hudson Railroad, 1, 5, 119, 126. - - _Delmonico_, the, 304, 305. - - Demerit plan, 211, 212. - - Depew (New York), shops of the New York Central at, 394. - - Detroit River tunnel, 54, 55, 413, 436, 441. - - Devereux, John H., 418. - - _De Witt Clinton_, locomotive, 13, 120. - - Dexter, Judge, 29. - - Dickens's "American Notes," quoted, 11. - - Dining-cars, conveniences of, 134, 304-307. - - Division superintendent, duties of, 187-189, 202-219, 272-275. - - Dorsey, John M., 314. - - Dresden, Germany, train-sheds in, 103. - - Duluth & Iron Range Railroad, 420. - - - Eagle Pass, 40. - - Edison, Thomas A., 432. - - Efficiency in railroad service, 449-464. - - Eighteen-hour trains, between New York and Chicago, 298. - - Electricity, its use in tunnel-construction, 51, 52. - in bridge-building, 70. - substituted for steam, 104, 105, 137, 432-441. - used for lighting, 303, 315-321. - - Elevated and subway lines, 440. - - _El Gobernador_, locomotive, 126. - - Elkhart, Indiana, railroad shops of the Lake Shore Railroad at, 394. - - Embankment, construction of, 44; - largest, 45. - - Emigration bureaus, 356, 358. - - Empire State Express (New York Central), 285, 286. - - Employees, protection of, 176-179, 422, 423. - - "Engine sheds," 390. - - Engine wheels, first turning of, in America, 7. - - Engineer, duties of, 90, 247, 248. - - Engines in yards and roundhouses, 89, 90. - - English roundhouse principle, 89. - - Enterprise line, the, 405. - - Erie Canal, New York State, 4, 13, 14, 15. - - Erie, Pa., transfer of passengers at, 14. - - Erie Railroad, 22-25, 59, 60, 124, 126, 142, 143, 164, 299, 313-315, - 317, 361, 392-394, 412, 417, 429, 430, 435. - - Erie & Western Transportation Company, 417. - - _Evening Star_, the, 299. - - Excursions, use of, 358. - - Express business, 369. - - Express messenger, duties of, 251, 252. - - - Fargo, William G., 371, 372. - - "Farmers' special," 360, 361, 363. - - Felton, S. M., 124. - - Ferry fleets, 412-415. - - Fillmore, President, his trip on the Erie, 23. - - Finances of railroad, 179-186. - - Fireman, duties of, 90, 246, 391, 392. - - Fish, shipping of, 345, 346. - - Fisk, Jim, 299. - - Fitchburg, Railroad, 96, 98. - - Florida East Coast Railroad, 77, 78. - - Florida Keys, 78. - - Folders, bill for printing of, 288. - - Food, shipping of, to the city, 343, 344. - - Forbes, James M., 27. - - Forney, M. N., 125. - - Fort Wayne subsidiary, the, 147, 148. - - France, railroad in, 35. - - Frankfort, Germany, train-sheds in, 103. - - Franklin, Benjamin, 375. - - Frazer River bridge, 66. - - Freehold & Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad (Pennsylvania Railroad), 359. - - Freight claims, 183. - - Freight, railroads once prohibited from carrying, 9; - Erie's profits from, 25; - handling of, 34, 88, 107-118, 194; - traffic, 318, 325-354; - rate system for, 329-331; - threefold classification of, 330-332; - "back haul," 334; - Australian system of, 334-336; - "demurrage," 338; - fast trains for, 343. - - Freight terminals, 107-115, 408. - - Freight traffic-manager, duties of, 326, 327. - - Fruit, shipping of California, 344, 345. - - Fullerton, H. B., 362. - - - Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, 27. - - Gallitzin Tunnel, 12, 50, 149, 441. - - Garrett, John W., 20, 21. - - Garrett, Robert, 21, 22. - - Gasolene engine, use of, 137. - - Gauge, standard, 46. - - General attorney of the railroad, duties of, 170-174. - - General counsel of the railroad, duties of, 170-174. - - General manager, duties of, 187-201. - - General passenger agent, duties of, 276-291, 366. - - General superintendent, duties of, 190. - - Genesee Valley Road, 143. - - Geneva, N. Y., agricultural experimental school, 360. - - _George Washington_, locomotive, 122. - - Gould roads, 2, 3, 32. - - Government regulation of railroads, 329. - - _Governor Paine_, locomotive, 123. - - Grades, railroad, 40, 41, 48, 139-151. - - Grand Central Railroad, 316, 317, 420. - - Grand Canal (Erie), 4. - - Grand Central Station, New York, 88, 95, 96, 104, 315, 321, 384, 419, - 421, 438, 439, 440. - - Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, 416. - - Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, 3, 32, 42, 304, 333, 414, 416, 417, 436. - - "Grangers," 3. - - Grant, General, 302, 303. - - _Grasshopper_, locomotive, 120. - - Great Lakes, highway up the, 414. - - Great Northern Express Company, 373. - - Great Northern Railroad, 2, 32, 126, 147, 300, 358, 417, 437. - - Great Western Railway, _see_ Grand Trunk. - - Greenville, freight station at, 109, 110. - - Gyroscope, _see_ Mono-rail. - - - Hackensack River Bridge, 76, 206, 207. - - Hadley, President, of Yale, 17. - - Hand-brakes, use of, 250. - - Hanson, Inga, 177. - - Harbor fleet, a, 406, 407, 408. - - Harlem River Branch (New Haven), 316, 317, 438. - - Harnden, William F., 370, 371, 372. - - Harriman, E. H., 139-141, 159, 166, 167, 358. - - Harriman lines, 2, 297, 358, 406, 455-458, 460-463. - - Harsemus Cove, 109, 110. - - _Harvard_, the, 405, 406. - - Haupt, Herman, 451, 452. - - Hazard, Ebenezer, 374. - - Headlight, first use of, 124. - - "Head-room," 42. - - Hill, J. J., his roads, 2, 147, 159, 166, 167, 358, 373, 406. - - Hinckley, --, a locomotive builder, 122. - - Hine, Charles, 453-455, 459-461, 463. - - Hoboken, Lackawanna Terminal at, 88, 102, 109. - - Honesdale, Pa., switchback at, 41. - - Hoosac Tunnel, 49, 437. - - Hopkins, Mark, 30. - - Hornellsville, Erie shops at, 392-394. - - Horse Shoe Curve, 12. - - Hotel-cars, _see_ Dining-cars. - - Howe, --, designer of bridges, 63. - - Hudson, Commodore, bronze statue of, 354. - - Hudson River Tunnel, 102, 412. - - Huntington, Collis P., 30, 32. - - - Ice-floes, obstructions to the railroad marine, 416. - - Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad, 73. - - Illinois Central Railroad, 1, 28, 78, 313, 320, 321, 385, 429. - - Imperial Limited (Canadian Pacific Railway), 141. - - Inland Water Ways, 404-417. - - Insurance, for railroad employees, 423. - - Interstate Commerce Commission, 13, 329, 333, 335, 355, 374, 451. - - Interstate Commerce Law, 210. - - Interurban electric service, 432-434. - - Ithaca, N. Y., switchback at, 41. - - - Jamaica, station at (Long Island), 318, 319. - - Jamestown Exposition of 1907, 441. - - _Jay Gould_, the, 299. - - Jersey City, 109. - - Jersey Heights Tunnel, 102. - - Jervis, John B., 121. - - Jewell, Postmaster General, 378. - - _John Bull_, locomotive, 121. - - Joy line, the, 405. - - Judah, Theodore D., 29, 30, 31. - - - Kansas, boom in, 357. - - Kentucky River bridge, 66. - - Kicking Horse River, tunnel near, 142. - - Kingwood Tunnel, 41, 49, 122. - - Kirkwood, James P., 59, 77. - - Kruttschnitt, Julius, 298, 455, 456, 458-460. - - - Lackawanna cut-off, 145. - - Lackawanna Railroad, _see_ Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. - - Lake Michigan, an obstruction to land traffic, 415. - - Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, 14, 27, 205, 378, 385, 394, - 418, 419, 421. - - Lane cut-off (Union Pacific), 44, 140. - - Lard, shipping of, 342. - - La Salle Street Station, Chicago, 101. - - Latrobe, B. H., 19, 41, 49, 58, 60, 63, 122. - - Lehigh Valley Railroad, 2, 144, 286, 361, 385. - - Leiper, Thomas, 6. - - Lewis, Isaac, Erie engineer, 25. - - Lickey plane, 122. - - Lights, code of, 86. - - Lincoln, Abraham, 300, 302. - - Link device, use of, 124. - - Liquor, prohibition of use of, 421. - - Livingston & Company, 372. - - Locomotives, 5, 7, 8, 18, 26, 119-131. - - Long Island commuters, 102, 103. - - Long Island Express Company, 373. - - Long Island Railroad, 1, 109, 313, 318, 320, 362, 412. - - Long Key Viaduct, 78. - - Loree, L. F., 22. - - Lowell, Mass., in 1831, 9. - - Lucin cut-off, The (Southern Pacific), 139, 140. - - - M. K. & T., 450. - - McAdoo Tunnel, 317. - - McCrea, James, 167, 194, 195. - - McCrea, the engineer, 420, 421. - - McGraham, James, 331. - - McPherson, Logan G., quoted, 20. - - Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad, 26, 124. - - Magazines, railroad employees', 429. - - Mail clerks, duties of, 251, 252, 377-383. - - Mail-service, railway, 369-387. - - Maintenance Way Department, 388. - - Mallet articulated compound, 126, 127. - - Manchester & Liverpool line, 9. - - Mann, Col. W. D., 135. - - Manunka Chunk, tunnel at, 145. - - Marine, the railroad, 404-417. - - Market Street Station, Philadelphia, 88, 97. - - Martin, T. E., 363. - - _Maryland_, the, 413. - - Mason, a locomotive builder, 122. - - Master Car Builders, organization of, 136, 137, 390, 401. - - Master mechanic, duties of, 389, 400, 401. - - _Mastodon_, locomotive, 125, 126. - - Mauch Chunk, colliery railroad at, 9, 41, 136. - - Metropolitan Line, the, 405. - - Metropolitan Street Railway Company, New York City, 172. - - Meyers, George, 418, 419. - - Michigan Central Railroad, 27, 28, 54, 302, 385, 413, 414, 436. - - Michigan Southern Railroad, 27, 28. - - _Michigan_, the transport, 414. - - Middlesex Canal, traffic on, in 1829, 9. - - Milholland, James, 124. - - Military Academy at West Point, parade-ground of, 265. - - Milk, carrying of, to city, 347-351. - - Mills, James C., quoted, 415, 416. - - Minnehaha Bridge, at St. Paul, 66. - - Minot, Charles, 25. - - Missouri Pacific Railroad, 29. - - Missouri, steel bridge across the, 144. - - Moguls, locomotives, 124. - - Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, 13, 41, 121. - - Mono-rail, 441-445. - - Monon Railroad, 385. - - Monongahela River Bridge, 60. - - Moodna Valley, steel trestle over, 143. - - Morgan, J. P., 296, 328. - - _Morning Star_, the, 299. - - Morris Run, the, 133. - - Morse, William, 265-267. - - Mott Haven yards, 439. - - Mount Clare yards, Baltimore, 120, 132. - - Mount Royal station, Buffalo, 436. - - Murray, Oscar G., 22. - - - National Express Company, 373. - - Naugatuck Railroad, 135. - - New Brunswick bridge, over Raritan River, 77. - - New England Navigation Company, 405. - - New Haven Railroad, 1, 109, 147, 300, 313, 315, 316, 413, 419, 438-440. - - New York Central, 2, 14, 22, 27, 41, 104, 126, 147, 151, 154, 155, 167, - 205, 268, 284, 285, 297, 298, 313, 315-317, 320, 361-363, 370, - 384, 394, 407-410, 419-421, 435, 438. - - New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, 14, 104, 353, 378, 417, 434. - - New York Connecting Railroad, 109. - - New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, 98, 104, 315, 320, 404-406, - 412, 433. - - New York, railroad connections of, 10, 21; - tunnels in, 49; - stations at, 88, 95, 96, 102-104, 159-162, 315, 318, 319, 321, 412, - 419, 421, 438-440; - harbor and commerce of, 409-412; - ferries in, 413-415. - - New York & Harlem Railroad, 14, 60. - - New York & New England Railroad, 98. - - Newspapers, rapid delivery of, 382. - - Niagara River bridge, 66. - - Norfolk & Western Railroad, 144, 421. - - Norris, William, 122. - - North Station, Boston, 88, 97, 98, 313, 319, 320, 324, 384. - - Northern Central Railroad, 11, 96. - - Northern Cross Railroad, 26. - - Northern Pacific Railroad, 2, 29, 32, 50, 51. - - Northern Steamship Company, 417. - - Northwestern station, Chicago, 88, 101, 106, 321. - - Norwich, Conn., 10. - - - Observation cars, 308, 309. - - Officials of railroads, 170-219. - - Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, 19. - - Old Colony Railroad, 98, 405. - - _Olympic_, the, 407. - - Oneida Railways Company, 435. - - Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, 460. - - Organization, as a means to secure efficiency, 449-464. - - Osgood, Samuel, 375. - - "Our Inland Seas," quotation from, 416. - - Oxford Furnace, tunnel at, 145. - - - Pacific coast, railroad connections of, 28-32. - - Pacific type of locomotive, 127. - - Paderewski at Vassar, 294, 295. - - Palmer, Timothy, 58. - - Panhandle subsidiary, The, 147, 148. - - Panic, of '37, 13; - of '07, 162, 359, 360. - - Pape, Edward, 176, 177. - - Park Avenue Tunnel, 439. - - Park Square Station, Boston, 95, 96, 98. - - Parkersburg, W. Va., railroad connections of, 19; - grade at, 41. - - Parsons, Superintendent, 430. - - Passenger coaches, 132-134, 398-400. - - Passenger service, first road to have regular, 8. - - Paterson works, 121, 122, 124. - - Pay-car, gradual disappearance of the, 180. - - Pend Oreille River bridge, 73. - - Pennsylvania Railroad, 2, 12, 49, 50, 61, 76, 77, 96, 109, 110, 123, - 135, 145, 146, 154, 159, 167, 170, 194, 297, 298, 300, 313, 317, - 320, 359, 379, 385, 386, 394, 401, 406, 412, 413, 417, 421, - 423-427, 435, 441, 451. - - Pennsylvania Station, New York, 88, 102-104, 159-162, 318, 319, 412, - 440. - - Pensions, granted to employees, 425, 426. - - People's line, 12. - - People's Pacific Railroad, 29. - - Pere Marquette Railway, 416, 429. - - Perham, Josiah, 29, 30. - - Permanent Bridge, across Schuylkill River at Philadelphia, 58. - - Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Railroad, 123. - - Philadelphia, railroad connections of, 10, 11, 15, 21; - stations at, 88, 96, 97, 154, 320, 440. - - Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, 20. - - Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad, 12. - - Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, 2, 97, 124. - - "Piano-box" system of switches, 84, 85, 86. - - Pig iron, handling of, 341, 342. - - _Pioneer_, locomotive, 27. - - _Pioneer_, sleeping-car, 301, 302, 303. - - Pittsburgh, railroad connections of, 11, 12, 15, 18, 19; - suburban traffic of, 147, 148; - Union Station at, 148. - - Planes, inclined, disuse of, 11, 12. - - Plumbe, John, 29. - - Pomeroy, George, 371. - - Pooling, objections to, 328, 331. - - Portage, N. Y., bridge at, 62. - - Portage Railroad, _see_ Alleghany Portage Railroad. - - Post-office Department, United States, 372-387. - - Poughkeepsie Bridge, 66. - - Prairie, type of locomotive, 127. - - Pratt, --, designer of bridges, 61. - - _President_, the, 304. - - President of the railroad, the, 152-169. - - Prince Rupert, on Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad, 32. - - Private car lines, 13, 293-298. - - Promotion in railroad service, 245, 255. - - Providence, R. I., railroad connections of, 10. - - "Public service stations," 287. - - Pullman, George M., 134, 299, 393. - - Pullman and its railroad shops, 393, 394. - - Pullman cars, construction of, 303. - - Pullman Palace Car Company, 303. - - - _Queen City_, the, 299. - - Quincy Granite Railroad, 132. - - - Railroad, The. - history of, in United States, 3-33. - English, 5, 7. - first American, 6. - horse-power, 6, 12, 17. - communal nature of early, 12. - paper of, 23. - treatment of bankrupt, 23. - telegraph first used by, 23. - development and building of, 34-48. - grants for, 35, 36. - cost of, 36. - financing of, 36, 37, 179-186. - keeping open for winter traffic, 38, 268-275. - water for use of, 41. - crossings on, 42. - tunnels, 48-55, 145-150, 436, 437. - bridges, 42, 56-79. - stations, 80-106. - suburban service, 80, 81, 90, 311-324. - roundhouses, 88-90. - yards, 83-91, 115-118. - freight terminals, 107-115, 408. - locomotives and cars, 119-137, 388-404. - building of the locomotive, 128-132. - building of cars, 132-137. - reconstruction of, 138. - grades, 139-151. - officials, 152-169, 187-219, 276-287. - legal department, 170-179. - financial department, 179-186. - tickets, 181-183, 288-290. - operating, 220-242. - time table, 221-223. - signals, 225-227, 236-238. - use of telephone, 235. - employees, 243-255, 418-431. - wrecking trains, 256. - rates, 282-287. - special trains and private cars, 292-310. - commuters' trains, 311-324. - freight traffic, 325-355. - freight rates, 327-337. - scientific farming, 359-366. - express service, 369-374. - mail service, 374-387. - marine, 404-418. - ferries, 407-418. - electricity, 432-445. - mono-rail, 441-445. - organization, 449-464. - - Rails laid on stone sleepers, 11. - - Reading Railroad, 123, 313, 320. - - Rebating, prohibition of, 328, 329. - - Reconstruction of railroads, 138-151. - - Red Line, All-British, 141. - - Red Spot, Order of the, 430, 431. - - Repair shops, locomotive and car, 400. - - "Residences," in railroad construction, 43. - - Richardson, the architect, 106. - - Rider, Nathaniel, 60. - - Rio Grande & Western Railroad, 74. - - Roadmaster, duties of, 239, 240. - - Roads as compared with canals, 5. - - Rochester, railroad connections of, 13, 14; - depot, 96. - - Rock Island, _see_ Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. - - Rockaway section, Long Island, home of Lillian Russell, 294. - - Rockefeller, Mr., 296. - - Roebling's suspension at Niagara Falls, 75. - - Rogers, Grosvenor, and Ketchum, locomotive builders, of Paterson, N. J., - 26; - locomotive works, 121, 122, 124. - - Ronkonkoma, Long Island, home of Maude Adams, 293, 294. - - Roosevelt, Governor, 217, 218. - - Rotary plough, 271. - - Roundhouses, 88-90, 270, 388-402. - - Rural free delivery, development of, 376. - - Russell, Lillian, 294. - - Rutland Railroad, 417. - - - Sacramento Valley Railroad, 30. - - Sails on cars, experiments with, 17. - - St. Albans, Vt., 333, 335. - - St. John's Church, New York, 354. - - St. John's Park, New York, 353, 354. - - St. Louis, railroad connections of, 19, 29; - Union Station at, 88, 97, 99, 100, 106. - - St. Paul, _see_ Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul R. R. - - Salaries, paid to railroad presidents, 168, 169; - to the general attorney, 171. - - "Sand-hogs," 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 73. - - _Sandusky_, first locomotive with whistle, 26, 124. - - Santa Fe, _see_ Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. - - Schedules, Train, _see_ Time Tables. - - Scherl, August, 443. - - Secret service, the railroad's, 177-179. - - Section-boss, duties of, 239, 240, 431. - - Seibert, Leonard, 301. - - Signal, bell-rope, 124, 225, 226, 227; - along line of railroad, 236; - interlocking, 236; - block system of, 237; - operation of, 236-239; - maintenance of, 239. - - Signal towers, 82, 84-87. - - _Situation_, The, the official daily report, 196, 197. - - Slateford, Pa., bridge, 78. - - Sleeping-cars, introduction and use of, 299, 301, 302. - - Smith, A. H., 205. - - Smith, C. Shaler, 66. - - Smith, Reuben F., 418. - - Snow-belt of Great Lakes, 268. - - Snow ploughs, 38. - - Snow-sheds, 268. - - South Carolina Railroad, 8. - - South Station, Boston, 88, 97-99, 313, 319, 320, 384. - - Southern California, interurban electric line in, 297. - - Southern Express company, 373. - - Southern Pacific Railroad, 2, 32, 126, 139, 144, 159, 441, 454. - - Spearman, Frank H., 144. - - Spiral tunnels, 141, 142. - - Spokane case, the, 334, 335. - - Springfield, Mass., bridge, 57. - - Springfield, station at, 106. - - Springstead, Harvey, 431. - - Stage, Henry W., 418. - - Stampede Tunnel, 50, 51. - - Stanford, Leland, 30, 31. - - Starucca Viaduct, 58, 59, 77. - - Station-agent, multifarious duties of, 253-255. - - Stations, _see under_ Railroad. - - Statistics, making of railroad, 184-186. - - Steam brake, 125. - - Steamships, 352, 353, 404, 405. - - Steel, use of, 56, 61, 72, 125, 386, 397-400. - - Stephenson, George, inventor, 5, 121. - - Stephenson, George & Robert & Company, 121. - - Stephenson, Robert, 125. - - Steubenville, Ohio, bridge, 75, 76. - - Stonington, Conn., railroad connections of, 10. - - _Stourbridge Lion_, locomotive, 7, 8, 119. - - Street railroad systems, 427, 428. - - Stubbs, of the Union Pacific, 298. - - Suburban service, 80, 81, 90, 98, 99, 147, 148, 315-319, 440. - - Superintendent of bridges, 239, 240. - - Superintendents, 153-155, 187, 220, 221-242. - - Susquehanna Railroad, _see_ Northern Central Railroad. - - Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania R. R. bridge over, 77. - - Susquehanna River bridge, between Havre-de-Grace and Aiken, 64, 65. - - Susquehanna shop, 393, 394. - - Swindon, the English railroad town, 393. - - Switchback principle, 41. - - Switches and switchmen, 84-86, 111-118, 252, 253, 320. - - - Tacony, Philadelphia trains stopped at, 10. - - Taylor, President Zachary, 123. - - Telegraph, Erie first railroad to use, 24; - development of, in 1851, 24; - introduction of, 25, 224; - substitution of telephone for, 235, 236; - crippling of service of, 267, 268. - - Telephone, use of, 235, 236. - - Terminal, keeper of the, 82; - map of tracks and station of, 83, 84; - guarded by interlocking switches, 84, 85. - - Terminals, _see_ Railroad stations; - _also_ Freight terminals. - - Thomas, Philip E., 16, 19. - - Thomas Viaduct, 58, 59, 76. - - Thompson, A. W., 65. - - Thomson, J. Edgar, 6. - - Thomson, John, 6. - - "Throat" of station yard, 87, 88. - - Tickets and mileage-books, 182, 276-278, 286; - bill for printing, 288; - rate-sheet for, 289; - redemption of, 289, 290. - - Time Tables, 221. - - Tioga Railroad, 133. - - _Tom Thumb_, locomotive, 18, 120. - - Towanda, Pa., bridge at, 144. - - Towermen, 82, 83, 85, 274. - - Townsend, Oscar, 418. - - Track-laying, world's record of, 45; - profession of, 45, 46; - machine for, 46. - - Track, on which _Stourbridge Lion_ locomotive ran, 7. - - Track-walker, responsibility of, 253. - - Traffic, making of freight and passenger, 355-368. - - Trailer, the, 128, 129. - - Train-despatcher, 221, 223, 224, 228-231, 233-235, 261. - - Trainman, _see_ Brakeman, duties of. - - Train-master, duties of, 221. - - Transcontinental railroads, 357, 358. - - Transfer-house, 111-116. - - Travelling passenger agents, duties of, 278. - - Trenton, bridge at, 57, 77. - - "Trolley arrangement" in freight-houses, 450. - - Trumbull, --, bridge-builder, 60. - - Tug, use of, 407, 409, 412. - - Tunnels, 41, 48-55, 102, 104, 122, 141, 142, 145, 160, 161, 317-319, - 412-414, 436, 437, 439, 441. - - Turner, John B., 28. - - Turn-tables, 89. - - - Underwood, F. D., 23, 142, 143, 164. - - Union line, 13. - - Union Pacific Railroad, 2, 28, 31, 32, 44, 137, 139-141, 298, 357, 459. - - Union Station, Cleveland, 96, 418, 419. - - Union Station, Pittsburgh, 148. - - Union Station, St. Louis, 88, 97, 99, 100, 106. - - Union Station, Washington, 88, 100, 101, 106. - - United States Express Company, 372, 373. - - Utica, railroad connections of, 13, 14. - - - Vanderbilt, Commodore, 14, 22, 378, 379. - - Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 419. - - Vanderbilt, William H., 378, 379. - - Vanderbilt family, the, 354, 419, 434. - - Vermont Central Railroad, 123. - - Vice-presidents of railroads, 156. - - Voluntary Relief Department, 423-425. - - Von Moltke, his reconstruction of the German army, 452. - - - Wabash Railroad, 26, 51, 414. - - Wagner Palace Car Company, 300. - - Walcott, --, builder of Springfield, Mass., bridge, 57. - - Walsheart gears, 128. - - Washington, George, 375. - - "Washington cars," 132, 133. - - Washington, Connecticut Avenue Bridge at, 78; - Union Station at, 88, 100, 101, 106. - - Water for use of railroad, 41. - - Water transportation, _see_ Inland Water Ways. - - Waterford bridge, over Hudson River, 57. - - Watertown, blizzard at, 268. - - Waverley, the interchange yard, 110. - - Webster, Daniel, and his trip on the Erie, 23, 25. - - Weehawken "bridge," 411. - - Wells, Henry, 371, 372. - - Wells, Fargo & Co., 372, 373. - - West Penn Road, 149. - - _West Point_, locomotive, 9. - - West Shore Railroad, 75, 151, 265, 412, 434, 435. - - Western Pacific Railroad, 29, 32. - - Western Railroad, 10. - - Westinghouse, George, 125. - - Wheeling, railroad connections of, 18, 19. - - Whipple, Squire, 61, 63. - - Whistle on locomotive, first use of, 26, 124. - - Whitney, Asa, 29, 30. - - Whitney, Silas, 6. - - Whyte's classification, 127, 128. - - Wiley, Dr., 397. - - Willard, Daniel, 22. - - Winans, Ross, 19, 122, 124, 132, 133. - - Winnipeg shops, 393. - - Women, conveniences for travelling, 309. - - Woodruff Company, 299, 300. - - Worcester, station at, 106. - - World's Fair of 1904, St. Louis, 99. - - Wrecks, railroad, 189, 194-196; - wrecking-trains for, 257-265. - - - _Yale_, the, 405, 406. - - Yardmaster, duties of, 189, 190, 193, 227-229. - - _York_, _see_ _Arabian_, locomotive. - - Young Men's Christian Association, 418, 419. - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Modern Railroad, by Edward Hungerford - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MODERN RAILROAD *** - -***** This file should be named 40242-8.txt or 40242-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/2/4/40242/ - -Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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