Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-10-22
ABOUT RAILROADS.

Explosions of locomotives are now
rare.
Railroad accidents are yearly de-
creasing.
The best English railway securities
pay but 4 per cent.
! Ali the railroads did q good business
In summer travel.
The se-called fast freight rates" are
fast going out Of existence.
Few free passes have been issue,
TINS year on any railroad.
The average pay Of p railway brake
man IN Pennsylvania is $40 a month.
No two engine bells on the Penn
sylvania Railroad rug in the samoa
| tone. \
Engines are being madeSSmore pow~
erful end freight trains longer every
year.
Ticket sealping has been quite thor
oughly broken up all over the coun>
try. /
Most OF the successful railroad men
OF the country started out as poor
boys.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
ran 'refreshment cars" thirty years
ago.
Several of the southern railroads
employ colored men as brakemen and
firemen.
Collisions on railroads were more
frequent 80 years ago, 1t is said, than
they are now.
The Chinese government is making
arrangements in London 10 float
large railway loan.
A falling off In the number of cattle
carried has decreased the earnings OF,
some of the western roads.
Jay Gould's favorite occupation In
the evening is reading the railway
items IN the newspapers.
Owing to the severity of the weather
the White Mountain railroads did not
do much business this summer.
Rumors of the discovery of gold in
Oortharn Michigan have caused a
lively increase OF travel In that direc-
tion..
The experiment of lighting car by
| electricity is being tried by the PENN
sylvania Railroad on very limited
scale.
There has been a great increase dur
ing the past two weeks in the amount
of coal carried by the leading rail-
roads.
Bills Of lading for cattle are now,
given at the ranches by the Northern,
Pacific railroad to London and Liver
pool direct.
Since the introduction of the air.
brake the wear from the brake shoe is
not SO great as when the hand brakes
were used.
Automatic couplers are about to be
generally introduced, so that brake,
men will no longer be caught between
the bumpers.
Some of the smartest locomotive
engineers IN the country are en-
ployed on the Philadelphia, Whining
ton & Baltimore railroad.
Some of the employees on New Jer~
sey roads nave grown rich by carry
ing packages for people along the line
and making purchases for them III the
city on commission.
In the new private car being built
for Austin Corbin, the New York
banker, there is sofa that raised up,
discloses a bath provided with hot
and cold water and shower.
During the summer of 1883 the
earnings of the Pennsylvania railroad
were $246 900 a month. During the
past summer the monthly earnings
of the road averaged about $2,226,~
600.
The new Fairmonnt, Morgantown
and Pitts burg Railroad, which is TO
be a short cut from Pittsburg to the
ore and coal beds Of Western Vir-
ginia, will be completed and open to
travel as far as Morgantown on the
22d of October.
Three great railroads are pushing
farther west the Chicago & North
western to the Black Hills; The Chica-
go, Milwaukee and st. Paul into Da>
kota, and the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy, by the absorption Of other
roads, into Manitoba.
Work will seon be commenced on
the Philadelphia Midlands Railway,
which is being built mainly for sub
urban traffic and for the dairy trade
of Chester and Delaware counties.
The line follows the West Chester pike
closely and is expected TO finished in
the spring.