Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1889-10-04
Aotas From Aloaq the Raifcoad.


The freight business on the Shenan-
doah Valley Railroad has outgrown
the facilities for handling it. New
and more employees are
needed, and the first steps looking to
this end are now being taken by the
officials. A gang of bridge carpenters
have been engaged for some time in
the work of greatly strengthening
the trestling at the Maryland end of
the Shepherdstown bridge, and all
the trestlings on the northern divis-
ion of the road are receiving the
same attention, preparatory to the
use of much heavier class of freight
engines that have just been contrac-
ted for. 1t is said that the new en-
gines, which are known among the
men as Jack" locomotives, will be
much more powerful than any now
in use on this road. They will be
used on the northern division, as the
grades are much heavier than on the
southern.
The freight crews on the road have
been working almost constantly for
the past couple of months, but they
complain that their wages do not
show proportionate increase 1t is
probable that they will present pc
tition to the Superintendent asking
for pay for all time over twelve hours
in making a trip. Very often they
are from twelve to twenty hours in
getting from Hagerstown to Mines,
yet are only paid for one trip. They
Justly think they ought to have pay
for the extra time that they are
obliged to make through no fault Of
their own.
The train despatcher's office seems
to have more than it can attend to
properly. Freight trains are kept on
the sidings for hours at a stretch
waiting for orders. The other day a
train was ordered on side track to
wait for instructions. 1t laid there
for three hours, before it was told to
move on, and during that time not
train passed it either way.
Since writing the above paragraph
we have been informed that the evil
to has just been remedied by
dividing the road into another divis-
ion, with an additional set of train
Mr.. Geo. F. Turley, Of
H agerstown, is one of them.
A freight crew refused to go out
from Hagerstown the other night, it
is said, until they had obtained some
sleep that was absolutely necessary.
They were all suspended. The COM
pany expects the men to work with
out rest or sleep, and then when an
accident happens these poor devils
get all the blame, OF course.
The Shenandoah Valley Railroad is
not the only road that is having a
big boom in the freight business.
All the roads have just as much as
they can do in this line. The Balti-
timore & Ohio has hundreds of cars
lying along the line waiting for trans
portation. The b. & o. is not only
short of cars to move the great freight
business offered it, but is deficient in
locomotives. More than 1900 car
loads of coal, lumber and grain were
at Martinsburg last Monday without
engines to draw them to Georgetown,
Washington, Baltimore, New York,
and as far east as Boston, and the
same condition Of affairs exists at
other points along the line.
Mr.. Nelson Wilson, who for several
y ears has been section boss on the
Shenandoah Valley Railroad, with
headquarters at Charlestewn, has
been changed over to Shepherdstown
to take Mr.. Pat Murray's place, who
has been transferred to Riverton.
Murray relieves Johnson; who fills
caused by the resignation of
Hezzy Myers, beyond Antietam.
Boiler, who has been night
operator at Shenandoah Junction.
gets Wilson's place at Charlestown.
An east-bound freight train on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad parted
while coming down a nine-mile grade
'our miles west of Harper's Ferry
The conductor stopped
the rear portion and started back to
lag the next train. The engineer,
Tor some reason, passed without see
ng him, and his train ran into the
rear part of the detached train, dam
aging half dozen cars. There was
no other damage, and no loss Of
life.
The Shenandoah Valley Railroad
will sell special excursion tickets to
next week at half-fare
rates. Tickets will be on sale October
It'll to 9th, good until October 18th.
William Mccormick, a freight brake
nan from White Post, Va, got his