Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-11-16
THE FREIGHT CAR.
II Il Could Talk Il Could Tell Many In
teresting Stories.
There is something romantic about

- N' -
hardly think it. To an o~bservant
mind, the long lines OF box and flat
cars lying congenially on the side
track of some great railroad, with
their letters of introduction pinned on
their breasts. as il were. in the shape
ofmoreor less artistic lettering, are full
of curiouSsuggestions. Here and there,
too, will be seen cars in isolated posi-
tons, seemingly reaching out for
sympathy i'll their temporary loneli-
ness, Cars from the north, south,
east and west; ears from the great
Trunk lines; cars with signs telling
whom il may concern that they belong
10 the army of freight ears that rum
bic buSily To and fro on the Sunset
Route" or the 500 line" or the no.
mantle aud rugged Canadian Pa
clic." Here will be a battered and
weather worn cur from the great west,
hoJnobbirg. and, rs it were. shaking
hands. with an iron grip, with a
Maine Central. or n blue nose car. il "A
car from tie country of Il loyal
nelghbOrs cau be given the same name
rs the inhabitants. There are red,
blue. white, brown and crushed
strawberry freight cars, and parti
corored freight cars-harlequins of
their respective roads.
A freight car is an innocent looking
affair. 1t looks as though it was work.
ed too hard To have life enough for
anything else, and yet a freight a
sometimes goes of on a tangent. So
frequent, indeed, is this weakness on
the part of the freight a that a man
called a tracer is constantly employ
ed by all railroad lines TO hunt them
down, and bring them and their con-
tents back to their legitimate stopping
places. A car tracer knows some
thing about the peculiarities of a
freight car. He knows somethingabout
a freight cars romantic longing to be
out and away. A genial gentleman OF
Boston, q former a tracer, said the
other day in conversation with the
writer, that he had been all over the
country after recreant cars of the
freight persuasion, and that he had
known instances of a car being lost
for three years, and finally turning
up Unexpectedly, like a sort OF rail-
road prodigal son, ready TO be for
given. Tie person whose duty it is
TO ferret OFT, or over, or up the truant
cars has ais hands full. Telegraph,
telephone and the mail are all in
voked, an if these fail, he goes per-
sonally and acts the part of a freight
car detective.
If a car could observe, and then
speak. il would have much to tell.
The unlmportant, dusty, greasy look.
ing cars that huddle by wharf and
storehOuse, and between immense red
walls in a sitting air, have seen the
Little Juanita cleaning in the moon
light, pcnslvely, or the ~slumberous
Niagara drop rockward and bedew the
night. They have seen, or would
have, could they have observed, the
rock heights and the moist depths Of
the rugged and wild country through
which the Canadian Pacific threads
its way. In fact, the scenes a business
like and vicious looking freight a
has passed through would furnish
sketches by pen and pencil for the
worlds press in a limitless series of
articles.
Besides It's more prosaic Office, the
freight car is the drawing room, the
sleeping car and the buffet, 4 a Ger
tain extent. Of the gentry in rags and
tatters. lie, the member of the tat
tered gentry in question, hangs TO the
inside or the outside OF the freight car,
and, If he is not sutfocatcd or other.
wise annulled in the former position,
he is quite likely TO let 90 his hold in
the latter and the next section man
that comes along finds the mangled
and last remains Of some grievous
''hero Of tie late civil war The
risks the tramp takes in appropriating
rides on the freight train are many,
and almost any casualty Occur-
ring 10 any train contains the name
OF some wretch, 'to fortune and to
fame unknown" who left for his
long home on the freight train.
One method taken by tramps in
riding is 10 stand with each foot
planted on the two ''bunters'' of
the cur, and thus they Measure out
mile after mile, in a sort of paralyzed
pair-of-dIyidcrs style, instead of fol.
lowing out the comforting suggestion
10 pedeStriaus-''one step and then an
other, aud the longest walk is ended
A good, strong, modern freight "a
is worth $500. Some are valued at $3.50
and $3.50. The cars used TO be Is feet
long. but now they areusually 80 feet,
and there is 4 movement TO cur 81
feet cars for lumber, etc.
To conclude, did you ever think Of
how thinks inanimatc are often in
vested with almost human attributes2
So it is with freight cars, as with
many other things Of much interest
and more worthy OF attention. Freight
ears are more worthy Of notice than
passenger cars, on account Of their
very rOughness and battered condi-
ton, and their unostentatious freight
yard retirement. So it is in higher
matters, and when we have 20 deal
with humanity. The least display
often hide, tie most worth; and SO,
as in other lines of conduct also, n GER
tain beneficial lesson may be drawn
from the wandering freight car
Somerville journal.