Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1891-02-16
TRAIN SERVICE OF THE FUTURE

TRAIN SERVICE OF THE FUTURE
An Address Delivered by Mr.. Lynde
Harrison At the Monthly Meeting
of the Independent order OF Rail-
way Conductors, Sunday Afternoon.
February 1 5, 1891.
What the train service of the future
may be, or ought to be, depends somewhat
upon what it has been and is Sixty years
ago there was no train service in the world
The words had no meaning. Fifty years
ago few railroads had been constructed
but they were only experiments, and gene
rally began at some seaport or town upon
a navigable river, and extended a few
miles into the interior. Railroads were
then insignificant adjuncts to the mighty
commerce which the world carried on upon
the ocean.
"'oI.D TINES"
Fifty years ago a daily stage started
from Bishops tavern upon Church street
and carried few passengers to Bridgeport
or Norwalk. A few persons to whom time
was of no value in life would sometimes
pursue the journey by stage to the city of
New York. In the summer season daily
stages started from the Eagle, or some 9TH
er tavern, for Branford Point and Ss-
chem's Head, and at regular periods ex-
press and mail stages left New Haven for
New London, Middletown, Litchfeld and
the Connecticut river. The freight trans
portation of New England was carried on
by hundreds of four-horse teams that
travelled in every direction over the turn
pixies, except where the rivers, bays and
the Sound furnished natural highways for
the sailing vessels and small steamboats, Of
that day. 4 daily steamboat carried near
ly all the passengers TO and from New
York. but in seasons of great prosperity a
parallel line steamboat was put upon the
route, and two rival steamers pursued
their course between New Haven and New
York until such time as the bankruptcy of
one line proclaimed the survival of the
other. Fifty years ago the word train
service, if used at all, conveyed no mean
ing to the community.
THE GROWTH OF RAILROADS.
Twenty years passed, and in the years
before the civil war came uDon us the rail
roads of the country had developed into a
few trunk and many local lines, and all
the important cities east of the Mississippi
river had railroad connections with each
other and the Atlantic coast.
Thirty years ago train service meant
something. The time was passing when
one man might be qualified TO perform all
the duties of president, treasurer, general
Superintendent and, if necessary, those of
conductor, station master, brakeman and
switchman. Employment had become
classified. The stage drivers and hostlers
of the old stage lines had ceased to be the
men who We're most available for conduc-
tors and brakemen. The evolution of the
little railroads into small but prosperous
systems had developed a magnificent class
of conductors. The lordly gentlemen
who took charge of the trains between
New Haven and New York We're the mon
archs of the line. We boys asked permis-
sion, respectfully, to ask a question, and
waited with bated breath for a possible
answer. At the New Haven end of the
line, upon the termination of their daily
| trips, an adjournment across Union street,
to Rood's. was the first thing in order. To
| what place they adjourned themselves in
New York is not matter of tradition or
| history. The train rulers of that day have
| departed, however and their kind is only
| to be found now behind the desks of first
class summer hotels. Ten years more
| went into the history of railroad enter.
| prise, and out of the raw material from
| which railroad men We're developed in the
| ante-bellum period, order and system.
| knowledge and capacity, courtesy and fra
| ternity, had slowly developed During
| the thirty years of this growth of the rail
| road system, between 1910 and 1870, there
| were built in the country about forty thou.
sand miles OF railroad. of this number
New England had about four thousand,
the Middle states about ten thousand, the
| Western states about sixteen thousand, the
| Southern states about ten Thousand and
| the Pacific states about one thousand miles
| Twenty years more have passed, and there
are now nearly one hundred and sixty
| thousand miles of railroad in the country,
| of which New England has seven thou.
| sand. the Middle states twenty thousand,
the Southern states forty thousand, The
| Western states eighty thousand and the
| Pacific states about twelve thousand miles
Twenty years ago the forty thousand mile:
\ of road in existence had been constructed
| by nine hundred railroad corporations, anC
| they We're most of them Operated by Their
several corporations, with separate sets o.
officers, conflicting ideas of management
and, relatively speaking, small numbe
of employees for each.
The records show that up TO the prcsen
time nearly twenty-five hundred railroad
| corporations have come into extence in th'
United States to construct the one hun
dred and sixty thousand miles of railroad
that we now have: but of these twenty-five
hundred railroad corporations, about eight
cen hundred have either passed out of ex
istence. or no longer operate or control tn
railroads built by them. All of the rail
roads in the United States are to-day ope
rated or controlled by less than eight hun
dred corporations. Single corporation
have given place to systems, and n ma lori
ty of these systems have been establishe,
within the last fifteen years. The devel
opment of railroad corporations into sys
TENS has greatly benefited the public
Better time for freight as well as for pas
sengers has been secured. Trains rul
more frequently and with more comfort +
the passengers Under the operation o
consolidated sylte.ns the cost per mile 70
passenger transportation has been reduces
from twenty to fifty per cent. Upon tn
western trunk lines tho average rate pc
ton per mile charged for freight has bee
reduced from 2.43 cents per mile to So c
one cent per mile. In the Middle state
the average rate per ton per mile has bee
reduced from l.6 cents per mile to = of
cent per mile. The cost of transportin
wheat from Chicago to New York has bee
reduced from thirty-three cents busht
to fourteen cents a bushel: and this reduc
ton is fair illustration of the reduction
that have been made in freight charges 70
all the necessaries of life.
The total capital expended in the col
| struction of these railroads has been abou
nine billion dollars. During the last foul
teen years at least one billion five hundre
million dollars expended in constructio