St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-06-20
WHERE CARS GO TO.
Al Times They Seem to Vanish
from the Earth.



What becomes of the railway freight
cars? Do they wear out, arc they all
wrecked sooner or later, or do they
drop into cosmic holes along with the
pins and jackknives Of . very careless
world?
Evidently they do not wear out. The
passenger coaches in service on cross
country roads give that theory the lie.
Cars are In daily transit over some of
the railways in the interior of New
ready to believe were contemporaneous
with the Declaration of Independence.
Their existence practically disposes
also Of the second theory.
j They are run every day over roads
which should be mentioned in the
Liturgy along with pestilcnce and
sudden death, and yet they are never
wrecked. If they can stand such treat
ment for q week, eternal durability is
the lot of rolling stock on well built
and equipped railways Most cars that
disappear evidently tumble into cosmic
holes Some Of them are fished out
again, and it is the business of the car
trace,s Of great railroads to find all of
them
Cars arc invariably traced with ease
almost to the brink of the hungry cos
mic hole. All Of the great lines have
entered into . mutual agreement by
which every company is responsible for
Ill the cars shipped over its tracks IT
the Pennsylvania sends iron over the
Jersey Central, the latter road becomes
responsible for cal and freight as soon
Is It receives them, and unless both arc
delivered the Jersey Central makes
good the loss.
The cars arc either replaced, or paid
for 1t the cost price. less a supposed de-
preciation of six per cent in Salue for
every year that the car has been in use.
With old cars the latter method gen.
orally is adopted, as it is often cheaper
than repairing.
/ All railroads try to use their own cars
. much rs possible, and. it might be
a1dcd, that they also cndeavor to use
the cars Of other roads as much as pos
sible also. A charge of three-fourths
OF cent is made for every mile covered
hy . freight car travelling over road
that does not belong to the owner of
the car. These mileage charges amount
70 large sums in the course of . year.
The bills of the New York Central
for this one item are from scventy-five
thousand dollars to one hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars q month
~ lr~ L.
great clearinghouse, rs the account
against the New York Central is more
than balanced by its own charges for
cars used by other lines Other rail-
road. Il fact pay the New York Central
for the use of its cars about forty thou
sand dollars a month more than the
Central pays them
.tOur cars are seldom lost" said m
officer of the New York Central road
Yesterday, ''since the present system Of
tracing cars went into operation, about
four years ago. In the old days we
eomctlmcs thought we had lost passen-
ger coaches We even lost sight for
several months Of the car in which
President Lincoln's remains were taken
70 Springfield for burial.
1--WE traced the car as far as Syracuse
and there lost it. Somebody thought
he remembered that it had been run
onto . sidetrack to . gravel bed, but
no did not remember having seen it
afterwards Several months later an
Elmira newspaper said that the famous
car in which President Lincoln's body
was taken to Illinois was running be-
tween that city and Corning. We inn
mediately wrote to the Fall Brook
pcople and recovered the car.
''They said the coach found its way
70 Geneva attached to q gravel train,
and that they borrowed it from an of
iscer Of the New York Central company,
The officer confirmed the story. except
that the loan had been for a day or two
only, and had been extended without
oermission from the owners Of the
car"
A well-known railroad man told an
other story of = lost car. No trace
could be found Of it beyond . junction
In the iron regions of Pennsylvania.
Finally this officer became 80 interest
"a that he determined to investigate the
case personally. He went to tho town
where the car had been seen last and
followed q disused and grass-gro xn
tack some distance In the country.
After prolonged search, he discov-
cred the car with q stovepipe project
ING from the roof and other signs of in
habitation- He found family in pos
session, hut cvicted them without at-
tempting to collect back rent. and says
TINT he believes the coach TO be still in
use on . country road to which It was
eold several years after its discovery IN
the wi,ds Of Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania road lest IN entire