St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-06-20

train In the Johnstown noodL It was .
minor incident In the great disaster,
but it cost the officers Of the road con-
siderable trouble until they could de-
tcrminc from their records Just what
cars had disappeared Tho Philadel-
phia & Reading recently had similar
experience through the sweeping away
Of bridge at Will1esbarrc. Among
the cars lost was one belonging to the
New York Central. which, with its con-
tents, had to be paid for.
Every great railroad. like the New
York Central the Pennsylvania the
Baltimore & Ohio. and the Delaware.
Lackawanna & Western, maintains .
record bureau. which keeps SO strict .
watch upon its freight cars that the
precise location Of any given car may
known 1t any time. The cars belong.
ing to tho railroad itself arc entered in
. large hook, ruled SO that . daily
record of the movements Of from
twenty-five to fifty cara may be kept
for . month on single page.
What are called foreign cars, that is
cars belonging to other companies. are
recorded in another book, ruled in such
. manner that the numbers and initials
of the cars may be recorded As tho
conductors reports ore received they are
checked of on the record books Of the
home Office until every car has been &C
counted for. A second set of reporters
is also received from stations Mt juno
tions with other roads, showing the
transfers of empty and loaded cars with
the line, number and initials Of each.
II the cars arc loaded, the contents.
the name of the shipper and the con-
signec are also matters of record
All station agents submit to the car
accountant at the main Office record
of the cars loaded and unloaded 1t
their stations from midnight to mid
night In fact, the car accountant
practically has daily report Of the To-
cation and condition Of every freight
car in the service Of the road OF course
the passenger system is the subject Of
even more careful record
In the case of perishablc freight
which must make fast time over the
railroad. hourly reports arc made to
the central Office by telegraph. In addi-
ton to its own records tho railway re.
ccivcs such parts Of the reports Of con-
Meeting lines rs are Of service to it.
In addition to serving . . valuable
record of the cars themselves. the nc
counting system is . check upon the ac-
tions of the employees Of the road De-
lays are rare when the station agent
knows that he will be held responsible
for neglect Of freight or rolling stock.
Clerks in the main Office Of the road 60
over the reports at short intervals and
check on the cars which have not
been moved for five days, and send .
detention" report to the superintend-
ent Of freight Such delays must be
accounted for by the agent In his re-
ports
1t is the practice Of all railroads to
use the freight cars Of other lines for
through freight only; drawing the cars
to their destination IS rapidly as pos
siblc, unloading them promptly and
starting them homeward laden with
other freight At least that is the the
ory. In practice tho rule docs mot IL
ways work.
Occasionally some road will be de-
tected in using the cars of another COM
pany for its local freight. or sometimes
cars will not be sent homeward when
they have been unloaded It their des-
tination, but win be continued on their
journey away from the home terminal.
1t is ono branch of tho car accountants
business to watch the movements of his
company's cars on other roads and to
send q request for their return when hc
learns that they are being used for local
freight ON those roads
It is also the accountants business
to keep track Of the empty cars of his
road in order that they may be brought
into instant service when they arc
needed.
From this great amount Of detail Il
will be seen how similar tho duties OF .
railway superintendent or president arc
to those of the commander Of an army.
No branch Of executive duty needs moro
ability to grasp details and NO general
needs better aids than the man who has
in his charge the lives Of millions OF
travellers and merchandise worth moro
than any crown In Europe
The Pennsylvania railroad alone car
ried last year moro freight than al the
fleets Of the world, while the passenger
travel into and out Of New York city
every day u equal to smonth's passen-
ger service Of all steamships a1osA-
n. Y. World