The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1891-10-31

their Choice a Task That worries
Railroad OHcinIs.

their Choice Task That worries
Railroad OmcinIs.
There is n young man in one of tho
offices Of each Of the great slecpin car
companies who is engaged every Cay,
except Sunday, Of course, in brdng
over an atlassearcling for suitable nam
for the sleeping, dining, and rarlur
coaches which are turned out by tha
company. Il is no small matter Whom
you come to understand that every name
must signify something, and that there
are already on the road many hundrc Ia
Of such coaches and new ones being
turned out at the rate of two or three
hundred q wear When the first sleepers
were built the owners took the alphabrt
lettering The first one "A and 80 on
until the alphabet run out Then com.
menccd the search for names. The first
sleepers to be named were those run on
the Pennsylvania limited between New
York and Chicago They were named
for the various nations, America heii
the first one chosen The original sleep
ers are Olosc first named) America, Eng
land, Franc,, Russia Scotland, Germany,
and so OF.
The ncXt names were taken from the
various towits through which the road
runs. II the road was in Ohio, for ex-
ample, the slcepeis on such roads were
named for some Of the principal towns
and cities in that State. This plan, how
ever, was soon deemed unadvisable, as it
sometimes becomes necessary to transfer
the sleepers 20 roads in other States.
Then came the plan of naming tho
coaches after the sections Of the country.
Those which run on the roads of the
West were given Indian names.
As far rs possible it is now the rule for
the names Of the palace coaches to bear
| some relation TO the nature of the bust
ness in the section where sleepers run
For instance on the roads running out
of Washington there are such names on
the sleepers as "Senator, Diplomatic, "
Congress, - etc
On few lines which traverse noted
battlefclds some of the sleepers are
named in honor of famous generals.
The books of one of the principal com
panics show that Achilles, Ajax, and
| Ulysses have been honorod on wheels.
Tho present is an age of colleges.
These institutions have associated with
their curriculum boating, football, and
other athici exercises Thissame com
pany concluded for awhile to embnlm
the names OF the leading literary insti-
tutions by painting their names ON the.I
sleeping cars. This was the most popu-
lar idea which the company had adopted.
But there is a limit to noted schools in
America, just as there is limit to the
alphabet, and it was soon discovered that
there were not enough colleges to &C
round, or, which wal the same thing
there were too many sleeping cars.
Then commCnced the hunt on the atlas
for names. The system of naming is
now followed in this manner: A young
man is employed to make out an alpha
betical list from the atlas. Having Sc.
lected his name, he goes TO the root Of it,
and ascertains its origin and significance
When a list is /. cpred it is passed t
the vice president Of the company, who
adopts or rejects.
| Sometimes suggestions are sent in by
outsiders. They are filed away, and i
any Of the names thus suggested ar,
adopted in the course of construction
they find their way to the gate of thu
travelling public.
Dining cars are named, as far as tn,
names signify, for rivers, lakes, and bays
In tho West for Indian chiefs Parlo
cars are nearly always feminine in no
menclature. The NEUROLOGICAL deitie
on the feminine side have been liberalll
honored, The names of some of tn
more notable female characters in histor,
and fiction have been transferred TO thes
palace cars of the rail.
The instruction to the young maj
whose business it is to keep up tho list j
to get short names where they have an,
significance, keeping in mind at the sam
time those which are most euphoneous
This is a busy age It not only cost
less to paint a short name but you d
not want to stop to read or write such
word as Assiniboine when there are 8
many shorter ones, and ones which ar
so much smoother TO speak and whic
mean more.
The naming of these cars is no sma
job, and the man who has triplets +
christen is not half so much worrie
about names as the vice president of
sleeping car company.-Chicago Tribune