The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1892-10-22
A SPLENDID RECORD.
From the Original 90 Miles of Rail

sey and the Reading Railroad Com
pany but enlarges public interest ir
the increasing magnitude of the
colossal enterprise The temporary
order from Chancellor McGill has re-
stored the Central Railroad of New
jersey to its former management, but
officers are the same as those who Were
practically in charge of the Central
under the Reading. The trains run
as before the Injunction was granted;
they make the same time and reach
all The points of the system, from the
great lakes to the New England coast
and south to Gettysburg, Baltimore
and Washington. Reading stock
holders own a controlling interest not
only in all the roads, butin the mines,
and the management of these great
interests are harmonious.
While the conflict is going on in the
courts many persons are asking,
"What is the Reading System? Where
does it go? What points are reached
bg AAS IluVc' 10 ~ gu tHitIDIld6 Vi
benefit to the country?"
These and other questions may be
answered by giving sketch of the
old Pennsy Misunderstanding, out of
which the present far-reaching sys-
tenn has grown. The Reading System
is the natural, though very striking,
development, of the intense business
activity of our age. 1t is the result of
the practical sagacity Of the managers
of what must now be classed among
the leading trunk railways of the
country.
In 1889 the Philadelphia aud Read
ing Railroad built its first line Of fiat
iron rails laid on wooden stringers
running lengJhwise of the track. IT.
was an event when cars began to run
daily between Philadelphia and Read
ing, a distance of less than sixty
miles. To day the Reading system
covers with its steel rails in the neigh
bOrhood of four or five thousand
miles of thoroughly equipped railway.
Instead of merely connecting two
cities in Pennsylvania it reaches all
the important points between Boston
and Washington, between Buffalo,
Niagara Falls, Harrisburg and Gettys-
burg. II reaches the richest anthra-
cite coal fields in America and the
principal iron deposits of Pennsyl-
vania, which swell its freight tonnage
to enormous proportions.
Thus from a small local coal road
the Reading has grown with the
country, aud in little more than half
century, the great combination of
lines forming the Reading system,
whose freight tonnage in 1859 reached
more than 500, 900 600 tons, Back in
the year 1912, as shown by its annual
report, the total receipts for the Read
ing road We're only S200,000 Contrast
ing strongly with this revenue are the
receipts of the Reading for 1890, when
they reached the enormous sum OF
Sal 100000. IL is not very long since
the management, guided by sound
business principles and in accordance
with the tendency of the times
secured coutrOl Of many roads and
properties that were annually lOsing
money in fruitless rivalry.
Notwithstanding the recent order
from the courts dissolving the leases
with the Central Railroad Of New
Jersey, practical business alliance
continues,
The other important coal and pas
senger lines which make up the sys
tenn, reaching the most impOrtan
manufacturing and commercial points
as well as the great summer resorts
bring profitable additions to TIA,
revenues of the system.
Through its Lehigh Valley system
the Reading operates from Buffalo /
fleet of wooden and steel steamer
sailing to and from the chief ports o
Lake Erie, Huron, Michigan anC
Lake Superior, bringing to the roaC
an enormous volume of freight from
the grain-growing territory anC
mineral regions of the Northwest.
The Reading recently organized
lines of transportation on steamer
plying Philadelphia and Great Britain
thus enabling the company at IA com
paratiyely reduced cost TO utilize ii
exceptionally great export facilities, a
the same ti..fe securing a large i'm
porting traffic which had heretofor
sought other channels of transporta
tion.
Its North Atlantic trident lines :,
London regularly employ steamers o
from 1000 to 5000 tons each The,
are fully freghted on each trip from
the Reading docks on the Delaware
and in return they bring caTgoes o
imported goods for Philadelphia anC
for shipment, in bond, by Readlnl
lines to the large cities of the South
North and West. So rapidly has tn
Readings export business grown tina
extra steamers have been put ia com
mission. Within three months it re
quired twenty-One steamers to carry
the freight from its Philadelphia
docks 10 London. This large trafiil
has also induced the Reading TO estab
lish another line TO AvOnmOuth anC
Bristol, England, the vessels stopping
on the return voyage at Swansea fol
oargoes Of tin TO supply the large i'm
pOrters Of that metal in Philadelphia
The Main line of the Reading ex
tends from Philadelphia 10 Williams
port, on the 5usqUehanna River, pass
ing through Reading, which form