The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-29
OUR FIRST RAILWAYS
RECOLLECTIONs OF PASSENGER
AGENT BRONSON, OF THE BIG FOUR.
Weekly Record of Freight Traffic
business Of indianapolis Lines
Still Increasing.

H. NJ. Bronson, assistant general pas
senger agent of the Big Four, and who
ranks as one OF the oldest passenger men
I'm time of service west Of the mountains,
in referring to an item which appeared IN
the Journal Saturday, said: MY recollec-
tons OF the Mad River & Lake Erie rail-
way. now the Sandusky division of the Big
-Four. are that the gauge OF the first loco
motive brought west of the mountains, the
Sandusky, was four feet ten inches, not
four feet eight inches. as the item alluded
TO stated. This engine was manufactured
by Rogers. Ketcham & Grosvenor, of Pat
erson- n. J., the predecessors OF the pres
ent Rogers locomotive works. Mr.. Thorn
as Hogg was the engineer, and was after
wards master mechanic Of the Sandusky,
Mansfield & Newark, now a part of the
b. & o. system. This locomotive was
shipped by canal to Buffalo and thence by
lake to Sandusky. Captain Tom Magee
sailed the vessel which brought the loco
motive from Buffalo to Sandusky. After
many years Of service 1t was dismantled
and stood near the shop for several years
before being broken up into scrap. When
the engine arrived at Sandusky it was
found that the gauge was four feet ten
Inches, while the road, about seventeen
miles OF which had been completed, was
four feet eight and one-half inches. There
were no facilities. Of course, for changing
the engine. therefore it was decided to
cnange the gauge OF the road, so the road
was constructed and all its machinery and
equipment on that gauge. The Little Mi
am. connecting at Springfield and extend
ing To Cincinnati, forming, with the Nj. r..
e. the first line between Lake Erie
anu the Ohlo river. was also built on the
the Cleveland IL Columbus, and the Cleve-
land a. Erie and the Buffalo q Erie were
rnaa. on the same gauge; in fact. all the
Buffalo and Pittsburg up to the Indiana
line We're built on the four feet ten inch
gauge. The Toledo, Norwaik e. Cleveland,
which is now the Norwalk division of the
Lake Shore, was built on the same gauge,
put the junction road, the present San
dusky division of the Lake Shore. from
Cleveland to Toledo, was built four feet
eight and one-half inches to correspond with
the -1ichigdn Southern. Afterwards the two
roads were consolidated under the name OF
the Cleveland & Toledo, with two divisions
OF different gauges. For a time, in order
to run the Michigan Southern cars through
to Buffalo, what were called compromise
wheels were used with a broad tread to
enable them TO run on either four feet
eight and one-half or four feet ten inches,
but this was very unsafe, as the flanges
would frequently strike the frogs and
throw the cars from the tracks. The Cleve-
land & Toledo company therefore changed
its gauge. setting out one division three
fourths of an inch and the other in three
fourths of a. inch, making a compromise
gauge Of four feet nine and one-fourth
inches. Gradually all the roads adopted
the four feet nine, or the four feet nine and
one-fourth inch gauge. They have. how
ever. gradually got to four feet eight and
one-half inches, but 1t was a number of
years before they worked down to the lat
ter gauge, and some of the roads even now
are four feet nine inches. I think nearly
xr4r A. a
four feet nine inches. II the locomotive
Sandusky had been built four feet eight
inches and one-half all the trouble ard ex-
and equipment would have been saved, as
the gauges OF the Ohio roads would have
correspondent with those Of Indiana. and
west
'T began my first railroad service in the
freight department of the old Mad River
& Lake Erie. the pioreer line of Ohio and
time a mere boy. The Cleveland e. Co
lumbus was opened in 1852. but the bulk
Of tie trade, both passengers and freight.
carried over the Mad River & Lake Erie.
and first, the Little Miami. and after
wards the Cincinnati; HaamTiItSn & Dayton st;Gs
via lake between Buffalo and Sandusky
and the river from Cincinnati south and
west. Sandusky then did more business in
one day than it does now in a month in
the shipping line. / have seen as many as
twenty steamboats, and propellers,, not to
hDtdh OI Sdil NcSoclSs III at lHC 1ldo
River & Lake Erie docks receiving and
discharging freight at the same time. One
half of the railroad iron that was used
IN constructing the railroads throughout
Ohio and Indiana was brought to San
dusky by lake and shipped by the Mad
River & Lake Erie docks receiving and
manufactured in this country. 1t was all
made In Great Britain and brought by
vessel to Quebec and Montreal end shipped
by lake from there to Sandusky. 1t cost
SIG per ton, and now steel rails, one OF
which is worth as much as nine ircn rails.
can be bought from s2t to SIS per ton THIS
a tariff was placed on iron rails. whenever
any attempt was made to manufaeture
rails in n, this nr; country hsYow the COST sfit ana T break PUP up
home manufactures. and as soon as this
was accomplished up would go the prices
higher than ever"
Freight business Heavy.
TIL train records show that In the week
ending Oct. q there were received and
forwarded at Indianapolis a total or 24,IS2
cars, 2o.07O being loaded. This is an in
crease over the week ending Oct. 20 In
loaded cars of LOS, and 2,67S more than In
the corresponding week OF 1893 The IN
crease Is a surprise to freight officials; they
look at each other and wonder where all
the business comes from. The call for
cars increases daily rather than dirn1nishes,
and the outlook for some time 10 come Ii
favorable. What is more singular Is thai
while traffic is SO heavy with the midland
lines. the Chicago lines are fighting to get
business. and find 1t impossible to make
as favorable exhibits IF tonnage handled as
in former years. In east-bound business
with the Big Four and the Panhandle. cot
ton is forming a considerable tonnage, and
the hipmen of live stock and hog products
are larger. while there is quite a neaVy
movement of hardwood lumber setting In;
the of flour and cerealine PROD.
ucts are no small item in the east-oound
freight. Taken all together, there was a
marked increase in eaSt-Dound business
last week over any week OF the last two
months, and as the fall advances q still
heavier business is anticipated. West
bound traffic is still heavy, but is changing
somewhat from the higher TO the lower
class freights, as the wholesale dry goods
and millinery houses get their ran ano
winter stocks in. In heavy groceries and
coal and coax west-bound shipments are
heavy as compared. with September or early
October. Local business Is fairly satisfac-
tory. but spasfnodical in it's character. two
or three days of brisk business being fol-
lowed by dull days. In outbound business
the shipments OF manufactured goods are
by no means as large as in 1897, and IN
some lines below those OF 1898. when. In
be the most seriously felt. Below Is giver
the car movement for the weeks ending
Oct. p. Oct. 20 and the corresponding weel
last year:
Name OF road. Oct. q. Oct. 20. 1898
L., \. A. & c.. Airline. $40 4s 81
G.. Fl. s D.-Ind'p's div. s55 ss 81,
l., = 4 W-v"--..."- ss Sys 40
PENN. NJ. & I. 973 SIG "a