Evening star., 1896-11-30
ANNUAL INSPECTION
How This Important Duty is Per-
formed by Railroad officials.
new ELECTRO AUTOMATIC DEVICES
Future Improvements Made This
Years inspection Important.
PRIZES FOR GOOD WORK

This closes one of the most important
railroad tours I have ever made"
The above sentence was spoken to an
Evening Star reporter by one of the bright
est railroad men in the employ of cor
poration whose lines start in the extreme
cast and terminate In the far west He
mad just stepped off q train on his return
from the annual tour of inspection.
Every year all the roads classed as
heing in the every front rank gather
the brightest of their officials together and
go over the lines, covering even the re-
motest and smallest of the branch lines.
These inspection tours are made for
the purpose of maintaining high standard
of efficiency. and of ascertaining future
needs of the company. No matter how
humble an official may be he is given to
understand that his opinion is wanted and
II Is on record that suggestions secured in
this manner have resulted in the greatest
beneht to the company adopting the idea.
In this way railroad continually advances
and the high standard of efficiency is al
ways maintained.
Continuing, the official quoted above, said
A great many improvements have been
completed during the past year, and as q
result of the late political battle three or
Tour millions will be spent this year in ad-
ding to the efficiency of the road. Many
curves have been Strengthened on this line
between Washington and Baltimore and
more will be wiped out the coming year.
The same applies to all the divisions, as
there seems to be a well-defined under
standing that the entire road is to be
Strengthened, as far as the conditions will
permit.
ROadbed Defects.
"Our inspection party this year was di-
vided into three sections, and right jolly
crowd 1t was. All the younger men consid-
cred it sort cf picnic, but the more
thoughtful and bright paid particular at
tention to everything that came under their
eyes. and as a result several original and
brilliant suggestions may be looked for
during the coming year.
Cars intended for the inspection trip are
fitted up with all sorts Of apparatus, the
dynograph being the most important, as 1t
tells to a certainty the defects found in the
roadbed. and as these defects directly in
terest the travelling public, the greatest at
tention Is given to this little machine.
'All the big railroads are divided up into
divisions and each division has q superin-
tendent- These superintendents desire, OF
course, that their particular allotment of
road shall make good showing, and prizes
are offered to the track fcremen under
them for the best sections of the road at
the time the test car passes over them.
The dynograph decides this contest through
delicate lines drawn on paper, the pen that
does the marking being connected with the
wheels under the car. Each little defect is
registered. and the foreman having the
least number of these defects charged
against him secures the prize, which is
usually a hundred dollar bill.
There is considerable prestige attached
to winning prize. and you can easily i'm
agine the attention that is given the road
bed months before the inspection party
comes along.
II believe it would be a hard matter to
decide which railroad was the first to in
augurate these fall Inspections but at the
present time the road that does not make
them is in the hands of a receiver, and
cannot be called first-class. In fact, as l
heard one of the vice presidents of our
road remark during the trip, the absence
of these inspections no doubt contributes to
the financial difficulties of road, as good
housekeeping is as necessary in big cor
porations as in private life. 1 know it to
be fact that all our prominent railroad
officials today were schooled in their earlier
years by one or the other of the big east
ern roads. and. no matter whether the
railroad they have charge of is in Arizona.
slneria or south America. it can safely be
said that the fall Inspections are a regular
feature under their watchful eyes.
Damage of u Winter.
ITO my mind the winter months are the
most severe on a railroad. and to keep
them clean during the season of snow and
ice is next to impossible. To see a. road
emerge from it's mantle of slush and mud
in the spring in fairly good condition is all
thoroughbred railroad president can ask
Then the repairs to roadbed begin and
are continued until the following fall.
The inspection this fall was full of in
terest, owing to the many novelties being
tried. and, as I have before said, was the
most important in my recollection, owing
to this fact.
''The automatic electric signaling an
paratus has worked well for months. and
especially during last winter when it
demonstrated its full worth. These signals
reduce the chances of collisions fully 40
per cent An additional patent has been
granted on these devices that calls for
more than passing notice, the feature being
that sound is added to sight. Several miles
OF track near Chicago have been fitted out
with the apparatus. and for several months
past 1t has been given a trial. Last week