The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-02-21
MONON IMPROVEMENTS
THE EXPENDITURES OF FOUR
YEARS on THE H., y. 4. q c.
Advantage Of Shippers Who Own
s1,3O1 900 Against the f.. a H..

1865
vile, New Albany & Chicago. claims that
on no road in the West has so large a sum
OF money been expended in improvements,
according to its mileage, as on this road
in the last four years. April 10. 1891. w.
III. McDoe was appointed general manager
of the property. which was then in a
wretched condition. The track was of light
rail. lightly tied, the bridges in bad condi-
ton. most of them being old wooden struc-
lures. the equipment inferior and the prop
erty badly run down. 1t took a few months
to ascertain what could be done to good
advantage. Wrecks were occurring fire.
q%uently, litigation was piling up on the
company for damages, and everything. as
Judge Field said, seemed to be going to the
dogs. Mr.. McDoel took charge of the work,
and his first move was TO renew the bridges
with stone abutments and iron structures.
For two years this special feature of the
roadbed was pushed, and at the end of
1894 every bridge on the main line between
Chicago and Louisville and between Monon
and indianapolis was a well-built iron
structure, resting on a substantial stone
foundation. At the same time he began to
purchase new steel rails, weighing seventy
two pounds to the yard. and by Dec. 10.
1885, every mile of the main line from Chi
cago to Louisville and from Monon to In
dianapolis was laid with a heavy steel rail.
With this improvement new switches,
frogs, ETC., were put in, until to-day the
company has so miles of as good track as
CROSSES Indiana. The coming season Gen.
trail Manager McDoel proposes to further
perfect the track by reballasting it with
broken stone and the best gravel to be
found on the line. The company has been
building side tracks to various industries
located on its lines, and now has 132 miles
OF Siae track. New stations and new water
erected. The company FIVE years ago had
sixty-eight locomotives, most of them a
quarter of a century old. 1t now has los
engines, seventy-two being new and one re-
QUILT so as to be practically new, and other
engines nave been so repaired as to be fit
Tor service. New passenger equipment and
bought and the shop facilities increased by
the erection of large shops at Lafayette,
costing nearly 100000. Less expensive shops
and a roundhouse have been built at In
dianapolis. The company's expenditures at
Chicago have kept pace with those at other
points. On March 1 the company will oc-
which Will likely increase the business of
the L., y. A. & G.. here considerably. At
indianapolis eleven miles of side track are
being put In at the city and outer yards.
40 49, DC1AOA1 ~ was wi
verted from a narrow to a standard-gauge
road, and promises to be a more valuable
feeder to the L., n. A. & c. In connection
with the Cincinnati. Hamilton & Dayton,
it's through passenger business each year
shows an increased volume as compared
with the preceding year, and Vice Presi-
motto of the Louisville, New Albany &
Chicago Is TO be up TO date" in track,
equipment and speed. He thinks it is safer
now to run over any part of the Monon
main line at sixty miles an hour than in
was twenty miles five years ago. The
company begins 1896 under very promising
auspices.
Long Line Has the Advantage.
Since the Joint Traffic Association was
formed a number Of things have come to
the notice of the railroad fraternity, which,
but for the strict rulings of the associa-
ticn, would nave gone unnoticed. For in
stance, il has been demonstrated that ship
pers who own their cars are in better POI
sition to fight the trunk line, organization
than is the ordinary shipper. Rates are al
ways based on the shortest lines, but the
owner of a car receives pay for actual
mileage of the lines over which a car is
routed. For instance, if the distance from a
Western point to the seaboard over the
short line Is 1000 miles, and over the longer
line IL is 1.500 miles. il is evident that If the
freight rate is the same or both lines, and
the shipper receives 80 per cent. more mile
age for his cars on the longer line, the ship
per virtually gets a lower rate by the long
er route. Large shippers are not slow in not
ing this advantage of a longer line. This is
the most difficult problem that the c. L. a.
has to solve. and it seems totally inadequate
for the task. Here is where the weaker lines
can combine and form Independent trunk
lines. which are making. and will continue
to make trouble for the trunk lines. The
weaker lines are not compelled to cut rates
to give the shipper who owns mis- own cars
better terms than the trunk lines.
..HorixOntaI BilI' Rails at the Alton.
The Santa Fe, the Northwestern, the Rock
Island. the Alton, the Burlington, the Mil
waukee & ST. Paul and all the other West
ern roads engaged in carrying coal to the
Missouri river were before the Interstate
Commission in the recent coal
rate war. The representatives of each of
these roads tried to place the responsibility
on the others. When it came to the Atoms
time to speak, Chairman w. r. Morrison
took an indirect fling at President Black
stones recent annual address, in which the
public's treatment of the railroads was
sentative admitted that mis- road had met
all the cuts that had been made. And If
the commission had made SUCH a rate as 81
a ton," broke in the chairman, you would
nave denounced Ii as an act of spoliation.
unjust, a u~surpation of power, a confisca-
ton of property. You would have described
it in these and ali other terms meaning the
same thing that you fellows know how to
use with effect wnen you think some one
is hurting you" The inquiry Will be re-
sumed at Washington at some future time.
Western Roads Agreement.
The work of reorganizing the Western
Passenger Association has now been COM
pleted. 1t was announced yesterday that
March | next the agreement would be in
effect from Chicago to Ogden and Spanish
Fork. The Rio Grande Western, the Den
yer x Rio Grande and the Colorado Midland
will then be in full membership. On that
date the lines between the Missouri river
and Colorado common points Will go over
the Idaho and Montana business in either
direction via Colorado common points and
Ogden. The effect of this was that business
between the Missouri river and Montana
and Idaho via Colorado common points and
Ogden viii be routed over the Union Pa
cific system. On its part the Union Pacii
Montana and Colorado and Utah and will
refrain from any practices likely to de-
moraliZe Colorado-Utah rates.
F~oreclOsed for x1,3O1 600.
A special dispatch from Washington, Ind,
last night, says: "A foreclosure suit for
81. 3Ol. 600 and interest was filed in the Cir
cult Court here to-day. The plaintiffs are
the Farmers Loan and Trust Company of
New York, trustee. and George z. Heilman,
trustee. The defendants are II. c. Barlow,
receiver of the Evansville * richmond
Railroad Company, Charles c. Malott and
Alfred Tindall,. who are Interested in judg-