The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-02-25

into shapeless mass before it is twen~ ty-four hours old
 At the present time there are owned and controlled by the railroads and pri- Nate car companies of America nearly l,25O,OO0 freight cars or, in other words, enough cars to make two continuous trains reaching from Boston to San Francisco, with an engine for every forty-1ive cars. Of this total number probably not over one hundred thou sand are in movement day and night,
 A freight car is great money-earn- CT so long as it is kept on the move, but from the time the car stops rolling un- til it's wheels revolve again it is not paying for the oil used on it's journals. It is, therefore, largely upon the man. aging or controlling of these thousands of freight cars that the interests of a railroad are dependent, and the earn ings of the road will be directly propor- donate to the manner in which the cars are kept on the move.
 AS these vast numbers of cars are owned by nearly five hundred different companies, and as each companys cars
 
 road, it is something marvellous how they can be controlled and accounted for, both individually and collectively. The methods, however, by which the freight-car accounts are kept so sys- tematic and accurate that it is not diff ficult for any railroad to have at all times a statement showing the location of it's entire equipment.
 If it is desired to know the where abouts of 8 certain car belonging to particular road on some specified date, by calling on the car accountant or that road the information will be forth coming in just about five seconds. If need be the contents of the car can be given, the number of the train and the hour the car left the last station, the number of the engine drawing the train, the names of the train crew, and what cars accompanied it on it's jour ney
 Some roads are even able to tell the kind of weather the car passed through while in motion, as well as the hour of day, loaded and unloaded. This array of figuring does not stop here, but at the end of every thirty days the mileage is computed and the number of miles each car travels is put down as a part of its history. So there is q complete record of the movements of the car in detail, from it's daily location down to the cost of moving it over the respective divisions of the road in whatever service it should be required.
 Each car is known by number, vy1,fob ic yoipta1 py, h0th ci6pg and both ends of the car, and directly over this number are the initials or name in full of the road to which it belongs. In addition to this lettering, near the low CT corners of the car are figures show ing the number of pounds the car can safely carry, together with its light weight, and usually some letters which indicate the place and time the car was built All these facts are carefully noted in a book kept by the car ac- countant for future reference and iden- tification of the car. Thus, by know ing the number of the car and the road to which it belongs, any other informa- tion concerning it can be ascertained readily.
 Cars are all numbered in series-that
 
 are grouped together, all coal cars talk ing one set of numbers. all box cars another set, and refrigerator cars still another set. This is done as matter of convenience for the car accountant, who, being familiar with the system of numbers, can tell the style and kind of car any given number represents without referring to his records. Many vacant numbers are left in each series, and when new cars are purchased from year to year, they are given these vacant numbers. Under this system, the car numbers are by no means an indication of the number of cars a road may own, as the car may bear a number in the eighty thousands, while perhaps the company to which it belongs does not own twenty thousand cars.
 Cars, like individuals, must travel on tickets, and not only one, but each car must have three. One of these tickets | is tackled on each side of the car, and shows the cars destination, and kind of goods with which it is loaded. The third ticket is held by the conductor of the train, and is known as the Dill | ing"
 A manufacturer, wishing some cars to load for different points, calls upon his station agent for the necessary cars. If the agent has no empty cars at his station that he can spare, he will notify the train dispatcher of his divi- sion, who, in turn, requests the car &C., ---------------- ---------