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

NNNNNNNNsA'N NSA without delay.
 As soon as the cars are loaded, and made up into a train, the conductor, on a sheet of paper known as a train sheet takes the number and initials of each car in the train, and when the end of the division is reached, and the train turned over to conductor NO. 7, this sheet is forwarded to the car &C., countant At the time the train pulled out of the station. where the cars were | loaded, a man known as a checker, stood at the end of the yards, and took ] from the passing train each car num- Der, and his report is afterwards used l by the car accountant to check the | train sheet furnished by the conductor. | If any of the cars are dropped before l the first conductor reaches the end or | his division, he notes on his sheet that car "so and so" was dropped at such station. Conductor No 2, when the | train reaches the end of his division, sends the same kind of report to the car accountant, and so on through all the different divisions of the road | When car passes off the road own 1 ing it the conductor handling the car on the last division of the home road reports to the car accountant that the car was delivered to such foreign road at such place. This road then becomes responsible for the car until it has been hauled to the end of it's line l and turned over to another road, when what is known as an interchange card'' is forwarded to the owner of the car, informing him that the car has passed off his road and has been deliv- l cred to the connecting line, which then becomes responsible for the car in the I same manner as the previous road, un- | til the owner of the car can be notified 1 that it has been delivered to some oth- CT company.
 The car accountant, on receiving the l conductors train sheets, first checks them against the reports which are sent him by the checkers at the differ- 1 ent division points. The car numbers are then entered in a record book | against the proper stations at which | the cars are reported, The stations along the road, instead of being known by their correct names, are designated l by numbers, and these numbers repre- sent not only the stations, but the l HuulUSI OL llillCo ShCSV obe~|ASAAc NoA V from the terminal
 Thus, the number '163" would repre- sent station of a certain name which is 163 miles from the terminal of the road At the end of the month, when J the mileage is figured, these numbers l facilitate the work greatly, as II an | item occurs of ten cars moved from the terminal of the road to station No. 16S, | the mileage is readily seen to be 1850 miles.
 Conductors. of course, frequently make mistakes in reporting car num- 1 bers, but the system of checking and l re-checking is so complete that but lit tie or no trouble results A conductor on his train sheet may report the nun Der of car as HOO" and the train I checker as "101" The car accountant, l on noticing this discrepancy, will con- suit his last record of car TOO" and will perhaps find that it is on some southern foreign line.
 He will then look up his record of car .10l" and if his last account shows it iii iii the vicinity reported ne viii accept that number as being the correct one; l but if his record should show this car also ol some foreign line, he would then have to go back to the previous conductors report and would perhaps find the correct number of the car was "109' or '107."
 As soon as any car belonging to given company is delivered to con meeting line this road must pay a cer- 1 tain fixed rate for every mile it travels. The highest rate paid is one cent mile on refrigerator cars belonging 10 private packing companies.
 Three-fourths of a cent a mile is paid on refrigerator cars belonging to rail- road companies and six-tenths Of a cent a mile is paid on all other cars. At the end of the month each company makes out a report to the different for eign lines of the mileage their cars have made during the month, and these companies then make a bill against the reporting road for the pro- per amount of the mileage.
 In the course of year in the neigh borhood of fifty million dollars changes hands in the settlement of mileage ac- counts, and in no commercial operation is the same confidence displayed in handling such a vast amount of money. No opportunity whatever is given the different roads to go back of the sigma | lures of the respective officers for an examination of the mileage as certified by them, and while this may be taken advantage of in some few instances it is the exception and not the rule and is
 only resorted to by roads on the edge
 of bankruptcy
 A railroad must give to foreign cars
 while on it's line the same care as to
 oiling and packing that it gives to it's
 own. If a foreign car is damaged
 through a wreck or by careless hand-
 ling, it must be repaired and put in perfect order before it is delivered to it's owner In order to prevent bad
 order'' foreign cars from coming on to road inspectors are stationed at all
 interchange points, whose duty it is to | carefully examine every car offered and see that it is in perfect running or der.
 If there are some small defects about
 the car which do not materially affect it's running, as a broken door or a
 cracked oil-box cover, the car Is &C.,
 cepted, but 2 defect card is tackled on
 each side of the car, showing that it is
 accepted with such minor defects as
 may be enumerated.
 Do not cars get lost or stolen? In very rare cases only, and then some
 one has failed in his duty. One of the
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