Evening star., 1897-02-06
PERRY'S,
Established 1910.
Telephone 9QS.

for the coaches of lines Of railroad far
distant, and not belonging to the systems
that regularly enter Washington, must be
gotten back to their own lines at the ear
Hest possible time. The train masters and
yard superintendent tackle such problems
with familiarity born of long experience.
and the switching and the shunting that
goes on in the Washington railroad yards
when the city is jammed with strahSers Inn
patien. to get back to their homes and
business is something worth seeing.
Taking Them Away.
Nine-tenths of the people VINO visit Wash
ington for an Inauguration get here 10y ;he
evening Of Mai ch 3. Those who arrive here
on the 4th ere mainly from The outlying
small towas-''local traffic. a week be-
fore the day Of the Inauguration the rail-
roads with Washington terminals send out
orders to their officials in large cities like
Baltimore and Philadelphia that all Wash
ington- bound freight except that OF a
perishable nature is to be held in its
transit through these cities until further
orders, SO as to give clear yards here for
the reception Of the passenger trains. BY
the evening of March 3 all the miles of
track space around Washington is taken
up by the temporarily dead passenger
trains. Very few of these trains, except
the specials, come to Washington on other
than schedule time. The railroads do not
ordinarily make special schedules for the
Inauguration period. Instead, the regular
trains from all points of the compass arrive
here in sections. For instance, a regular
train that on the daily schedule Is booked
to leave New York for Washington at @
o'clock on the evening Of March may be
composed of as many as ten different sec
tions, each train a separate, distinct train,
and each following the other at short inter
walls, nine of the trains being considered
auxiliaries to the regular schedule tram,
which leaves first. Trains known as sec
tions' are not scheduled, and 1t is for this
reason that so many Washington folks,
who go to the depots to meet inauguration
visitors, leave the stations with disappoint-
ment written on their countenances when
their friends do not arrive on the scheduled
train, which in all likelihood has half a
dozen or more sections strewn at intervals
behind 1t.
inauguration visitors begin to depart by
the tens of thousands Immediately after
the parade is over. Many thousands 90
rot even wait until the parade Is over, but,
having seen the initial features OF the per-
formance, scramble for the oepots. The
half-arc Of tracks around Washington is at
its Iveliest during the whole OF the night
of March 4, when the making-up OF trains
preliminary to the exodus of the 9Th Is In
There has been some exaggeration in the
past as to the difficulty which organizations
are said to experience IN gettihs nG away from m
porter the other day that the only large
organisation that ever has any sort OF
dificulty in getting out Of Washington
promptly is the Pennsylvania National
Guard. which he said was due to the fact
that so many thousands of civilians come
here from Pennsylvania to Inauguration
ceremonies. These civilians. travelling SIN
gly. are enabled to seize the rlrst trains
that leave here for their homes. while the
vast body Of militiamen. who must neces-
sarily travel as an organization. have been
at times compelled to wait over here for a
day or 20, until the railroads have SUM-
cient number Of cars at their disposal 10
ship them to their homes. Smaller organi-
zations, either civic or military. rarely have
any trouble in getting away at any time
they choose. For instance, body Of 200
men who want to return to Chicago at q
certain hour on March have only to make
such q request through their representa-
tives to the passenger agents. and the train
will be ready for them at the hour they
wish to leave.
The man who comes here In day coach
has the Same chance Of getting away from
the city promptly as the Pullman passen-
ger. No distinction L. made by the rail-
roads IN this mattel. The Pullman passen-
gers who get out Of Washington the quick
est after an Inauguration are those who
make their headquarters while here on the