Evening star., 1897-02-06

In MT the anclentS. To get
WI the visiting inaugu-
NV ration crowds into
the city, and then to get them out of the
city, is a problem which the railroad Off
Gals hereabouts tackle about three months
before the presidential installation. They
are working hard at it now. 1t is a prob
lem full of features of complication and
magnitude. a fit task for the vanuuish-
ment of that celebrated Philadelphia law
yer who knows it ALL
Nor Is 1t alone during the Inauguration
period that the railroad officials with head
quarters In Washington have the job of
providing mears for the entrance and exit
OF stupendous crowds of holiday seekers.
Year by year, Washingt On is becoming the
assembin; grourd for great national or
ganizations the festival city wherein are
held the fnter-ooea eanic congregations of
civic, military, religious, professional and
fraternal bodies. There are many such as
semblages Of moderate proportions here
every ySar, and about once every year
there Is an assemblage here of colossal
dimensions. Such congregations always
tax the utmost resources of the railroads
that enter Washington, but when it is
considered how comparat veIy limited these
resources are, and how little they are de-
VlSed Tor the tremendous strain which is
sometimes put upon them the success with
which the crowds who come here on pleas
ure bent, are handled is sufficiently re-
markable.
For instance. the greatest body of visit
ors that ever came to this city at one
period attended the great Grand Army
encampment. There were over 24O,UOO Of
them, and they brought along over 5000
pieces or baggage Yet there was
ceedingly little confusion in getting this
vast nun Der of travellers in and out of
the city, and it is a matter of railroad
record that only four pieces Of baggage
were even temporarily lost.
The greatest number Of visitors that ever
attended an Inauguration Travelled 10
Washington to see the first installation of
PRESIDENT Cleveland. They numbered close
prevailing over a large section of the coun-
try, the railroad officials of Washington.
who are pretty competent judges are of
the opinion that there will be nothing like
as large crowd here for the inauguration
OF Mr.. Mckinley. "At the outside" said
one or these officials to a Star reporter, II
don't think there will be more than 125. 600
strangers IN Washington on the 4th of
March next"
Bringing the Crowds.
The Grand Army crowd came to Wash
lnston In 1OO trains from all sections of the
country, and as each train was composed
Oh ten cars on the average, the railroad
men estimate that at least 1000 coaches
were hauled into Washington on that occa-
sion About one-tenth of these were Pull
man cars, the remainder having been the
ordinary day coaches. Nearly all of these
coaches were kept In near Washington
un.li a1ter the celebration was over, in
oraer th;at they might be Immediately
available for the transportation of the Wis
itors out OF the city. The same system of
keeping the cars that bring the visitors
here handy for the beginning of the hepira
is followed during the inaugIra tion neriods
and 1t Is on this account alone that there
is some congestion in railroad traits in
thls vicinity when these great national fetes
are on. 'e
If Washington were a city of the size of
Philadelphia or New York" said a railroad
omciai, with vast facilities for the stow
ing, slde,uacking and shunting of trains.
we wouldn't feel the inaugura ton infiuy ai
all, and both the passenger and freight
ends OF the railroad business would work
with perfect smoothness. But railroad sys
teni teiis can De operated with view TO per-
!ect smoothness only on certain ccas;ors
that require about twenty times the ordi.
nary facilities, and it is for this reason
tnat during inauguration and Other ma
.ional periods the freight business has to
pc practically suspended hereabouis for a
time " ioi d
~ IN other words, the railroads that enter
W. washington simply have not the plants"
senger and freight business at one and th.
same tlme when tens of thousands of vis
Itors are struggling to get in and out of
me oa se.slYs therefore the freight business is
d
thessHc9fhlng and outgoing of the hordes of
passeHeeFs- Ihe only freight thai con-
,rives rive, to get into Washington during an
nnt,, uratioh , period Is that Of perishable
ua.uIe, IKE Iruit, for instance and from
the 10Th OF February to the 7th or Sth Of
March the railroads only accept perishabIe
Irelght at the consignees' risk for it is
quite likely to be hung up for days at RaI
tlmore. or some other nearby civ before
path can be cleared for its entry into
Washington. 'o
Dead Trains.
ms Is solely because there is no room on
lne tracks In the vicinity of Washington
Tor freight cars when the passenger svs-
TENS are taxed to the last degree. All the
track room has to be utilized for the nas
senger coaches that are kept here for the
deportation Of the visitors, and. even whom
every fcot of this track room is taken nm
the train masters are sorely put to IT tn find
space for the dead" trains that are con-
stanfly piiing In on them. During an in
haif-circled BY double, triple. auadranIs rals
and sometimes even Quintuple lines of
dead coaches, kept in waiting for the
calls OF organizations and parties that
want to get away from the city to their
homes. The trains that come over the
Pennsylvania system are anchored by the
hundred out around Benning after thew
nave discharged their passengers. The
trains that come here over the Baltimore
and Ohio lines are for the most part
killed" to await demand. at the big New
York avenue yard. The system EMPLOYED
OF slowing these cars is Of a complicated
sort that demands the closest attention and
the greatest GOODNESS and nerve on the part
Of the big gangs Of switchmen and assist
ant trainmasters who are sent here from
the other large cities on these occasions.
Slowing them, however, IL an easy lob
compared with the task. Of getting them
made up into trains again preparatory to
their departure, from the city. Cars belong
to almost every railroad on the continent
are hauled to Washington at such times,
and, In the process Of slowing, 1t Il some.
times Impossible to prev&nt then, from get-
ting between something Ike . mile Of
coaches. Then they have to be extricated,