Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-11-04
HANDLING BAGGAGE.
Augusta Men Handle Over Sixty Thou
sand Pieces Annually.
The Station Baggage Master Must Be Quick
and Well Informed.

thousht Of He has many CHANCES -
work hard, and get kicked atNfor ~.
pains. People who travel bn+ 1;4t,a
who only occasionally pass thra,, aIu
station know but little Of tho =, - ''ie
pleees OF baggage that go through the
baggage masters hands
Sixty thousand pieces of baepaye
would make auite<a little pile if # was =,
one lot, but where 1t is ss5 DAYS in ha,n, =
handled, one could not notice it ga n,,,oh
mat IS the average number Of piecas tha
are handled here in year taking san
TENDER as a sample OF the time rbrora,.
the legislative season, Bargaeema -.
haskell informs the journal, there wil,
pe more than that amount though NAV,
OF the pieces of the baggage will be anna !,
anu unlike the summer vacation trunks
Durlng July and August also the AVERAGE
will go above September. -
Just think of 10000 pieces of bapraga l.,
pie and then think what d gigantic
task man or two men, would have -,
thelr hands to move it all. There womb
pe IN that pile, thousands of iron bound
drummer trunks, great Saratora tr,nL,
Workmens chests, little hand satchels
10
'aise thoush not heavy, dress suit cases.
.ne niue ola leather trunks, carpet bags.
aiiu every sort OF thing that can con-
,aih articies that are worth CARRYING
ABOARD the train. In lifting all this mass
over the baggage men would first cnma
TO a little trunk that would look easy
Bang, Off would go suspender,s button
from the unlucky mems trousers for tho
little thing was packed by a woman ana
she was starting upon two DAYS yaca-
uoh. Ihe very next trunk would be a
soau looking one, and it would look
heavy. Now both together" would be
their saying. Both would take a LONE
breath and make ready to exert all their
strength Up would ego the trunk with a
Ne!oe'ty almost equal to that of a can
non bail, for the trunk was one contain
ing mats or some other article that the
drummers carry. So it would go.
On the other hand leave OFF th;nt;,,r
how long and how hard a task il world
be to handle all this baggage over. It is
100 tiresome work, and anyone is apt 10
nave some work of the sort set before
nun soon enough without borrowing IL
IKE this. For change think how many
Vi the large baggage cars it would take
to haul away the 10000 pieces Of goods.
Allow that half of the baggage is of
small satchels and the other half of or
binary trunks, ear could not well con
tain more than $50 pieces if it could do
that In that case 80 large baggage
cars would be about what would be re-
CURED. That would make a train CT
nearly three miles in length One that
would reach from the Augusta station to
point below the Hallowell station.
1t is not unreasonable to think Of the
many trains that pass in and out of
augusta in day, that in the course of
day nearly carload of baggage is TAX
en- off and put aboard the train.
In handling over all this baggage all the
checks must be kept regular, or there will
be some bother, and9 an account of every
article that goes out or comes in, has TO
be recorded and all out going baggage
has to be recorded as to its destination.
Scores Of different checks are ready for
use and the baggage man must be ready
TO use them at moments notice. On
every check that goes is a little destina-
ton tag which tells the baggage master
on the train where the article is intend
ed for. In many places it is the custom
to have the ticket sellers make out the
destination slip as the trunk must go
over the roads that the ticket leads the
passenger. Here, however, Mr.. Haskell
makes out the slips. and it is amazing to
see the large number of slips he has at
his command. This is one of the bothers
of the trade. A man will bring his bag
gage to the train and with all the other
work incident to the arrival and depart
ure of a train, he will have to stop and
make out slip for a route that must be
made out according to the ticket.
When the trains are about to arrive it
is all hustle to get ready for them. and
as many people have a habit of waiting
until the last minute. it is a hustle 30 be
in time to get the baggage away. In this
way the baggage man likes to deal with
The general run of travelling men for they
know just what they want and are ac-
quainted with what is expected of them.
On the other hand take a man who trav-
els little if any. and he is wanting some
thing that he cannot have, and there Is
Il kick coming from him when it is ex-
planned. In all such cases the baggage
man is the one who gets all the curses.
when he is really doing his duty.
They have a way at the Augusta sta
ton of unloading the trunks and of hand
ling them, so that there has never been
a complaint of piece of baggage being
broken. 1t is just as easy, so Mr.. Has
kell says, and far more satisfactory in
the end. Furthermore, the mode of I'M
loading which is directly to the trucks,
makes it easier for them, though the av-
erage baggagemaster on the train does
not like it so well.