The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-08

The Baltimore & Ohio Is considered
one of the coming Eastern roads
in railroad circles. T. H. Dan
cy, Of St. Paul, formerly with the
| 500 Line for a number of years, has re-
Gently returned home after spending the
summer with the operating department
of the road, and gives considerable in
formation concerning the progress which
| the lire has made in the past year. He
has been a railroad man all his life and
is an excellent authority in all matters
pertaining to railway Improvement and
operation. Speaking yesterday Of the
! condition of the Baltimore & Ohio, MIR.
| Dancy said
| "The system is in excellent shape.
| have never seen any line whose freight
| equipment comes nearer being perfect
| than that of the Baltimore & Ohio. No
Eastern line at present comes nearer
having an air equipment and with the
improvements which have been made
during the past few years and notably
during the past twelve months, the road
is one of the strongest in the East.
"The receivership of the system was
entirely successful and put 1t on Its feet.
All the improvements which have been
made are permanent and will last for
years, thus eliminating the necessity Of
consuming a large percentage of the an
| nual earnings for construction work.
Bridges of steel have replaced almost
every wooden structure on the road.
Stone eulverts and rock ballast have
been used wherever practicable, curves
have been Strengthened and the heaviest
grades in the mountain districts tray
ersed by the road have been cut down
until many places which were formerly
a heavy expense for freight and passen-
ger hauls are practically level.
The improvements in yards and term
inal facilities has been extraordinary.
| At Cumberland, city of 15,eo0 situated
between two mountains. where the yards
were formerly located in the city limits
and there was no room for extensions
| and additions, the company has taken
the course of constructing entirely new
yards, a mile and half south Of the
I city, where there is land enough to ae-
| commodate all the increase in traffic In
the next hundred years. New round.
houses have been built there and track
enough to accommodate all the rolling
stock Of the road has been laid. The
Pittsburg terminals are in excellent
shape The city is one of the heaviest
freight producers of the T. nited States
and the Baltimore & Ohio has connec-
| tionS with every manufacturing eStab-
| lishment Of Importance in the whole
| town, including steel works, blast fur
naces and foundries and other institu-
| tons which are the source Of freight.
| The Pittsburg trade is developing stead
| lily ard the city will be one of the most
important in the East from a freight
L .{,, Gov, fo
| = 1.-THE Wheeling terminals, those III Bal
timore and in New York and the yards
/ in Philadelphia are as good as any in the
East. The road has it's own freight
terminals in New York, passenger bust
ness being handled separately, over the
Jersey Central lines. Baltimore is a very
important export point, and mr else
quantities Of Freight consigned to, foreign
ports are handled there. A large amount
of Chicago export merchandise is handled
and shipped through this port. st. Louis
trade also amounts to a large figure. The
system has docks and terminals in the
city large enough to accommodate all the
| business the system can handle, which
are as good as any on the Eastern coast.
The road operates what is known as the
@. D. freight service, or siXty-hour
time freights between Chicago and Balti-
more, giving advantages equal to those
I L
sylvania lines.
"The geographical position of the Bal
tfmore & Ohio insures steadily increas-
ing freight and passenger business for
years to come. The line traverses the
greatest coal fields in the United States
and immense tracts OF as yet unde-
veloped mining lands. Coal business is Il
money maker for the railroads, especial
ly in the East, where shipments to the
lake ports, Chicago, st. Louis and the
middle West make long hauls at good
rates. Coal receipts by the road at Cum
berland, Pa, from a mining road only
seventy-five miles long, average $50 cars
day At Connelsville, in the great coke
producing country, shipments amount to
an average of 1906 cars day. divided
between three lines and the T. & 0. gets
a third. At Fairmont between $50 and
:;On cars IF coal are shipped over the line
daily to Baltimore, and the Wheeling
coal mines and the immense blast fuln-
aces also contribute immense amounts
of freight The freight receipts of the
line in this country are only limited by
the freight equipment and the ability to
handle shipments. The supply is greater
than the facilities for carrying it and
there is no prospect but that shipments
will continue just as heavy in fifty years
as they are new The West Virginia
Central send about $50 ears a day over
the road consigned to Philadelphia, New
York, Baltimore and Chicago.
1.-THE first report Of the receivers of the
road called for 100000 for equipment
and Improvement. During the receiver
ship $4,000 new freight cars were pur-
chased, 234 locomotives Of different types,
230 miscellaneous cars such as mail, eX-
press and baggage rolling stock, 5000 gon-
dola cars for coal, coke and iron freight
business, and 600 OF the new pressed steel
freight cars, furnished by a Pittsburg
concern. The new locomotives were
many of them of the very highest type of
Improvement and many Of them were of
the type of these used in the Rockies and
other mountainous districts for handling
freight AS a whole the freight equip
ment is excellent, The receivers took
charge when the rolling stock was badly
run down Many of the freight cars were
In such poor condition that connecting
lines objected to handling them and the
locomotives and passenger equipment
was also in poor condition. Millions of
dollars have been spent In making inn
provements and the train service both
passenger and freight, IS now as good DIS
any in the East
Between New York. Washington and
Philadelphia the road operates a passen-
ger service known as the Royal Blue eX-
press. No finer trains run in the land.
The time is the shortest possible and the
way which trains flash back and forth
between the cities almost without step,
would give many @ Western road fit
of shivers The passenger service be-
tween Chicago ard the East has also
been vastly shortened between the term,
ina1 points and both the through and
local passenger business is heavy.
Though the road is better known as a