The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-17
FAMINE IN FREIGHT CARS.
There Is So Much Business That 1900, 900 Cars Cam
not Take Care of It,


For many years the great railroad sys-
TENS Of the country have had a surplus
of equipment. There has not been bust
ness enough to call for all the freight
cars they could put on the rails, and
many of the cars were allowed to remain
idle in the sheds and yards.
Now the situation Is reversed The
great trunk lines. particularly in the
West. are complaining that they cannot
get enough railroad cars to accommodate
the demands upon them. Not only are
the cars coming East with the crops of
prosperous farmers. but they are going
back filled with merchandise supplied
from factories that are working overtime,
says the New York Herald.
There are 100000 freight cars in use on
the 1S7.0 900 miles of railway in this coun-
try just now, and some Of the trunk lines
say they could use 10000 more cars if they
could get them. The lack Of cars for pas
senger service Is proportionately as great,
but Is not as severely felt
Several explanations are offered for
this car famine. The volume Of increas-
ing business has simply overwhelmed the
railroads At the same time the car fac
tories are loaded up with orders, ma
terials are contracted for far ahead Of
possible supply and very large percent
age Of the product has been promised for
foreign export. 1t is said that in our
large car factories So per cent of this
years output goes to England, Russia,
France and Mexico. @
''The gist Of the whole matter is" said
Senator-elect Depew, that business has
improved very much faster than anybody
expected. The railroads Of the country
IL L. -
of general business just as sure as are
the advertising columns Of the Herald
an indication of briskness In New York
shops. For a long time many of the rail-
roads have been obliged to sidetrack a
great deal Of their equipment, and some
of them do not seem to have taken the
best of care of it while 1t was not in use.
Now they are caught short.
1--WE do not feel it in the East as much
as they do in the West, because our trips
are shorter. You take the 1,0OO-mile trips
or more, on some Of those Western roads
and 1t takes a long time to turn the roll
ing stock around. I think that most
everything that will carry freight is in
use now. All signs indicate that good
times have come to stay"
KEEPING TRACK OF CARS.
Keeping track Of the various freight
cars, seeing not only that they reach
their points OF destination, but get safely
back again to the railways that own
them, is one of the most intricate prob
lens of the railroad business. Every
company employs a large force of men,
under the charge of car accountant, to
look after it's cars. By a system OF
reciprocal interchange that 1t has taken
twenty years to bring to It's present
point of perfection the business is carried
on now without the necessity of sending
a force Of ."tracers'' over the various
lines on the lookout for stalled cars
A few years ago the business was all
done this way, and 1t is still in vogue to
some extent on some of the smaller
Western roads. Men trained to tell the
cars of their own company used TO De
sent all over the country, riding on the
rear platforms of freight and passenger
trains, keeping sharp lookout on freight
trains that passed them and getting on
at all the principal yards. When they
spotted a car belonging to the company
that employed them they made note or
it, and sent report every night to the
main office.
Now all this work is done by a system
of bookkeeping, and a great deal of the
| work devolves upon the conductor Of the
train. He has a good deal more to do
NOWADAYS than to look after the safety
of his train and cargo. His duties are
| more like those Of a purser aboard snip.
| de carries record of every car tnat
| his train hauls out, makes report OF
| where it was detached from his train and
| into whose hands he delivers IT.
| On the New York Central, for instance,
| If a conductor takes a Union Pacific car
| to Albany and leaves 1t at the Delaware
| &. Hudson freight yards there mis- re-
| snonsibility ceases at that point and ne
| renorts to the main Office. 1t then be-
| comes the business of the Delaware s..