Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-26
SPEED AND SCHEDULE.
A Day Spent on the Suburban Elec-
trio Car Lines.
PAULINE PRY'S EXPERIENCES
CareIessness as to the Safety of
Passengers.
CURVINGS AND JOLTINGS
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
spent day the past week riding on the
different suburban trolley cars of the Dis
trict of CClunba-that is to say, 1 rode
what time / was not waiting for cars-and
though four hours after. my eyes are still
bulgins with the horrors / have faced. my
body is still aching from the shaking up |
got and my righteous soul is still shocked
by the appearance of total moral irrespons-
Utility which characterizes the running or
our suburban electric cars.
In the possession of franchises of i'm
measurable value granted by the people in
consideration of service to be rendered in
return our suburban electric lines operate
roads the engineering of which is cheap
and awful: great majority of cars that
are ramshackle and unsafe, and, worst OF
all send these old cars over poor roads
freighted to the last inch of space with
human beings, under control of motormen
who go about their very serious business IN
q hilarious mood. as If the matter or rum
ming an electric car loaded with men. wo-
men and children were their own personal
sport, like shooting the chute or coastlns
on bicycle
The one solitary obligation of which sub
urban railroad companies and their motor
men seem to have any moral sense Is to
give us rapid transit Their charters are
explicit about this, and the nearer like being
shot through pneumatic tube we go by
electricity into the country the nearer to
perfection suburban roads assume to be.
Accordingly. motormen are righteouSly
bent on making their schedule. So sternly
disciplined they this point that I
have known woman on a Br1ghtwood car
to discover that the car was on fire. and
beg the motorman to stop, which he f1ercely
refused to do because, forSooth, he had to
make his scheduled In this same spirit of
heroic devotion to their schedule motor
men, above the rumble of their rapid rush.
ing trains, shout at you to take the next
CAR. when, to the ruin of all your earthly
interests perhaps. you have waited inter-
minably for this one to arrive: and If by an
acrobatic feat. at the risk of your life. you
manage to board the on-speeding train. to
your expostulation there comes always the
unanswerable reply. We have to make our
schedule" Speed and a schedule-these en-
brace the whole moral law of our suburban
trolley system, and the public generally has
come to accept the situation without refer
ence to the absurd Inconvenience and posi-
tive dangers it imposes. simply because the
public Is such a stupid unwieldy body
that few individuals have the courage or
hope of benef1ttng 1t with personally resist
ing purely public wrongs.
However. little hope as 1 have of reform
Ing SoullesS corporation, the Capital Trac-
tlon company, or that even less than soul
less thing, the street railway trust being
g woman. can't help shrieking when I'm
frightened, and I'm that badly scared by
the all-around suburban car excursion I
have made that I'm obliged to cry aloud
the many things that scared me.
Up Hill and Down Dale.
1 started out on the Chevy Chase line
I'm familiar with this. so I get ready for
what is comir g. 1 brace myself against
the seat in rfent Of me. / glue my eye
brows down hind a tight-drawn veil. 1
clutch my hat, suspend the beatings of nv
Eeart, hold my breath and pray my sins
On earth will be forgiven me. Nature has
EloriouSly resisted the unlovely invasion of
Trolley lines on the Chevy Chase road She
humps herself high and strong against
Ut. and our course lies all up hill and down |
dale Up hill Is not SO bad, but at the top
OF the hill, with a great flourish the mo-
torman throws off his current (this is to |
save power) throws off his brake, which
thwinds with a whr'r'r and bang and |
away We go HE mad down the long stretch
of track ahead as If we were desperately
bound for hard run and jump over the
next hill which rises just beyond l
writhe In terror, and In spite of the printed
injunction over his head, Don't talk to
the motorman," l squeak In his ear: Isn't
this dangerous?'
He laughs at me and says: "Mebbe."
But does the company allow YOU to
coast at this awful rate?"
Ihey make u.s." he replies. They give
US schedule, and to cover it we have to
coast down hill to make up for the time
We lose going UP HILL
How fast do you go?" / ask
Seventeen miles an hour"
mad thought it was seventy. Surely it's
faster than that" say am nearly blown
from the car by the wind we are raising
Perhaps so; sometimes it's faster. and
again, it amt so fast-just so as we make
the schedule"
can you go as fast you please-are
no restrictions put upon your speed?''
NO indeed; We can't go any too fast to
make the time expected of us
Fun With the Nervous Lady,
What If We jumped the track?"- cues
ZION inevitably suggested by the way we
are bounding now, seeming at any moment
likely to leap into the air and take a short
cut across country.
Well If we jumped the track-we'd Just
jump it-that's ALL" and the motorman is
grinning in great glee He thinks he has
a nervous lady. and if there's one thing
more than coasting down long hills that
gives Joy to the Chevy Chase motorman
doing
How do you control the carr"
Here's the brake. If anything hapnens
20 IL at this end it still works from the
rear-lf the conductor is there to work II
But we don't depend on the brake alto
gether- we have a reverse lever inst like
they do on steam engine only this
doesn't WORK If We leave the track; so If the
car Jumps she's bound to go pretty much
as she pleases.'
dc you think we're going TO hmm novr -,
/ ask.
The motorman wnks at the conductor
VINO has come forward to visit a minute
ana says: Well we shan't go far if we
90 Jump. Well hit a trolley pole and sion
sudden, or maybe turn over In the mud
Ihfs Is having fun with the nervous lady.
and am free to confess I am nervous
nervous as cat at a dog fight for while
we nave been rushing like all possessed
down hill. the motorman has been giving
me his undivided attention His hands are
on brake and bar: his back is turned to-
ward these instruments with which he CON
Irois the car. very small obstruction on
.he ran is enough to cause the car to iumn
YET MS eyes are anywhere and everywhere
Out on the road ahead Of him and in an
emergency he would have to turn and grab
Tor MS control-a situation compelling de-
lay when every instant is Infinitely pre
cfous and inviting confusion Of the mans
nind calculated to result in tust such ac
cldents as lately occurred in Connecticut
where the motorman lost his head ana
turned on the current of runaway car in
''ead or Selling the lever to reverse It
With Hands Free.
This Is eminently characteristic Of the
generally irresponsible bearing Of Chevy
chase car motormen. / have come in from
the lake when the motorman set his car
running and then sat himself dov,r ~ sr.a