Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-11-02
A RIDE ON FAST MAIL.
Thrilling Experience When Milwau-
kes Roads Flyer" Leaves
Chicago Late.

kes Roads Flyer" Leaves
Chicago Late.
This is but an average one of FIVE
such trains we send out of Chicago every
day in the year." remarked Supt Beach
of the railway mail service, in Chicago
last night, as an Evening Wisconsin rep
resentative, armed with n special permit
to travel on the locomotive of the mid
night fast mail on the Milwaukee road,
and escorted by 'Chet." Fraser, station
master in this city, who was along as
bOdyguard, approached the big engine
sos. A ride on the motive power of
the fastest train on the road is privi-
lege rarely granted, and the newspaper
man appreciated his opportunity accord
inSly. In company with Supt. Beach, the
reporter made tour of the five large
mail cars while the immense quantities
of mail were being hurriedly put aboard
the various cars, designated as Estates"
and particular sections of the great
Northwest to which this immense amount
of daily mail was being hurried by 1he
governments special train, for the priv
lege of which Uncle Sam pays a whole
lot of money each year.
Tons of Mail Every Night.
"What you see here in the way of mail
matter, great az it is in quantity, is the
mail of an average nights run, and it is
an average amount of what we send out
every day ON FIVE different roads" con-
tinued Supt. Beach. The mail that
goes out tonight comes from all parts of
the East and South and will aggregate
between $4,000 and 10000 pounds on
this train alone. That is about an aver
age in weight, although at certain periods
of the year we send out as high as 125,
600 pounds on this train. The mail is
distributed among these FIVE complete
mail cars according to destination. The
car we just left is known as the Wis
consin car; this is the Minnesota mail
and in the next car we will find the mail
for the Dakotas and then for Washing
ton and the upper Pacific coast. There
is a clerical force on this train of four
teen expert mail handlers and when a
carload of mail reaches a certain large
city, like Milwaukee or st. Paul. Seattle.
etc, all the mail for such place will be
found to be completely assorted and
ready for the individual carriers. The
mail for st. Paul, for instance, does not
need redistribution and will be ready for
delivery to its owners at the earliest
business hour tomorrow morning. The
same will be the case for all other cities.
So that you see these clerks not only
carefully handle the mail in a general
way for greater portion of the vast
Northwest, but they are acquainted with
the maps of the large cities and arrange
the mail for quick house-to-house deliv-
cry upon arrival at destination. When
| entered the service some years ago
one baggage car handled the mail for
the section of country to which all this
goes now. The mail business of the
Northwest Is increasing in magnitude at
the rate of 10 per cent. per year. | be-
lieve the railway mail service has APP
preached perfection. 1t is certainly one
of the most perfect and one of the great
est systems in the business of the coun-
try today"
The Signal to Start.
At this juncture Conductor Griffith
gave Engineer William Ivens the word
to begin the race, announcing at the
same time: eve are fifteen minutes
late, Bill, on account Of the Eastern con-
nection." Now with train that makes
the time of the midnight fast mail, one
minutes delay becomes a drawback, and
fifteen of these precious minutes mean a
multiplied drawback. The schedule time
of this train from Chicago to Milwaukee
is just one hour and forty-eight minutes,
and last night. while "Chet." Fraser and
the Evening Wisconsin man held on TO
the hremanS seat, Ivens turned the ma
chine loose and she scooted to the Union
station in Milwaukee. without a stop in
exactly one muir anu InlFty-SlX minutes.
So great was the momentum of the
heavy train that the engineer began
Stacking up a mile south of Bay View in
order to have his monster 90S under per-
feet control as he reached the city bridges
and the local yards. During the trip wa
ter was taken from the tr0ughs in the
center of the track while the train was
dancing along at the rate of sixty-fve
miles an hour, and in just fifteen seconds
$500 gallons of water had thus been
scooped up.
1t Takes Red Light TO Stop Fast Mail.
The midnight fast mail stops for moth
ing but a red light the danger signal,
and as nothing but white and green
lights, heralding a clear track, were dis
played that night, there was no let-up
from the time the train got outside the
busy districts of Chicago until it landed
safely in the Milwaukee station. At diff
ferent stages along the route the speed
was fourteen miles in thirteen minutes
During one of the long spurts against
time by the fast mail, over the level
ground in Illinois and Wisconsin. the
train made the excellent run of siXty-six
miles in exactly sixty minutes Even
when it leaves Chicago on time, this is
the fastest train on the road, and when
it is late it makes up all that it can. and
such was the case when the newspaper