The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-08-04
Plenty Of Freight Cars to Haul
Corn Crop.
Per Diem Rules Are Bringing
in Wandering Cars.
SIDETRACKS ARE FULL.
Anthracite Coal Strike CompIi-
Gates the Situation.
Pennsylvania Still Buying More
- New Cars.

One of the effects of the new per
diem plan of handling freight cars, and
the one which it was hoped the new
rules would accomplish, is beginning to
be noticeable to the officials of the
Santa Fe, Rock Island, and other west
ern lines. The wandering freight cars
are coming back to the road which owns
them, and the side tracks are begin
ming to fill up with surplus freight
equipment.
The cars will be on hand this season
for the immense corn crop which within
a few months will be ready to move.
At present, the surplus of cars is being
kept down somewhat by the wheat
shipments.
In spite of the fact that manv of the
larger railroad systems. and especially
those which are east of Chicago, are ex-
periencing difficulty in taking care of
the empty cars which the operation of
the per diem system is sending to their
side tracks, these same lines are daily
putting into commission thousands Of
new freight cars. The case of the Penn
sylvania is an illustration of this fact.
This system is one which is well equip
ped with freight cars, and during the
last month these vehicles have been
coming back from lines whence they
were originally sent with Pennsylvania
freight at surprising rate. Even the
officials of the company declare that
they are astonished at the way in which
And yet the Pennsylvania is getting
from the shops new freight cars at the
rate of $500 per month. and will. under
it's plans. keep UP this rate of increase
for several months to come.
Advocates of the per diem plan of
handling freight cars say that the dem
onstratiOn of it's effectiveness in bring
ing back home wandering rolling stock
has eased the minds of well equipped
roads on the subject of future car short
al no Of r1a
of freight cars exists on other roads.
notably the Lake Shore and the Big
-Four, as we'll as on other lines which
have been well supplied iE the past.
Objection to the per diem plan has al
ways existed in the east, and especially
among the New England roads, which
have been charged by the better equip
ped western lines with doing their BUSH
ness in borrowed cars. Since the new
plan went into operation a month ago
objection has been raised by the coal
dealers These say that they cannot
continue to do business unless they are
permitted to use the cars on their yard
tracks to hold the coal until it is hauled
out to customers. In many cases this
has been the rule in handling coal, and
the dealer saves the cost of storage and
rehandling-a considerable expense in
the aggregate thereby.
The accumulation of empty cars just
at this time is accounted for by the fact
that many cars formerly used in the
transportation Of coal from the anthra-
cite region are now out of commission
on account of the strike, and it is also
true that the present is a time of light
freight movements. All railroad officials
| confidently expect that when the fall
| traffic comes they will have need for all
| the cars they have.
The car construction men are consid-
cred as being in the way of getting
| plenty of new orders from roads that
| have heretofore managed to get along
with comparatively few cars. The car
| builders, however, have their books full
| of orders that it will REQUIRE several
months to fill without any such new
business as that.