The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-06
HANDLING FREIGHT CARS.
How the Roads Keep Track of Their
Rolling stock.

STOCK.
When travelling on railroads everv-
one has had occasion to notice the
Heterogeneous collection of cars that
make up freight train. 1t seems,
indeed, that every railroad line in the
United States is represented by a
freight car bearing it's name; and the
average traveller wonders how the
freight departments carry on their
business in an ineligible manner and
how the different roads know where
their cars are located. Yet the sys-
tenn by which freight cars are handled
is fairly simple and easy to under
stand.
Before proceeding further, it may be
well to define two railroad terms used
in connection with this subject. The
first is known as Home Line or Own
err" By this we mean that a railroad
having freight cars bearing it's name
is known as the home or owner of that
car. The second term, Foreign Car
and Foreign Line" denotes a freight
car bearing name different from that
of the railroad upon which it is rum
ming, and vice versa.
Suppose a road loads one Of its own
cars with freight and wishes to ship
that car to some point lying upon it's
own line. The car is simply attached
to a freight train and drawn to it's
destination, and when unloaded, it is
ready for use again. In this case there
is no trouble; but suppose that car, in
stead of being shipped to some point
on the Home Line ~ to be sent to
some place many miles away, which
does not lie on the road owning the
car? The case is not so simple now.
The car is run on the Home Line" as
far as possible towards it's destination.
Then, at some junction, the car is
transferred onto another road, and is
attached to some freight train that
will pass through the place where the
car is billed to- 1t often happens,
however that this place Is not reach
ed by the second road either. In this
case the same system is used as in the
first place. The car is sent as far as
possible, and then transferred to some
junction and joined to freight train
that will pass through its point of des-
tination. In many cases a car passes
over a number of roads before arriving
at the receiving point While the car
is going over these different roads, its
"Owner" must of course pay for such
privileges. These payments are based
on a mileage arrangement, which, on
ordinary freight cars, amount to six
tents of cent per mile that car
travels over a road.
We have followed the car to its des-
tination, and the question that now
arises, is what becomes of the car
when it is unloaded and lies empty.
The railroads have adopted the fellow
ing plan for slowing the problem:
The road upon which the car lies mas
the privileges of using the empty car
for purposes of carrying freight, with
the understanding that the car is to
be shipped to a point or points which
lie in the direction of the railroad that
owns the car. When the car is as
near the Home Line" as possible it
is transferred at some junction to the
next nearest line. This line, in turn,
can use the car for freight purposes,
under the same condition of working
it toward the Home Line" and so on.
In this way the car is gradually work.
ed back to the line that owns it. For
each mile that a Foreign Road" uses
a car it must pay the Owner" six
where the car is transferred from one
line to another the number of the
car is taken by the road that re-
ceives 1t and the road that givs it up,
and a record of such a transfer is sent
to the Owner" of the car. Thus ev-
cry road knows about where it's cars
are located. 1t happens frequently
that a car, while on Foreign Road"
needs to be repaired. The road upon
which the car lies Immediately takes
the car to its shops and makes the
necessary repairs. An itemized bill
of such repairs is nailed to the car,
and duplicate sent to the Owner"