The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-21
HOW BAGGAGE IS HANDLED.
Improved Modern Methods on the
Great Railroads of the Country
Insure Safety and speed.

From the Omaha CNeb.) Bee.
Baggage must be trucked and not
rolled, and in unloading it from a
truck a pad must be used"
Ten years ago you would have gone
a long way to find such a rule in a
baggage room of a railroad station.
but this legend in bold type now stares
out from beneath the glass of a big
| black frame at the truckmen employ
| ed at the Union Station in Omaha.
| The pad" is huge stuffed floor mat
which the truckmen call a feather
bed" 1t is very long and very wide
and is stuffed solidly with hair and
| covered with three thicknesses Of the
heaviest canvas ducking known TO
man.
On these are received the divers
trunks and traps of the present day
| traveller whose possessions chance to
reach Omaha. There is absolutely no
| deviation from the rule. Indeed, the
sound of trunk falling upon the floor
| is as good as the gong that sounds
the dlscharge of the man handling it.
| AS result of this strictness the pads
are used so assiduously that they are
worn out in short time. One descend
ing Din from the iron-b bound corner of
| q monster sample case if often suf-
| nclent to split the cover of the CATCH
bed, and then it is but short-lived.
But the use of pads is not the only
improvement which modernity has
brought to the methods of handling
baggage. The clause which provides
that baggage shall be trucked. not
rolled, is big feature. The difference
IN the wear and tear on a trunk when
II is zig-zagged bumpety- bump thirty
or forty yards over wood and stone
and when it is hauled the same dis
lance on wheeled truck can be read.
lily understood.
Repairing Damaged Trunks.
There is another, rule exhibiting fur
ther the large heartedness of the later
baggage arrangements. This. provides
that baggage in bad order should be
repaired promptly and held for that
purpose when necessary, if for outgo-
ing trains" What boon the observ-
ahce OF this regulation may become
can be best realized by those who have
IN years gone by had their baggage
carted to the house strewing the con-
tents abroad from many gaping
wounds, and held together but preca-
riously by rope temporarily knotted
about It. ''-a
AS matter of fact, in no other de-
partment, trackage, equipment, run
nlng service, or personal attention
abroad, has there been a more mark
ed improvement than in the transpor-
tation of luggage. This has been due
partly to necessity, partly to an intent
to preserve the balance of progress in
all departments.
Contributes to Service Generally.
But the betternent OF the baggage
service has been more strikingly
shown in the details of the work than
In its delicacies. In every important
phase of it, speed, certainty, capacity,
the advance has been marvellous. 1t
is seldom now that the scheduled resi-
time of a train is not sufficient for
the transmission Nol ali luggage to and
from it; nor is baggage lost any more,
even temporarily, save on rare occa-
sions, when it is usually traced and
found; neither are the capacious mod
ern baggage room quarters ever so
overtaxed that the forces employed are
swamped and unable to do the days
work in a day.
All this, too has had its great eff
feet upon the wonderful strides made
in modern train service. Ball-bearing
coaches. drawn by 100-ton engines over
eighty-pound steel rails laid in curve
less, gradeless lines, are not the only
factors that have been instrumental in
bringing Chicago within three days of
San Francisco. The prompt Tnanipula-
ton of the baggage that accompanies
these trains, without mistake and
without delay, has had a considerable
voice in the reduction of the time
schedules.
System the Order of the Day.
The attainment of rapidity in hand
ling baggage has resulted purely from
| the establishment Of absolute system.
| If you enter any baggage rooms in
I,a TO dsaxy mill ysd
OF the room a row of loaded trucks,
opposite these line of baggage stacks.
| AT Union Station there are a truck
/ and a pile for every road of the seven
which run in there. The trucks con-
| tain the luggage, that is outward
bound. That which is brought in Is
| put in its proper pile. At the Burling-
ton station there is but one road to
! handle, but the baggage for different
trains is carefully segregated. At
| Webster Street Station three roads en-
ter and depart, and their respective
| baggage is separately handled
Then every man in the room has
! his specified duties. There are truck
men, checkmen, mailmen, and bag
| gagemen, all so designated above the
visors of their official caps. Each
knows his work and does it. All the
confusion and excitement and tangle
/
thing has disappeared.
AS result baggage is now handled
| but twice at the station The express
man brings it to the doorway and
dumps it ON the floor. 1t is weighed,
! checked, and hoisted on a truck to go
| out when. the time comes. Later it is
transferred to the train. And all this
system means a saving of slime. All in
coming stuff is plainly dated at once,
to facilitate probable storage calcula-
| tions.
The second great feature of the i'm
| provement is in the safe
ty which baggage now enjoys,
both as regards identity and
treatment At Union Station there has
not been a piece of baggage lost since
the place was built. Ten years ago
pieces of luggage were constantly go
ing wrong, and much of the time they
were never found at all.
Change in Checking Method.
This immunity from loss results from
the adoption of new system of check
| ing which has been gradually intro
duced for soma two years past on
Western railroads. The old brass
| checks are being abolished as rapidly
| as possible for paper ones. This is be-
ing done through the medium of the
more important stations, where the
substitutions are made.
The benefit is obvious. The brass
checks carried merely the name of the
railroad and the check number. There
was nothing to show source, and the