Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-04-06
RUN AT A BIG LOSS
Fast Trains Cost Railroad Compan
 ies in Freight Traffic.
Right of Way to One Limited Ex- press Prevents the Running of Five Trains Laden with
 Merchandise.


 Chicago to New York the other day in favor of the increased freightina of coal and other commodities the management of the Pennsylvania company suggested to the travelling public at what cost to general traf. nc the traveller was enabled to make the distance in that time. For with a train averaging 50 miles an hour over the mixed single and double tracks of the line it has been esti' mated that the movements of this train kept out of service fully SC miles of tracks for the full 20 hours of the run.
 This means that for perhaps eight miles behind the train and AZ miles ahead of it in every minute of its run all other trains operating on thls ilne are slowing down, stopping, side tracking, or moving out again upon .the line to gain momentum and pur' sue their several courses, says the Chicago Tribune.
 Fifty miles an hour, including stops, is notable speed to be main tained for thousand miles. 10 get such train through on time would be company pride. In any case the passenger train with the mails has the right of the track and all freight trains are secondary to it in the mat ter of taking the sidings.
 According to the operating rules o1 the road every train of second class coming upon the time of train oi the first-class must have taken sid ing and cleared the switch entrance five minutes before the train ap' proaching is due. To the uninitlated this would seem to figure a five mn. ute loss to the train of the second class. Tn reality, even if the tram has run so close that the switch Is just at hand, probably grade or a heavy, load or slippery rails, or one of a dozen possibilities, may lose the freight train 15 or 20 minutes before it has got under headway again.
 But just five minutes before flyer is due in each case the freight train cannot be at siding. It may be al a siding with just 25 minutes run tc the next station, and with only 1s minutes in which to get there anu clear the track. Manifestly this can. not be done, and the freight takes the siding where it is and waits the probable ten minutes which the nyeI will need to consume the distance Such freight train may be making. 25 miles an hour; because It cannot get to the next station two minutes earlier than is possible, 1t loses the. hoc tn NnIf ii loses the 23 minutes which 1t ought te have run and could have. run, ana when it gets to the next station It F still 23 minutes behind--a total of at minutes lost off it's schedule. leaving f, nearly 25 miles behind it's antlci' uated position on the line.
 Such loss as this might be induced by any passenger train having tne right of way over freightttraln. h the case of such a train as has just been taken out of service, however, it's grea speed has it's influences upon train men in the matter of making these sieings If five minutes clearance IS enough for passenger train making only 25 miles an hour, the influence ai a train running 50 miles an hour IS to make the conductor of the freight train consider ten-minute clearance of his own rather than the five-minuto clearance of the regulations. So thai frequently when the conductor of the freight train may make the next sit ing with the necessary clearance, II waits where he is because he came make it the ten-minutes' clearanc, l. x,,n,Y1d Jilya tn baya
 The complications of these situa- tions are with reference to only two sidings that are ten miles apart. T. many sections of the country sidings are two or three miles apart and