The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-28
THREE YEARS LATE
LONE STAR STATE BROKE ALL
RECORDS FOR SLOW TRAINS.
PENNSYLVANIA RETRENCHING.
GREAT SYSTEM WILL LAY OFF
1900 EMPLOYEES SHORTLY.

This Is Not an Indication of Falling
on in Business, for There Has
Been No Decrense-B. a o. VIII
Soon Have in Operation the Lnrg-
est Locomotive In the World.
Better late than never but in the
following case never" would have
done just as we'll as late" for the ma
on the train:
1t was in the afternoon of Sept. 8,
1900, that the regular passenger train
on the Gulf and Interstate Railroad
left Bolivar point, which is just across
the bay from Galveston, for Beaumont,
the two points being about 20
miles apart. 1t was a very stormy
afternoon and the train had not gone
very far before the great hurricane
of that date developed its fury and
further progress Of the train was ar
rested by the washing away of the
track ahead of it. The train had
hardly come to a stop when the track
behind it was also found to have dis
appeared, and all that could be done
was to hold the train where it was and
wait for the fury of the elements to
| subside. Fortunately the terrific wind
did not overturn the cars, and the
track on which they stood was the on
ly piece Of road in that section which
remained intact.
This little railroad was principally
owned by the estate of wealthy cat
| tleman and was built originally as the
| beginning of a road which was to
bring the grains of the great Northwest
down to the ships on the Gulf. The
country through which this little road
ran was not thickly settled or great
| ly developed and what development
| had taken place received severe set
| back in the terrible storm, the country
being fiat and most of it suffering more
or less from the ravages of wind and
water. 1t was a year or two before
\ the owners of the road felt that II
would pay them to rebuild the dam
aged section, which reached for some
miles beyond where the train was
stalled.
The train had not received very
much damage itself from the water
and wind, and so the Management OF
the road wisely built shed over 1t to
protect it from the weather.
When oil was discovered in South
east Texas the little road began to as
sumo new importance, and slowly but
surely it's owners commenced to re-
build it, but 1t was in August, 1903,
before they reached the belated train.
Just 1862 days late, the passenger
coach was pulled into Beaumont. 1t
had been arranged to have the same
crew that was in charge of the train
at the time of the storm bring the res
n fra nj q
great many p ~engers who were
storm-bound in train were invited
by the managemI..C Of the road to go
down and come in with it and so fin
ish their journey, but 1t was found
that the engine was hardly in condi-
ton to do any pulling until it was first
hauled into the shop and repaired, and
so the passenger coach was attached
to the regular train of Aug. 6, 1903, and
brought into Beaumont. where it re-
ceived a great ovation, and a band of
music celebrated its arrival.
From this resuscitation of the little
road the people predict great things in
the future, and would not be surprised
to see 1t, before many years are pass
ed, as part of the system of a great
North and South trunk railroad.
The Pennsylvania road is retrench-
fected, it is estimated that fully 1000
employees at various parts of the sys-
tenn will find themselves without work
by the end Of August. officials of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company say
that is not unusual and that the com
pany is handling as much business as
ever. This fact Is not disputed, al
though it has given rise to the con-
lecture as to how the railroad is go
ing to move all of it's trains with few
er employees. OF course in the car
shops the repair and construction work
is being carried on on a somewhat
smaller scale. Some of the departments
at the Altoona shops are ahead of
their allowances, and in order to make
anything like a creditable showing
they are laying off men.
Within a week Of ten days the Iarg-
est locomotive in the world will be put
in service on the Baltimore and Ohio
road to pull passenger trains through
the tunnel at Baltimore. The big en-
CINE, which Will weigh $50 tons, will
be operated by electricity. Another
one of the same size is being built for
the Baltimore and Ohio. These en-
gines can pull a train Weighing 1900
tons exclusive of the weight Of the
electric locomotive over the grade
from Camden Station, through the tun-
mel to the summit a distance OF 3.l4
miles at a speed OF ten miles an hour.
where the grade Is 8 per cent and nine
miles an hour where the grade IL liz
per cent, operating az 625 volts.
Goodwin Smith, the historian and
pubiicist, was 50 years old on Thurs