The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-17
MR. HARDWICK HERE
GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT OF
 THE SOUTHERN.
He Says the Recent Convention of Passenger Agents at New Or leans Was Successful in
 Every Way.

oocCh5SA wick of the Southern Railroad spen. yes- terday with relatives and friends in Mont- gomery en route to his office in wash- ington from the Passenger Agents Con- vention in New Orleans. Mr. Hardwick Is Montgomery man of whom not only the city, but the entire South is justly proud-dignified he is, but with the only true dignity, that of the thorough gentle man, he Is at the same time cordiality itself and has the great secret of sue cess-adaptability. With cheerful smile and hearty greeting for everybody-rich or poor, from the most humble laborer , to the most powerful magnate he Is a man universally beloved and 1t is not surprising that he is at the head of the passenger department of one of the big gest railroads in the United States-the Southern. His election as orator by the National Association of General Passen- ger Agents is an honor that is not only deserved but which will rebound to the credit of the Association.
 Speaking of the meeting he said yes- terday: 'It was thoroughly success full affair in every way, and while nothing of special importance was done, yet the results will be most beneficial. Some years ago we had the convention at Ashe- vile, N. C.. and know the full irn-
 
 over the country are there and they rep resent a vast amount of traffic"
 The Illinois Central carried many of the passenger men to New Orleans on a special train and a New Orleans paper says of 1t:
 There can be no doubt that the train that came in over the Illinois Central last night was one of the finest, if not the finest. that ever rolled into New Or leans. New. from the cow-catcher to rear platform. the train represented the highest point of perfection in the art of the car builder and the locomotive ma chinist Seldom, indeed. in the history of railroading in thls country has such a train been provided for any party. and 1t is probable that it will be many years before such another pulls into this city
 'The train consisted of eight cars and an engine, all of which were absolutely new and on this occasion made their maiden run. The train consisted Of five standard Pullman cars, one observation Pullman car. one dining car and one buff fet library car. This magnificent train was pulled by one of the heavy engines weighing 145 tons. The total weight of the train was about 1102000 pounds
 To appreciate the importance of the aggregation of cars and engine, it is only necessary to add that the total equip ment, from the engine to the last car, represented an outlay of sl60,000 The entire train, after being used to carry the party back to Chicago. will be put on the regular Illinois Centrars limited run between New Orelans and Chicago. making one of the most notable additions of recent date to the equipment of any flyer running into this city.
 During the trip several record-mak- ing runs were made and noted by a speed gauge on the train. The whole run from Chicago to New Orleans was itself unu- sually fast, as the train started from Chicago at o'clock Sunday night, and despite an hours delay. arrived In the city at o'clock last night. exactly the time calculated for It's appearance
 The train, when 1t left Memphis, was one hour behind time. and the distance from Memphis to Canton, 1s9 miles. was made in 187 minutes. This portion of the road, while rock ballasted and dou- ble tracked. is far from being the race section of the road. Several other runs, although for shorter distances were made, which proved equally speedy.
 Prom McComb City to New Orleans, distance of 105 miles, the time was less than 100 minutes. which included one stop. The first twenty-eight miles of this run were made at the rate ot seventy eight miles per hour Tn another short run, from Oakland to Hardy. a distance of twelve miles, was covered in ten minutes.
 ''On several occasions for short dis tances of a mile or less the seemingly improbable speed of ninety-four miles per hour was attained. This was found by the speed indicator carried In the car on the train. The point of this state- ment is learned when 1t Is known that under recent experiments conducted by the Pennsylvania Railroad with a special track twenty-five miles in length, with everything favorable to high speed at- tainment, the best that was obtained was at an average of 95.1 miles per hour"
 Spencer Party Coming.
 It Is probable that President Spencer and the directors of the Southern Rail- road will visit Montgomery on their in- specticn trip though 1t is by no means certain. They went from Birmingham to Chattanooga yesterday. It is possible that they will go to Mobile from Chattanooga. and from Mobile come up the Mobile and Ohio. coming over the Montgomery divis- ion to this city. Colonel Wm. Butler Dun can. chairman of the board of directors of the Mobile and Ohio Is with the party and his many Montgomery friends will be glad to see him again.