Evening times-Republican., 1903-12-23


shalltown, and arrived today with a
handsome gift to the business inter-
ests. In the form of Superintendent
]. A. Davis of the Iowa Central, he
presented this city with the division
point for all of the roads regular thru
freight trains. This will make Mar
ehalltown the terminal for six addition
al trains, and its Importance will be
better understood when it is known
that 1t will bring here thirty-flve em-
ployes, most of them heads of families,
The order became effective upon the
arrival Of No. 80, this afternoon. and if
satisfactory will be made permanent.
There is every reason to believe 1T
will prove SO.
The trains and crews affected are
Nos. 80. 81. 80. SO. s5 and s6. On this
division the first four named run be-
tween Oskaloosa and Mason City and
the other two between Abba and Al
bert Lea, MINI. The men who have
had these runs have been living at AL
bert Lea, Abba and Oskaloosa, bat
when the new order OF things has be-
come settled they will, of necessity,
move their families to this city Under
the old arrangement the trains We're
run from Abba or Oskaloosa to Mason
City or Albert Lea, as the case might
be, by the same crew. Engines would
be changed here, but no change would
Z be made in the enginemen or train
crews. In this way each conductor had
. fixed run.
Will Pool the Runs.
Under the new arrangement no crew
will have any fixed run, but instead
they will be, what is known in fail
road circles, as pooled" For the six
trains there will be seven crews. and
they will work on the plan of first in,
FIRST out" that is, a crew which has arr
rived, will not go out again until all
other crews awaiting have gone. This
is q plan similar to that in force on the
Northwestern, and 1t is believed that
the road in the prompt movement of
these trains, which carry a consider
able bulk of the thru freight business
destined to and from Minneapolis and
ct. Paul and Peoria, st. Louis and
Kansas City These runs will be all
1orth OF this city between here and AL
which make Oskaloosa their headquar
49, r~-.l1N =, hA ft,n INatv
Adarshalltown and that city. Hereto
fore this city has been the division
point for only the local freights, which
leave north and south early in the
morning.
Will Bring Many Families Here.
The change will bring to this city
xhirty-five employees Of the road. There
will be seven engineers, seven firemen,
seven conductors and fourteen brake
men. A large per cent of these, and
In fact all OF the engineers and con-
0uctors. are nrarried men, and some of
them are among the older employees.
The six conductors who now have
these runs are r. n. Chapman. Ed Ma
Die, John Feeley. Sidney Rowen. j. ].
Hayes and C. Wilson. Another will
be added to make the seventh. but
who it will be Is not yet known. Just
who the engineers are can not be as
certained now, as the men on these
runs are not always the same.
Why ths Change Was Made.
The change was made for the better
ment OF the freight service. and old
employees OF the road believe it viii
prove successful, as it did when in
r. r., 4. {e,s.
change was made. The service has
been crippled owing to the fact that
sthS runs have been of such length that
the crews were kept on duty frequent
ay for eighteen and sometimes twenty
four hours at a time. Superintendent
Davis realizes that after men have
been constantly on duty for a longer
period than they should nature gives
out and the best of service Is not se-
cured, As result delays occur, mis-
haps take place. and the liability OF
wrecks is greatly increased. A good
example of this occurred but recently, |
hut the conductors name need not be !
mentioned. The man In question ar
rived in this city after haying been out
part OF a night and almost all day |
without rest. While checking his way
bills in the yard office he fell asleep. |
and had to be awakened. Going north |
with his train later that night at Union |
he ran by his orders, and had circum- |
stances been just right a wreck might
have resulted. An investigation fo,-
lowed, but the man was not dis |
charged, for the reason that Superin-
tendsnt Davis realized he was thor
oughly exhausted ard could not keep
awake.
Back to the Old Order.
This change brings the operating OF
these trains back to the old order of |
things. as they were before being
rhanged by Superintendent Huntington |
about four or five years ago. Prior to
that time this city was the division !
point. The change has been talked of
for some time, and was finally decided |
upon at the conference held in Oska-
loosa Tuesday night between General
Superintendent Sweeney, Superintend- |
ent Davis, Acting Trainmaster Snyder
ond Chief Dispatcher Brown. At any
Pate the order was teiegraphed To
Yardmaster ]. II. Higham this morn
SAg. 1t Is believed that the officials of
Ne operating department are con-
Nineed that this city Is the logical
sssight terminal for this division and