The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-01-08
HOW THE TRACKS WERE CLEARED
TRAIN CREWS DID GREAT WORK
IN A HALF DAY.
The Wreck Near Greensboro Was .
Catastrophe-The Method Of Start
ting the Trains Again.
Especial to The Messenger.)

NSpcCidl 10 Inc ~4GSSGnR6T-l
Greensboro, n. c., January g.
While the tremendous freight wreck
here yesterday was a most serious
matter to the railroad company. in
actual money loss in the number Of
cars smashed, the expense of repair
ing trackage and moving several
crews Of wrecking equipments from
distant points. this expense was q
bagatelle compared with that Go the
great travelling public which was bot
tied UP on both sides of this great
gateway between the North and
South, even the United States mail
being held UP" for twelve hours.
Besides this Inconvenience and lost
time 10 the thousands Of passengers
en- route. North or South, the stop
page of passenger traffic for several
hours in this busy age. necessarily
demoraliZed that species of travel
throughout a territory, and in
a sense becomes another important
factor or direct loss to the railway
company. Then the congestion OF
freight trains on sidings was another
form of loss and inconvenience.
which affects the company and ship
pers alike. Viewed from this stand
point while there was no one killed.
the accident here was in the nature
Of a catastrophe.
So far as the railroad company
vas concerned. there is no question
about its thorough appreciation of
Its responsibility to the public in re-
lieving the situation as quickly as
possible, for it is doubtful if ever
more expeditions work was done than
that of clearing the wreckage. What
seemed impossible of accomplishment
in "a hours was done in a little over
six. With a deep cut piled up with
broken and twisted cars, lying in all
sorts of positions for ~seventy-fve or
a hundred yards, a huge freight en-
CINE with every wheel off the iron
and a heavy tender lying sidewise on
an embankment Of u fill at two
o'clock in the space of little over
half a day, w~recking crews had been
called from 100 miles away, the OBJ
struction was cleared away, a new
track laid from the very beginning.
and by 2:30 o'clock the fast United
States Mail, Nc. 81 sped bounding
over the spot, rushing like mad, for
it's twelve hours of delay, at $500 an
hour forfeit meant $4,000 i'm this
item alone to the company, and lost
time had to be made up as much as
possible
Then as interesting as the work
Of the crews, with those tremendous
cranes lifting bodily and with the
ease Of a child raising a soap bubble,
the heavy cars made of iron ana
wood and steel and placing them
wherever they listed, was the sub
sequent movement of trains, a detail
ed account of which may not only
prove interesting, but will also give
a definite idea Of the seriousness of
such a disaster, even where no life
was lost.
Exactly at $50 o'clock the fast
mail creeped over the new track and
dashed like an excited hound I'M
leased for its first quarry at Char
lotte, with it's incalculable values in
tons of freight made up of newspa-
pers, business correspondence, money
packages for thousand Of miles of
territory and hundreds of towns and
cities, and millions of anxious wait
ing men and women; then followed
in ten minute relays, No. 29 and IS
from Richmond, Washington, New
York and other northern points, filled
with tired and worn out and rest
less passengers. all bound for south
ern points. In the meantime at the
passenger station at Greensboro, on
side tracks, stretching across streets
were six long passenger trains, filled
with passengers going north. The
first OF these to be let loose was No.
38, the celebrated Washington and
Florida Limited Vestfbule, another
ten minutes and 1t is followed by Ne.
so, then in ten minutes relays follow
ed in order Of mention, Nos. SO, "a,
40, IL and 10, all with passengers
going north.
And now the trains with human
freight. have been sent on their way
ten minutes apart, the work Of dis
patching without accident or confus-
ion, the 81 freight trains which had
been accommodating on sidings and
spur tracks all the afternoon and
night IN reach of the wreck begins.
Only ten minutes apart, yet 81 times
ten makes owe six hours, Just as the
ten minutes for each of the passen-
ger trains had taken nearly two
hours.
One by one they rolled in, putting
and wheeling, to be SEN on their
way n many to sidetrack again az
nearby spurs, to let the regular trains
of a new day go by. immense! the
man who thinks the organization
forces of a great transportation cor
poration must not be also marvellous,
with such a r~amifcation Of great
mutual interests and responsibilities
all commingled, to prevent an abso-
lutte paralysis on such occasions, has
never witnessed the effects of a hold
up for even n hour, OF the system
attic necessary minute by
minute and hour by hour. persistent
ly and faithfully carried out.
FUNERAL OF DIR. CALDWELL.