The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-12-17
GEE-HAW TRAINS
How long Will N. C, Road
Continue a Dumping
Ground.

Upon a night in August 1895, the
president and directors of the North
Carolina railroad met in a private
Gus discussion or notice of their in
tention to the people anticipated by
several years the expiration of an ex-
listing lease and made to the Southern
Railway a practical deed to the
states most valuable property
The story OF the "ninety-nine year
lease" the storm Of Indignation
which it created. the fight against its
regularity, which was led by this pa
per, the litigation started by the
state for its 2nnulment and its final
settlement by q Republican Governor
under circumstances which bore the
mark OF z. weak man enmeshed in
fear bred of indiscTetion or worse, in
d scandal which has passed inro his
tory and is valuable for reference
only as the marking OF the ever
growing contrast between what the
people gave and what they got.
Tile North Carolina Railroad taps
the most populous and the richest
section of the State More people
have TO travel by it than any other
road. It's net returns are immense.
Its prospective earnings in the flu
pays the State per cent per annum
on stock of the road, runs innumera-
bic frcights at great money return
and gives q passenger service that
would possibly have satisfied the
needs of the travelling public bound
to Richmond in the wartime sixties.
Considering the value of the road
to the system, the number Of people
it is supposed to serVe-Who are COM
Other-the alleged service afforded
by the passenger trains on the North
Carolina road is audaCiOUsly frlpu-
dent in character The trains run
how and when they please they wait
on slow rolling freights, they balk at
little grades like a stubborn mule
coming TO market! When one OF
them gets i'm on time 1t creates a
anell-sized sensation: the question
asked the depot over the phone is
invariably, "hOW late is Number So
and-SO today" Combined with the
irreguarity of it's schedules, with the
tediousness of its delays, the passen-
gers are packed into dirty, ill-kept
and ill-repaifed cars which totally
lack accommodations for the ordin-
airy run of passengers and which are
SWoltering in summer and freezing i'll
winter. 4 trip over the road is a
modification of spirit and a yeuturlng
into the unknown. The best that one
can hope for when he embarks is an
ultimate arrival The trains literally
anrjhiiate rime-bCt it is yours. The
North Carolina Railroad trains have
time if nothing else. After marking
the trains first twenty minutes late
the public is kept waiting frequently
for hours And as likely as not the
train for which hundreds are waiting
is pulled in on g siding for q meeting
h \ I1Gfo III 81 ID
Prevarication seems 20 be almost as
settled an incident of the roads OPP
Grafton as delay.
The aboy is not eXaggeration, but
sober fact. The road seems to be a
dumping ground The equipment IS
totally inadequate ana frequently
impCtent either to prCpCcly take care
OF the passengers or even to pull the
trains. II is q common sight to see
Il train pulled by an engine 'On one
side tIat is with one driver out of
gear and detached. Frequently pas
senger trains are pulled by freight
engines u hich make Il maximum
spced Of twenty miles an hour
Three hours late between Greensboro
ana Raleigh is an ordinary occur
ref.ce.
Three incidents will show the drift
of the service.
on the occasion of the University
A. and VI. game the Southern uu-
dertook TO run special TO Chapel
| Hill and return. the engine was out
Of repair and the train was kept an
| hour in the woods while it had to be
| doubled over a grade. 1t got to
Raleigh four hours late.
On December 18th the afternoon
train from Greensboro was three
hours late on account of possibly the
same defective engine which was