The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-03-04
RAILROAD WORLD.

couraging Mir. Richey was asked yes terday if there was any truth in the reports that the Southern and other lines had secured 60-day option on property in the neighborhood of the city furnaces at First avenue and Twenty-seventh street with view 10 erecting union passenger station. He said:
 "so far as I know the Southern does not contemplate any such move. and if such a deal were on foot I am pretty certain that I would know something about 1t. As to the options cn the prop erty, I of course cannot say. but I am sure that the Southern Is not interested in the deal.
 ''The next union depot erected in Bir- mingham will have to be where all the railroads could reach it easily. and the Twenty seventh street location would be very inconvenient to some of them.
 Business out on our lines Is very heavy. The Birmingham division freight business is showing an increase of about IS per cent over last year, and a similar in- crease is shown in the Atlanta and Knox vile divisions Of course the strike has effected to some extent the coal. ore and pig iron movement in Birmingham. But for that fact this division would show a much greater increase
 "The movement in merchandise over
 it .L. at,,t.tan. g very haavv inst now and coal and iron, as we'll as ore are be- ing moved freely. The lumber business has shown a marked increase recently and travel has been so heasy on our Knoxville division that I have had to spend q great deal of time up there aid ing the officials In keeping the trains moving.
 "The cold weather delayed us some but we have about cleaned out the yards and we are keeping everything rolling. go back to Knoxville about Monday or Tuesday. but do not expect to stay so long on this trip
 R. S. Brown, district passenger agent of the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern, with headquarters in Louisville was in Birmingham yesterday.
 l George w. Ely, travelling passenger agent of the Southern Pacific with head quarters in Atlanta, was in the city yes ] terday.
 L. M. Hill, superintendent of the dining car service of the Louisville and Nash boa dr,su rta in Nash vile, has been in the city several days representing the dining car service out of Birmingham on the heavy Mardi Gras | business of that road.
 Mir Hill is considered one of the best dining car men In the south, and he is handling this increased business in a most satisfactory manner. Every morn ing he sends dining car to Blount Springs to meet train No 1. so that the through passengers may be given their breakfast before Birmingham is reached. 1 Those who get on the train in Birming- 1 ham and south of Birmingham are ac- l ccmmodated after the train leaves Bir- mingham In this way everyone is cared for conveniently and there is no rush in the diner.
 Thomas McGill, travelling freight and passenger agent of the Mexcan-Ameri- can Steamship company, with headquar- ters in New Orleans. was in Birmingham yesterday.
 R. M Coffey. travelling passenger agent of the Seaboard, with headquar- ters in Atlanta, was in the city yes- terday.
 Jack Daily. travelling passenger agent of the Missouri Kansas and Texas, with offices in Atlanta, was in the city yester- l day.
 The Mardi Gras business in and through Birmingham is very heavy this season, and is surpassing all expectations. In 1 fact the business has already gone ahead of that for several years rast. and in dications are that today and tomorrow will show continued increase. | The Louisville and Nashville has been running its trains No. 1 and No. 5 in of extra equipment. Oh the night train extra sleepers are being run, as we'll as extra coaches. On the day train the number of extra coaches is large.
 The travel has demanded that the southbound trains be run in two sections, both of which were very heavy. From every direction the travel Is increasing. This surpasses the expectations. as the railroad men thought that the inaugura- ton would cut heavily into the Mardi | Gras business.
 The Queen and Crescent is running extra equipment Into New Orleans on ac- count of the heavy business. It is com ing from every direcetion, and extra sleepers have been added to the trains at Chattanooga and Birmingham. The extra sleepers out, of Birmingham were both full last night and the night be- fore.
 To guard against scarcity of water fo. it's engines during the dry spells, the Pennsylvania railroad company has com pieted plans to build pipe line parallel to it's tracks frcm Pittsburg to Harris burg. and in this way amply supply the engines at various points along the lines. Tn, plans were decided upon as result of tho great damage caused to the engines d, ring the recent drought.
 Knoxville. Tenn. March 3.--One of the most elaborate events of the kind that has ever happened in this city will be