The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-11-15
RAILROAD NEWS.
All the Railways Are Short of
Coal Cars.
Steps Being Taken to Help the
Situation.
NO PRESENT RELIEF.
BituminOus Mines Working Half
Time Because of Shortage.
Gossip and Matters of Interest
in Railroad Circles.

Railroad companies are taking such
steps as they can to relieve the car
shortage by purchasing more cars and
as fast as the manufacturers can turn
them out the new cars will be put in
commission, but so rushed are the
manufacturers that the cars ordered
now will not be available for some
time and the present conditions will
not be relieved to any great extent for
the present.
There is probably a greater short
age in coal cars than in any other va
riety, and of the recent orders put in
by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe,
the Frisco, the Missouri Pacific and
the Kansas City Southern for thou
sands of cars. a good proportion of
them are for coal cars. These roads
expect to get some of these cars by
midwinter and this will relieve the
situation in the Kansas coal fields as
well as those in nearby states which
are tapped by these roads.
But these precautions are not abat-
ing the present car famine, and oper-
atfons are practically at a standstill
at many mines owing to the inability
of the coal companies to get cars.
The coal companies are operating
their mines just about half time
three to four days a week being con-
sidered good time at present.
AS a consequence there are two i'm
portant effects. One is that the coal
miners are not getting more than half
time in at the mines; the other is that
the coal market is stronger than it
otherwise would be-
Possibly there is some benefit to
both operators and miners in the pre-
vailing conditions, even though the
miner is getting but three days a week
work, and the operator is marketing
only SO per cent. of his capacity.
If every operator in this district and
the other fields should turn every ton
of his capacity into the market the
be greatly affected.
In consequence there would be such
an over-prOduction as would compel
operations to suspend entirely because
of no demand for the coal. The coal
in this field cannot be stored without
loss, and there must be a ready de-
mand after 1t is produced.
1t is very likely that if the miners
did all get full time now, there would
sooner or later be a period when Opar-
atoms would have to be suspended
From the standpoint of the miners
as well as the operators this would
not be desirable, and so far as the
coal men themselves are concerned,
lney cannon complain with good
grounds because of the present car
famine.
The result of the car shortage is a
speculation in coal which is not. how
ever, being felt locally
An index to the general situation can
be obtained when it is known that pro-
dueing and shipping companies, in
nearly every instance, have Withdrawn
their men from the road and are send
ing them to the mines to secure in
creased shipments. In some instance
these buyers remain at the mines and
as soon as a car of coal is loaded bid
against each other with the operating
company to secure the car number.
There is no immediate indication
that there will be any improvement in
the situation. In fact every week
seems to result in shorter supply of
cars and greater demand for coal I'M
til the market may run away with
itself unless some relief is furnished.
on some Goals prices are fully 100 Der
cent higher at the mine than they were
SIX months ago. This advance in price
| is not fictitious but is due to the buy
ing demand and the increasing com
petition to secure a supply. There are
those in the trade who are extremely
conservative with reference to such
situations as the present and who de-
plore the speculative tendency of the
market, but they can not stay the buy
ing demand at present when people are
short Of coal, and to meet their re-
quirements naturally the market takes
an advance. That is just what is oc-
curing at present.
The car supply of the bituminous
mines is not more than thirty-ffve to
forty per cent of the requirements in
any field. 1t would be absolutely i'm
possible to point to any bituminous
field in the country where a normal
supply of cars was being obtained.
The strain on the motive power of the
various coal-carrying roads during the
past two months has been tremendous.
This can not continue without Iocomo-
tives playing out, and as soon as
there is cold weather, the inability to
move tonnage will be caused both by
lack of motive power and shortage of
cars.