Rock Island Argus., 1906-11-30
CONTRACTS
Rock Island Road to Put on Fast
Night Mail Train
Dec. l6.
REOPENs OLD SPEED WAR
Will Endeavor to Reduce Time t.
Omaha and Compete with the
a." and Northwestern.

is announced to be made by the Rock
Island road, beginning with the morn
ing of Dec. 1G, in putting on an eXclu-
sive mail train, which will pass through
Rock Island on its way from Chicago
to Omaha The train will consist of
engine, mail car and baggage car, and
will carry no passengers. Leaving Chi
cago. at SIS o'clock p. M, it will arrive
in this city at midnight. and going on
to Omaha will arrive there between Z
and o'clock the next morning.
1t will come in between No. Al, the
1920 train, and the Golden State Linn
tied, after midnight, and will bring the
mail accumulations for early city dis
tribution instead of afternoon delivery.
In this connection it is promised that
the greatest speed war ever known
may result from the determination of
the Rock Island system to secure =
share of the fast mail business be-
tween Chicago and Omaha, for which
the government is now paying the Bur
lington and Northwestern railroads 81,
100000 a year
Their trains leave Chicago at 10 p.
m, the earliest time possible after the
arrival of the fast mail trains from
New York over the Lake Shore and
Pennsylvania roads.
Has an Advantage.
The Rock Island has a big advantage
over the other two western roads in
that it can leave Chicago an hour and
Is minutes earlier and make direct
foe
mail trains from the east. The Lake
Shore train, No. 35, which reaches En-
glewood at s p. m, is the heaviest mail
train from New York to Chicago, hav-
ing six of the largest postal cars in
service loaded to their full capacity.
The Pennsylvania cOmpanys train, No.
II, carries more mail out of New York
than the Lake Shore train, but at Pitts
burg the Pennsylvania company's train
is divided, part of the cars going to ST.
Louis and the others coming here.
To make the run from Englewood to
their passenger stations in Chicago re-
quires about half an hour for the Lake
Shore and Pennsylvania trains. The
transfer of the mail from their sta
tionS to the Burlington and Northwest
ern stations takes from As minutes TO
an hour. To make the transfer of mail
from the eastern trains to the Rock Is
land system at Englewood would not
take more than half an hour. and might
be done in 10 minutes BY simply run
ming at the same rate of speed as the
Northwestern and Burlington roads.
the new Rock Island train can land
4 I, os n 1o b,
hour and 80 minutes earlier than they
do now.
Connects at Omaha.
The Rock Island train will connect
at Omaha with the fast mail trains
of the Union Pacific and the Chicago.
st. Paul. Minneapolis & Omaha line,
and also the Rock Islands train to
Colorado. Not only will the new Rock
Island train expedite the mails TO Oma-
ha and points beyond, but it will inn
prove to a greater extent the service
to many towns on the main line of the
Rock Island, which are now served by
branch lines crossing the Burlington
and Northwestern roads.
That the postal department plans to
give the Rock Island a share of the
big mail business now done by the
Northwestern and Burlington compa-
nies is indicated by the announcement
of Superintendent West of the railway
mail service that a postal exchange
station will be established next Mon
day at the junction at Englewood of
sylvania roads.
Last year the Rock Island company
wrested from the Santa Fe it's con-
tract worth $1,000,00O a year for carry
ing the fast mails from the east to
Los Angeles, the Rock Islands service
landing the mail in Los Angeles prac-
tically a day earlier than the Santa
Fe could do it.
Records In Danger.
The distance from Chicago to Omaha
is practically the same by all roads
about 500 miles. The schedule time
now of the Burlington and Northwest
ern fast mail trains is 10 hours and 80
minutes, but on both of them the run
to Omaha has frequently been made in
less than 10 hours. Whether they will
attempt to Offset by greater speed the
of more than one hour which
the Rock Island viii gain through the
transfer to Englewood, has not yet
been determined by officials of the
Northwestern and Burlington roads. If
they decide to make a fight to keep
the Rock Island from taking the postal
traffic from them, it is certain that all
speed records on the railways, not only
of this. but all countries, will be