The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-01-04
A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT
Keeping of Street Railway System
Open Meant Hard Work.

=. C'oty Ouc VIII uStu EGn6 SGTeoC cars
today had reason to thank the manage
last night. The keeping Of the system
in running order during the early even
i ing qg ans. thru the night was a piece Of
street railway .generalship that stands
at the head Of its class. - q.
! The storm was at its best between
;5:3O and $3.50 when the travel Is the!
heaviest. With the home crowds in
the early evening and the return
crowds for the theaters and other at.
fractions to be handled, the company
was face to face with a real problem,
Not line in the city was stopped.
Everything was kept open all night and
today every line began running on
schedule time Some Of the schedules
were somewhat demoralized last night.
necessitating some long waits, but in
the main everything was in fair run
ming order. F.. -. : - 49,,
r' 3 JOY at Excelsior. .
The interurban and suburban lines
that are supposed to be the first to 20
out OF commission were kept In as good
order as the rest Of the system. There
was rejoicing at Excelsior this morning
when the friends of the trolley line
found everything ready for business.
There has been considerable rivalry be-
tween the trolley and steam line fac
tions Of the village, the steam adher-
ents insisting that the first snow storm
would knock the trolley out Of COM
mission. Bets were up on the results
ana when the storm came yesterday,
more were made. The late cars incIud
ing the regular Wednesday night after
theater car came thru all right and the
"7:30'' was on deck this morning. As
result the. trolley admirers have
money to burn and wear ssthe smile
. that won It come off. - -. S:ss.@. 81: g,f
-5 Complete Preparations. 81 3:
The complete control Of the system
which was shown last night was posi-
BILE because Of the complete >prepara-
tions. AS soon as it was seen that the
storm was in earnest, provisions were
made for extra help, All the laborers
from the shops and other departments
were held for emergency duty. The
twenty big snow. plows were brought
out. Eight went to st. Paul and The
others were sent out over the Mime
aRoliss system. They were kept busy
all night. The work of these snow
plows is complete. They not only clear
the tracks but the entire street of. snow.
, nv oAoW LOuCcSt vi Inc M1n1oCOnka
line demonstrated their efficiency and
the open condition Of that line today
was in no small degree due to them.
The greatest trouble in the city was
at the intersections and switches. Had
1t been colder there would have been
much trouble from frozen frogs. As
1t was, they were often covered and
motormen had some trouble, in locating
them and cleaning out the packed snow.
Later in the evening as it became evi-
dent that there would be no bad drift
i, ing down town the shovel detail was
! split into smaller squads and stationed
at the switches to keep them clear.
assist the drivers.
] There was some slight damage to
| equipment caused by the burning out! of
motors and grounding. The Saltwater
line was kept open, but few cars were
! knocked out doing it. A few Others
| on lines running out into the Sopen
/ country were disabled.