Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-11-08


The annual report of the Great North
ern Railroad Company shows an increase
of nearly $7,000,000 in gross earnings, the
total being SAG, 259, $50.
Executive and managing officers of the
large railway systems are encouraging a
new railroad correspondence school that
has just been established, as they believe
that it will result in a more plentiful
supply of good railroad labor.
During the last summer the Grand
Trunk railway carried 10000 passengers
on special trains. This is the largest
business ever handled in any three
months and equals the record made DUR
ing the worlds fair in Chicago.
The annual report of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad Company shows gross
earnings of $50, 50S,719, an increase of
nearly $1000O,000 over the preceding
year. The net earnings were 500. 1885,
100. All records were broken in the
carriage of freight, which totaled $685.
102 tons.
The decrease of S7S5, 1874 in passenger
earnings during the last fiscal year of
the Illinois Central railroad is shown
by the annual report just issued, but
from other sources earnings increase was
sol, 636, 400, or a total increase of S.,
127, 800. The expenses were only S34,
302, All in the last thirteen years. Ten
million dollars has been used in substi-
tuting new engines and cars for old ones.
The first heavy train run over the New
York Central by electricity drawn by one
~, oil
rolled into the Grand Central station af-
ter making a seven-mile trip from High
Bridge on the same schedule as the regu-
lar slum train. President Wilgus and
party Of officials were on board. The
train consisted of eight Pullman cars The
locomotive is almost noiseless, due to the
fact that the motors are attached directly
to the shaft. The maximum speed can be
attained in one-third the distance required
by steam locomotive.
In his annual report President Delano
of the Wabash says that competition
among railroads in the future will be in
supplying facilities for passenger and
freight traffic. rather than competition
in rates. This is true. particularly in
view of the rate law, which will result in
fixed, stable and universal rates. The
gross earnings for the year were $780,
O15.3TS. which is an increase of $31S,-
37S. notwithstanding the falling off of
S2941T0 in passenger earnings. Repair
inc. exn, nses were S1S.0TS.SST, or de-
crease S2.423,557. The surplus for
the year was S509,3
Seven years ago the present terminal
of the New York Central and the New
Haven systems at Forty-second street,
New York. was completed at a cost of
S2.500.000. 1t was regarded as a mag
nifcent monument to the commercial
greatness of the metropolis. adequate for
its needs for many decades. Engineers
ranked it among the best equipped rail-
road stations of the world. And yet, after
only seven years use, this great structure
must be torn down to make way for one
of far vaster proportions Never in the
history of the city has its growth made
necessary the sacrifice of a building sc
large or so costly.
E. H. Hartman has been so favo- IDLY
impressed with the recent experiments
with the gasoline motor car on Union
Pacific lines that he has ordered the cree
ton of shops exclusively for their con-
struction. These cars are now in active
use on Union Pacific tracks, several of
them having been turned out by the regu-
lar Omaha shops in the last few months
They are made entirely of steel and are
30 feet long, being similar in shape to
an inverted racing yacht, the roof round
ed off and the front end tapering off to
sharp point. Thus wind resistance is
reduced to a minimum. The car is driven
by 100 horsepower, six-cylinder gaso-
line engine, with a primary battery to
start on and magnetic for regular rum
ming.
The seventeenth annual report of the
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Com
pany has just been issued. The gross
earnings of the road for the year were
S11,304.559, an increase of S26T,731 over
the p:--.--v7s gear. The operating expenses
were S10,629,S50 showing an iao-.ase of
S29S, 301. The net earnings were S6,674,-
100, decrease of $780, $40.
The Erie Railroad Company has an
nounced that an order has teen placed
for three of the heaviest and most pow.
erful freight locomotives ever designed.
Andrew Carnegie has returned to Amer
lea in the belief that spelling reform win