The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-08
ALL TRACKS
 FULL OF CARS Remarkable Congestion in |. & N. Yards. FOUR NILES ARE BLOCKED Heaviest Traffic in History of
 Railroad Company.
 -@-- Loaded Freight Cars Fill Montgomery Yards and Trains stand on Tracks
 of Main Linc--scarcity
 of Engines.

Motive power was at premium with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company in Montgomery yesterday. and engines were almost as valuable as big pieces of gold bullion.
 The heaviest passenger trafflc came through Montgomery yesterday that has ever been handled by the Louisville and Nashville with the exception of car nivai or holiday business. Yesterday was Homeseekers' Day, and 1t proved to be the heaviest done, by the rail- roads. Train No. 1, duo In Montgomery from Chicago and Cincinnati came in yesterday morning in three sections, averaging twelve cars to the train, or thirty-six cars in the three trains. These three heavy trains had to be taken south by the Mobile and Mont gomery division and every available passenger engine was pressed into ser vice Then on top of this was the fact that the freight business just now Is unprecedentedly heavy, and while there | is not exactly a car famine, there is a serious scarcity of freight engines. The local yards Of the Louisville and Nashville in North Montgomery pre- sent a spectacle that is unique and, to a railroad man. appalling. Every available piece Of track in the yards ! Is packed with long lines of loaded freight cars which have caused a con gestion In the yards for the reason that there Is no motive power to move them.
 The sidetracks of every local station between here and Calera are in the same condition, every inch of track room is occupied with loaded freight cars which the company is unable to move. Last night this blockade reach ed crisis, and passenger trains were delayed on account of blockade of freight trains.
 Passenger train No. 3. due from the north at 7:45 p. m.. was blocked for some time. Five heavily-loaded freight trains were on the main line of the Louisville and Nashville track between here and the Louisville and Nashville bridge over the Alabama River, four miles north of here. The south bound passenger train was on the other side of these freight trains and had to wait at the river bridge until the tracks were cleared.
 By a slow and tedious process, the heavy freight trains were worked into the union railway station, some of the freight trains being sent through the car shed to be scattered over the Mo- bile and Montgomery division and Att lantic Coast Line tracks in West Mont SOHleTy.
 When Conductor Ed Markell took
 train No South last night, he had
 eleven cars. and an engine from the South and North Division had to be pressed into service, all of the Mobile and Montgomery division motive power
 having been used up with the heavy passenger trains in the morning. Louisville and Nashville officials are worried greatly over the situation, and If there is not a remedy before the Mardi Gras carnival season begins, the situation will become more grave. A railroad official said last night that
 there was a shortage of cars and en- zines throughout the country.
 Every railroad" he said. lis troubled over the problem of handling the enor- nous traffic brought about by the pros- porous conditions of the country. The manufacturers of cars and engines can not fill all of their orders and the rail- roads must handle the traffic the best way their can.