The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-23
Criticism by Experience.
To the Editor Of Tho Journal.

TO the Editor OF Tho journal.
Whatever the outcome of the car Short
age may be, TIL ] ourn a ! is entitled
to the credit and deserves the help and
encouragement of every man, woman and
child in the great northwest.
Having run an engine for the Northern
Pacific on the Dakota division for a
number Of years, and served as yard
master at jamestown for two years, I
was particularly interested in the testi-
mony, and while I expected to see the
officials of the different roads evade the
questions, was not prepared for what
1 did hear.
Mr.. slade of the Great Northern tes-
titled that their engines were never
overloaded, and that the maximum ton
mage was the cheapest and quickest way
to move trains. Then when asked why It
would not be better to reduce the tom
mage by running two medium trains than
one heavy train, he looked very wise and
tried to apply Kepler's laws governing
the planetary system to the movement of
trains, by trying to show that the diff
Guilty Of moving trains Increased as the
square Of their numbers increased, which
any train dispatcher will tell you is not
so. Shortly after this he was asked if
they never deviated from this rule of
maximum tonnage. He replied: ooh.
yes, when congestion got severe or
weather conditions adverse" admitting
in the second reply that his first was an
error
That maximum tonnage was the best
and only way to handle trains was the
gist Of the testimony of the 500,
Northern Pacific and Great North
ern officials. Yet while they were
thus testifying, under oath, trains
were being rushed across the prairies Of
Minnesota and Dakota with reduced ton
mage or increased power, in fiat contra
diction to their sworn testimony that this
was not the best way to relieve the con-
gestion
Every train dispatcher will tell you
that the difficulty in handling trains
lies not So much in the number of trains
as in their inability to calculate just
what time each train can make: If he
can do this he can make meeting points
for trains that will not vary ten minutes,
If he is on to his job The difficulty with
overloaded trains is that no one can tell
within an hour when they will reach a
point ten or fifteen miles distant. The
heavier the train, the more likely to
break in two, pull out drawbars, stall the
engine, or get out of steam. The dis
patcher with this in mind does the best
he cam and you will find in looking over
the train sheets of the Great Northern
Northern Pacific or 500. trains laying
hours and hours at sidetracks where
there are no telegraph offices, waiting
for superior trains or for trains they
have orders to meet.
You will notice passenger trains are
not detained this way. simply because
time is taken into consideration in
their movements Hence they are given
a tonnage they can handle, and the dis
patcher, when he does have to give these
orders to help one against the other,
scarcely ever lays them out over ten or
fifteen minutes. simply because he
knows how fast they can travel over a
given piece of track. will venture this
statement, that by an intelligent hand
ling of trains, and reduction of the
tonnage to point where the engine can
make at least fifteen miles per hour over
each division, these three northwestern
roads can be cleared of congestion in
thirty days. There is no car or engine
shortage. John Burns.