The San Francisco call., 1907-02-05
Gossip of the Doings
of Railroad Men
BROOKLYN EAGLE.

III. C. Bush, traffic manager of the
Colorado Midland, sailed away to the
South Sea islands yesterday. "I tell
you what the trouble is" he observed
as he was stepping aboard the Mari
posa. 1T is not a shortage of cars, but
| the shortage of motive power that is
responsible for transportation condi-
tions. Every railroad has its orders
in for locomotives and the shops can
not build them fast enough. The shops
simply cannot fill their orders. Do you
for moment think that we don't want
to keep freight moving? Why, that is
the dream, the ambition, of every traf-
fic man in the country.
We'll, thank goodness, I am going
to a land where they are not worried
about the freight movement"
Jerome Madden, who was for many
years the land agent of the Southern
Pacific, is in receipt of a bill which he
thinks is worthy of being embalnied in
"Curiosities of English Literature" 1t
reads thus.
For upholstering Sofa, s."
For putting one hind leg on So
fia, s.
After studying the bill Madden dis
covered that sofa had been sent from
his residence to Norwegian gentle
man for repairs.
Jay Adams of the Nickel Plate. who
has been on a tour through the north
west, regards San Francisco with all
it's slush and mud preferable to the
northern cities. II have been going
north for great many years" he re-
marked yesterday, but I have never
seen it SO cold in Portland and in Sc
attic. 1t was six degrees above zero
in both those cities and the plumbers
rna mir ri oh n In
broken pipes"
w. J. Shotwell. one of the directors
of the Western Pacific, in speaking Of
the work on the road, said yesterday:
The weather has not retarded the
work of construction in the least
though it has been made more difficult
We are constantly increasing our force
and we have now about 5000 men at
work. The greatest proportion is in
California. The work on the tunnels is
going along favorably. We hear good
reports from the engineer. in charge of
the work at the Flower Lake tunnel
road"
Virgil G. Bogue chief engineer of
the Western Pacific has gone on a trip
of inspection over the line in Utah.
H. w. Adams, comm erclal agent of
the Rock Island Frisco lines. left last
night for trip through the northwest.
James Horsburgh Jr., general pas
senger agent of the Southern Pacific,
spent last Sunday at<Paso Robles.
An interesting question is agitating
the minds of switchmen, switch en-
gineers and, in fact, all yardmen in
ha co nt in, Los II
is this:
Can an engine of its own volition
start off on journey after IL has been
left standing?"
The yardmen say that locomotive
can do so. while the bosses say it is
impossible and are endeavoring to find
out who is to blame for an engine
getting loose, running down the track
and tumbling head-on into turntable
pit and blocking the line for five
hours. The crew say that the engine
was motionless when they left for
dinner, and they have many witnesses
to prove there was no one near the
locomotive when it started on its dis
astrous trip.
Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, president
of the Canadian Pacific which is an
ultra English corporation, is loyal to
the land of his birth and has named
his car, which has just been built for
him, killarney. The car is "A feet long
over the frame and "a feet u inch over
the buffers. The woodwork inside is
ivory white and is most elaborately
finished 1t is said to be one of the
most costly and beautiful private cars
in North America.
Owing to the fact that most Of the
products of Northern California. such
as canned goods and dried fruits. are
we'll out of the way, the car situation
is in fairly good shape and for the first
time in many months the Southern Pa
cifie Is returning foreign cars promptly.
This is due in a great measure" ex-
planned railroad man, ito the mer-
chant who has at last come to realize
that the speedy unloading of car in
ures to his benefit The merchants now
get out their stuff quickly and that
enables the railroad to send the car
back Our head offices back East are
urgent in their requests for informa-
tion as to how many cars will be need
ed for California business during the
coming year. All the foreign agents
have made about the same answer, to
the effect that building has hardly
commenced in San Francisco. and that
when the big structures are started it
will tax the entire equipment of our
lines to handle the heavy steel that
will be sent here. All the railroads In
the East are making their calculations
on California business and 1t Is the
general desire on the part of Eastern