Bisbee daily review., 1907-10-17
BUSINESS IS THE HEAVIEST
 KNOWN
Southwestern Roads Already Doing Record Breaking Work, Prepare tor Still More in the Near Future
Albuquerque JournaI.)


 Western and southwestern roads are already caring for the heaviest vol ume of business in freight .traffic which they have ever known. The movement though extremely heavy at the present time will be greatly ac- celerated by the end of the present mouth fiicfl is usually known among freight departments as the heaviest time of the year. It is at this time of the year that the movement of grain and livestock Is the heaviest. Large shipments of coal are also made at this season of the year which is an- other large item in the movement of freight traffic.
 As a result of the extreme amount of business which is being done now the question which is worrying the officials of the railroads at the pres ent time is whether the equipment of the roads will be large enough to avoid the lamentable congestion of a year ago. The movement, of freight this season will be approximately foTty-One per cent greater than the movement of a year ago and although many of the railroads have added a great amount of. equipment during the past season there is still a great deal Of fear and anxiety among the officials. In fact there Is already a great deal of congestion in the yards of the diff ferent roads converging in Kansas City and St Louis. According to the present outlook these conditions will become general over the entire west.
 What most of the railroads in the west seem to lack most at present is sufficient motive power. All roads are making an effort to get the mo- tive power up to the maximum. The roads which have placed orders dur ing the last year for the delivery of locomotives are now pressing the man. ufaCturers for their delivery as soon as possible The Kansas City South eTn has made arrangements for the delivery of thirty new engines within the next two or three weeks. The Frisco has ordered one hundred. The Santa Fe has been receiving deliveries from the Baldwin works almost daily for the last few weeks and have placed orders for fifteen additional oil burn CTS which are expected for delivery Tn time to alleviate the present condi- tiOns.
 In addition to the large orders for new motive power all the railroads have busted themselves during the past season in getting their cars and rolling stock in condition to prevent repetition of the car shortages of last season. Practically every one of the great western systems have or dered new rolling stock. a large part of which has already been delivered and is now in service. In all, the larger systems of the west have dur ing the past season ordered 37,500 new cars and about five hundred locOmO- tiyes. With most of this already in service it would appear that there would be little chance of car short age this season. but it looks rather doubtful when it is known that the movement of traffic this season will be fSrtNope per cent greater this year than a year ago. One encouraging feature of the new orders for rolling stock which have been delivered are now in commis- sion is the fact that the cars are for the most part of larger capacity than the old cars which the roads have pre- viously used. It is estimated that the rolling stock of the western roads has been increased twenty per cent during the past season and when the prOpor- tionate dimensions of the cars are taken into consideration it means about thirty-five per cent increase in the capacity.
 Another improvement that has been made during the past season has been the improvement of the tracks of the different roads. Tracks that were previously too light to withstand the oF tho Eau have been rebuilt with heavier steel. Ter minal facilities have been increased and many more miles of sidetracks are reported than was the case year ago. Last season the roads were hampered by the lack of means of getting their own cars into /service. During the summer the roads have succeeded in getting their VII cars back into ser vice on their own lines and this will help a great deal in moving the fall traffic. ..-. ...
 The main question at the present time does not seem, to be so much of whether there will be a car short age or not as 10 whether there will be enough motive power. The motive power question seems to be one equally as hard of solution as was the car problem of year ago. However. 1t $ safe to say that the roads are in better shape to handle the immense volume of transportation than they were a year ago and in the face of the conditions of larger movement than ever the roads are to be con graduated at the present time on their successful efforts in doing what they have.