The Goodland republic., 1907-01-11
RUNAWAY CARS
(By George E Walsh in Assoc
Sunday Ma uazfuae

!
/ (By George E walsh in Associated
Sunday Magazines-)
Down In Florida there is a modest
I little home tucked away among the
orange blossoms and the sweet scent
/ ed 5asmines which has travelled up
ward OF ten thousand miles. That IS
I the record for any house, as far as
any available statistics show, and the
modest little home looks ike vet
/ eran wandered It IS dilapidated,
! patched In many places and almost
/ ready for the WOOdpile but it was orr
/ ginaIly built OF stout oak and boIted
and braced from top to bottom At
/ the first glance one could hardly fail
/ to guess its origin
/ Before It was turned into a habita-
I ton for man it was a freight car do
/ ing servie on a northern railroad It
/ was one OF those erratic wanderers
which occasionally got lost and spend
l their lives travelling somewhat aim
/ lessly across the continent, getting side
/ tracked here and there, and then run
ming for hundreds OF miles IN good
/ respectable company. This car did
| yOeman service in carrying freight
I up north. travelling many thousands OF
/ miles loaded and light; but one day a
freak OF fortune sent It west and Il
| got lost It was hunted up by a tracer,
/ and started home again; but z rail-
road accident brought about a change
| in its direction It was side tracked,
and then loaded with merchandise for
the south
It reached one Of the small Florida
roads and was used in shipping fruits
and vegetables A grocer once more
got track OF IL, and started it home
ward the second time By this time II
was pretty wen worn and in need Of
repairs By some strange streak Of
luck It was side tracked once more,
and then a freight train ran into It
and knocked II on the rails. There
was some talk OF putting IL back on
the rails, but as two wheels and the
forward truck were broken Il was f1n-
ally abandoned. In time the switch
ing station at this point was aban-
dOned, and the old rails taken up.
This left the car several miles from
any railroad, and an early settler took
possession Of It and converted il
into q home. 1t is today surrounded
by orange rees, and peeps out Of the
clusters Of vines in the most fertile
part Of Florida
Strange Wanderings.
Such a runaway cars rare is excep-
tiOnal, but the old railroad men will
tell Of some strange things which hap
pen to these wanderers. Runaway
freight cars are not so common to-
day as they we're ten Of fifteen years
ago. The freight department Of a rail-
road watches the rolling stock with
more Jealous care and a system Of
charges made against offending roads
which keep freight cars belonging to
other lines has stopped the old traf-
nc. A good many small roads for
merly would appropriate freight cars
belonging to another company and use
them for special purposes during the
rush season OF freight traffic, and then
finally start them hOmeward again.
This lax system Of handling other
peoples property eventually resulted
in the creation Of the Office Of car
tracer. The car tracer in the old days
had to keep pretty busy travelling. He
would drop OF at any unexpected
moment at a small station and pick
up a lost car and start it homeward.
Sometimes the car tracer would travel
| five or six thousand miles after a per-
| sistent wanderer, following It across
/ the continent, and then down to the
Gulf ports, and probably back to the
northwest. The abuse Of borrowed
| car privileges became so great in time
| that it was taken up as the most i'm
| pOrtant question OF railroading. The
chief offenders were the small roads
| which did not own sufficient cars for
/ their traffic What was more convent
| ent then than to hold for a season a
| freight car Of a trunk line which had
/ been shipping goods to some point
/ on its route?
/ The old custom was to depend upon
| the honor OF the road receiving a car
! f0 - a. rrwT1.zoz
/ was understood in railroad circles that
an empty should be started home
ward at the very first opportunity that
/ freight traffic permitted. This sys-
| TEN made IL necessary for every rail-
| road to use borrowed cars extensively.
/ The chances were that a car could
/ thus travel thousands Of miles before
| ever seeing its home again. There are
/ many records OF freight cars which
l left the shops bright with new paint
| and started on their maiden journeys
| to be gone for several years When
i the wanderers returned they would be
/ battered and marked SO that no one
| could Judge the age.
The average life Of a freight car is
| fifteen years, and il several years Of
i its youth is occupied in making money
| for some other company it does not
! prove a very profitable investment
/ The average cost Of a freight car IS
six hundred dollars, and its deprecia-
/ ton in two or three years is sufficient
1 to cause the owners q considerable e
| loss. In some cases the lost cars be-
/ come tramps through strange freaks
/ OF luck and not because any railroad
/ OfTicer wished to purlOin them Acct
I dents sometimes get matters badly
l tangled up, but more often the ignor-
/ ance or carslessness OF some clerk or
station agent IS responsible for the
/ trouble. A confusion due to the use
OF the same names In different states Is
another factor that counts. 1t does
not require a great amount Of stupidi-
/ ty for a. clsrk to send q car to Rome,
/ Georgia, instead OF to Rome, New
York, or TO bill one Intended for Phil
l adelphia. New York, through to Phil
/ adelphia, In Pennsylvania These are
| scores OF cities Of the same name in
various states, and a car once started
I for the wrong city is pretty sure to 90
/ to the end before Il Is stopped Then