The San Francisco call., 1907-03-01
Gossip Of the Doings
of Railroad Men

! The actual promoter of the Monterey,
Fresno and Eastern Is now supposed
to be the Santa Fe, though the officials
OF that company will not admit that
they have anything to do with the pro-
/ jected road.
The Monterey Fresno which was at
one time regarded with something
akin to skepticism, is now being
| looked upon as an actuality and the
| fact that 1t has secured the promise
of right of way down H street to
Merced street in Fresno looks like
business. This means that the new
line will parallel the Southern Pacific
! in Fresno.
| The promoters of the road told the
Fresno people that the line would
eventually connect with an Eastern
road and that 1t would be the means
OF making Fresno terminal point,
which has been long the ardent de-
| sire of it's merchants. Some of the.
merchants opposed the granting of the
| franchise and warned them how they
had been treated by the Pollasky road,
which after all turned out to be a
Southern Pacific property.
1t is known that Mayor Lyon is In
favor Of giving the franchise to the
new line and there yet promises to be
an interesting fight before the fran
chise is given The Monterey-Fresno
line intends to cross the Southern Pa
cifc at Merced and then run to Fresno,
between the Southern Pacific and the
Santa Fe, which In some places are not
more than two miles apart. The line
is now endeavoring to get a franchise
out of the town OF Hollister and will
cross the mountains by the Pacimes
Pass 1t will follow the San Benito
River to Salinas and from that point
will have an easy road to Monterey.
The Ocean Shore people are also
l q fro frnr = fHA
city of Fresno and want to enter the
town by G street Their officials say
they will not ask any favor IL IL ham
pers the Monterey-Fresno line. which
is really charming manners when
compared with the manners of other
lines when seeking franchises.
There will be over 1000 miles of
electric lines built in Northern Cali
fornia this year." said a railroad man
yesterday II am informed that poles
for that number of miles have been
ordered and also other material, and
in consequence the price of poles and
railroad ties are all in the air. The
lines that have already been built are
being extended and there are several
new lines talked about. The Hotaling
road will be one of the most important.
1t will start at Tiburon and go right
into Lake County, and work on active
construction is to begin at once"
One of the principal subjects to be
discussed at the meeting of the Trans
continental Freight Bureau which will
hold a session in Chicago next week
will be the tendency on the part of the
contractors of San Francisco to force
+ lower freight rates, say railroad men.
For instance, man who brings out
costly granite thinks he should have
no nfraN or I'M
porting rough stone, and the man i'm
porting enamel bricks wants the same
rate as is given to the handler of COM
mon brick, and the dealer in holdings
and fancy woods is inclined to feel ag-
grieved if his stuff is given an excess
rate above that charged for common
lumber, and so on down the line.
1T really requires a great knowledge
of human nature" observed railroad
man, "as well of individual indus
tries. in order to know when change
in freight rates would be beneficial"
Some of the new locomotives which
have been built for the Hartman sys-
TEN are not adapted for corpulent en-
gineers and this discovery was made
lately by train being delayed for over
half an hour by a stout engineer
trying to squeeze himself into the cab
of a new locomotive, the space be-
small that the engineer, who was OF
generous proportions. could not get
either at the reverse lever or at the
throttle. He finally had to give up
the job of trying to run the new en-
gine and a sparer man had to take his
place. 1t is understood that the gen
tlemen of Mr.. Kruttschnitt's literary
bureau in Chicago are preparing a set
of rules for stout engineers for the re-
ductiOn of superfiuOus flesh
F. w. Prince of the passenger de-
partment of the Santa Fe will deliver
his well-known lecture on the Grand
Canyon of the Colorado at the Young
Mems Christian Association Hall in
Berkeley next Monday evening, and
win also lecture in San Jose on the
same subject on March IL at the Nor
NAL School,
The passenger department. of the
Southern Pacific has put in effect a one-
way rate from Sacramento to all
points in the Sacramento Valley for the
benefit of homeseekers. This is in ac-
cordance with the principle to give an
opportunity to the colonists who will
visit the State during the next two
months to see the valley.
F. w Thompson of the Rock Island
Frisco lines, p. K Gordon of the Wash
ington Sunset. w. II. Davenport of the
Colorado Midland and j. w McClv-
monds of the Armour car lines, with
eighteen of their friends, left for
Goldfeld in a private car last night.
J. F. Dunno, superintendent of motive
power for the Oregon Short Line.
passed through town yesterday on his
way to Salt Lake.
O. p McGinnis. representing the
Starr Union line at Coshocton. o., is
in the city and will make a tour