Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-11-20

from 6 to 25 tons only, it is plain
that the roads are well laid.
The greater majority Of freight cars
called goods Wagons here are of six
and eight tons capacity, have only
four wheels, are open, in fact flats
with sides three to four feet high, and
when loaded with anything liable to
be damaged by rain, covered with
large tarpaulin- There are in service
S9s locomotives, 966 passenger cars
and 1866 Wagons and brake-vans
(cabooses). The majority of locomo-
tives are of British make and style,
with drivers from S6A to 81 in. in di-
ameter. All mail or through passen-
ger trains, however, are hauled by
American locomotives.
What! Graft7
| A few years ago a large or
der for locomotives waz given
to an American firm and it is said
one or more men of thu way-up-top
officials here got a very handsome rake
lon. / asked several of the engineers
on them how they were and they said
all right noticed they were al
young men on them and found out
later that no one but New Zealand
born man could do anything with
them. Invariably when an Old engi-
neer from home was given one of those
blooming yankee engines they were
continually going wrong and were In
the shop more than on the road.
very shortly discovered it was injudi
eious for a yankee firm to send any
sort of labor siding machinery to this
country unless accompanied by a
man to operate it. AS sure as it is
given II charge Of an old man or one
from home, it is hooded and sooner
or later discarded altogether.
Those Side Entrances.
The standard passenger coach is A
feet long. A regular passenger train
will be made up of cars arranged to
suit the notions of the travellers
Some will be arranged with compart-
ments seating two, four and six for
those who axe too good to come
in contact with ordinary people
while others have an entrance from
the side in the center Of the car One
end of the car Will have two seats on
one side and one row on the other,
consequently the aisle will be to one
side of the center. The other end OF
sucn a car viii be arranged so the
aisle comes on the opposite side OF
center. The first class seats are all
nnvorad NTH dorIr o-raay yaa+bor c.
cond class cars have seats running the
full length and you sit with your back
to the windows, The entrance is by
door at either end. Seats have
leather cushions and rack extends the
full length overhead to hold small lug
gage. There is room on the floor un-
| der the seat to stow good size grip
There is system of checking bag
gage, but for small luggage you simply
deliver 1t to the baggageman and it
Is put in a car on rear of train, called
| the guards van. At your journeys
end you simply go and claim it. The
conductor is called a, guard. At the
ordinary stations when a train is about
to start, the station master comes out
in 4 longtailed coat covered with gold
lace, waves his arm, rings a small bell
attached to station, the guard blows a
blast on dog whistle he carries, the
engineer gives toot and we are off
to the next station. The engineer
would probably ring the bell ON the
engine if there was one, but they
don't have any here, giving all signals
with the whistle.
Higher Fares Than Here.
The longest run of a passenger train
is 254 miles, requiring IL hours and
! 10 minutes, and the fare is, first
class, 1922; second-class, 1854.
First-class fares vary, depending on
the distance, from 2.43 cents to 322
cents per mile. Second-class ranges
from 1876 to cents per mile The
time made ranges from is, to one run
over fat level plain of 25 miles per
| hoNr. Two main lines on the south
island have two passenger trains per
| day each way, but most of the lines
have only one. whilo many roads
have only mixed trains that do not av-
erage over 10 miles. About every two
hours a stop is made fer Is TO 20 min
utes and everybody gets a cup of tea
for cents; sandwiches, ham or beef,
full slices of bread, IL cents; d-tto.
cut in half, pence. In the second
class smoking cars there is always
good deal of beer drinking To
make the journey from this city to the
capital, wellington, 397 miles, in the
shortest time, requires q day and a
half and one night on boat. The
charge is S14.2c, which includes s7.75
for the 1876 miles on the boat The
all-water route via the east coast can
be made weekly 10y large steamers
for SIS. The distance is 564 miles
and time required about four days
varies from three and one-half to five
days. depending on time spent at
ports o. call discharging and taking
on cargo. To get to the south island
from Wellington requires a steamer
trip of 175 miles, costing IS and TAX
ing all night. 1t is 56s miles from
the capital to Bluff, the southern
most town on the south island, and
costs S15.05 to make the journey, not
including staying one night at
Dunedin. They don't run any night