The San Francisco call., 1908-10-11
Gossip Of RaiIwaymen

"Ah,' said the young railroadman in
the employ of the Gould lines, 1T will
be mighty good thing for railroad
men in the west when the Western
Pacific runs it's trains to San Fran
cisco. They will then learn what it is
to be punctuai. Here I am nine hours
late coming from Salt Lake City. That
is an awful state of affairs. Imaginei
Nine hours late"
Dreadful" chimed in that eminent
railroadman, Colonel George J. Brad
ley. It's really too bad. One can
never depend on that train
Never mind, colonel; wait till Gould
gets in here and we'll show them how
to run trains" chirruped the young
man.
Hello, Fred; when did you come
back to the city?' said the colonel, as
another eminent railroadman entered
the rooms of the Transportation club.
Il would have been back yesterday
If it were not that the Southern Pa
cific had to wait II hours for the Gould
connection. Why on earth the Gould
while beats me-"
Gentlemen" said the Gould man,
'what'l you have to drink? Bless my
soul, that waiter is as slow as the
trains we have been discussing"
reports received by the officials of
the passenger department of the South
ern Pacific regarding the colonist
movement are exceedingly fiattering
The returns show that the bulk of the
immigration into the state is to the
Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys
while a large percentage of the new
comers are settling within almost hail
ing distance of thee city. During the
week just ended 500 people went to San
a. yryhf 70
taken up their residence at Hayward
Pleasanton and Niles. Gait, Turlock,
Hanford, Merced and Stockton have
received also large accessions to- their
populations. The tide of immigration
is steadily growing stronger, and last
Friday 304 colonists passed through
Ogden. The total number of colonfsts
that have used this gateway from Sep
tember l is 1000. FL Paso comes sec
ond with 1900, and with the exception
of 1S2 all comers went to points north
of Los Angeles.
Notwithstanding the decreased move
ment of dried and canned fruit, beans,
wine, hops and lumber to the east, as
against similar periods of last year,
the shortage of cars generally on the
Southern Pacific lines is becoming
apparent. Instructions have been is
sued to division superintendent to per-
nit the use of other Hartman lines
equipment, where suitable foreign cars
are not available, thus in a measure re-
lieving the situation. However. the
Shasta route reports the shortage of
about 800 cars to date. Carssare dis.
tributed fairly well over all other por-
tions of the Southern Pacific lines, al
though they are not, at present, in such
available quantities as shippers desire.
The movement in the commodities above
mentioned is being steadily maintained.
although moving more slowly than at
the same time last year, which makes
conditions much better from a railroad
standpoint than for several years past.
The Hartman lines have given an
order to the Pullman company to build
20 steel passenger cars and 80 other
passenger equipment cars of various
kinds. This is believed to be the lar
gest order of the kind that has been
placed, with the exception of the one
by the Pennsylvania last year. As
little wood as possible will be used in
building these cars and they will be
made practically indestructible. Tests
made in the Pullman shops under speci-