New-York tribune., 1909-09-05
RITSH[NG OUT AND BACK
PROBLEM OF HANDLING
HEAVY TRAFFIC.
Great Croscds LeaUe Tozcn by Au
Roads, and Preparations Are
Making for Their Return.

Tired traffic officials on the various railroads
running out of New York, who got through car
,,p for the rush of people leaving the city over
7 sbor Dav yesterday noon, busy last night
,lanning how they would handle the thousands
Of homecomers tomorrow night and Tuesday.
People leaving the city for the summer usual
IL are distributed throughout period Of weeks
hut experience has shown that nearly every
body tries TO get back home at the same time
after Labor Day. To a great extent this is be-
cause Of the opening of the schools but some
how or other Labor Day has come to be the
accepted limit for vacations.
I'd at the Grand Central Station 4. r. Whaley
who as general superintendent of the electric di-
vision has charge of all the trains running in
and out Of the station has the problem of his
life before him for tomorrow night and Tues
dav This is due TO the upset condition of
things brought about by the reconstruction Of
the new terminal. OF the original seventeen
tracks that used 10 run TO the main concourse OF
the old station only eight remain. True it is
that there twenty-one tracks the main
level Of the Lexington avenue terminal and
ten more on the sub-level. but these tracks are
not adapted TO handling long through trains,
most Of which will have to be accommodated
on the eight tracks remaining in the main sta
ton. Many trains. of course in addition to the
Lexington avenue station.
Friday night the railroads handled most of
the extra traffic Yesterday morning it was
heavy, but afternoon traffic not more than
usual. Every through train to the mountains or
the shore on Friday night went out in sections.
The Adirondack and Montreal express of the
New York Central had five sections. One went
through to Clayton solid another to Lake
Placid the third Racquette Lake, while two
were required TO handle the Montreal and in
termedate business. The sections averaged ten
or eleven cars each.
The New York. New Haven & Hartford had
lis extra coaches and % additional parlor cars
and sleepers in use Friday and yesterday.
The Laczawanna Limited yesterday went out
in three sections. The Pennsylvania and the
Jersey Central railroads reported heavy travel
TO Atlantic City. Asbury Park and other Jersey
resorts. All railroads complained of shortage Of
Pullman and parlor cars.
Boats going to Old Point Comfort and Boston
carried thousands more than they had state
rooms TO accommodate.
But all this rush IS mild compared with the
grand scramble tomorrow night and Tuesday
Up at the Grand Central General Superinten-
dent Whaley has his plans carefully mapped
cut. He expects TO be up all tomorrow night
The greatest rush viii be Tuesday morning
hiitL SoiLAt leIlf lidlilS " III Dc toHB III 4Iol
the Adirondacl,s, from Bar Harbor. the White
Mountains and other summer resorts. With the
temporary arrangement Of many OF the tracks
it IS worse than Chinese puzzle TO get the
trains IL and out.
When it comes to baggage the officials expect
to have less confusion and congestion than in
previous years. This is due largely TO the sys-
TEN developed by the Westcott Express Com
pany and the New York Transfer Company in
the last few years Of having baggage checked
through 10 houses from the point of shipment.
This applies to 50 per cent of the baggage
coming into the Grand Central Special bag
gage trains viii be run from Boston by the New
Haven and from Clayton, the Adirondacks and
Buffalo by the New York Central. Baggage for
various points viii be grouped in the cars. All
Brooklyn trunks, FOR instance, will be together,
and the transfer companies have placed in ser
vice large automobiles which will be able TO
handle larger loads than the old-fashoned horse
wagons They Will be used 10 take the baggage
from the station to central distributing points in
Brooklyn and Harlem and TO other stations.
More than hundred extra men will be en-
poyed in handling baggage in the Grand Cen
tral Station, and the officials sure that the
congestion Of former years will be avoided.
Last year about ten thousand trunks were
handled in the Grand Central Station on the day
after Labor Day. The daily average for the
year is about forty-ffve hundred, while the ordi-
nary day runs less than three thousand.
w. NJ Skinner, general baggage agent OF the
New York Central, has been going the rounds OF
the summer resorts for two weeks instructing
The agents to get trunks checked through to
houses and arranging for the prompt handling
Of baggage.