News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1913-09-10


Perishable freight is the bane Of tn,
railroad mans existence He some
times loses more sleep over 1t thai
he does over passengers. 1t involves
problems not met with in most kinds
of freight 1t must be delivered in thu
quickest tine possible, and in this
connection the railroad, like the ship
pers and the commission men, mus
always reckon on the market day. The
loss OF one market day on perishablt
freight like Strawberries often means
the loss of the entire shipment. The
failure of a railroads freight schedule
to insure delivery of this kind OF
freight for Il certain market day may
mean the loss to that railroad of this
entire business to the commission men
and marketmen it means so much less
| business to get returns from. On the
p, other hand, the ability of the time
table experts and the traffic men to
knock off half an hour even on the run
ming time of a freight train may mean
to the road thousands Of dollars of new
business and for the commission men
may open up a brand new line of
trade. For years men have worked
over these freight train schedules try
ing to Top off precious minutes of time
in the yards, in the stops en- route and
in the delivery. Always their aim has
been in the case Of New England to
get table luXuries, such as early
strawberries, melons and peaches, into
Boston by the second market day.
There is no more perishable produce
than strawberries, and next to them
comes fish. The New England rail
roads must bring the first into New
England and carry the second out. In
the case of berries it is absolutely es-
Sential that they be consumed within
seventy-two hours from the time they
are picked for them to command a
price that will make the business
worth while. When one considers that
these early berries are picked in Vir-
ginia and points farther south the
problem confronting the New England
railroads in getting them on the New
Englander's table within this limit of
seventy-twO hours is thus seen to be a
big one. If a carload of strawberries
consigned to a New England produce
merchant misses a market day at the
South Boston yard it means usually a
depreciation of at least cents on
every box; on melons it means prob
ably a cent apiece. That may not
seem much, but in the aggregate it is
enough frequently to wipe out the
profit on an entire shipment
In order to make a market day with
this kind of freight, the railroad must
get it into Boston, say, between the
hours of 2 a. m. and 6 a. m. The
market day begins promptly at 6 a. m.
That is the hour when the big bell
rings out in the perishable freight
yard and there begins a scene of ac-
tiVity among the marketmen. When
this bell rings the cars must be ready
to open so that their contents can be
inspected and sampled and the fruit |
or vegetables sold right as they stand |
in the car. Ten minutes after this |
bell rings the contents of the train
may be on the way to the market !
This hour Of 6 a. M. then, is the
goal upon which the eve of the operat-
ng man and the traffic man in the
'ailroad organization is fixed. 1t is
he hour they must make, not one
lay, but every day, or lose the bust
less. Down in Virginia, through Mary
and and Delaware a freight train
oaded with the luscious early berries
If southern plantations, the first to
eel the vitaliZing effect of the spring
sunshine, may be rushing through the
light toward this goal with the speed
If passenger train. The engineer
las this goal in mind, the yardmen !
llong the route have it in mind, and
Up in the railroad Offices the operat-
ng men have it in mind too. Like the
nan with the ball in the football game,
hese men are all working to put the
rain with its produce over the goal
inc before the big bell in the Boston
7ard rings out as a signal for the
market men that another market day
las begun.
New England has not always enjoy
ID the privilege of having strawberries
n February or even melons in Nav.
was not many years ago that the
lverage householder had to rely chiefly
m his local fruits and vegetables He
waited until July for his strawberries.
lis melons and peaches he got later.
vegetables out of season were rare.
This was when New England, by the
hen means of transportation. was
many market days away from the
outh. These were the days of inten-
i've railroads, as Mr. Brandeis would
call them, short railroads
with one another, but op-
rated separately and involving many
ransfer points. When freight has to
70 over several railroads operated on
he intensive principle 1t is bound to
infer delays Between Boston and
Iew York there were the New Haven.
he old Stonington road and the Bos.