Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-02-11
RAILROADS
NEW READING YARDS
READY FOR TRAFFIC
St. Clair Improvement Will Be In
spected by Local Officials
and Others

Weather permitting, -Superintend-
ent r. j. Stackhouse, of the Philadel-
phia and Reading Railway, with other
officials, will visit the new classifica-
ton yards at St. Clair during the next
ten days.. These yards, said to be the
largest gravity yards in the world,
are practically ready for business, but
the date for the formal opening win
be announced later.
The yards, 1t IL believed, will bring
about a large increase of business at
Rutherford and other points. An
thracite coal trains will be run
through to Harrisburg and from Ruth
erford south and west, as solid trains,
permitting ONE trains to be handled
each day. The yards have been in pro-
gress of building for nearly five years
and the total cost of this big improve
ment is estimated at $2,000,0O0.
The yards lie along the foothills of
Broad Mountain in Mill Creek Valley,
between St. Clair and Port Carbon, and
will be known as the st. Clair yards
and will be operated almost entirely
| by gravity. They tap about three
hfths of the entire anthracite area of
Pennsylvania. The Reading system
carries the bulk of the coal mined be-
tween the Schuylkill and the Susque-
|
| Haven and Shamokin. This amounts
| to about 100000 tons a month.
| The cars are daily assembled and
classified for destination to the
branches Of the Reading road. Trains
go through without breaking and cars
are dropped in their exact order at
unloading points on the route. Move
ment at the yards is about 1000 emp
| ties and 1000 loaded cars day.
The yards are divided into the north
and southbound divisions, with twelve
tracks for each and minor trackage
to the ash section. coal pits, engine
house, coal dock and other places.
There are four extra tracks for the
storage of locomotives. Damaged cars
are assembled into special trains and
sent to the repair shops.
:, Annual Meeting of Pennsy Agents.
The annual meeting and banquet of
the freight and passenger agents Of
the Philadelphia division of the Penn
sylvania Railroad, will be held at
Hotel Wheatland, Lancaster, Satur-
day, February 81, starting at p. IN.
The president, Nelson Hoffman, and
secretary, John Good, both of Harris
burg, will each have something of
interest TO report.
Anthracite Business.-Last months
shipments of anthracite, which
amounted to 5,175,732 tons, were L.
160,6S7 tons less than the shipments
of January, 1918. They are the small
est in over a decade. Mild weather
was the cause of the falling Off.
New Wireless Record.-By the in
stalling of a new sending and receiV-
ing apparatus, the Lackawanna Rail
road yesterday succeeded in breaking
all previous records for distance in
wireless train communication. Here
tefore, the radius of operation was
only thirty miles, but by the new ap-
paratuS it has been increased to q
Operator Dies.-Amos J. Plummer,
! aged So, of 1407 Regina street, tele-
graph operator for the Pennsylvania
Railroad, died this morning shortly
after o'clock at the Harrisburg hos
pital. Funeral services will be held
Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock at his
late residence. .t.-