Semi-weekly herald., 1914-01-05

ten per cent. over this amount Is al
lowed for each locomotive. II more
than this maximum is used the fire-
man or engineer or both are tir~
unless good reasons, such as delays
and accidents, can be given. For any
thing less than the average used on
each trip the engineer and fireman
get credit. If they save more than
ten per cent Of the standard amount.
they receive fifty per cent of the cost
of the fuel saved. In the course Of
several hundred trips made in year
these rewards sometimes amount to
considerable for the men. They ap-
preciate it, and work accordingly
An engineer who is careless in
starting and stopping may easily
break the air hose in time, and the
cost of that equals hauling ton of
freight two hundred and twenty-five
miles. A broken drawbar kunckle
equals hauling one ton of freight
three hundred miles, and fireman's
lost shovel means hauling ton nine
ty miles to pay for it.
The economy bug is carried into
every department of the road, and
track walkers, switchmen, yardmast-
ers, and shop workers are brought
under the new system. Trackmen and
switchmen are warned that lanterns
must be handled with great care. A
white lantern globe equals in cost the
hauling of ton of freight twenty
miles a red lantern globe, seventy
five miles; and complete lantern,
one hundred miles. Even a pound of
waste for wiping engines and switch
locks is worth ten and half miles
of freight haulage.
The yardmaster and yardmen are
responsible for lot of losses that
were formerly overlooked. The cost
of freight car belonging to another
railroad is from thirty to thirty-five
cents day when held unduly. Rail-
road economy as well as railroad eff
ficiency demands that all cars shall
be despatched to their destination as
quickly as possible, unloaded, and re-
turned to their owners. The system
of handling these foreign cars differs
on the various roads. Some appar-
emily have no system, or at best a
very clumsy and involved one.
Years ago, through lack of system,
many freight cars had the disagree
able habit Of disappearing for long
periods, and the different roads had
to employ car tracers to hunt them
up. Sore roads, either Intentionally
or through lack of system, retained
borrowed cara indefinitely and then
sent them bask home by the longest
route.
There were car runaways or wand
erers in those days which travelled
several thousand miles before they
finally reached home again. One
such freight car, known as No. 6,1S4,
left its home February 22, 1898, and
wandered almost continuously until
March 8, 1895, when it at last rolled
into its own home shed. Car tracers
had chased it over good part of the
United States and more than once il
had been started homeward; but it
managed to get away again, and dur
ing its wanderings it visited nearly
all the principal cities of the country
1t was estimated by the owners that
it had travelled over twenty thousand
miles, and had carried all sorts of
merchandise and provisions-wheat
from the prairies of the northwest,
corn from the fields of the Mississip-
pi valley, melons and oranges from
the south. Oregon and Washington
apples from the far northwest, man
ufactured articles from New England
mills, and mineral products from the
mines of half dozen states.
In those days the railroads charged
one another six-tenths of cent a
mile of distance Travelled as rental
for common freight cars, and three
quarters of a cent for refrigerator
cars. This charge was really so
small that railroads equipped with an
insufficiency of cars found it more
profitable to retain foreign cars than
to buy new ones for themselves.
This old system has been abolished
for some time now, and cars must be
returned as soon as unloaded. But
the foreign car question is still a
fruitful source Of loss to the railroads
if they are not handled properly and
efficiently. Costing the road thirty
to thirty-five cents day, it means
money to the company to unlosd and
send them back quickly.