New Britain herald., 1915-09-22
AGREED
 ID MEND ITS WAYS
Senator Klett Produces Letters at
 Hearing in Hartford

New Britain's representatives put up the strongest kind of objection yesterday at the hearing before the public utilities commission against the petition of the New Haven road to continue the operation of locomo- lives backwards upon various lines, chiefly branch roads. The local at tack was centered against the peti- tion to continue such operation be- tween Bristol and Hartford on the
 sc-called "dinky'' trains. Senator G.
 w. Klett, led the attack and put up a good case. He was ably seconded
 by Corporation Counsel J. E. Cooper, Councilman G. M. Landers, chair man of the railroad committee of the council, Mayer G. A. Quigley and Mayor James Cray of Bristol.
 C. l.. Bardo, general manager of me railroad company, spoke for peti- toners and bore the brunt of the de- 1ense when New Britain's represen- tatlVe attacked the proposition. Man ager Bardo admitted that expense was what the company is fighting against m opposing the new statute.
 lie said it would cost $12,O00 to in- stall a turntable at Bristol and $9,- OoO at New Britain. This would ln- clude the cost of property in Bristol. Another thing would be loss of time in maintaining schedules and he de- clared that it would consume an hour in detaching a locomotive from a passenger train, switching to turn-table, revolving and returning. When this statement was questioned, MT. Bardo >stoutly maintained his contention, claiming that many condi- tions would intervene to delay matters in performing such an operation.
 Corporation Counsel Cooper brought out that nearly half of the twenty-six gradc crossing between Bristol and Hartford are included in the corporate limits of New Britain. Manager Bardo testified at length concerning the safety of train opera on and declared that trains could be operated 45 miles an hour run ming backwards. Reduction to 20 miles an hour made after the Clay ton wreck but he would not admit that the Clayton wreck had been caused by this mode of operation, saying that the exact cause had never been determined He told of meth ods on different roads to prevent water shifting !n the tender tanks at curves, which is thought to have been re- sponsible for overturning the "dink'' at Clayton. This is done by the use of plates which 6issect the tanks ver- tlcally, hor zon.a1ly and diagonally. He thought the shorter wheel base of the tender might have caused the wreck in question. 1 ..
 MT. Bardo also spoke of the heavy cost of train operation and placed the figures at s2.04 per train mile about $1.30 a mile, which would show lose in operation of TO cents mile.
 In closing his argument against the petition, Judge Klett sprung some thing of a sensation in the form of letters from Seiator Whiton, chair man of the railroad committee. n relation to the matter. MT. Klett first called attention to the legislative action taken last winter. He said 1t was not the aim of the railroad com- mittee to force hardship upon the railroad and for that reason the ori- ginal bill, which was rather drastic, was amended to give the utilities commission final power in the matter. This action was taken after confer ences with railroad officials, one >f which took place at the Hartford club, when General Manager Bardo was present. The understanding was that the railroad company would not oppose the change desired between Bristol and Hartford. Senator Whiton confirmed this agreement in his 1et- ters to MT. Klett, which the latter read for the benefit of the commis-