The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1916-10-20
LOST FREIGHT CARS
Tracing Them Is Often a Hard
Job For the Railroads.
HIDE AWAY LIKE CRIMINALS.

One OF These Runawsys, That Holds
the Truanoy Record, Was Visiting
. Around For Two Years and Had Been
In Nearly All Of Our Big Cities.
At times when the scarcity Of freight
cars causes the railroads 10 place an
embargo upon certain classes OF goods
cars to see that they do not run away
and become wanderers upon the face
OF the earth is a stupendous one for
each company.
/ Before the National Association OF
| Car Accountants was formed and
there was no close trafIlc arrangement
between the various railroad systems
respecting tho control OF freight cars
It was n common thing for some er-
| ratio unit TO travel ten or fifteen thou
| sand miles before It returned to its
starting point. There IL the record Of
one runaway car that was away from
home for nearly two years. and In that
time 1t Travelled a trihe over 10000
miles, visiting nearly all the principal
CltleB Oh Tic DUlueu oIhteb.
In all that time a car tracer from
| the company which owned 1t was on
its track, but 1t eluded him constantly
until 1t was finally run down and sent
back home from remote region In
Texas. When 1t left the home sheds
turned 1t was battered and old-so
travel stained that It's own maker
could hardly recognize It, 1t holds the
prize record for truancy among freight
cars.
Traffic conditions have been greatly
improved since those days. and rail
way companies OBTAINING q car belong
Ing to another company are penalized
by fine. The agreement Is that when
q car Is received from another railroad
1t shall be Immediately unlOaded and
returned to It's owner. But In time OF
a general car famine not all OF the
railroads obey this rule. Because there
IL more profit I'm using the car, even
though a daily fine Is exacted for Its
unlawful detention, some railways
keep 1t for weeks or even months for
its own traffic, returning 1t only after
the congestion has lessened. The
small connecting railroads are often
the greatest offenders In this respect
I'm times such as the present, when
traffic congestion is more than usually
abnormal
When n freight car IL built 1t is CIV
en- number before 1t leaves the shop,
and thereafter 1t IL always known by
that number until Il IL worn out and
scrapped. When a new car receives
Its number and starts out upon its
business career II Is entered In the
record book, and careful account OF
Its wanderings and earning powers Is
kept there. This record book Is his
tory of the car, and by consulting II
one can learn how many trips Ii has
made. what cities 1t has visited, how
many times It has been to the repair
shop and also where 1t is supposed to
be at any given time.
But in spite OF all this care In keep
ing a record OF each car, now and then,
for some unexplained reason, one dis
appears from sight, literally running
away. Some Of the big companies EN-
ploy car tracers, but as rule print
ed tracer Is first sent after the car to
bring 1t back home. This printed trac-
er. In n blue envelope, IL sent to the
person In whose Jurisdiction the car
was last supposed to be, and II 1t has
passed out Of his district the tracer
Is sent on to the next one to whom the
car was consigned. This little printed
tracer falling to bring the car home In
reasonable length OF time n man
known as tracer Is sent after II. The
tracer Is really railroad car detective.
And sometimes II Is more difficult TO
track a runaway freight car than
criminal. There are tens Of thousands
OF miles OF railways and hundreds Of
thousands Of freight cars, and to find
one carrying a certain number Is often
like hunting for the needle In the hay
stack. The tracer may arrive In
city where the runaway is supposed
to be at the very moment when the car
is leaving 1t IN the opposite direction.
1t may cross his track on parallel
line or dodge around him on short
line. II may be headed south while he
is travelling north or rolling merrily
toward the Pacific while he Is going to-
ward the Atlantic.
A runaway car apparently Is as de-
praved as any criminal. IL hides on a
lonely siding or gets lost In short
swamp line. One such runaway rest.
ed nearly year on a siding In south
ern Texas simply because II got lost,
and no one seemed to know just what
to do with II. In the course Of time II
was occupied by family Of squatters.
who lived quite comfortably In II for
pix months and were routed out only
when, quite by accident, the car tracer
discovered it-popular Mechanics