Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-01-13
How Hard Times Taught
Railroads to Save Money

THE business depression Of 1918 1914 and the early
i part of 1915. while Il caused a number Of rail-
road receiverships, at least resulted in some re-
turns for the railroads generally. Railroad men adj
init that this depression taught the railroads how to
save In expenses other period OF depression
did. James j. Hill had demonstrated the trite
principle that railroads could money II they In
creased the load carried by each train between any
two or more points Experimentation in train load
ing taken up all over the continent In the fiscal
year that ended June 3d. 1915 earnings Of railroads
the United states Sl63 900 600 less than in 1911
The reports showed however that the operating eN-
penses were cut by S1sOOoOOo that the books sc-
tually showed an increase in net returns. According
10 the Railway Age Gazette, little over half of this
saving was in transportation expenses, which were
reduced 9 mile cut in that class Of ex-
penses represented the real test OF efficiency and
represented a real saving The Gazette presents the
results OF train loading thirty-fve different rail-
practiced in the fiscal year ended June 90
OF these thirty-ve roads. including the biggest
systems in the country twenty-elght showed in-
creases in their tonnage per freight train com
pared with the fiscal year OF 1914
According to these statistics the average tons per
train carried on these thrty-five roads 81.
pared with 1914 This is increase OF twenty
two for each train. The most remarkable fea-
Of this showing that the increase train
was accomplished in a year when roads had de-
creeses in freight traffic and when. consequently,
the difficulty Of increasing trainoads especially
great The good results attained meant that greater
tonnage handled without proportionate increase
in the number of trains. That the acme of sue
for the railroad efficiency engineer.
In 1894 the average number Of tons per freight
train was lbs In 1904 it 3OSS tons. And i'm 1914
it was ISIS tons, gain in twenty years of 1852 per
Judging by the records OF the thlry-fve rail-
In 1915. the increase to date has been even
greater In 1894 the railroads OF the United states
hauled 80 1885, 100000 tons OF freight mile and in
1914 a total Of SS3l9 OOO 900 tons one mile. This
IIaA Ma
AZ per cent more train-miles. The ton-meag &c
also represents increase Of 65 cent that OF
1884, which l7452 Co., but it required
OF only 1875 per cent in train-mes. In other words,
have handled traffic of 1914 with the average
train OF 1894 would have required running 16COOoOo
train-mes instead 6 10000 The saving $50 900 900
train-mes, is $50 cent Of the trainmes actually
in 1914 The cost OF operation per train
mile for all trains as shown by the Interstate Com
commission reports. n.sl in 1904 and 81 ~
in 1914 The per train-mle in freight service is
considerably higher than the for both freight
and passenger service. While it is impossible to state
exactly the average cost OF operation for a freight
mile, 1t is evident that saving of ss2 600 900
train-mies a saving Of hundreds of millions of
dollars annually in operating expenses.
When compared with this actual accomplishment,
Louis d. Brandeis' scientific management schemes
for saving railroads 81 100000 day pale into in
significance. Even the loading OF SO7s tons
I'm 1904 would have required running 1856 100000
miles in 1914 instead OF the 6ssoOO0 actually run
that the saving compared with ten years before
9s.OOo0O0 trsin-miles This accomplished
both by using larger cars, by loading tons OF
freight into and by using more per train
The average number of loaded per train was
increased from ia in 1904 ga in 1914 while the
average number OF tons per loaded increased
from III to I'll The amount OF the increase in tons
per train from 1904 to 1914 alone is greater than the
total tons per train for the railways in
other countries. Outside OF Canada and Mexico Ger
many is the only country in the world whose railways
come anywhere in train loading The Zig
for Of the principal countries for 1912 are
follows: Canada. 1853; Germany. 24O4: Mexico
224.1 India, 1874; Austria, 1905; Roumana l43 4
France i4i7; Holland, BIZ Switzerland. 1928; Japan
10 Z: South Australia 1896