The sun., 1917-05-21
RAILROADARMY
G0INGTOFRANCE
Nine Regiments Called For to
Build Up Lines Of
Traffic.

-%oou Aor expert railrOau men 10 ro-
pair the lines in France is SO pressing
that an urgent call has been sent out by
the Railroads War Board to the various
roads OF the country for assistance in
organizing nine regiments of railroad
men to 20 at once to France. They will
be part Of the regular army. and at
the head Of each regiment as Colonel
will be an engineer officer Of the army.
The plans Of the board call for nve
construction regiments. one shop or re-
pair regiment and three operating regi-
ments. Construction will be the main
work OF the men sent over. but the repair
and operating needs are hardly less i'm
mediate. A notice sent out by the Rail-
roads War Board says:
The French railways are badly run
down. They need more or less complete
rehabilitation. France has no men who
can be spared for this work. She wants
all her men at the front. Before we can
train men to 20 into the trenches we
can supply Frances railroad wants, and
we can do It practically Immediately.
Any men we send over must be soldiers,
SO 1t will be necessary for the railroad
forces to enter the army.
We propose to make UP hve construc-
tion regiments of six companies each to
do this rehabilitation. Each regiment
will have an engineer officer Of the United
States> army as Colonel and another
officer from the army as an adjutant.
The other officers will be made up Of rail-
road men, except that the commissary
will be provided by the United States
army. Each Lieutenant-C Colonel will be
q chief engineer Of a railroad or some
ono else of similar experiences. Tho Cap
tains will be taken from the engineers
OF maintenance Of way. the I4ieuten-
ants from supervisors or roadmasters
and the on-commissioned officers from
track and bridge foremen. The pri-
Yates will be track laborers.
Tho pressing need just now is for Off
GERS for these regiments. They will re-
ouire five chief engineers. thirty en-
gineers of maintenance of way. ninet,
supervisors, or roadmasters sixty track
foremen and thirty bridge foremen. Eacf
company will have $50 track laborer.
and fourteen bridge carpenters as pri
Yates.
"The next important requirement OF
the French railways is for shop forces
They are short OF men TO repair theil
locomotives. 1t is proposed to organic,
shoP " bS IiiduC dp tI'
same way as the construction regiments
except that the Lieutenant-C Colonel will
be a superintendent of motive power. tn,
Captains will be master mechanics the
Lieutenants will be shop foremen. and
the non n-commissioned officers gang fore
men. The rest OF the company will b,
made up OF boilermakers. mschnists
blacksmiths and their helpers
Three operating regiments will b
raised, with officers from superinten
dents. trainmasters. yardmasters an,
others having to do with the actua
operation Of trains The privates in thi
case will be taken from the train crews
The War Board has requested the fol
lowing railroad executives TO act as rail
way advisers to the officers of the Unite
| States army in charge of the organiza
ticn of these regiments w. W. After
bury, vice-president Pennsylvania Rail
road. will cooperate with Col. II. ID. Dea
| kyne at Philadelphia ]. II. Hustis, re
ceiver Boston and Maine, with Major W
p. Wootan at Boston: b, f. Bush. re
ceiver Missouri Pacific. with Col. C. NJ
Townsend at st. Louis u; William Sproule
| president Southern Pacific. with Col.
| p. Cavanaugh at San Francisco; H. W
| Miller. resident executive officer South
ern Railway, with Major J. s. Sewell a
Atlanta. and L. +. Loree. president Della
ware and Hudson, with Col. c. II. McKjn
stry at New York.