Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-04-12
FRENCH LINES NOT
LIKE THE PENNSY
Railways in War Zone De-
scribed by Harrisburg
Boy in the Service

Here is letter from W. \. Smed-
ley. Company G. Twenty-Third En-
sineers, with the American ENpedi-
tionary Forces. to his father. VIM
field I. Smedley. 511 Curtin street,
Harrisburg. which will particularly
interest railroad folk. Young Smed-
ley is probably right in the thick of
the fray by this time, for he was
only ten miles back of the front
when he wrote this and since then,
all American engineers have been
hustled into the mighty battle. He
begins cheerily with: Hello, Dad,
while waiting for orders to move let
me tell you something about the
French railroad which is a lot diff
ferent from the Pennsy. Passenger
ears are very small, but 80 persons
can get into one. | should judge
they are 80 or 30 feet long and the
regulation width, and are divided
into 3 compartments. with 10 people
in each. 1t gets awfully monoton-
Gus on a Ions ride staring at each
other They have standard gauge
tracks; so pound rails. but they do
not use fish plates under them. as
the rails are raised up off the ties.
"On the passenger trains they have
air installed, but on freight they
have to rely on handbrakes. You
cannot walk over the tops of the
cars as they have no running board
and on some cars is little hatch
where the trainman rides. ON cars
which do not have these is long
lever with no springs. which
throws the brake shoes against the
wheels. They also have no bumper
on the cars. only buffers that stand
out about is inches to take up the
jar. And in coupling they have hooks
and links; after the link is put over
the hook it is then tightened up
by the trainman. The engines are
also very small in comparison with
ours. They have no super-heaters
and some have the monkey motion.
They are just like toy engine, the
kind YOU see at the amusement
parks So you see the railroad men
over here are working at disad-
vantage. Some of the kiCkers should
be over here and then they would
see what railroading Is.
The scenery along the railroad Is
sure pretty. so different from ours
All along the line you can see vast
vineyards and at the foot OF the nils
are larger wine cellars and dlstiller-
les. II seems that most of the IN
land French people resort TO wine
making for their living. In the
grass was green and the trees in bud.
Here in the north. vegetation Is
dead and the weather chilly. Most
every day it rains and the mud Is
q foot deep.
You ought to see our new faces
gas masks We have TO carry
them all the time to protect us from
German fumes; likewise we wear
helmets to protect from bursting
shrapnel on clear days the air Is
full of German airplanes and the
helmets come in good then, believe
me. The ground quakes here all the
time with artillery bonn harding.
Last week ! saw the first air battle
two French planes brought down
Hun. The artillery roars all night
but now l have gotten used TO II
and can sleep. We have not much
to fear just now but gas.
They have put up a y. NJ. {. \.
and it is a pretty nice place for
where it is located. Tell mother TO
send some chocolate for We cannot
get any good candy over here. l
am we'll and hope everybody is the
same