Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-31
AMERICAN GENIUS
RUNS UNIQUE TRAIN
Automatic Service Is One of
the Strange Devices Sprung
Out of the War.
RADIATES OVER WAR AREA

AMERICAN REGULATING BASE.
ADVANCE ZONE, FRANCE, October
Is Correspondence of the Associated
Press).-The automatic train" is one
of the strange devices which has
sprung out of the war, and there is
nothing quite like it in the whole
range of railway transportation. 1t
has been developed by the American
military authorities here as one of the
necessities of keeping up an auto
matte daily supply of food, forage and
all requirements to every unit of the
American expeditionary force in
regularity each day, SO that every
man in every division stretching over
a vast area along 800 miles of front
would have his daily needs supplied,
was a huge problem.
The only solution was to secure
absolute uniformity, or a Standard
cation of trains by which the make
I'D would be automatic day after day.
And out of this has come the auto
matte train" of the American Army,
which is one of the wonders of Amer
lean organization.
Watching the makeup of the EAU
IOIudllC lIdlHS DIS lHcy ~ loi W al u "
the American divisions on the fight
ing front. is like watching some gil
Santic jig-saw puzzle. for there is the
same fitting together of confused
parts. until at last all the pieces form
a completed whole of fifteen of these
so-called automatic trains" fifty
cars to a train. each train moving on
to one of the American divisions.
Here at a small interior village of
the American advance force is the
l.. l.,
trains move out daily. The place is
well forward in the advance zone,
Just far enough away from the fight
ing to be out of reach of hostile raids
and yet near enough to permit the
supplies to move forward with the
greatest facility.
1t was sleepy village last October
with 1000 inhabitants: today it is a
center of intense activity. with an
American working force of $4,000
eleven times the population a year
ago-with seventy-two miles of yard
trackage, forty-fve enormous ware
houses and railways radiating to
every point of the long front held
wholly or in part by American troops
Last month $4,000 cars were moved
or more than 1000 a day. in this stu
pendous stream of supplies going for
ward to the fighting forces.
Col Hilgard, commanding officer
and Capt Bigger, regulating officer
explained the details of these auto
matte trains. and later there was an
opportunity to see the trains assem-
bled like parts in a huge puzzle and
started on their way to the front. The
basis on which the automatic trains
are made up is as follows:
Two cars of refrigerated fresh beef
Two cars of fresh bread.
Seven cars of food comprised in the
soldiers ration.
Four cars of fuel for cooking.
Fourteen cars of forage for horses
One car of gasoline, mineral oil an6
lubricants for motors.
One car for mail and packages.
These are the fixed and practically
1nvariable elements of each automatic
train, the same wants of food and for
age being repeated day after day
In addition each division has vary
ing wants of clothing, ammunition
medical supplies ETC.. as it may be in
the midst of the fighting or further
back in a calmer section. These vary.
ing elements are added to each train
according to the needs of the division
Thus. fifteen trains go out daily in
fifteen directions, each train having
some thirty to thirty-five cars in the
nxed and automatic make1p, ano
some fifteen or twenty cars with the
varying elements of ammunition
medical supplies, clothing. etc, de-
pendent on the proximity to the fight
ing