The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1920-02-07
COAL MOVEMENTS
P0CAHONTAS REGION.

SosatVuUHO WLQIUu
washington Feb. deportation OF
,, sa.ii o&us IN the Foeahontas region
u ring 1919 was adversely affected by
the efforts of the roads to serve ia
punnc interests in handling the coal
s'Fihe situation, according to the an
a .uai report OF Regional Director NJ. d.
1aaher, OF the Pocahontas region. sub
,nittea to Director-G General Walker Il.
.sihes, The report set forth, however.
efae the coal output secured by tina
saheh eg the railroads conpeu.
ton involved. opua
-. az IN other regions" the report xafd
.he country wide coal miners strfEs
yaat now at an end has adversely ~
.e.teu cur operation. Although the coal
tonnage handled by the roads OF this
resloh since November /, on tne aver
ase mas appropriated that of October
,as. PRIOR U mine suspension, mscei-
ianeous traffic has had to be seycreIy4
sacrificed in order to devote ina a,,,tr.
Westbound freight capacity Of the gnr-.
lnik ana western and Chesapeake ana
ONO to the movement OF coal to ina
west through Ohio gateways. Tha ,nx.
Or this miscellaneous traffic win 4.
aided TOO, owing to the unusual routes
y S~'cf0u ny emergency coal to COnnect-
u regions. Attendant difficulties Ii
maintaining car supply at the rnine.
eecanHe OF lack OF road capacity fnr
handling empties from the West
through Cincinnati and Columbus. Ohm.
suHieient to supply both the Western
al Eastern mines of the two railroads.
entafied much special service In the
T4astern sections in order to move to
promptly the empty cars made
aFaiiaoie there from unusual sources
ana over high cost operation routes.
am glad to say, however that the ac-.
c"mpiishment In production at the
mines IN this region and the forward
ihE OF coal to outlying territory in sat-
isiyihg Quantities may be Regarded
in the circumstances"
The causes OF increased expenses Al
compared with revenues were outlined
at follows:
tarial.
increase In wage costs.
progressive heavy decrease in trAf-
nc following January LIST and imprae-
ticability OF Immediately reducing
forces In the same ratio.
maintenance OF way and mainten-
ance equipment work deferred In 1918
on account OF the shortage Of materials
ana labor and performed In 1919.
Differentiation and loss Of reve.
nue. incident to the shipments strike In
June and August. and similar losses
due to coal rIiners' strike In November
and December %
Back pay earned In 1918 and paid
IN 1919. which was approximately
$1,500.ooo -
From the standpoint Of earnings
ana relative expense OF transportation
the tides eft freight traffic In 1gTr
were not as favorable in 1918 As in
lsls. This applies particularly to
railing off of traffic destined to tina
sea board"
The report gave i'm detail the figures
showing the decrease in freight traffic
on the Pocahontas Region lines
These included:
Decrease Of 142,721 cars OF coal
and coke loaded.
Decrease OF 3.oss cars of ore ~
necting depression In the iron and
steel industry during the first half of
the year particularly
Decrease of 1868 cars In loads
received from connections
IN connection wit hthe f,pctuatfon
IN the volume of coal traffic. the re-
port said ''it should be stated thar
the roads of this region, which are
particularly equipped for the handling
OF coal to tiGewater, suffered 4 ma
terial decline In this traffic during tho
early part of the year. due to saver1I
causes, namely q, coal requirement..
IN New England hitherto drawn
from Hampton Roads were taken
care or TO an unusual extent with coal
moving all rail from more Northern
Fields because of the unfayorable dif-
ferential in transportation charges re-
suiting from high vessel rates apnIv-
ing from Hampton Roads and else-
wnere' CD vessels for foreign tons
mage We're scarce and rates Of freight
practically prohibitive, with moro
plentiful vessel supply and active a.
mand for foreign tonnage in recent
months, the tidewater coal traffic in
creased immensely and was rofn~
along in heavy volume when sr,<-
pended. or eurtailed by reason OF thu
strike of coal miners.
Export freight through Hamutnn
Roads norts decreased materially with
me ending OF the war, so that tn 1879
me tonnage. other than coal, through
tnese ports during the first ters
months amounted to only apprnrt-
mately 100000 tons, which was con-
siderably less than one-half the ton
mage or freight other than coal ~.
ported through Hampton Roads ports
IN 1918. when a large tonnage ~
war material and supplied for ira
onited states army overseas wna
handled
passenger revenues on all lines n
sHe region showed material increass
during the year, according To TIA -
port. which said:
In 1913 after the arrnistfce IN Ma.
vemoer. and in 1919. passenger train
Fervice asgregating t97,11a miles nar
annum, formerly operated, ana dis-
continued during the war, was -
stored Also additional train saryicA
tosalling S3e.25o miles per annum has
been inaugurated. and the train
service now performed il reasonable
suMcient TOT the needs of the public.
In August 1t was necessary ID tIiref,r-
tinue number Of main and branch
line trains on the G. q O. railroad for
some days owing to the shonmAx.a