The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-09-25
TRUCK CAN SOLVE
T|EUP PROBLEMS
OF ALL SHIPPING
BY r. E. FULTON.


international Motor Company, Manu-
facturers OF Mack Trucks.)
Freight congestion is, In reality, ter
minal congestion. The present railroad
situation wildly demonstrates that the
root of the much discussed railroad
inadequacy lies more in the lack of
proper terminal facilities than it does
IN the lack of freight cars. It has
further proved that the motor truck,
properly used In conjunction with rail-
congestion and increase the productive
ity OF each unit Of the railroads roll
ing stock
Although it is estimated that the rail-
I roads Of this country now need $780,
!. 900 more freight cars, it is obvious that,
II this number of cars were put into
service under existing terminal con-
ditions; the confusion would be only in
creased.
Unfortunately. the majority of rail-
days of horse drawn highway trans
portation facilities. and no provision
4 was made for the advent of the motor
truck. At that time it was necessary
for the railroads to bring their freight
within radius of a days team haul of
less than can now be covered by a
motor truck. Cities have grown and
traffic has increased. but the terminals
have remained practically unchanged
cerned. AS a result. the railroads are
tempting to operate on horse
drawn basis of ultimate distribution and
consequently freight piles up in the
yards and the tracks are filled with
trains awaiting their turn to be I'M
Although motor trucks are now being
used to large extent instead of horses.
the platform area available for trans
ferring shipments from the freight car
- AW4Nn. 1r T. k1aA 9ss
impossible to avoid congestion.
More Advantageous.
1t is fact that the average freight
car travels only about six miles day,
and that this inefficiency can be at
tributed directly to wasted time through
terminal congestion Considering that
we now have over 100000 freight cars
in use, it can be seen that every mile
per day added to the productivity of
this total by increasing terminal eff
ficiency, is the equivalent of four hun
dred thousand more cars. Thus 1t is
obvious that if continuous movement
Of freight cars to and from their ter
minal points can be obtained two
fold advantage will result; first, elimi-
mating the delay and waste incidental
to congestions, and second, releasing
vast number Of cars for main line
traffic. tEl
To say that this can be accomplished
by utilizing the motor truck Is not a
mere prophecy-it is proven reality.
The few railroads that have applied
the use of trucks in their limited way
to this problem have met with remark
able success and should stand as I'M
compromising examples to every rail-
roan now affected by terminal conges-
ton. For example, figures compiled by
the United States railroad administra-
ton show that in the Big Four yards
at Cincinnati, the use of motor trucks
with demountable bodies has reduced
the time required per ton-mile for
transfer shipments from IL hours and
Is minutes to less than three minutes.
This saving of time is accompanied by
a reduction of so cents per ton mile
on the cost of the transfer shipments
The New Jersey Central railroad has
adopted motor truck service in con-
nection with its Jersey City terminal
in a way that indicates immense pos
sibilities for minimizing congestion. This
terminal became so congested during
the recent general tieup that it became
useless to send loaded freight cars
there So Plainfield. N. j.. a city near
by was made a terminal point and
goods are now being transferred there
to motor trucks and hauled into Jer-
sey City and other destination points.
This idea of diverting shipments
while not new one, has up to the
present been confined to emergency
use. 1t seems logical however, that
the diverting principle presents the
most practicable means for perma-
nently relieving the railroads of ter
minal congestion. By establishing sub