Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-11-05
Employees of Ironton Route
Call 1t "Lizzie's Big Sis
ter" - Shippers Praise
miracle" System
BY JOHN w. RAPER

| sister IS the nickname TdllIOdu
workers-the men out along the line
have given it. Officially, in the
records of the interstate commerce
commission and in the railroad
guides and wherever it must be
be spoken OF formally, it is the De-
| troit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad
company. In all that the eye can
see along the road, from one end
of it to the other, it answers the
description of what is commonly
known in this country as Jerk
water railroad" But
| It's Henry F'ord's railroad. And
that makes it something else.
Henry Ford's railroad is the mys-
| terry of the transportation world.
| You hear more stories about it than
a child hears about Santa Claus. But
| there have been no stories told about
how his line is serving the shippers
who use it, and to learn what kind
of service Henry Ford is giving the
public I made trip over his road
| and questioned scores of men who
| transact business with his company.
| And everywhere the shippers were
cheering Henry Ford and the De-
troit, Toledo and Ironton. Can you
| imagine it-shippers cheering a rail-
road and it's owner? I found, too,
that Henry Ford had started bon
| fires under the big trunk lines that
cross his little ''jerkwater railroad
and were hopping around with a
speed unknown to them before, to
the consequent advantage Of the
| shipper.
Shippers Are Unanimous
| cambridge, Ohio, tells with COM
| pIeteness the story of the Henry
Ford railroad service. I single out
this town because it has not quite
1000 population, is not a place OF
importance to the railroad, is de-
pendent entirely upon the D., L. q
| T.. it's next closest railroad being the
Baltimore and Ohio, at Greenfield
eleven miles away. A place OF THIS
character, where there is no compe-
/ tition, undoubtedly makes the test
/ of service more severe than I'M
portant points where there IS COM
| petition. -.
"Greatr' Every one of the eight
shippers answered when asked
him how service was.
Here is a complete interview WIN
these men:
"Before Henry Ford bought the
road it's freight service was so pau
| that nobody shipped anything over
the road if he could help it. 1t was
a Joke. If a man ordered package
| goods from Columbus it came on
| an electric line to Chillicothe ana
i then to cambridge, twenty miles, OH
an auto truck. And service was
moor. 1t took two and three DAYS
and often longer for a package TO
make the trip. Now our shipments
leave Columbus one day and arrive
in Bainbridge the next. They come
via the Pennsylvania to South
l charleston and from there over the
n. r. & I. Freight from Cincin'
- natl now makes the trip TO BAN
bridge via the 3. & o. ana D.' l ;
& 7. in a third the time IL useu
~ Speeds Shipments to Seaboard
IT used to ship grain over the ~.
IT. & 7. and either the n. q WI VI
i C & o. and it took a car hVe 10 81?
weeks to reach salt water. NO" !
takes only four and five days 1or
car of grain to go from Bainbrldg,
to baltimore. 1t goes to Greenneio
where the 3. & o. always has 81
engine waiting when a D., Il. O. !
train with either east or Westoouh'
freight arrives.
"The B. & o. agent at Thrlfto1
telephoned me not long ago that tn
road was going to time one OF m.
cars of grain. I told him had Jus
finished loading it and that the u
t & I. local would pick it up tn
next morning.
".You watch it and see If
leaves said the B. & o. man.
: Young fellow, I don't have t
. watch that car told him. I know
that it's going to leave tomorrow
morning."
: Ford Makes Good
The stories of the cambridge shlr
pers are typical Of the stories toll
all along the line. Take, tor IL
stance, Springfield, o. Shippers hav
the assurance that a car Of frelgh
will reach Chicago in from "a to 3
hours and reach New York In
hours when shipped over the D., !
& I. They used to use the Big Fou
before Ford bought the D., L. &
and heavens only knew when a ca
to either point would reach it's dest
nation Ford'S road promised the1
efficient service and made good tn
promise with the result that a heaV
tonnage now leaves Springfield fC
Chicago over the D., 7. & l., whic
turns it over to the Nickel Plate 6
Leipsic, and for New York over tn
D.. T. & l., Nickel Plate to Buffal
and Lackawanna to New York.
A manufacturer told his eXper
erce in shipping pig iron from Irol
ton to Springfield.
} Shipper Saves $40 on Deal
4 II used to ship pig iron over eith'
( the N. & w. or G. & D. to Colun
bus and from Columbus. to Sprin
field over the Big Four" he said.
A had shippers usual experiences
!. waiting day after day. Not long as
Il [ had a car shipped over the D.,
# & I. That shipment was two day
in making the trip and 1 saved S.
;, on the freight on that car. The
- L. & /. turned it over, here
Springfield, to the road on which n
factory is located and hanged if
didn't take that road longer to
4 liver it than it took the D., T. &
to haul it from Ironton.''
, A publishing house sends /
"a printed output in carload lots to Ne
h York over the D., r. & I. Manufa
>, turers of agricultural implemen
=" are shipping to the south and sout
IS west over the D., T. & /. and +
ID porting better service than they h;
v ever known before. 1t was the san
at Lima, O., an important town
the D., T. & T., at Detroit and
" villages like Napoleon and Wauseo
I'd O., and Tecumseh, Mich. Everywhe
N the shippers were talking of Hem
s. Ford as miracle man" in, tran