The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-02-11
COAST LINE HAS
PROVED ITS CASE
In the Hearing at Gainesville 1t Show
ed Its Short Run Trains Are Too
Expensive to Operate


nine and ten between Leesburg and
Jacksonville and thirty-two and thir-
ty-fve between Ocala and Lakeland,
and 140 and 141 between Ocala and
Chiefand, did not develop at the hear
ing in Gainesville yesterday before
the state railroad commission. A
large number of citizens of Gaines
vile and Alachua county attended the
hearing and representatives of that
city and county argued for the con-
tinuance of the trains, in spite of any
loss that the railroads might be sus-
tanning, contending that the discon-
tinuance would seriously inconven-
fence the travelling public and affect
the business of Gainesville and other
towns in that section. A representa-
tive from Micanopy objected to the
taking off of nine and ten on the
grounds that it would prevent people
of that community from getting into
and out of Gainesville and Jackson
vile the same day. Mr. George SEQ
field of Inverness, representing people
and organization along the route of
trains thirty-two and thirty-five, while
conceding that these trains were prob
ably being run at a loss, made an
argument for the continuance Of "Sun-
ny Jim" on the ground that it pro-
vides the only means of getting into
and out of Ocala and Tampa the same
day. There was no objection from
Lakeland, Palatka, Leesburg, Ocala or
Marion county. The Marion County
Board of Trade was represented by
Secretary Chazal, but after hearing
the testimony of the railroads and
asking a number of questions with re-
gard to new schedules, he decided to
make no argument, but filed with the
commission a statement of the Board
of Trades position as had already
been set forth in the papers. Attach
ed to this statement of the Board of
Trade were several letters from indi-
Viduals protesting against the discon-
tinuance of the trains and petition
from the people of Boardman making
a protest on the grounds that local
trains thirty-nine and forty did not
stop at that station.
The testimony of the Atlantic Coast
Line, given under oath, showed that
55 per cent of the railroads trains
are passenger trains and that the out
of-pocket cost per train mile of ope-
rating these passenger trains is $1.05,
and that with taxes and depreciation
and interest on investment and SIM
liar items taken into consideration,
the cost per train mile of operating a
passenger train is $2.12. The testi-
mony of the railroad showed that the
the average income per train mile of
No. 9 is 462 and that the loss during
the month of January on this train
was $2804.76. On train No. 10, which
has an income of 37.2 per train mile,
the loss during January was $3376.44;
on No. 141 the loss during the month
of January was $2174.33; on No. 35
with an average income of 27.3 per
train mile, the loss was S1080.81; on
No. 80, with an average income OF
24c per train mile, the loss was
was $1136.07; on No. 80 between Ro-
chelle and Palatka, with an average
income per train mile of .09.5, the loss
was $965.51. 1t was pointed out that
these losses were based on the out-of,
pocket cost of operating the trains
which includes wages, fuel, oil anG
supplies, and does not include any in.
terest charges, depreciation or taxa
ton. The testimony showed that the
biggest item in the cost of operating
the trains is that of wages.
At the hearing the representative:
of the Coast Line stated that they hat
decided to make a change in their ap
plication and in order to accommo
date the people of the western par
of Alachua county, they would asl
that trains 140 and 141 be operates
between Chiefand and Palatka in
stead of between Chiefand and 0cal
to provide one train beach day dali,
between Palatka and Rochelle. Sec
retary Chazal asked if the change il
the schedule between Palatka an
Rochelle would not seriously incon
venience the people of the interio
desiring to make connection with tn
East Coast. The railroad officials ad
mitted that this was the case and sal
there would be no connection with 3
and 40 to and from Palatka. Mr.. Nc
Arthur, division superintendent, stat
ed that it would be necessary in &c
ing to the East Coast to leave Ocal
on the night train arriving in Rochell
about three o'clock in the mornin
and remain there until 10 o'clock fo
a train to Palatka. He pointed ou
however, that the records show ths
very few people use this eonneetio
with the East Coast as evidenced b
the income per train mile of 9.5 cent
on the Palatka- Rochelle train No. 8
Mr.. Macarthur also directed attentic
TO the fact that most persons fro
sE -. at'-