The Connecticut labor news., 1923-02-09
REAL REASON
 WHY PUBLIC IS
 SHORT OF COAL
Congestion of Freight Due to Poor Engines, Makes Transportation a Task Beyond Ability of New Haven Road.

Task Beyond Ability of New
 Haven Road.
 l While the people of this city and fol l that matter in every city throughout
 the state have been clamoring for coal an investigation conducted by the l Boston American has disclosed that l there are more than I5o,ooo tons oi l coal which should be in the cellars of New England househoTders jam med on sidings and at the gateway terminals of the New York, New Ha- ven & Hartford Railroad.
 The state police, conducting an in vestigation into the number of cars of coal in the state of Connecticut, recently found more than I,5oo loaded
 cars of coal nearly thousand or them marked for dealers in Connecti-
 cut. Asa result of this investigation
 the fuel administrator declared that
 there was no coal crisis in this state
 on the assumption that it would be
 only matter of a day or so before
 the scoa1 would be delivered at its
 destination to be distributed to the public.
 At the rate that the coal Is being moved, however, the people of New England can expect relief some time next September, just in time to come in handy for next winter. There Is no question about 1t, the distress from the coal shortage in New England can be honestly laid to the door of the New Haven road which is trying to handle the freight and expedite fuel shipments with makeshift broken down locomotives.
 Three-quarters of the no miles of tracks in the Maybrook yards is load ed down with freight cars and some of them have been there since last Christmas and as this is the largest receiving point on the New Haven system because of the congested con- dition of the yards the company is able to receive only limited supply of coal from the mines.
 It is through this gateway that the coal is shipped from the Lehigh and Hudson, the Erie, the Ontorio & Western, and the Lehigh and New England The "coal roads," which with the New Haven, forms a con meeting link with the big Pennsylvania anthracite region.
 Had the Maybrook yards been kept clear of freight, New Englanders would not be experiencing the pres ent> difficulty in getting coal to keep the home fires burning Officials of the road have made statements to the egect that for the past three months the road has shpped more coal through the gateway than at any time- in the past and have figures to back up the claim
 However, this has been done at the expense of the freight shipments and if the locomotives were Ill proper shape 1t would be possible for more coal to be delivered here. Even though the road has concentrated its freight engines almost entirely 1t is only able to move about seven or eight trains a day whereas under the United States railroad administration four years ago there were A trains a day going out of the yards.
 It is after the trains leave May brook that the real trouble starts for the makeshift engines are used and 1t is only matter of very few miles before the locomotive goes wrong and a hurry cal lis sent in for an engine to take it's place, as 1t cannot be re- paired on the line.
 Trainmen tell some queer tales of their experiences on this section of ] the road and their stories are not 1 complimentary to the New Haven road either Sixteen hours after they 1 have left Maybrook they have GOV eerd a distance of probably 45 milesi and many times there are eight and l nine hands awaiting engines after be- ing summoned to take out trains.
 While 1t is probably true that the New Haven has moved more coal dur | ing the past three months than 1t has | in the same period of time in it's his tory, the fact remains that the con gested condition of the yards caused by this concentration of its best loco motives to move the coal has so com pletely ted up traffic because there has been no ecort made to move the general freight that it has caused a l jam on the other lines which feed the New Haven and there are thousands of tons of coal loaded on sidings of the western roads, within 24 hours of the Maybrook terminal:
 These cars are held waiting for the New Haven to clear it's tracks which l 1t is unable to due and the result is | that when trains arrive here there IS no place to put the cars and they are | forced to turn back. Even at the 1 mines coal which should be coming | into New England Is now being ship | ped to other points because of the 1 of the New Haven to handle l it.