The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1923-08-30
Transportation Situa-
ton in Northwest
Car Shortage and Traffic Delays
Guarded Against-Careful Pre-
paration Made

Transportation preparedness for
handling 1923 crops in the Northwest
was analysed today by j. M. Rapel-
je, vice president of the Northern
Pacific Railway, insofar as his coi>>
pany is concerned, in a detailed
statement issued to operating en-
ployees.
Mr.. Rapelje's statement says:
"Our new crop is now beginning
to move and it is natural to look
around and see just how much we
have accomplished in preparing our
selves to handle this crop.
"This year sees the completion of
our automotic block signals from the
Twin Cities to Puget Sound. This
started some years ago, has cost the
company approximately four million
dollars, but it has increased our capac-
ity for moving business and most inn
portant of all, it makes our railroad
a very safe railroad to travel and
work on. incidentally, we cannot
help but feel some pride in the fact
that our line is the fist northwestern
line to complete it's automatic signal
ling to the coast.
.'Next, word about our track. l
want to emphasize the fact that we
have. been spending this year, as you
know, much more money than our
revenues have warranted, all with the
idea of securing for ourselves, a
very strong, we'll ballasted railway
for moving this years business. My
recent trip to the coast convinces me
that, on the completion of the work
now under way, we will have no weak
spots that will slow up traffic nor
cause derailments this fall or winter.
Locomotives are. an essential item
in moving crops. On our locomotives,
as with our track and our cars, we
have been spending far more money
than our income warrants, but all
with the idea of taking care of the
people who depend on US to move
what they raise and what they will
need to buy, during the coming fall
and winter. Then also, it sometimes
seems uneconomical to purchase a
lot of new locomotives, when we will
actually need them only for about
three months in the fall, and that
instead, we should get along with
those we have, even if a little delay
to traffic resulted. We we have not
looked at it this way and, consequent
ly, are now receiving 40 new modern
locomotives which will cost us nearly
three and a half million dollars
1'Then, with reference to the con-
dition of the 1889 locomotives we now
own: On April LIST we had Els per
cent of these engines out of service
for repairs. By working full forces
and by CONSTANT crowding of work SO
that our Shops turned out IS engines
in May, our Mechanical Department
have now reduced this to 14.8 per
cent, taking account of the new en-
gines we are receiving. This reduc-
ton of 81 per cent means providing
ourselves with "a more engines than
if we had followed the policy of TAX
ing chance on fewer engines with
some little delay to traffic.
"Finally, word on cars. We own
at present 45,989 cars. Last fall
and winter YOU will recall some seri-
Gus trouble because a large proper
ton of our cars were tied up in con-
gestions in the east, as, for example,
November, when we had only $4,000
cars including foreign cars on our
line or about 1850 short on our
ownership. Since November, clear
ing up of congestions in the east plus
extreme efforts to get our equipment
returned, has resulted in our getting
on our line 43,500 cars, or a return
of about 1900 cars in eight months.
But when one of our cars returns IT
invariably requires more or less re-