Phoenix tribune., 1924-06-14
Traffic Handled Without Con-
gestion By Increased Rail-
road Efficiency
LOADING INDICATES
WESTERN PROSPERITY
Cars Loaded in 1928 Would
Make Train $500 Miles
Long; Would Encircle
United States


cars OF freight on Southern Pacifics
Pacific System lines in 1928, an in
crease Of almost 100000 cars over the
loading for 1922, which was S51,942
cars.
The 1923 loading. according to J.
H. Dyer, general manager Of the COM
pany, was the heaviest In the history
Of the company.
II all the freight cars loaded on the
company's Pacific System in 1928 were
coupled up with the locomotives nee
essary to move them and with pro-
portionate number of cabooses, they
would make train $500 miles in
length-long enough to extend around
the United States from Portland, Ore
gon, through Chicago, Buffalo, New
York, Washington, New Orleans. Los
Angeles, San Francisco and back to
Portland, with about 400 miles of cars
left over.
The figures cited give some idea of
the prosperity and productiveness OF
the western states, for these cars were
loaded In the states of Oregon, Cali
fornia, Nevada, Utah. Arizona and
New Mexico The size of the imagin-
ary train also gives an idea Of the
enormous task performed by the
Southern Pacific Company in handling
this traffic, which was moved quickly
and efficiently, without congestion or
general car shortage.
Southern Pacific. as one of the
leading railroad systems of the coun
try. has had consistently good rec
ord In operating efficiency, extending
over q period of years, but despite
this fact, Southern Pacific's 1928 per-
tormance In heavy car loading, In
obtaining a high daily mileage of
freight cars. and In keeping locomo-
uves and cars in repair, was uniform
" better than in previous years.
Campaign Planned
When It became apparent that 1923
would be q year of unusually heavy
trafic. the railroads joined in a cam
paign to speed up transportation
They set definite high standards of
operating efficiency as a goal for the
Individual roads to reach. These stand
ards were: 30 tons of freight per
car loaded; 30 miles per car per day:
e6 per cent Of locomotives In service
able condition and not requiring heavy
repairs by October l, the start of the
season Of heaviest traf1c; and So per
cent of freight cars In serviceable
condition. by October /.
Southern Pacific bettered these
standards in every instance except In
the average carload. and its perform
ance In this respect was a remark
ably good one and not to be measured
By the goal set for all the railroads,
because OF Southern Pacifc's large
tonnage Of light loading. perishable
products. full car Of which averages
about fourteen tons.
The average tonnage per car loaded
In 1923 was 27.S tons which was an in
crease Of seven tenths of a ton over
the excellent record made in 1922.
The company made its freight cars
travel twelve miles farther each day
than the goal set for the railroads as
q whole, getting an average daily
mileage per car Of forty-two miles.
In one month. an average OF 47.3 miles
per car per day was obtained. The
average for 1s22 was s6.s miles.
Equipment In Repair
Southern Pacific. during 1898. aver
aged ss6 per cent for the number Of
locomotives In serviceable condition
and not needing heavy repairs as com
pared with percentage OF ss.5 in 1922.
In only one month did the company
have less than IS per cent OF it's loco
motives in serviceable condition, the
goal set by the railroads as a whole
for October /. In only three months
did the company have less than s5
per cent Of freight cars IN serviceable
condition, the national goal by oc-
tober /. The average for the year
was s64 per cent as compared with
eS.e5 per cent In 1s22.
Another improvement In perform
ancs was In the gross locomotive
load, which averaged per cent better
in 1898 than in 1929. This means
that each locomotive was made TO
haul heavier load.
While there was 4 shortage Of re-
frigerator cars during the peak Of the
grape shipping season, Il did not
approach in extent the shortage OF
1922 and did not appear until a great
81 tonnage Of grapes had been ship
ped up TO that time than in any pre-
vious year.
The same effort for increased en-
cheney is being made in 1894. accord
ing to Southern Pacific onicials. and
Improvements and additions are be-
ing steadily made over the system.
More equipment. including new loco
motives and cars Of the finest deslgn.
are being received. and more are
badng ordered