Evening star., 1935-10-13

n for The Sunday Star by Albert staehle.
co-ordinator's staff, and this report
shows up the enormous load of dead
weight which the railroads have been
carrying.
Thus, the average steel passenger
coach weighs so tons, while the aver
age number Of passengers carried is
IL to the coach. For every passenger
carried the locomotive must hall 5
tons Of coach. Trains average six
and a half cars each, including bag
gage. express and mail coaches. Mr..
Turney's analysis shows that In this
average train" there are about 500
tons of train, including the huge loco
motive, IS tons of goods and 4 tons
of people. The coal and water in the
locomotive tender weigh more than
the people!
The new metal alloys are making
1t possible to revise these ratios. The
Baltimore & Ohio has equipped its
new train. the Royal Blue, with light
steel cars weighing only As tons each.
The Diesel-electric powered trains
reduce their mass considerably by
eliminating the locomotive. The total
weight Of the Comet, including its
three cars with seats for 100 passen-
gers, is 126 tons.
Co-ordinator Not Satisfied.
But the co-ordirator is not satisfied
with these reductions. Modern metal
lurgy should make possible passenger
cars which weigh not over Is tons, :"
says his passenger traffic report.
Nor is this all. Cars must not only
be reduced IN weight, but trains must
be reduced in size. The average train
has seats for 200 passengers and its
average load is around 40 passengers.
Why drag around that extra capacity
on the chance that once in q while
200 passengers may buy tickets? It
would seem wiser to travel light and
add a car only when the trafic re-
quires it.
The articulated three cars Of the
new trains represent progress, but the
goal Is a single-car unit which will
operate as cheaply as the average
coach Of a multiple-car train. Eli
cient single-unit passenger cars, each
with its own compact power plant,
are already in successful use on rail-
ways in England, France, Germany
and Austria, and introductions are
being tested in certain parts of the
United States. Such equipment would
be q life-saver to the small branch
railroads which cannot afford to In
vest 100000 (the cost Of the
Comet), but could afford q tenth or
perhaps q fifth of that for q smaller
unit exactly suited to their trafflc
needs.
Freight Problems Same.
In the freight service, where the
bulk Of the railroad business lies, the
problems are essentially the same
overheavy equipment, underoccupied
trains and slow service. But details
vary.
The average freight car weighs as
much as the load it carries. II you
consider the weight Of the locomotive
and the mileage it travels as return
ing empty, the ratio is 21/6 dead tons
for every live ton of freight.
The average freight car carries
only 81 per cent Of its capacity
it travels nearly half empty.
Even more acute is the problem of
speed. The co-ordinator's study of
the movement Of freight over Amer
ican railroads shows that If you take
the time that elapses between the
consignment Of a shipment to q rail-
road and its delivery to the consignee
at destination, the movement figures
about 5 miles an hour. A motor truck,
carrying the same freight on the
highway, averages Is miles an hour.
Why should q railroad take three
times as long?
Analysis Of Train Records.
Analysis of train records gives .
clear answer. The average freight haul
is s76 miles and the average of the
total time taken is LA hours. OF that
total, SO hours are occupied at the
shipping point in loading and at the
destination in unloading, So hours are
spent in various freight yards SWITCH
ing and reorganfzing the train, and
only 23 hours are spent on the road.
In other words, the train makes better
than 16 miles an hour when 1t gets
going, and most of its time Is required
by these incidental details. The CO.
ordinator found that on the average
o car is classified" or subjected to
switching, seven different times In the
course of its journey.
The problem Is, therefore: First, to
cut the time consumed in loading and
unloading; and second, to cut the time
spent in switching and other incidental
yard delays.
Use Of "Container5" Proposed.
To reduce the time that freight cars
are tied up loading and unloading, the
co-ordinator proposes the use Of 'con-
tainers." A container Is Q metal cab
met Of convenient size, smaller than Q
boxcar, and 30 designed as to at the
chassis Of an automobile truck. On its
truck it Is brought to the shippers
door; he packs his freight into it and
seals 1t. There upon Me truck trans
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