Evening star., 1940-07-23
THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON c. TUESDAY, 2
Potomac Yard Sets Up
Wartime Restrictions
To Protect Vital Tracks
Sabotage Feors Rise
As Freiehtoee Jumps
With Unsettled World

With hundreds Of trainloads of
war essentials passing over its 81
miles Of tracks, the vast and vital
Potomac Yard freight terminal has
banned all visitors and cameras
from Its precincts and instructed the
guards to be on the double alert
for possible saboteurs, 1t became
known today.
Gateway between the factories of
the North and farms of the South,
this second largest freight yard In
the country registered a 6.53l in
crease IN -perishable carloads
for June as compared with the same
period of last year.
This increase is said to be a direct
result OF the war, and scrap iron
in quantities of thousands of tons,
oil, ammunition, machinery and
clothing and cloth are among the
major classification of the loads.
These materials are consigned both
for the Northeastern portions of
this country and for Canada.
Other Yards Inadequate.
Though the freight loads of war
materials are extremely valuable in
themselves, the real factor for con-
cern Is the yards. The only other
connecting yards between the two
portions of the Eastern seaboard
are those at Norfolk and Hagers-
town, and neither one of these Is
adequate to take over the traffic of
Potomac Yard.
At Norfolk any bulk freightage is
hampered by the necessity to trans
port the cars by ferry to Cape
Charles. And the scope of the
Hagerstown tracks can be Judged
by the fact that much of its normal
traffic was diverted here during the
Ohio floods of 1897 with no apparent
resulting strain.
Foreign agents have been aware
OF the Importance of these yards for
many years, according to Elwood v.
King, veteran superintendent of the
terminal. Foreigners who said they
We're representatives" of various
railroads In their native lands were
among those who were given carte
blanche some years ago to inspect
the tracks and buildings.
Photographic Eyes at Work.
There was one fellow" Mr.. King
said, who walked quickly about
the yards as We pointed out various
things. When he came back to nv
office he sat down and drew a per-
feet sketch of a certain portion of
the yards. I don't see how he did
1t after such brief inspection"
But now there are no more
courtesy permits even to visiting
representatives" Or any one else.
The yards are policed as strictly as
possibly with the existing facilities
A squad of armed guards watches
inside the fenced grounds, which
extend from Washington to Alex
andria, and arrest on sight any in
truder.
They are particularly strict with
hoboes that are found on the in
coming freights. These vagrants
are hustled OF to Jail so quickly
that they hardly have an oppor-
tunity to see what the yard looks
like.
Reserve Police Trained.
AS a reserve force, clerical men,
bers Of the yard personnel are in
training for police duty, and should
there come an emergency they
would be ready at once for active
service. Many of them at present
carry revolvers.
The yard is we'll prepared to
handle increased tonnage should q
national emergency arise, Mr.. King
said. "A maximum of $500 cars a
day can be handled. BY increasing
our yard force of 734 men and ex-
tending our tracks I believe we
could handle an almost indefinite
number of cars"