Evening star., 1941-03-30
Potomac Yard Gateway for Rail Communications of National
Vital Cargoes
Move Daily to
All Points
Four Thousand Cars
Pass Through in
24.Hour Average
By A. A. HOehHnq.

At 3 am. the telephone jangles i
the Office of Stanley J. Parson
classification clerk at Potomac Yart
over in Virginia.
He picks up the receiver, listen
briefly, then says to come in on trac
2, or track s or 7, or any one of tn
13 receiving tracks which happel
to be unoccupied, and which are @
the correct length.
Then Veteran Railroader Parson!
whose father was an engineer Of
the Pennsylvania, settles back in hi
chair, glad that he Is in the steam
heated luxury of the old brick ad
ministration building and not GU
in the before-dawn icinesS of tn
yard, and waits for the arrival O
the man who has just spoken to him
Translated, the procedure in itsel
Is as simple as it has become Il
Clerk Parsons through morning
after morning of year after yea
of repetition. 1t means that MD
Is, the big freight of 100 or NOR
cars, has pulled in from New Eng
land on time, crossed Long Bridg
over the Potomac and is standing
at the entrance to the yard.
The conductor has phoned to ge
clearance to a free track, Mr.. Par
sons has indicated the track, ant
the freight puffs noisily forward
from the darkness of the straight
away into the spotlighted brillianct
Of the labyrinthine yards.
It means to businesslike, practica
railroad men that another day ha!
begun for big, bustling Potomac
Yard; begun even though some Of
the other trains of last night ane
earlier in the morning have not yet
been fully remade and pulled Out
again for their destinations.
But to Washington, to the eastern
seaboard, and indeed to the United
States itself, it should mean LOT
more.
Machinery Operated.
It should mean, moreover 1t does
mean, that the main gateway be-
tween the North and South of the
Eastern United States is open anC
that the machinery of transit
through it is functioning without
hindrance.
1t presages that before the day
Is over more than 1000 cars, maybe
as many as 5000, will pass through
the gate bearing cargces without
which neither North nor South could
comfortably survive.
Ranking in Importance with the
executive Offices across the Potomac
in Washington which guide and ad-
minister national defense, this big
freight junction is keeping open the
communications which are impor-
tant in peace, but many times as
important in a great national emer-
gency. Moving through it daily are
all of the military essentials, from
gunpowder to Army trucks, from
pontoons to blankets.
Should the gate shut the Army
would be like a man with two legs
but no arms, or a man with two
arms and no legs. For example, the
soldiers of the Northern States would
have lots of guns, but little or no
butter-to use Nazi expression
while the soldiers of the South
would find that armies can march
well on their stomachs but can't very
well kill an enemy with stomachs
alone.
Second to no other Eastern freight
junction, either in size or equip
ment, Potomac Yard is aided in its
efforts to link north and south by
only two other transfer points-one
the yards at Hagerstown, Md, and
the other the Cape Charles ano
Norfolk yards, connected by ferry
Neither one nor a combination of
the two could take over the traffic
of Potomac Yard, should the un-
happy day arrive that saw TIT
paralysis of the latter.
Yard Supt. Elwood. King, who
started work when the yards were al
Quantico, has plenty of figures at his
flngertips to prove the indispensa-
bility of the vast domain of tracks
switches and repair shops ovel
which he erules. For example, he anc
the nearly 300 men who make up the
yard staff handled 1,450 ,292 cars last
year, about 100000 more than II
1889.
More than $1,000 cars rolled ovel
the 81 miles Of yard track las
month, or, in other words, about 81
trains day The speed with which
the trains are broken up and as
sembled can be gathered from thu
fact that it takes only about one anc
one-third minutes per car to mak'
one train into other trains.
Needs of Defense.
The yard has total capacity o
10000 cars, and should this eve
prove insufficient for the needs o
national defense-Well, the remed,
is simple AS Mr.. King remarked
with a snap of his fingers, "All W,
would have to do is put In NOR
tracks"
1t has facilities to care for perish
able freight and livestock. In tn
peak agricultural season from Apri
to August it Is not unusual to see a
one time as many as 900 cars loade'
with vegetables and fruits waiting OF
yard sidings for the shippers to de
termine what Northern market the
will send their produce to. Yard at
tendants keep the refrigerator car
constantly replenished with ice dur
ing this wait, and can receive. II
earc ar ope time
Government regulations Specif
that livestock must be watered an
fed during shipment. Not only
Potomac Yard equipped to do thi!
but also there are sheds to house tn
cattle If it is necessary to take ther
from the cars for any length of tint
When it was established in 190t
the freight yard rarely was host to
train longer than As or so cars. Wit
the advent of electric locomotive
and the new super-steam engine
and Diesels most trains are over 10
cars in length, and two of the south
bound tracks in the yard have bee
designed for trains of $50 cars, @
more than mile long.
The yard staff. from Office clerk
to men who uncouple cars, work o