Evening star., 1942-07-13
Fast Freight Trains
Speed Movement
OfWar Materials
Railroads Much Better
Prepared Than They
Were in 1917 and 1918
Bv FRANK 1. WELLER.

military and commercial service
than they we're in the last one.
1T won't happen again!" you hear
the bosses say when they recall the
war-tra ffic snarls of 1918. Still, they
know they must deal with possible
tie-ups if gas and rubber rationing
forces highway traffic to the rails,
Today trains run faster load more
freight, pull heavier loads and
operate on split second schedules.
Operators report this with degree
of caution-knoWing the jam they
could get into If suddenly they had
to take on large share of the traffic
of 1850 900 motor trucks and 27000.-
600 passenger automobiles. They are
trying to get priority on materials
for 10000 more freight cars this
year and $50, 900 in 1943, many more
locomotives and at least 500 new
passenger cars. With material short
ages hedeviling the War Production
Board, these wants may not all be
met.
Passenger Propect Worst.
So, says John J, Pelley, president
of the Association of American Rail-
roads, some day soon shippers may
not be able to get just the sort OF
car or service they want on the
day they want it, and travellers, in
large numbers, may not be able to
get the accommodations they desire.
At present the passenger prospect
Is the toughest Roads report 80
per cent increase In public demand
and an overall 40 per cent use of
extra-cost accommodation by the
armed forces TRAFFIC is becoming
terrific in the larger population
centers.
Hence, rail officials earnestly ask
the public to cooperate in schedul-
ing trips, and to forego week end
travel If possible. They have dis
continued special train service to
conventions, sports events, recrea-
ton spots and the like.
Meanwhile, the freight load on
railways has increased 30 per cent
since war began in Europe in 1899.
All must remember, says Joseph B.
Eastman, war transportation direc-
tor, that Uncle Sam is the most i'm
portant shipper in the world today.
The railroads are handling more
ton miles of freight than they did
at the 1918 war peak and doing 1t
with 564,136 fewer freight cars.
They moved one millions tons of
freight one mile every minute last
year.
Freights Make 60 M. P. H.
Remember the old wisecrack about
"being as slow as freight train?"
Well, these modern day engines
hump along at so miles an hour
dragging 125 loaded cars behind
them. The mile-long freight is
commonplace whereas, 20 years ago,
a 37-car train was dinger and did
about II miles an hour including
stops.
Railroadmen say they are much
more concerned about their ability
to move commercial freight than
they are about war traffic which.
after all, has been only about 10
per cent of the national total. Mr..
Eastman says carloadings may reach
1000 900 a week by October, which
would be about the weekly average
during the boom days of the middle
,20s.
The roads say they are prepared
to handle 10 per cent increase in
freight with present equipment, but
Mr.. Eastman says he expects q 20
per cent rise in national production
before 1943 and IL to Is per cent
jump in carloadings.
Yes, freight is going to move as
usual-but there may be great
deal of inconvenience and space
may have to be rationed in a way
which will mean on-essentials will
suffer long delays.
So Mr.. Eastman has begun to cut
the frills such as, for example, the
practice of shipping canned goods
tracking the same kind of pro-
vender from New York to Illinois.
Out goes the business of shipping
steel from Birmingham to st. Louis,
thence back to points in Mississippi
just so it can stay the payload of
the railroad on which it started
From now on this sort of traffic
must be shared with the most direct
lines.
Meantime, the tempo OF freight
movement has been pushed to the
ceiling. Overnight freight between
Jersey City and Pittsburgh travels
the SIS miles in 765 minutes. The
merchandise special leaving Chicago
for Memphis every night does SGT
miles in ITO minutes, and some pas
senger trains cover the 226 miles
between Washington and New York
in 2l5 minutes.
Just as an idea of what freights
are hauling: 1t would require
$4,000 five-ton trucks-a column
nearly 1000 miles long-to carry on
the highways an ordinary days
tonnage on just one division of one
railroad serving Pittsburgh.
The roads hope to handle wal
traffic without serious halt to COM
mercial traffic. In the first five
months of l94l, they transported
100000 troops and more than 49,
100000 tons of Army freight over
more ton-miles than for like pc
Rod during the last war and did il
with 625 900 fewer cars.
Maximum daily requirements fol-
service camp of 100000 men
officials say. can be shipped in less
than 500 carsloads a day. M. ]
Gormley of the Association o.
American Railroads says the entire
war effort may not require more
than $4,000 carloads of freight {
week, or less than per cent of th'
weekly carloadings in 1899.
Organized to Split Second.
approximately 5000 freight car
sre rolling every day to keep VI
- with the armed forces-but there i
a total of 1,7276l4 freight cars an,
there will be 100000 soon if tn
Government grants priority t,
build new ones.
Railway men say they can trans
port an entire Army division $500
mem 1000 miles in Is hours
o,,I cap Y,opve trojn1oo