The Wilmington morning star., 1946-04-06
MORE ABOUT
QUIZ
3,
FROM PAGE ONE

FROM PAGE ONE
question and answer potentlalltles
embraced in the operation OF l5,-
500 passenger trains daily lone
leaving someplace for somewhere
every Sc seconds) in addition to
the almost limitless query field
that the entire railroad transporta-
ton systems offer for Mr.. and Mrs.
Curious America, it is evident that
railroad book of knowledge
would fill long-felt need.
To satisfy this curiosity on the
part of the travelling public, the AS
ISOLATION of American Railroads in
1912 issued "Quiz", an illustrated
booklet containing 400 questions
and answers about the railway in
dustry, its organization, Its capita
lization, it's operations, its accomp-
lishments, and the part the rail
roads play as providers of trans
portation service, as fields of in
vestment, as employers of l-bor,
as purchasers of the products OF
industry and as contributors in
taxes toward the support of feder-
al, state, county and local govern
mentS.
Offers Facts
"Quiz' goes even further in its
effort to provide accurate and sue
cinct facts about the great game OF
railroading and if not, it should be
must" on the shelves of every
school library in America. Throu
the courtesy of the Public Rela-
lions office of the Atlantic Coast
Line, a copy reached your r porter
the other day and already it is
we'll smudged with fingerprints ar
pencil marks. For it is interesting
from cover to cover and then
some.
Following five full pages of index
matter is a full page photograph
of a four-year-old boy in overalls
clutching the end of string to
which is attached his toy train,
gazing at mammouth DIESEL en-
CINE which towers many feet above
his curly head. Then HARDLY, is
question No. /.
Railroad Miles
Space will not permit of a full
story of the many interesting ques-
tons in and about railroading
which "Quiz" answers, so in a
quick thumb through here are
few of the highights that this
reporter, and you too, perhaps,
never knew until now, about the
many things that make railroads
Of today tick on time, or reason
ably SO.
AS of January /, 1s41, there were
233, 670 miles of railroad in the
United States-788, 672 in the world
as Of 1887. Railway mileage in the
United States is approximately II
times that of Great Britain, six
times that of France, six and one
half times that of Germany, foul
and one.half times that of Russia
and five and one-half times o.
India.
Long Trackage
And speaking of railway track
age, Quiz informs us that if al
the railway tracks in the United
States were so laid out, they V, oulc
form 131 parallel tracks connecti:-
New York with San Francisco
nice little task for the steel in
dustry to keep abreast of. Further
if all railway tracks in the Uniteo
States were extended in sill gle
line, it would take train, travel
ing at a rate of a mile-a-minute
2S8 days to run from one end OF the
track to the other.
Just an inkling of how the forest:
Of the United States contribute tt
railroading is contained in the an
swer to question No. 80 in Quiz
and which says that there are ap
proximately 1,O70, 100000 crossties
or one for every 21.2 feet of track
The cost of crossties vary in diff
ferent parts of the country depend
ing on the kind of wood, distance
hauled, etc., but the average cost
in 1910 was $1.29 each for treateo
ties and untreated 70 cents.
Straightest Road
Right here, at our own front
door, we have the beginning OF the
longest stretch of straight railway
track in the United States. Ac,
cording to Quiz, the Seaboaro
Air Line from Wilmington to Ham
let is the longest stretch of track
without a curve in the nation, q
distance of 1886 miles. The ACl
track between Waycross and Kin
derlou, Ca, is also a long. straight
stretch, totaling 60.10 curveless
miles.
Dispatching and regulation OF
train running time and other oper-
ationa1 functions, require the use
of 1894, DAT miles of telephone and
telegraph wires, enough to reach