say, three hundred miles of road in his charge, has perhaps as
great a variety of occupation, and as many different questions
of importance depending upon his decision, as any other business
or professional man in the community. Fully one-half of his time
will be spent out-of-doors looking after the physical condition
of his track, masonry, bridges, stations, buildings of all kinds.
Concerning the repair or renewal of each he will have to pass
judgment. He must know intimately every foot of his track and,
in cases of emergency or accident, know just what resources he
can depend upon, and how to make them most immediately useful.
He will visit the shops and round houses frequently, and will
know the construction and daily condition of every locomotive,
every passenger and baggage car. He will consult with his Master
Mechanic, and often will decide which car or engine shall and
which shall not be taken in for repair, etc. He has to plan and
organize the work of every yard, every station. He must know the
duties of each employee on his pay-rolls, and instruct all new men,
or see that they are properly instructed. He must keep incessant
and vigilant watch on the movement of all trains, noting the
slightest variation from the schedules which he has prepared, and
looking carefully into the causes therefor, so as to avoid its
recurrence. The first thing in the morning he is greeted with a
report giving the situation of business on the road, the events of
the night, movement of trains, and location and volume of freight
to be handled. The last thing at night he gets a final report of
the location and movement of important trains; and he never closes
his eyes without thinking that perhaps the telephone will ring and
call him before dawn. During the day in his office he has reports
to make out, requisitions to approve, a varied correspondence, not
always agreeable, to answer. Added to this, frequent consultations
with the officers of the Traffic Department, or with those of
connecting lines, in reference to the movement of through or local
business, completely fill his time.
It is not to be wondered at that such a man gives but slight
attention in many cases to the matter of car mileage. He frequently
satisfies himself by arranging a system of reports from his
agents to his office that give a summary each twenty-four hours
of the cars of every kind on hand at each station; and leaves the
distribution and movement of the cars in the hands of his agents.
He will give some attention to the matter whenever he goes over his
road on other and more pressing duties. Occasionally he will even
take a day or two and visit every station, inquiring carefully as
to each car he finds; why it is being held, for what purpose, and
how long it has stood. Then, satisfied with having, as he says,
"shaken up the boys," he will turn his attention to other matters,
and let the cars take care of themselves. When the monthly or
quarterly statements are made up, and he sees the amount of balance
against his road for car mileage, he gives it but little thought,
regarding it as one of the items like taxes, important, of course,
but hardly one for which he is responsible.
His General Manager, however, will note the car-mileage balance
with more concern; and, looking into the matter carefully, he will
discover that the remedy is to put the Car Accountant into the
Transportation Department; thus at once interesting him in the
economical use of the equipment, and also placing in the hands of
the Superintendent the machinery he needs to enable him to promptly
control and direct the use of all cars.
The Car Accountant's Office may properly be divided into two main
branches--mileage and record. The computation of mileage is made
in most cases directly from the reports of each train. These
reports are made by the train conductors, and give the initials and
number of each car in their train, whether loaded or empty, and the
station whence taken and where left. To facilitate the computation
of mileage of each car, the stations on the road are consecutively
numbered, beginning at nought--each succeeding station being
represented by a number equivalent to the number of miles it is
distant from the initial station; excepting divisional and terminal
stations, where letters are used, to reduce the work in recording.
The conductors report the stations between which each car moves by
their numbers or letters. So that all that is necessary for the
mileage clerk to do is to take the difference between the station
numbers in each case, and he has the miles travelled by that car.
The mileage of each car having been so noted on the conductor's
report, it is then condensed, the mileage of all cars of any given
road or line being added together, and the results entered into the
ledgers. At the close of the month these books are footed, and a
report is rendered to each road in the country of the mileage and
amount in money due therefor, in each case; and settlements are
made accordingly, either in full or by balance. This is purely the
accounting side of the Car Accountant's Office.
There remains the record branch, equally important, and to the
operating department far more interesting. This consists broadly
in a complete record being kept of the daily movement and location
of every car upon the road, local or foreign. At first sight this
may seem to be a difficult and complicated operation, but, in
fact, it is simple. The record is first divided between local and
foreign; local cars being all cars owned by the home road, foreign
being all those owned by other roads. The local books are of large
size, ruled in such a way as to allow space for the daily movement
or location of each car for one month, and admit of twenty-five
or fifty cars being recorded upon each page. The record books for
foreign cars are similarly ruled, a slight change being necessary
to allow for the numbers and initials of the foreign cars, which
cannot well be arranged for in advance.
The train conductors' reports are placed in the hands of the record
clerks, each one recording the movements of certain initials, or
series of numbers, under the date as shown by the report; the
reports being handed from one to another until every car has been
entered and the report checked.
[Illustration: A Page from the Car Accountant's Book.[27]]
In addition to the conductors' train reports, the Car Accountant
receives reports from all junction stations daily, showing all cars
received from or delivered to connecting roads, whether loaded or
empty, and the destination of each. He also has reports from all
stations showing cars received and forwarded, from midnight to
midnight, cars remaining on hand loaded or empty; and if loaded,
contents and consignee, and also cars in process of loading or
unloading, and reports from shops or yards showing cars undergoing
repairs, or waiting for the same. In fine, he endeavors to get
complete reports showing every car that either may be in motion or
standing at any point on his road. All of these are entered on his
record books. The station reports check those of the conductor, and
_vice versa_. It will thus be seen that the record gives a complete
history of the movement and daily use of each car on the road.
In case of stock and perishable freight, or freight concerning
whose movements quick time is of the utmost importance, this
record is kept not only by days but by hours; that is, the actual
time of each movement is entered on the record. This is done by a
simple system of signs, so that an exact account of the movement,
giving date and hour of receipt and delivery, can be taken from the
record. This is frequently of the greatest value.
In addition to this, it is customary now for nearly all roads to
exchange what are known as "junction cards." They are reports from
one to another giving the numbers of all cars of each road passing
junction stations. These junction reports when received are also
carefully noted in the record, so that an account is kept in a
measure of the movement of home cars while on foreign roads, and
their daily location.
It would be difficult, and beyond the scope of this article, to
tell of the great variety of uses these records are put to. They
serve as a check upon reports of the mileage clerks, insuring their
accuracy. The junction reports serve also in a measure to check
the reports of foreign roads. Then, at frequent intervals, a clerk
will go over the record and note every car that is not shown to
have moved within, say, five days, putting down on a "detention
report" for each station the car number and date of its arrival.
These reports are sent to the agents for explanation, and then
submitted to the Superintendent. In a similar manner reports will
be made showing any use locally of foreign cars. From the record
can be shown almost at a glance the location of all idle cars,
information that is often very valuable, and that when wanted is
wanted promptly. Also, from the record, reports are constantly
being made out--"tracers," as they are termed--showing the location
and detention of home cars on foreign roads. In turn, foreign
tracers are taken to the record, and the questions therein asked
are readily answered by the Car Accountant.
Whenever possible, the distribution of empty cars upon the line
should be under the direct supervision of the Car Accountant.
Where this matter is left to a clerk in the Superintendent's
office, or, as has often been the case, is left to the discretion
of yardmasters and agents, the utmost waste in the use of cars
is inevitable. An agent at a local station will want a car for
a particular shipment. If he has none at his station suitable
he will ask some neighboring agent; failing there, he will ask
the Superintendent's office, and frequently also the nearest
yardmaster. Some other agent at a distant station may want the
same kind of car; orders in this way become duplicated, and the
road will not only have to haul twice the number of cars needed,
but very often haul the same kind of cars empty in opposite
directions at the same time. This is no uncommon occurrence even on
well-managed roads, and, it is needless to say, is most expensive.
Where the cars are distributed under the direct supervision of the
Car Accountant, he has the record at hand constantly, and knows
exactly where all cars are, and the sources of supply to meet every
demand. Not only that, but every improper use of cars is at once
brought to light and corrected.
The _theory_ of the use of foreign cars is that they are permitted
to run through to destination with through freight, on condition
that they shall be promptly unloaded on arrival at destination;
that they shall be returned at once to the home road, being loaded
on the return trip if suitable loading is available; but by no
means allowed to be used in local service, or loaded in any other
direction than homeward.
The _practice_ of many agents, and many roads, too, unfortunately,
is hardly in keeping with this theory. Agents, especially if not
closely watched, are prone to put freight into any car that is at
hand, regardless of ownership, being urged to such course by the
importunities of shippers and, at times, by the scarcity of cars.
Frequently such irregularities are the result of pure carelessness,
agents using foreign cars for local shipments, simply because they
are on hand, rather than call for home cars which it may take
some trouble and delay to procure. In this way at times a large
amount of local business may be going on on one part of the road in
foreign cars, while but a few miles distant the company's cars may
be standing idle. The Car Accountant from his record can at once
put a stop to this, and prevent its recurrence.
[Illustration: Freight Pier, North River, New York.]
Another valuable use to which the Car Accountant's Office may be
put is to trace and keep a record of the movement of freight,
locating delays, and tracing for freight lost or damaged. By a
moderate use of the telegraph wire the Car Accountant can keep
track of the movement of special freight-trains concerning which
time is important, and so insure regularity and promptness in their
despatch and delivery. From the mileage records may be obtained
the work of each engine in freight service, the miles run, the
number of loaded and empty cars hauled; and by considering two,
or perhaps three, empty cars as equivalent to one loaded car, the
average number of loaded cars hauled per mile is obtained. The
information is often valuable, as on many roads the ability of a
Superintendent is measured to a considerable extent by the amount
of work performed by the engines at his command.
In many other ways the resources of the Car Accountant's office
will be found of the greatest value to the Superintendent. When the
office is once fully organized and systematized, and all in good
working order, the Superintendent will find that his capacity for
control of his cars has been more than doubled, while the demands
on his time for their care has been really lessened. He has all the
information he needs supplied at his desk, far more accurate than
any he was ever able to secure before, and in the most condensed
form; while, at the same time, he will find his freight improving
in time over his line, his agents will have cars more promptly
and in greater abundance than ever, and last, and most gratifying
of all, his monthly balance-sheets will show a steady decrease in
the amount his road pays for foreign-car mileage, until probably
the balance will be found in his favor, although his business and
consequent tonnage may have increased meanwhile.
III.
USE AND ABUSE OF CARS.
A package of merchandise can be transported from New York to
Chicago in two days and three nights. This is repeated day after
day with all the regularity of passenger service. So uniform is
this movement, that shippers and consignees depend upon it and
arrange their sales and stocks of goods in accordance therewith.
Any deviation or irregularity brings forth instant complaint and
a threatened withdrawal of patronage. This is true of hundreds
of other places and lines of freight service. To accomplish it,
there is necessary, first, a highly complicated and intricate
organization, and, next, incessant watchfulness.
[Illustration: Hay Storage Warehouses, New York Central & Hudson
River Railroad, West Thirty-third Street, New York.]
The shipper delivers the goods at the receiving freight-house
of the railway company. His cartman gets a receipt from the
tallyman. This receipt may be sent direct to the consignee, or
more frequently is exchanged for a bill of lading. There the
responsibility of the shipper ends. His goods are in the hands of
the railway company, which to all intents and purposes guarantees
their safe and prompt delivery to the consignee.
The tallyman's receipt is taken in duplicate. The latter is kept
in the freight-house until the freight is loaded in a car, and is
then marked with the initials and number of the car into which the
freight has been loaded. After that it is taken to the bill clerk
in the office, and from it and others is made the waybill or bills
for that particular car.
Where the volume of freight received at a given station is large,
it is customary to put all packages for a common destination, as
far as possible, in a car by themselves, thus making what are
termed "straight" cars. This is not always possible, however, or if
attempted would lead to loading a very large number of cars with
but light loads. So that it becomes necessary to group freight for
contiguous stations in one car, and again often to put freight for
widely distant cities in the same car. These latter are known as
"mixed" cars.
We will assume the day's receipt of freight finished, and most of
the cars loaded. About 6 P.M. the house will be "pulled," that
is, those cars already loaded will be taken away, and an empty
"string" of cars put in their place. An hour later, this "string"
will in turn be loaded and taken out, and the operation repeated,
until all the day's receipt of freight is loaded. Meanwhile other
freight will have been loaded direct from the shippers' carts on to
cars on the receiving tracks. For all cars, there is made out in
the freight-office a running slip or memorandum bill, which gives
simply the car number, initials, and destination. These are given
to the yardmaster or despatcher, and from them he "makes up" the
trains.
To a very great degree, the good movement of freight depends
upon the vigilance of the yardmasters and the care with which
they execute their duties. In an important terminal yard, the
yardmaster may have at all times from one to two thousand cars,
loaded and empty. He must know what each car contains, what is its
destination, and on what track it is. To enable him to do this,
he has one or more assistants, day and night. They, in turn, will
have foremen in charge of yard crews, each of the latter having
immediate charge of one engine. The number of engines employed will
vary constantly with the volume of the freight handled, but it
is safe to assume that there will be at all times nearly as many
engines employed in shifting in the various yards and important
stations on a line as there are road engines used in the movement
of the freight traffic.
The work of the yard goes on without intermission day and night,
Sundays as well as week-days. The men there employed know no
holidays, get no vacations. The loaded cars are coming from the
freight-houses all day long, in greater numbers perhaps in the
afternoon and evening, but the work of loading and moving cars
goes on somewhere or other, at nearly all times. As often as the
yardmaster gets together a sufficient number of cars for a common
destination to make up a train, he gathers them together, orders a
road engine and crew to be ready, and despatches them. In the make
up of "through" trains, care has to be exercised to put together
cars going to the same point, and to "group" the trains so that
as little shifting as possible may be required at any succeeding
yard or terminal, where the trains may pass. To accomplish this,
a thorough knowledge of all the various routes is necessary, and
minute acquaintance with the various intermediate junction yards
and stations.
The train once "made up" and in charge of the road crew, its
progress for the next few hours is comparatively simple. It will
go the length of the "run" at a rate of probably twenty miles per
hour, subject only to the ordinary vicissitudes of the road. At
the end of the division, if a through train, it will be promptly
transferred to another road crew with another engine, and so on.
Each conductor takes the running slip for each car in his train.
He also makes a report, giving the cars in his train by numbers
and initials, whether loaded or empty, how secured; and detailed
information in regard to any car out of order, or any slight mishap
or delay to his train. These reports go to the Car Accountant.
The running slips stay with the cars, being transferred from hand
to hand until the cars reach their destination. At junction yards
where one road terminates and connects with one or more foreign
roads, a complete record is kept, in a book prepared especially
for the purpose, of every car received from and delivered to each
connecting road. A copy of this information is sent daily to the
Car Accountant.
[Illustration: Freight Yards of the New York Central & Hudson River
Railroad, West Sixty-fifth Street, New York.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: "Dummy" Train and Boy on Hudson Street, New York.]
A road is expected to receive back from a connecting line any car
that it has previously delivered loaded. It becomes very necessary
to know just what cars have been so delivered. Without such a
record a road is at the mercy of its connections, and may be forced
to receive and move over its length empty foreign cars that it
never had in its possession before, thus paying mileage and being
at the expense of moving cars that brought it no revenue whatever.
The junction records put a complete check on such errors, and by
their use thousands of dollars are saved annually.
* * * * *
To still more expedite the movement of through freight, very
many so-called fast freight lines exist in this country, as, for
example, the Traders' Despatch, the Star Union, the Merchants'
Despatch Transportation Company, the Red, the White, the Blue, the
National Despatch, etc. Some of these lines are simply co-operative
lines, owned by the various railway companies whose roads are
operated in connection with one another. Their organization is
simple. A number of companies organize a line, which they put in
charge of a general manager. Each company will assign to the line a
number of cars, the quota of each being in proportion to its miles
of road. The general manager has control of the line cars. He has
agents who solicit business and employees who watch the movement
of his line cars, and report the same to him. He keeps close
record of his business, and reports promptly to the transportation
officer of any road in his line any neglect or delinquency he may
discover. The earnings of the line and its expenses are all divided
_pro rata_ among the roads interested. Such a line is simply an
organization to insure prompt service and secure competitive
business, and the entire benefit goes to the railway companies.
[Illustration: (Logo on a box-car)]
Other lines are in the nature of corporations, being owned by
stockholders and operating on a system of roads in accordance with
some agreement or contract. Others, again, are organized for some
special freight, and are owned wholly by firms or individuals, such
as the various dressed-beef lines and some lines of live-stock
cars. These are put in service simply for the mileage received for
their use, and in many cases the railway companies have no interest
in them whatever.
The movement of "straight" cars and "solid" trains is comparatively
simple. But there is a very large amount of through freight,
particularly of merchandise, that cannot be put into a "straight"
car. A shipper in New York can depend on his goods going in a
straight car to St. Louis, Denver, St. Paul, etc., but he can
hardly expect a straight car to any one of hundreds of intermediate
cities and towns. Still less is it possible for a road at a small
country-town, where there are perhaps but one or two factories, to
load straight cars to any but a very few places. To overcome this
difficulty, transfer freight-houses have to be provided. These are
usually located at important terminal stations.
[Illustration: Coal Car, Central Railroad of New Jersey.]
To them are billed all mixed cars containing through freight. These
cars are unloaded and reloaded, and out of a hundred "mixed" cars
will be made probably eighty straight and the balance local. This
necessarily causes some delay, but it is practically a gain in time
in the end, as otherwise every car would have to be reloaded, and
held at every station for which it contained freight.
[Illustration: (Logo on a box-car)]
The variety of articles that is offered to a railway company for
transportation is endless. Articles of all sizes and weights are
carried, from shoe-pegs by the carload to a single casting that
weighs thirty tons. The values also vary as widely. Some cars will
carry kindling wood or refuse stone that is worth barely the cost
of loading and carrying a few miles, while others will be loaded
with teas, silks, or merchandise, where perhaps the value of a
single carload will exceed twenty-five or thirty thousand dollars.
The great bulk of all freight is carried in the ordinary box-cars,
coal in cars especially planned for it, and coarse lumber and stone
on flat or platform cars. But very many cases arise that require
especial provision to be made for each. Chicago dressed beef has
made the use of the refrigerator cars well known. These cars are
also used for carrying fruit and provisions. They are of many
kinds, built under various patents, but all with a common purpose;
that is, to produce a car wherein the temperature can be maintained
uniformly at about 40 degrees. On the other hand, potatoes in
bulk are brought in great quantities to the Eastern seaboard in
box-cars, fitted with an additional or false lining of boards, and
in the centre an ordinary stove in which fire is kept up during the
time the potatoes are in transit.