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THE MODERN RAILROAD




[Illustration: READY FOR THE DAY'S RUN]




  THE MODERN RAILROAD


  BY EDWARD HUNGERFORD
  AUTHOR OF "LITTLE CORKY," "THE MAN WHO STOLE A
  RAILROAD," ETC.


  WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS
  FROM PHOTOGRAPHS


  CHICAGO
  A. C. McCLURG & CO.
  1911




  COPYRIGHT
  A. C. McCLURG & CO.
  1911

  Published November, 1911
  Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England


  PRESS OF THE VAIL COMPANY
  COSHOCTON, U. S. A.




  TO MY FATHER
  IN RECOGNITION OF HIS
  INTEREST AND APPRECIATION
  THIS BOOK
  IS DEDICATED




PREFACE


To bring to the great lay mind some slight idea of the intricacy and the
involved detail of railroad operation is the purpose of this book. Of the
intricacies and involved details of railroad finance and railroad
politics; of the quarrels between the railroads, the organizations of
their employees, the governmental commissions, or the shippers, it says
little or nothing. These difficult and pertinent questions have been and
still are being competently discussed by other writers.

The author wishes to acknowledge the courtesy of the editors and
publishers of _Harper's Monthly_, _Harper's Weekly_, _The Saturday Evening
Post_, and _Outing_ in permitting the introduction into this work of
portions or entire articles which he has written for them in the past. He
would also feel remiss if he did not publish his sincere acknowledgments
to "The American Railway," a compilation from _Scribner's Magazine_,
published in 1887, Mr. Logan G. McPherson's "The Workings of the
Railroad," Mr. C. F. Carter's "When Railroads Were New," and Mr. Frank H.
Spearman's "The Strategy of Great Railroads." Out of a sizable reference
library of railroad works, these volumes were the most helpful to him in
the preparation of certain chapters of this book.

E. H.

  BROOKLYN, NEW YORK,
  _August 1, 1911_.




CONTENTS


                                                                      PAGE
  CHAPTER I

  THE RAILROADS AND THEIR BEGINNINGS                                     1

    Two great groups of railroads; East to West, and North to
    South--Some of the giant roads--Canals--Development of the
    country's natural resources--Railroad projects--Locomotives
    imported--First locomotive of American manufacture--Opposition
    of canal-owners to railroads--Development of Pennsylvania's
    anthracite mines--The merging of small lines into systems.

  CHAPTER II

  THE GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE RAILROAD                               15

    Alarm of canal-owners at the success of railroads--The making of
    the Baltimore & Ohio--The "Tom Thumb" engine--Difficulties in
    crossing the Appalachians--Extension to Pittsburgh--Troubles of
    the Erie Railroad--This road the first to use the telegraph--The
    prairies begin to be crossed by railways--Chicago's first
    railroad, the Galena & Chicago Union--Illinois Central--Rock
    Island, the first to span the Mississippi--Proposals to run
    railroads to the Pacific--The Central Pacific organized--It and
    the Union Pacific meet--Other Pacific roads.

  CHAPTER III

  THE BUILDING OF A RAILROAD                                            34

    Cost of a single-track road--Financing--Securing a charter--
    Survey-work and its dangers--Grades--Construction--Track-laying.

  CHAPTER IV

  TUNNELS                                                               48

    Their use in reducing grades--The Hoosac Tunnel--The use of
    shafts--Tunnelling under water--The Detroit River tunnel.

  CHAPTER V

  BRIDGES                                                               56

    Bridges of timber, then stone, then steel--The Starucca
    Viaduct--The first iron bridge in the United States--Steel
    bridges--Engineering triumphs--Different types of railroad
    bridge--The deck span and the truss span--Suspension
    bridges--Cantilever bridges--Reaching the solid rock with
    caissons--The work of "sand-hogs"--The cantilever over the Pend
    Oreille River--Variety of problems in bridge-building--Points in
    favor of the stone bridge--Bridges over the Keys of Florida.

  CHAPTER VI

  THE PASSENGER STATIONS                                                80

    Early trains for suburbanites--Importance of the towerman--
    Automatic switch systems--The interlocking machine--Capacities
    of the largest passenger terminals--Room for locomotives,
    car-storage, etc.--Storing and cleaning cars--The concourse--
    Waiting-rooms--Baggage accommodations--Heating--Great
    development of passenger stations--Some notable stations in
    America.

  CHAPTER VII

  THE FREIGHT TERMINALS AND THE YARDS                                  107

    Convenience of having freight stations at several points in a
    city--The Pennsylvania Railroad's scheme at New York as an
    example--Coal handled apart from other freight--Assorting the
    cars--The transfer house--Charges for the use of cars not
    promptly returned to their home roads--The hard work of the
    yardmaster.

  CHAPTER VIII

  THE LOCOMOTIVES AND THE CARS                                         119

    Honor required in the building of a locomotive--Some of the
    early locomotives--Some notable locomotive-builders--Increase
    of the size of engines--Stephenson's air-brake--The workshops--
    The various parts of the engine--Cars of the old-time--
    Improvements by Winans and others--Steel cars for freight.

  CHAPTER IX

  REBUILDING A RAILROAD                                                138

    Reconstruction necessary in many cases--Old grades too heavy--
    Curves straightened--Tunnels avoided--These improvements
    required especially by freight lines.

  CHAPTER X

  THE RAILROAD AND ITS PRESIDENT                                       152

    Supervision of the classified activities--Engineering,
    operating, maintenance of way, etc.--The divisional system as
    followed in the Pennsylvania Road--The departmental plan as
    followed in the New York Central--Need for vice-presidents--The
    board of directors--Harriman a model president--How the
    Pennsylvania forced itself into New York City--Action of a
    president to save the life of a laborer's child--"Keep right on
    obeying orders"--Some railroad presidents compared--High
    salaries of presidents.

  CHAPTER XI

  THE LEGAL AND FINANCIAL DEPARTMENTS                                  170

    Functions of general counsel, and those of general attorney--A
    shrewd legal mind's worth to a railroad--The function of the
    claim-agent--Men and women who feign injury--The secret service
    as an aid to the claim-agent--Wages of employees the greatest of
    a railroad's expenditures--The pay-car--The comptroller or
    auditor--Division of the income from through tickets--Claims for
    lost or damaged freight--Purchasing-agent and store-keeper.

  CHAPTER XII

  THE GENERAL MANAGER                                                  187

    His duty to keep employees in harmonious actions--"The
    superintendent deals with men; the general manager with
    superintendents"--"The general manager is really king"--Cases
    in which his power is almost despotic--He must know men.

  CHAPTER XIII

  THE SUPERINTENDENT                                                   202

    His headship of the transportation organism--His manner of
    dealing with an offended shipper--His manner with commuters--His
    manner with a spiteful "kicker"--A dishonest conductor who had a
    "pull"--A system of demerits for employees--Dealing with
    drunkards--With selfish and covetous men.

  CHAPTER XIV

  OPERATING THE RAILROAD                                               220

    Authority of the chief clerk and that of the assistant
    superintendent--Responsibilities of engineers, firemen, master
    mechanic, train-master, train-despatcher--Arranging the
    time-table--Fundamental rules of operation--Signals--Selecting
    engine and cars for a train--Clerical work of conductors--A trip
    with the conductor--The despatcher's authority--Signals along
    the line--Maintenance of way--Superintendent of bridges and
    buildings--Road-master--Section boss.

  CHAPTER XV

  THE FELLOWS OUT UPON THE LINE                                        243

    Men who run the trains must have brain as well as muscle--Their
    training--From farmer's boy to engineer--The brakeman's
    dangerous work--Baggagemen and mail clerks--Hand-switchmen--The
    multifarious duties of country station-agents.

  CHAPTER XVI

  KEEPING THE LINE OPEN                                                256

    The wrecking train and its supplies--Floods dammed by an
    embankment--Right of way always given to the wrecking-train--
    Expeditious work in repairing the track--Collapse of the roof of
    a tunnel--Telegraph crippled by storms--Winter storms the
    severest test--Trains in quick succession help to keep the line
    open in snowstorms--The rotary plough.

  CHAPTER XVII

  THE G. P. A. AND HIS OFFICE                                          276

    He has to keep the road advertised--Must be an after-dinner
    orator, and many-sided--His geniality, urbanity, courtesy--
    Excessive rivalry for passenger traffic--Increasing luxury in
    Pullman cars--Many printed forms of tickets, etc.

  CHAPTER XVIII

  THE LUXURY OF MODERN RAILROAD TRAVEL                                 292

    Special trains provided--Private cars--Specials for actors,
    actresses, and musicians--Crude coaches on early railroads--
    Luxurious old-time sleeping-cars--Pullman's sleepers made at
    first from old coaches--His pioneer--The first dining-cars--The
    present-day dining-cars--Dinners, _table d'hote_ and _a la
    carte_--_Cafe_-cars--Buffet-cars--Care for the comfort of women.

  CHAPTER XIX

  GETTING THE CITY OUT INTO THE COUNTRY                                311

    Commuters' trains in many towns--Rapid increase in the volume of
    suburban travel--Electrification of the lines--Long Island
    Railroad almost exclusively suburban--Varied distances of
    suburban homes from the cities--Club-cars for commuters--
    Staterooms in the suburban cars--Special transfer commuters.

  CHAPTER XX

  FREIGHT TRAFFIC                                                      325

    Income from freight traffic greater than from passenger--
    Competition in freight rates--Afterwards a standard rate-sheet--
    Rate-wars virtually ended by the Interstate Commerce Commission
    classification of freight into groups--Differential freight
    rates--Demurrage for delay in emptying cars--Coal traffic--
    Modern methods of handling lard and other freight.

  CHAPTER XXI

  THE DRAMA OF THE FREIGHT                                             343

    Fast trains for precious and perishable goods--Cars invented for
    fruits and for fish--Milk trains--Systematic handling of the
    cans--Auctioning garden-truck at midnight--A historic city
    freight-house.

  CHAPTER XXII

  MAKING TRAFFIC                                                       355

    Enticing settlers to the virgin lands of the West--Emigration
    bureaus--Railways extended for the benefit of