Chapter I: 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'hôte_ and _a la
carte_--_Café_-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 emigrants--The
first continuous railroad across the American continent--
Campaigns for developing sparsely settled places in the West--
Unprofitable branch railroads in the East--Development of
scientific farming--Improved farms are traffic-makers--New
factories being opened--How railroad managers have developed
Atlantic City.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE EXPRESS SERVICE AND THE RAILROAD MAIL 369

Development of express business--Railroad conductors the first
mail and express messengers--William F. Harnden's express
service--Postage rates--Establishment and organization of great
express companies--Collection and distribution of express
matter--Relation between express companies and railroads--
Beginnings of post-office department--Statistics--Railroad mail
service--Newspaper delivery--Handling of mail matter--Growth of
the service.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE MECHANICAL DEPARTMENTS 388

Care and repair of cars and engines--The locomotive cleaned and
inspected after each long journey--Frequent visits of engines to
the shops and foundries at Altoona--The table for testing the
power and speed of locomotives--The car shops--Steel cars
beginning to supersede wooden ones--Painting a freight car--Lack
of method in early repair shops--Search for flaws in wheels.

CHAPTER XXV

THE RAILROAD MARINE 404

Steamship lines under railroad control--Fleet of New York
Central--Tugs--Railroad connections at New York harbor--Handling
of freight--Ferry-boats--Tunnel under Detroit River--Car-ferries
and lake routes--Great Lakes steamship lines under railroad
control.

CHAPTER XXVI

KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH THE MEN 418

The first organized branch of the Railroad Y. M. C. A.--
Cornelius Vanderbilt's gift of a club-house--Growth of the
Railroad Y. M. C. A.--Plans by the railways to care for the sick
and the crippled--The pension system--Entertainments--Model
restaurants--Free legal advice--Employees' magazines--The Order
of the Red Spot.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE COMING OF ELECTRICITY 432

Electric street cars--Suburban cars--Electric third-rail from
Utica to Syracuse--Some railroads partially adopt electric
power--The benefit of electric power in tunnels--Also at
terminal stations--Conditions which make electric traction
practical and economical--Hopeful outlook for electric
traction--The monorail and the gyroscope car, invented by Louis
Brennan--A similar invention by August Scherl.