42 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



traiu at the time of the wreik were at diuuor in the wooileii 

 diner, which was the only one of the three head ears of the train 

 that was nol liadly wrecked. Isn't it possible that oven some 

 government ofticials "have been seen'' l)y the stoel trust? 

 Change of Attitude of Interstate Commerce Commission 



In a previous article on this subject, the drastic attitude of 

 the Interstate Commerce Commission enthusiastically favoring 

 steel cars for all passenger service has been recited. Commis- 

 sioner Clark of the Interstate Commerce Commission is the 

 authority, in a letter of recent date, for the statement that the 

 commission expressed approval in response to a request for an 

 opinion from the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee of 

 the I'uitcd States on the subject of sundry bills that had been 

 introduced looking to the adoption of steel equipment for pas- 

 senger train service. 



Commissioner Clark is still inclined to the view that in acci- 

 dents like the Fort Waj-ne wreck, fatalities and injuries to pas- 

 sengers are materialy less than they would be in trains of entire 

 wooden construction. His observation leads him to believe that 

 in eases of collision or derailment at high speed, fatalities ami 

 injuries occur principally from telescoping of cars, and from the 

 stronger car sheering off and crushing the superstructure of the 

 weaker car. Commissioner Clark alleges that he does not wish 

 it to be understood that his views or the views of the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission on this subject are conclusive, but person- 

 ally he is in favor of whatever class of construction affords the 

 highest degree of safety to passengers, and he believes this type 

 of equipment should be adopted and employed in passenger train 

 service. 



Becent Decision of Supreme Court 



On Oct. 30 the Supreme Court of the United States handed 

 out a unanimous opinion, which foreshadows the complete con- 

 trol of all railroads in the country by the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission, and virtually eliminates the control of state rail- 

 road commissions. The court held that hereafter all locomotives, 

 cars or other equipment on any railroad, which is a highway of 

 interstate commerce, must comply with the federal safety appli- 

 ance act. Compliance with this federal law is held by the court 

 to be compulsory on all railroads engaged in the transportation 

 of persons or freight from one state to another. Further it is 

 held that the cars or equipment of such railroads, even if engaged 

 in such transportation within the confines of a state, must be 

 considered as part and parcel of the road, and therefore com 

 pletely under the jurisdiction of the federal commission. 



Members of the Interstate Commerce Commission, who have 

 l»een embarrassed on numerous occasions by clashes of authority 

 with state commissions, are jubilant at the ruling of the Supreme 

 Court. Commissioner Frankliu K. Lane declares it means event- 

 ually that there is to be no dual control of interstate carriers. 



This decision has a very important bearing on the pending 

 legislation, making it obligatory for railroads to employ all-steel 

 passenger cars in lieu of wooden cars with steel under-frames. It 

 will be necessary to put up a light for a square deal for the 

 wooden ear before Congress and the Interstate Commerce Com- 

 mission, rather than to have to carry it through the legislatures 

 of numerous states. 



It is timely and important that plans shoubl be made to justly 

 present the claims for safety, efficiency, economy and comfort of 

 the wooden car on steel under-frame, that the majority of com 

 petcnt railway authorities believe to be the best type of passenger 

 equipment that has ever been devised, and to forcefully oppose 

 legislation that make obligatory the introduction of the ultra 

 modern type of all-steel death-traps that the steel trust is appar 

 ently attempting to foist on the i]ublic. 



Letters Having Important Bearing on the Question 

 TiiK CriirAfio. Itor-K Island & I'acifk: Haii.wav fn. 



Chlca[;o, Oct. 27, 1011.— Editor IIaiidwood RkcoiiI) : IlpplylnR to yours 

 of Dclober 24, T linvc to «iiy that while the Unck Islnnil linos linvc prob- 

 ably a larger pcr<cnliu;f of kIccI pasHcnBcr c(|ii!|iini iil limn iiny iillicr ronil 

 In the West. I nm not prepared to i;lvc a clcllnllc opinlr.n ii« to Its utility, 

 and I rorlalnly tidnk that rcKUlatlon on the siihjcct would Iw d.'cldcdiy 



premature as it has not yet been sufficiently tried out to determine 

 whether it is all tbut could be desired. In fact, many defects have de- 

 veloped that were not at first thought of. Yours very truly, 



H. U. MuDGE, President. 

 Chkaoo & North Westebn Eailwat Company. 



Chicago, Oct. 27. 1011. — PMItor Hardwood Record: In reply to your 

 letter of, the 24lh inst. in regard to steel cars. 



The Norlh-Wcstern Italhvay Company already has twenty-live per cent 

 of its passenger equipment steel. We believe, eventually, it is going to bi' 

 the standard, account of economy in construction, life of service and addi- 

 tional safeguard, but we think it is something that the railways should 

 be allowed to adopt voluntarily from time to time as their finances permit 

 rather than that they should be coerced. Yours truly, 



W. A. Gardner, President. 

 The Cincinnati Union Depot and Terminal Co. 



Ciniiniiali, Oct. 26, 1911. — Editor Hardwood Record: Your note of 

 the 24th instant, asking my opinion of the steel ear, is at hand. 



I have taken considerable interest in this subject, inasmuch as I spend 

 from one to two nights every week in a sleeper. I am not at all satis- 

 fied that thi' Pennsylvania made a wise move in substituting steel pas- 

 senger eguipmeut for the old cars. If the steel car is adopted, I think 

 it will be through a process of evolution, which will eventually develop 

 a car equally as desirable as the present wooden cars. 



The new cars of the Penn.sylvania are not nearly as artistic, and after 

 a ear has run for a period and gets out of plumb a little, it rattles. It 

 does not keep out the cold, and is particularly noisy when passing over 

 a bridge, where metal meets metal. 



I have not thought about the hygienic side, but the car that you can 

 not keep warm is not desirable. 



As to the safety question, I think this is still a debatable question. 

 Where bad accidents have occurred, it has not been particularly because 

 the cars were frame. 



I cite the Chatworth wreck — Niagara Falls excursion in 1888, about ten 

 miles east of Forest, 111. In that instance there were thirteen cars in 

 the train, six sleeper, and the balance day coaches, baggage car and the 

 private car of President Leonard next to the engine. President Leonard's 

 car was not jammed, hut the day coaches were caught between the weight 

 of the six sleepers and the engine ahead, which went through a bridge 

 and was literally ground to pieces, with eighty-seven killed and some one 

 hundred and fifty injiued. The records of the cars showed that they 

 were between twenty and thirty years old. 



The introduction of steel sleepers would only make the weight in the 

 rear heavier, and empliaslzes the point I am trying to bring out. 



My whole analysis of it is that steel cars will bo adopted eventually. 

 becau.se they will be cheaper than frame, and this is about the only excuse 

 that could he offered. 



In speaking with one of the Pennsylvania officials not long ago I was 

 told they were very much disappointed in their steel car equipment, and 

 at best they must go through an evolution of development to reach the 

 same state of perfection that had been obtained with the frame cars, 



Y'ours very truly, 



John E. Bi.eekman, Vice-President 

 The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Co. 



liichmoud, Va., Oct. 23, 1911. — Editor Hardwood Record; This com- 

 pany is now operating eight all-steel cars between Cincinnati and New 

 York, via I'ennsylvania Railroad from Washington. In more recent orders, 

 however, both for the Chesapeake and Ohio and Hocking Valley Railways, 

 we have purchased steel imder-frame coaches, built by the Pullman Com 

 pany, and which we think are possessed of equal strength as those of all 

 steel construction. Yours truly. 



George W. Stevens, Presiiient. 



Tui: Warash Railroad Co. 



Chicago, Oct. 30, 1911. — Editor Hardwood Record: The Pennsylvania 

 Uallroad went into the all-steel car because, with the danger of short- 

 circuiting electric currents In an electrically operated tunnel, there was 

 danger that wooden cars might be burned up. A horrible accident liap- 

 Itened In Paris a nuinl>er of years ago in this way. This reason-— and this 

 only — forced them to adopt an all-steel car. They have already foimd 

 verv serious iimbniltlis In connection with the operation of tliem. anil 

 other railroads in this country arc going into the nuUtcr much more 

 slowly, rndoubtedly. tin; steel under- frame car or woo<lcn nnder-franie car 

 strongly reinforced with steel, has come to stay: but such a <"ar is quite 

 as strong as an all-stoitl car. In other words, the body of the car, the 

 upi)er framework, etc.. adds nothing whatever to the strength of the car. 



It has already been learned that the all-steel car Is hottir In summer 

 and colder In winter than the wooden car. There Is a general Inipri'sslon 

 that wotHlen cars are structurally weak and that when In a train with 

 steel cars woulil soon be crushed. ThN. like most other geniM-jil state 

 ments. Is erroneous. There are wooden i-ai-s - and woinlen ears: in oihei 

 words, some woden cars are much stronger than others, and a thoroughly 

 wi'll'bullt wooden car with eight sills, es]M'elally one wlii'ri' the sills have 

 bei'n relnfor<'ed, Is as strung structurally as any steel car. The writer 

 knows of n case within the last year where a train of steel Pullman cars 

 was In a collision with a train of wooden cars and our of tin' wooden 

 cars telr-seoped ami weni iwo-tlilrds of tin' way through tin* steel ear. 



