BREAKAGE OF EGGS 'IN TRANSIT. 11 



tracks arc used for inbound and outbound traffic. A car delivered at 

 the station is unloaded by employees of the railroad, in gsings of such 

 number that they may work rapidly without interference in going 

 in and out of the car. In nearly every instance, as soon as the doors* 

 are opened, the cars are examined by an inspector, who notes and 

 reports the condition of the load. The method ordinarily pursued in 

 unloading egg cases is to use a 2-wheeled truck with 3 or 4 cases to 

 the truck load. Three cases to the load were seen more often than 4. 

 The cases were trucked to a designated section of the house, where 

 the consignment was placed in stacks, usually 5 cases high. At the 

 freight houses of one prominent railroad all cases of eggs have been 

 handled by hand for a number of years, each case being carried out 

 from the car to the stack by a man. All freight gangs are managed 

 by a general foreman and numerous sub foremen. 



In a freight yard, where freight is delivered, the car tracks are 

 usually arranged in pairs with driveways between to allow delivery 

 from either track direct to wagons or trucks. The handling in f regiht 

 yards is usually done by employees of the consignee. 



A station pier is a water-front terminal, and contains no railroad 

 tracks. It is usually a long pier, 600 or more feet, extending out into 

 the harbor, with doors along both sides to facilitate delivery from 

 the cars, which are on a boat, barge, or float tied up to the pier. 

 Cars intended for such a station are loaded on huge floats (PL V, 

 fig. 1), formerly made of wood, but now usually all steel. The floats 

 hold from 12 to 24 cars, with an equal number on either side. When 

 the float is to receive cars it is fastened to a transfer slip, an adjust- 

 able bridge capable of being raised or lowered. This operation, which 

 requires most careful handling, is accomplished without any notice- 

 able jolt or jar, so that damage at this point is rare. The floats are 

 conveyed by a tug from the slip to the pier, to the side of which they 

 are fastened securely, to await unloading (PI. V. fig. 2). The han- 

 dling on the station pier is similar to that at freight houses. In a 

 tide-water port, such as New York City, the gangway from the float 

 to the pier has varying inclines, depending upon the tide at the time 

 of delivery (PI. VI, fig. 1). When the incline is fairly steep, a buffer 

 of sand is used at the end of the plank on the pier to retard the speed 

 of the truck. While the incline is a hazard, loss on this account is 

 unusual. At high tide, egg cases may be delivered from the car on 

 the float to the pier by means of a sliding chute (PI. VI, fig. 2) . The 

 goods are stacked along both sides of the station pier, leaving a drive- 

 way down the center. 



The private sidings at which the investigators worked were numer- 

 ous and varied. Sometimes the cases were delivered at the side- 

 walk in front of a commission house, and conveyed on 4-wheeled 

 trucks to the house. At other places the cases were conveyed from 



