GO! S. P. LINES Freight Cars and Freight Rates E ACH year our country's production grows. More freight has to be moved more steel, more fruit, more grain, more And with this increase comes the insistent call for more cars, The railroads of the United States expended more than a billion, three hundred million dollars in 1923 for new equipment and facilities. Southern Pacific Company has bought many new and powerful locomotives, and thousands of cars. It is laying heavier rail and heavier rock ballast required by the improved equipment, and is double tracking many miles of line. These and other expenditures to increase the efficiency of its plant for the service of the public run into scores of millions of dollars. These outlays in hard cash by the railroads represent new capital borrowed from the investing public. If the railroads are to go on building up their plants and buying the equipment which they must have to transport the country's industrial and agricultural products without delays or car shortages, their earnings must be steady and sufficiently large to attract investors to railway securities. Transportation costs are as real as production costs in any industry. Railroad investments must be comparable with other investments to attract new capital. These fundamental facts must be recognized in the making of rates. The act of investment is a voluntary one and if the credit of the railroads is impaired, the investor will go elsewhere with his money and there will be no increase of facilities for shippers. LINES LET'S The Bulletin is Published Monthly in the Interest of and Distributed Free to the Employes of the Southern Pacific Company. Contributions Are Invited and Should be Addressed to the Editor, Bureau of News, 65 Market Street, San Francisco, Cal. How an 8600-mile Freight Train Was Moved I Pacific System Attains Still Greater Efficiency in Operation. Record Breaking Amount of Traffic in 1923 Handled Without Congestion IMAGINE a freight train 8600 miles long, extending from Portland, Ore., all around the United States through Chicago, Buffalo, New York, Washington, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and San Francisco back to Portland, with about 400 miles of cars left over! If all the freight cars loaded on the Pacific System in 1923 were coupled up with the locomotives necessary to move them and a proportionate number of cabooses, they would make this "round the United States" train. Truly a remarkable train, giving some idea of the enormous task performed by Southern Pacific Company in handling this traffic! For this traffic was moved quickly and efficiently, without congestion or general car shortage. A total, of 1,030,906 cars of freight were loaded on the Pacific System in 1923, the greatest loading in the history of the company. This was an increase of almost 200,000 cars over the loading of 1922 which was 851,942 cars. No Waste Movement In order that this traffic might be moved without delay or congestion, Southern Pacific operations had to be carried on with precision and no waste movement. Full use of facilities had to be obtained. Southern Pacific did this and its performance is another proof of the company's leading position in the transportation industry. While there was a shortage of refrigerator cars during the peak of the grape shipping season, it did not approach in extent the shortage of last year, and the shortage did not appear until a greater tonnage of grapes had been moved to the east than in any previous year up to that time. Southern Pacific's record showed an improvement over that of 1922, but in comparing operating performances_of various years, as far as Southern Pacific Company is concerned, it must be remembered that Southern Pacific's record has been consistently good, showing improved efficiency from year to year. When it became apparent early in the year that 1923 would be a period of unusually heavy traffic, the railroads of the country joined in a campaign to speed up transportation so that the traffic load could be handled to the best interests of the shippers. Certain definite high standards of operating efficiency were fixed and then the railroads attempted to reach these standards, which were: Standards Set An average load of 30 tons per car, an average of 30 miles as the daily car movement, ninety-five per cent of freight cars in serviceable condition by October 1, the start of the season of heaviest traffic and eighty-five per cent of locomotives in serviceable condition and not needing heavy repairs by October 1. Southern Pacific bettered these standards in every respect except in the average carload, and its accomplishment may hardly be measured by the goal set for all the railroads because a large part of the tonnage carried by Southern Pacific is light loading perishables, a full car of which averages about 14 tons. In only one month, that of January, 1923, did Southern Pacific have less than 85 per cent of its locomotives in serviceable condition and not requiring heavy repairs, and in only three months were less than 95 per cent of freight cars on line in serviceable condition. Serviceable Equipment The percentages of locomotives in serviceable condition and not requiring heavy repairs and of freight cars in serviceable condition for the twelve months of 1923 compared with the 12 months of 1922 are as follows: Locomotives Freight Cars 1923 1922 1923 1922 84.59 87.29 95.30 93.99 86.64 86.03 94.34 92.99 86.08 85.69 94.69 93.60 85.75 87.24 95.74 93.61 38.75 87.90 96.51 94.35 89.03 88.70 96.40 94.52 87.17 96.82 92.13 87.07 96.45 92.24 Jan. Feb. Month Mar. Apr. May June July 90.77 Aug. 91.53 were The figures on locomotives compiled as of the last day of the month and those for freight cars were compiled as of the first day of the month, the figures for January showing percentage of locomotives in serviceable condition as on January 31, and the percentage of freight cars in serviceable conditions as of February 1. Mileage and Loading The Pacific System bettered the national goal this year in the average miles per freight car per day by 12 miles a day and last years average beat it by 6.8 miles per day. In heavy carloading Southern Pacific as stated before did not reach the national goal of 30 tons per car but in view of the conditions under which Southern Pacific operates, the heavy carloading records of the System for both 1922 and 1923 were remarkably good ones. The record by months for 1922 and 1923 in It will be noticed that in only one month of 1923 did the average carload fall below the average of 1922, and that was in October, when the amount of light loading perishable freight carried showed an unusual increase over that of the same month of 1922. It will also be noted that in October Southern Pacific attained the remarkably high mark of 47.3 miles per car per day, or 17.3 miles greater than the national goal. Definite figures on other phases of operating performance have not been completely compiled as this article is written, but another improvement in performance that has been noted is the fact that the gross locomotive load averaged 3 per cent better in 1923 than in 1922. This indicates that locomotives were made to haul more tons than in the previous year. Meet Needs of Shippers Southern Pacific has to haul many empties for long distances in order to provide cars for its shippers and this is an adverse factor in obtaining high locomotive loads, and this year there was an unusually heavy movement of empties from Southern California territory to Oregon. In other words, cars after being unloaded in Southern California and not needed there had to be hauled across two major mountain ranges in order to supply the needs of Oregon shippers, who had a large volume of outgoing freight. Southern Pacific System in 1923 made many improvements to its plant and increased its equipment. These improvements and additions aided in increasing efficiency of operation. The same effort for increased efficiency is being made this year, and improvements are being steadily made over the system. More equipment is being received, including new locomotives and cars, and more is being ordered. "Good and satisfactory railroad transportation and good land at reasonable prices amid pleasing surroundings are the greatest aid to land settlement."-Wm. Sproule. |