What's in it for you? When you see a freight train go by don't you often wonder what's in it? You'd be surprised. If there's one thing that provides a cross-section of America's way of life, it is the freight car. Here you find apples and automobiles, bassinets and breakfast foods, carpets and corn, divans and dishes. But you name them...you use them. A major part of Union Pacific's activity is hauling freight. We've been doing this for almost a century and the years have brought us a high degree of skill. Ever conscious of our responsibility, we are constantly improving our transportation techniques. Today's Union Pacific service is better than at any other time in our history. This is true of freight transportation and of the service we provide for travelers -our DOMELINERS between Chicago or St. Louis and the Pacific Coast are proof of this! Next time you see a Union Pacific freight roll by ask yourself this question: "What's in it...for me?" NEWS & EDITORIAL COMMENT edited/DAVID P. MORGAN MARGIN NOTES ON MERGERS 1 FORGIVE us, please, for editori alizing in this light vein on what is a very serious business, but we feel that someone should note for posterity the plastic phrases and tactics born of current railroad merger maneuverings, as well as grease the track for any road which wants to merge or be merged but doesn't know how. Merger petitions, if nothing else, should lower the incidence of ulcers among railroad management, for they afford a valid and priceless opportunity for one railroad to express its opinion of another. Ordinarily, a railroad doesn't (at least in public) because (1) railroads are supposed to hang together instead of separately, and (2) it just isn't done. But in mergers, anything goes. In the B&O control case, for example, a C&O man is able to take apart "lump by lump" Central's argument that C&O control of B&O would cause ruinous diversions of NYC's coal traffic; and in the WP control case, Santa Fe is able to claim that SP isn't very popular in "its own back yard" since, in one survey, 64 per cent of AT&SF support came from SP territory vs. 1 per cent of SP support from AT&SF territory. We would submit these definitions to lead our readers through the undergrowth of merger verbiage: Voluntary mergers — This is the battle cry of the AB&C when it decides to merge with the XY&Z (with the latter's stockholder blessing) but wants to exclude the MN&O, which has shown up uninvited at the wedding seeking the solace of marriage for its big debt and passenger deficits. A balanced railroad system — The crusading shout of the big railroad with which nobody wants to merge because it didn't go through the wringer in the depression and is therefore still loaded with debt. Freely translated, the phrase means, "Don't let 'em do that to us, I.C.C.!" Rail competition is essential — Line of argument when the B&B Lines wants to take over the connecting C&C Road on an end-to-end type merger when the C&C is itself the objective of the A&A which parallels it. Rails must unite to fight nonrail competition Clarion call of the roads seeking parallel-type mergers. In the public interest - All-purpose phrase which can be employed to endorse or oppose any merger, depending upon whose roundhouse is being invaded. Equally useful for management, labor, I.C.C., or legislative spokesmen, regardless of their point of view. Loose, speculative assumptions the other guy's witness said. What Abandonment of many miles of track, the abolition of thousands of jobs, a major contraction of service, elimination of competition, and a monopoly realignment Expert - Your witness. Completely independent - Position of the XXX Railway concerning the fact that the YYY System has a 30 per cent stock interest in it. Line has good grades and curvatures but is limited to 35 mph - They've let it go to rack and ruin. Gargantuan empire The other roads' merger plan. Vital to national defense er proposal. E7 equals F3 - plus Your merg Passenger train-miles in the U. S. have fallen off almost a third since 1955-1956, when diesels began accounting for 90 per cent of such mileage. Result: too many 2000 h.p. passenger units are stored behind the shops. They won't satisfactorily mate with freight units, can't lug on grades, anyway, because of their gearing, can't be economically traded in on new hoods. A few roads such as Seaboard have operated passenger units on hotshots where tonnage and profile constituted no obstacle (and a few others such as Pennsy have employed A1A-A1A's in local freight and worktrain service), but most carriers have been tempted to junk their extra passenger units (P&LE sent six Alco 2000 h.p. cabs to the junkers in 1960). Bangor & Aroostook, with a pair of Electro-Motive 2000 h.p. E7 cabs and no more passenger trains, was in the same boat, but BAR decided to rebuild its units despite the fact that, as Executive VicePresident W. J. Strout said, "Everyone told us it couldn't be done." In its diesel shops at Northern Maine Junction, Me., the railroad with the assistance of an EMD team of engineers — revamped its No. 10 as follows: (1) gear ratio was changed from 57:20 to 62: 15 by increasing wheel diameter from 36 to 38 inches to allow clearance over the rail for the 62tooth gear wheels (and adjusting coupler height and lengthening truck brake rods to compensate); (2) electric control circuits were modified to give automatic voltage-current transistion down to 10 mph instead of 19 mph; and (3) the steam generator was removed (and additional ballasting installed to equal out the weight on drivers) and cab heater was repiped to take water from the No. 1 engine instead. On July 11 the rebuild took to the road with hotshot No. 57- and came through with flying colors. At speeds below 25 mph the E7 is now as efficient as a 1500 h.p. F3 freight unit - and at speeds above WE'LL DO BETTER I THINK one of TRAINS' sins of omission stems from our proneness at times to take too much for granted. But back on page 52 you'll see that Reader Reed is having none of it. What, he asks, are all those cables and hoses hanging between diesel units running in multiple? Good question —and we were obliged to furnish a detailed, illustrated answer. We'll try to tackle similar inquiries of general concern in like manner. . . . Photographers also take much of railroading for granted but not Howard Patrick, the man responsible for pages 40-41. We all talk about that old bugaboo - hotboxes - but he's committed to film a dandy example. I can't recall another such photograph in 21 years of TRAINS. - Volume 22 Number 2 CASCADE PASSAGE - 2 Kalmbach Publishing Co. 1961. Title reg. Pat. Off. Published monthly by Kalmbach Publishing Co., 1027 N. 7th St., Milwaukee 3, Wis., U.S.A. BRoadway 2-2060. Western Union and cable address: KALPUB Milwaukee. A. C. Kalmbach, President. Joseph C. O'Hearn, General Sales Manager. Ward Zimmer, Advertising Manager. TRAINS assumes no responsibility for the safe return of unsolicited editorial material. Acceptable photographs are held in files and are paid for upon publication. Second-class postage paid at Milwaukee, Wis. Printed in U.S.A. YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION, $6; 2 YEARS, $11; 3 YEARS, $15. For life, $60. Outside the Americas, 50 cents a year additional (for life, $5 additional). BI MEMBER 25 it is capable of producing its rated 2000 h.p. Sums up Strout: "We were able to convert a locomotive that might have been worth $18,000 to $20,000 on a trade toward a new $200,000 freight locomotive, for under $10,000. Our one remaining passenger locomotive will be converted as soon as possible." Passenger note ... Patrick B. McGinnis, outspoken president of Boston & Maine, says flatly of his RDC-powered Boston suburban service: "Termination . . appears to be not too far distant." The I-system Federal highway program has begun to steadily drain off B&M's daily passenger load - from 14,000 to 9000 in just 11⁄2 years. In August 1960 B&M carried 552,000 passengers and grossed $587,000 on them; in 1961 the August totals were 415,000 and $440,000 "The respectively. Sums up McGinnis: Boston & Maine believes that Boston cannot exist without mass transportation. It sees nothing being provided by the state or Federal governments to preserve that transportation but rather the planning of more roads and more freeways which will inevitably result in the elimination of all railroad passenger commuting service." STORY OF RR. LOGGING RAILROADS IN THE WOODS by John Labbe and Vernon Goe 260 Jam-packed pages 440 Wonderful pictures Full 81⁄2 x 11 inches in size ONLY $10.00 POSTPAID YOURS FOR 1962-GREAT NEW BOOKS TO COME Join our permanent registration group to receive announcements of HOWELL-NORTH BOOKS 1050 Parker Street, Berkeley 10, California ROBERT SPARK AUTOMATIC COUPLERS: When the Board of Management of the International Union of Railways (UIC) met in London at the end of September, one of the questions it had to study was automatic couplings. The question of automatic coupling has been coming up before the UIC since 1924. Research in the mid-'30's led the Board of Management at that time to state that the replacement of existing screw couplings by an automatic central coupler would not be justified from an economic standpoint or from the point of view of accident prevention. Since World War II the subject of automatic couplers has again been raised and in 1956 a special committee was formed to make a further study of the problem. Since then, the committee, in association with the Office for Research and Experiments (ORE), has drawn up four variants which have been submitted to manufacturers. These four types are as follows: 1. An automatic traction coupling which can be coupled to a screw coupling. 2. An automatic traction coupling Continued on page 13 |