PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD INFORMATION

MAY luued from the General Offices, Broad Street Station, Philadelphia

The Future of Air Transport from a Railroad Viewpoint

AN INTERVIEW WITH w. w. ATTERBURY, PRESIDENT, PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD

(Reprinted by permission of "The Saturday Evening Post")

"Aviation Comes Out Of A Tail Spin," by Wesley Winans Stout, the leading article in "The Saturday Evening Post" for May 8, 1926, recapitulates the chief facts regarding the devel­ opment of commercial aviation in Ameri-ca, and particularly the impetus received from the recently projected plans for the wide extension of the air mails. Included in the article is the following interview with General Atterbury, setting forth his views respecting . the progress of air transport, its scope and adaptability, particularly with reference to the mail and ex­ press services in this country:

No ONE knows the future of air the future. It will, I believe, create transport. Twenty-five years a new field chiefly of its own. In­ ago no one knew the future of motor deed, to the limited extent to which cars. Virtually everyone, including it is now being used in this country, the railroads, failed completely to it actually is creating such a field. anticipate the development of the Instead of being a competitor of the, automobile and its extraordinary railroads, I think it will prove a effect on the social and commercial valuable ally in co-operation with life of the nation. I, for one, hope them as an auxiliary form of service. that we shall not repeat the error Moreover, it seems to me not only with air transport. possible but probable that the rail­ I do not think of air transport as roads will themselves find it desir­ a competitor of the railroads in any able to utilize aircraft directly, just important degree, either now or in as they now are findi ng it desirable May, I926 2 PENNSYLV ANl1 RAILROAD May, I926 INFORMATION 3 to make use of motor trucks and busses despite continued high cost. But such traffic always will represent only a negli­ of such a train as the Broadway Limited, European railroads ever developed a gen­ on the highways to supplement the service there is a tangible prestige to the traveler eral train service comparable in conven­ on their rails. gible fraction of the total carried by rail. The bulk of traffic will continue to move in riding it. ience, adequacy and comfort to that which Nation Unified by Railroads links most of our larger cities by one-night by rail because of the vastly greater In the Passenger Field Journeys. I economy. That the United States is one vast The twenty hours from New York and I mention these matters for the purpose Scope of Air Transport economic unit, the greatest economic unit eighteen hours from Philadelphia are of making perfectly clear my ability to in history, is due to our rail transportation Traffic analysis of the government­ littl'e more than an overnight ride. The consider air transport entirely apart facilities more than to any other one fac­ owned and operated air mail shows that, airplane today might cut the time in half, from competition, with rail service. I tor. Our country and its people continue without selling effort, air transport has but it still would be an overnight journey, am exceedingly anxious to see it en­ to grow rapidly in wealth, purchasing attracted business in the following order: necessarily in much less comfort and couraged to develop along proper lines power, living standards and numbers. The Banks, bond houses and other financial serenity. No doubt we shall have air pas­ and in proper co-ordination with the demand-the necessity of the times-is institutions; export and import houses; senger routes in the proximate future, but railroads. for greater speed in transportation and manufacturers and distributors operating I think the vast bulk of passenger travel The Pennsylvania Railroad, which uses communications. That we are able each on a national scale through dealers or will continue to move by rail. The limited the air mail for some of its official corres­ year to afford new luxuries is one of the \ branch agencies; publishers and adver­ growth of air passenger traffic in Europe pondence, has been most happy to co­ inevitable benefits resulting from trans­ tisers conducting nation-wide sales cam­ is not a criterion, of course. The relative operate with the Government in the de­ portation. Luxuries, in turn, become ne­ paigns; transport and communication smallness of European countries, and the velopment of the New York-Chicago-San cessities. The most striking instance of I corporations, and lastly the general succession of national boundaries, custom Francisco air route. Our part is getting this in history is the story of the motor public. houses and passport annoyances are ob­ the mail at the New York end to and from car. In short, whatever in the shape of mail stacles which we escape. Nor have the the air terminal at New Brunswick, New It is not discouraging to admit that air­ or express can, for business reasons or per­ plane operation is expensive today. So sonal luxury desire, justify extra charge were railway and motor car operation in for speed, can be solicited by air transport. their infancy. Like progress may be ex­ This, however, also indicates how highly pected in aeronautical engineering. specialized the air field must be by com­ parison with the total of rail-borne Luxury and Speed Demands transportation. Air transport is just beginning to wean I Experience with Extra Fares itself from military service. It scarcely has had a chance to give more than a flash I know from our own experience that of what it can do. Generous acknowledg- 1 the charging of an extra fare on a passen­ ment of what may be discovered or de­ ger train, with the accompanying extra veloped in the near future, however, does · speed and luxury, inevitably is followed not prevent proper conservatism in mak­ by increased traffic on that train. A very ing the statement that air transport will large proportion of all passenger travel remain probably for a considerable time between New York and Chicago and New an extra-high-cost transport, drawing its York and St. Louis moves by extra-fare patronage partly from the luxury desire trains. The first were inaugurated in 1881 and partly from the demand for extra between Chicago and New York. The speed that marks as peculiarly American effect was an immediate increase in our whole social and economic structure. travel on those trains, and the increase That we shall-perhaps more quickly than has been particularly notable in recent we now realize-come to look upon it as a years. THE "BROAD WAYS" OF EARTH AND AIR Apart from the added speed and luxury Airplane of the United States Mail Service circling abov e the tracks of the Pennsy lvania Rail­ necessity seems to me extremely likely, road. The train shown is the "Broadway Limited," the Pennsylvania's twenty-hour extra fare de luxe express between N cw York and Chicaa:o. 4 PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD May, I926 May, I926 INFORMATION

Jersey. Though this is only a small part of It is my thought and that of my asso­ the total work, it is an essential one, and ciates that the railroads should not stand "B urbanking" in Railroad Service we are doing it whole-heartedly. We wel­ in the way of this, but should encourage BY JULIEN L. EYSMANS come the establishment of other routes in it, and our management has so placed Vice President in Charge of Traffic our territory and additional opportunities itself on record. to co-operate. Wherever an air service may Anything which stimulates invention, Addressing the members and guests of the Denver, Col., have junction with the Pennsylvania, we industry and commerce necessarily in­ Chamber of Commerce on "Pennsylvania Railroad Day," desire to make this junction effective in creases the general volume of trade and April 23, 1926, Mr. Eysmans, said: the practical interchange of traffic. traffic throughout the country; and in this larger prosperity the railroads, like .I, It would be a delightful experience to dentown, N. J., later extending to N, Should Embrace High Grade Express all other economic agencies, have their come here on almost any mission and, York Bay at South Amboy. It weigh I will go a step further and say that the share. They should play the part of lead­ lacking a mission, it would be pardonable eleven tons, burned cord wood and carri Pennsylvania Railroad management is ers, never of obstructionists, in the. march I• to find an excuse. You have a beautiful its water supply in a whiskey hogshe not only willing but desires to see the air of progress. For all we know to the con­ city in amagnificent setting, perhaps the on a tiny flat car. It developed about t service broadened to embrace high-grade trary, air transport may em brace the most inspiring of any large city in Amer­ horse power of a small automobile oft express traffic. The ten new air routes will most important field of progress which ica. As for your climate and sunshine, present day. The standard heavy freig be privileged to carry express or any other this generation is to see. I can only say that the best way to appre­ locomotive now used by the Pennsylvar traffic they can obtain as long as they per­ Nor must we forget our national de­ ciate them is through the sudden trans­ Railroad weighs nearly 200 tons; carri form the mail service properly. The original fense, in which it already has been demon­ ition and completeness of change felt in 37,000 pounds of coal and 14,000 gallo New York-Chicago-San Francisco route strated that aircraft is one of the domi­ the few days' journey from the East of water in its tender, and at its me also probably will be turned over to pri­ nating factors. Patriotism joins with busi­ which I have just taken. efficient speed develops 4,000 horsepow, vate agencies under contract, and thus be ness sense in demanding encouragement In less than a century we have multipli A Century of Railroad Progress available for high-grade express traffic. in every legitimate way. the efficiency and power of locomoti, I am not going to talk to you in any more than one hundred times. Th General Policy Toward Auxiliary Services technical or formal way about transport­ measures progress in the physical sense. ation. You all know what it means. If Our ideas about the obligations In "The Saturday Evening Post" article pendent owners, who remain the operators. there had been no railroads there would service-about what railroads owe t from which the foregoing interview with In the passenger field, the Pennsylvania have been no Denver, at least nothing public and what the public owes the ra General Atterbury is quoted, the further Railroad has thus far, on one or two oc­ even remotely approaching the Denver roads-have undergone changes fully explanation is made that the Pennsylvania casions, been obliged to initiate bus lines of today. Our country's population would radical as the mechanical and other ir Railroad, though·:entirely friendly to the of its own in order to protect throµgh be largely where it was in colonial times, provements in the physical plant. proper development of commercial avia­ traffic. It may be forced to do so in other along the seacoast, the Great Lakes and All of the early railro'ads were pure tion, does not desire to operate airplanes instances for like reasons, and is prepared the few naturally navigable rivers. The individual affairs. They were built to ser itself any more than it desires to operate for such contingency. ,, interior would still be the prairies and the local needs and interests. The Penns) motor buses or trucks. The company, It is not, however, the policy of the I Great American Desert that used to be vania, for instance, was planned to pr General Atterbury adds, is approaching Pennsylvania Railroad, either directly or in the school geographies, and we would tect the trade of Philadelphia from ti the question of its relationship to air trans­ indirectly, to enter the general business of /rl have two frontiers, the Allegheny Moun­ competition of New York on the nor port in the light of its experiences, up to transportation either by motor buses or tains on the East and the Coast Range on and Baltimore on the south. The idea the present time, in the bus and truck motor trucks, but to do so only when such the West. nationwide service was a later develo field. auxiliary operation is required to conserve Railroads operated by steam are just ment. There was no regulation in ti Though directly utilizing trucks quite existing rail.road business, or in the inter­ completing their initial century of exist­ early days. Competition was intem extensively in the handling of less-than­ est of greater economy or public conveni­ ence. The first locomotive to pull a train often to the point of destruction. Rat carload freight, the company does not itself ence in connection with railroad opera­ on any part of what is now the Pennsyl­ were what the railroad could get or ·wh operate the vehicles. The service is per­ tions. It views air transport as presenting vania Railroad was known as the "John the shipper would pay, according ·formed altogether by contract with inde- similar problems requiring a similar policy. Bull" and ran between Camden and Bor- which at the moment had the upper han -· ~ v• J) - 7 - -

Out of this situation there arose two As the distribution of taxes is never in mind that railroad managers of a past ernmental regulation was inaugurated conflicting and directly opposed ideas re­ even, the necessary result of government generation faced a severe struggle against Another is that relations between th1 garding policies of railroad management. ownership and operation would be that unwise and excessive regulation. If, on railroads and their patrons are mor, One became famous, far too famous in a part of the people would be paying for occasions, some of them became overzeal­ friendly than ever before, with less liti fact, under the name of "the public be the transportation service of the other ous and went to extremes in maintaining gation and fewer protests to the com damned" theory. The other never had a part-a situation opposed to the principles the rights which they represented, time m1ss1ons. popular name but I think might properly on which our government is founded, and has demonstrated these truths: First, that The third is that the employes are bet be described as "the public be pampered" contrary to the basic ideas of justice and the owners of the railroads are entitled to ter satisfied and on better terms with th theory. sound economics recognized everywhere. not less than a fair and reasonable return managements than at any time in ou A generation or more ago these two op­ on their property; second, that the man­ generation, and perhaps in the history o Gist of the Two Extremes posing ideas of railroad management were agement of these properties must be ex­ railroads. Under "the public be damned" idea a in active and violent conflict. Today in ac­ ercised by the directors and officers; and The fourth and perhaps most importan railroad was a purely private enterprise tual practice we see very little evidence of third, that these directors and officers of all, since it is the thing we are all stri, to be run as its owners saw fit, and solely either one of them-practically none at all must be allowed reasonable business dis­ ing for, is that the quality of service rer and entirely in their selfish interests. in their crudest and most extreme forms. cretion in their administration. dered by the railroads in the last two c They could charge what they pleased, dis­ Using Burbank's Methods In other words, it is perfectly proper three years has been the best ever knowr criminate bet.ween different users, give while at the same time the volume c How has this come about? The answer and wise that the Government should secret rebates, purchase patronage and traffic handled has been greater than eve is that we have "cross-bred" our ideas on regulate the railroads for the purpose of political favor, use any gauge of track all of these subjects and have produced insuring fair treatment to the public, but before. they wanted, any style of equipment, and, hybrid strains, higher and better in type, regulation must not be expanded into the Reflected in Operating Records in general, do absolutely as they saw fit just as Luther Burbank, whose recent field of management, administration or with the property and its operation. It This latter achievement is striking] death the whole country is lamenting, operation; at the same time rates must be was one of the cardinal tenets of this exemplified in the fact that last year d produced greatly improved hybrid strains sufficient to insure a fair investment theory that the government had no more railroads handled the largest freight mov, of plants, vegetables and flowers by cross­ return. right to control railroad practices than it ment in their history, with no gener ing the original forms. His process of con­ The nucleus of truth in "the public be had to control the management of the car shortage at any time and very fe trolled evolution-i. e., evolution con­ pampered" theory is that the public is corner grocery. local shortages, with no embargoes sa1 trolled by human intelligence-was that entitled to the best transportation which It was in opposition to this theory that those caused by the wholly abnormal co: of eliminating undesirable characteristics modern facilities permit, at the lowest "the public be pampered" idea first took ditions in Florida, and with a dependab and retaining those that were useful and rates which will properly safeguard the shape and was later carried to great ex­ ity, regularity and promptness of servi, beautiful. The bad were bred out and the rights of the owners, and under terms and cesses. In its most extreme forms it de­ which actually permitted ~hanges of 2 good bred in. So I think that without conditions which shall guard against un­ nied the right of the owners to any assur­ most revolutionary character in the met fully realizing it we have been "Burbank­ just discrimination in either rates or qual­ ance of a return at all upon their property, ods of doing business. ing" our ideas on the relations between ity of service. or even a fair price in the event of govern­ So you can see that the "Burbankin1 the railroads and the public, and will con­ fl ~ mental purchase. It held that rates could Not,able Results Obtained process has been applied to the physic tinue to do so as we make further progress. always be reduced at the same time that We must all of us admit that we have service as well as to the two opposi1 service was being improved and wages Origin of the Conflicting Theories made real and gratifying progress in rec­ theories of public relationships. We a raised. Faced with the obvious fact that Both the "public be damned" and the onciling these two opposing ideas and in constantly breeding out the poor a1 such combinations are impossible under "public be pampered" theories were, of salvaging out of each the basic truth which breeding in the good, constantly impro corporate management, it demanded gov­ course, hopelessly wrong and unworkable. each contains. What have been the re­ ing the strain and producing service bett ernmental ownership and operation in Yet, in considering their origin, it is pos­ sults? I can point to at least four. and better adapted to the needs of o order that the losses might be borne out sible to ul)derstand some of the ideas and One is that there is greater harmony times. The ultimate goal is perfect set of taxes, and in that manner transporta­ motives out of which they arose, though between the railroad regulative authori­ ice, which we may perhaps never rea< tion service be furnished to the public at later distorted into extravagant and fan­ ties and railroad managements today than but can surely approach nearer and near less than cost. tastic forms. For instance, we must bear th.ere has ever been at any time since gov- and must always keep in view as our ide 8 PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD May, r926 Famous Trains 50 Years Old "Federal Express" and "Colonial Express," inaugurated in Centennial Year, mark their Golden Anniversary THE "Federal Express" and the necting Railroad, of which the Hell Gate "Colonial Express," the through Bridge forms a part. The Connecting night and day trains between Washing­ Railroad, with the tunnels, now provides ton, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston, an all-rail link between the New Haven operated jointly by the Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania lines. It was opened Railroad and the New York, New Haven April 1, 1917, and the "Federal Express" and Hartford Railroad, were fifty years was the first regular passenger train to old on May 8, 1926. be operated over the Hell Gate Bridge. These trains, among the most famous The through service, as originally es­ in the world, were established May 8, tablished, only actually extended between 1876, primarily to accommodate travel Boston and Philadelphia. The night train from New England to the Centennial Ex­ carried sleeping cars as far as the latter hibition held in Philadelphia that year. city, arriving early in the morning in time They provided the first through passenger to permit change to a Washington train service between New England points and arriving at the national capital at noon. Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. A few months later, however, sleeping car Now Use "Hell-Gate Bridge Route" service was extended all the way to Wash­ The arrival of their golden anniversary ington, so that through passengers did not emphasizes the fact that during the pres­ have to make the change. The daylight ent summer the "Federal Express" and run was extended through to Washington "Colonial Express" will again carry trav­ in 1890. In addition, through sleeping elers to a great international exposition cars are now operated on the "Federal in Philadelphia, the Sesquicentennial. Express" between Boston and Miami. When the service was first inaugurated, Lines Originally Traversed and for many years thereafter, the cars Originally the route between Boston of these trains were transferred between and Washington included portions of the the terminals of the Pennsylvania and lines of six railroads beside the steamer New Haven systems by floating them route. They were the Old Colony between around the lower end of Manhattan Is­ Boston and Providence, the New York, land on a specially equipped transfer Providence and Boston between Provi­ steamer operated between the Har,lem dence and New London, the New York, River and Jersey City. Later, a route New Haven and Hartford from New Lon­ utilizing the Poughkeepsie bridge over the don to the Harlem River, the transfer Hudson was adopted for a time. steamer route from Harlem River to the Since 1917, the "Federal" and "Colon­ Pennsylvania Station at Jersey City, the ial" expresses have been operated via the Pennsylvania Railroad from Jersey City "Hell Gate Bridge Route," consisting of to Philadelphia, the Philadelphia, Wil­ the Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels under mington and Baltimore from Philadelphia the Hudson River, New York City, and to Baltimore, and the Baltimore and Po­ the East River, and the New York Con- tomac from Baltimore to Washington.