^ Freight Terminals Aisd & \ Trains By John Droege A. WITH A NEW INTRODIICTION BV JOHN AltHSTRONC Freight Terminals And Trains BY JOHN DROEGE A. INTRODUCTION BY JOHN ARMSTRONG National Model Railroad Association This edition of Freight Terminals and Trains is a reproduction of the original second edition published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. This reprint includes a new introduction by John Armstrong. The original volume is from the collection of the Kalmbach Memorial Library of the National Model Rail- road Association. Introduction, copyright National Model Railroad Association, 1998 Printed and bound in the United States of America ISBN # 0-9647050-2-8 Front Cover Information: Chesapeake and Ohio's Peach Creek, West Virginia freight terminal, January 1946 Layout and Cover Design by Gordon Belt and Gregg Ames National Model Railroad Association 4121 Cromwell Road - Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The National Model Railroad Association and railroad fans everywhere, owe a debt of gratitude to Gregg Ames, former Director of our Kalmbach Memorial Library, for it was he who conceived the idea of reprinting this rare volume. He was not NMRA alone in his contributions. James McLain, Intellectual Property Counsel, did the copyright research. Gordon Belt, Library Research Specialist, designed and formatted the cover and introduction. John Armstrong was gracious in providing a thorough introduction. Jan Huffman and Steve Rosnick at Phillips Brothers Printers provided valuable support and assis- tance, particularly in working with difficult photographic repro- NMRA duction. Connie Rudder, Administrative Department Manager, provided coordination of the business-related func- tions. Thanks also to the Gene and Louise Colborn Memorial PubUcations Endowment for providing pre-publication funding of this volume, and of course, to Mr. Droege for the valuable information he set down in print so many years ago. Robert W. Charles, President National Model Railroad Association & Freight Terminals Trains An Introduction by John Armstrong John A. Droege -- An Appreciation Who would expect to find a railroader in a 1930s edition of Who's Who Among North American Authors'? Perhaps an academic personage turned company historian, but an operating man schooled only by rising through the ranks from telegrapher to general manager? Not likely.... Nevertheless, among the professors, novelists and clergymen there is one, identified in the accompa- nying biography only as "v.p. and gen. mgr." of an unidentified railroad. And who was this person? John Albert Droege, author of two clas- sic rail texts. Freight Terminals and Trains (1912, 1925) and Passenger Terminals and Trains (1917). Bom in 1861 in Deer Park, Maryland, Droege (pronounced Droh' ghee) was hired as a telegra- pher on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, right out ofhigh school. Booming around the South on the Chesapeake and Ohio; East Tennessee, Vir- & ginia Georgia (later. Southern Railway) and Norfolk and Western, he advanced steadily from operator, stenographer, yardmaster, dispatcher J. A. Droege and chiefdispatcher to trainmaster. In 1899. at the age of38, he moved north with his family to become trainmaster for the Lehigh Valley's busy Jersey City and Perth Amboy waterfront terminals. Within a year the Valley promoted him to superintendent ofits Pennsylvania and New York Division in the remote railroad town ofSayre, Pennsylvania. Five years later he moved to the New Haven Railroad as superintendent of its Providence Division. While there, he somehow found time to write a book on yards and terminals. The 450 page first edition ofFreight Terminals and Trains was published by McGraw-Hill in 1912. Five years later, while still general superintendent for the New Haven, he wrote the companion volume, Passenger Terminals and Trains. Just before his promotion in 1925 to general manager of all New Haven operations, Droege updated Freight Terminals and Trains. This second edition, reflecting changes in the freight transportation scene during the previous 12 years, was expanded to 573 pages. It included new chapters on main-line electrification and the early steps in integrating motor-truck transport with railroading. Butjust what do we know about the personality and outlook of this railroader/scholar/ author? His books reveal him to be a well-read and pragmatic man. His strong opinions are based on broad personal experience and are coupled with a deep sense ofresponsibility for the effect his work could have on the actions of others. As he notes in the book's preface, "in a field in which there is such diversity of opinion, and where 'standard practice' is yet to be established, it seems advisable to include all possible information and to quote freely from the views of experts, both those confirming and opposing the views ofthe author." A distinguishing feature of Droege's books is their balanced inclusiveness. As an expensive but indispensable element ofall railroads, terminals and the people who plan andoperate them, are clearly his focus. However, the operation ofthe freighttrains also receives considerable attention. In his writing, consideration for the railroad's bottom line is always evident. Droege evaluates such factors as the cost of unfortunate characteristics of an existing yard in terms of the capitalized cost of improvements that could be supported by engine, car and crew cost savings realized in operation. Dissertations on deficiencies and opportu- nities for improvement are made pleasantly readable by anecdotal, but to-the-point, illustrations from Droege's own experiences. Much ofthe challenge facing a railroad's operating forces is in meeting the demands of its traffic department. The challenge stems from deficiencies — in both quantity and quality — in the tools provided by the engineering and mechanical departments (tracks, rolling stock and facilities). Droege's extensive experience shows in his thoughtful and constructive criticisms, with primary blame often reserved for general management's misallocation ofresources. As a yardmaster, Droege knew how crucial it was that all incoming traffic be properly handled. As a chief dispatcher, he also knew how crucial the functioning of a single engine terminal could be to the flow of an entire region. As a division superintendent, he appreciated the importance ofa trainmasters resilience incoping with the crises that frequently occurred whenever traffic was at its heaviest and weather at its worst. In considering how arailroad should best be run, Droege left few skeletons in the closet. An across-the-board student of railroading, Droege evidently remained a hands-on manager as well. Modestly mentioned as "contributions of the author" are two incidents. First he kept expensive yard crews productive by arranging to swap switchers, on the spot, with freshly-fueled replacements. Second, he planned a somewhat daring elevated service track from which locomotives could drop their ashes directly into cars below. While it might be expected that Freight Terminals and Trains would be limited mostly to nut and bolt considerations, Droege recognized that people make a railroad go, as shown by his discussions of the qualities that distinguish good from merely adequate yardmasters, freight agents and engine terminal foremen. Without taking sides, he also presents arguments for and against the 30-year-old Brown system of discipline, based on merits and demerits, rather than suspensions. In his generally progressive tone, Droege\s attitude in such management issues closely resembles that of the Baltimore and Ohio's Daniel Willard. Perhaps because of his experience as a stenographer, Droege came down most sharply on the endless flow of letters and memoranda of query and explanation exchanged among railroad officers who, he felt should instead be thinking ofbetter ways to run the railroad. This plague he would fight by white-lining (marking for scrapping) typewrit- ers as well as outdated rolling stock. In 1929 Droege became a vice-president at the New Haven. A year later, he was given responsibility for the railroads New England Transport highway subsidiary. In 1931, after 51 years ofrailroading - 27 with the New Haven - he retired at the age of70. He died in Florida in 1961,just short ofhis 101st birthday. Railroading was truly fortunate to have had a man ofsuch vision and ability. Model Railroading via Droege What does Freight Terminals and Trains offer today's model railroader? We might as well face it - a big part ofcreating a model railroad is R&D. Research is conducted so as to understand what we are trying to represent in miniature. Development (typically by a series ofdisappointments - or even disasters - and eventual recoveries) is carried out to push us beyond our initial grasp of modeling. Droege's text provides us with a vast array ofinformation on what freight terminals and trains are like, why they are that way, and how railroaders can or should run them. For example, we are likely to look for track diagrams ofyards and terminals that can fit into our limited space. Droege leads off with a section on track construction and maintenance. He sets forth recommended practices with respect to turnout selection and geometry, track center spacing and ladder angles. We find that fanning out to the desired number of tracks in as short a distance as possible isjust as much a problem for the 12" = 1' people, as it is for the modeler. We are told how much sharpening the ladder angle can help, and we receive specific guidance on one of the biggest length-savers, "three-way" turnouts. Because of differences between the characteristics ofmodel and full-size rolling stock the numbers are different - No. 7s are considered the minimum - buttheprinciple still applies. As for yard track diagrams, the book presents 46 examples, some of "track plan" simplicity and compactness. More are representations of larger yards or terminal complexes. They are useful, but simply too big for direct use in laying out trackage of typical model railroadproportions. The accompanying text, however, greatly rewards the reader by explaining why the tracks and facilities they serve are so arranged. Freight Terminals and Trains suggests, by principle and example, what tracks can and can not be shortened, reduced in number, shared with other functions or omitted in reducing particular railroad opera- tions to basement size. Freight Terminals According to the dictionary, a terminal is "a railway facility, not necessarily at the terminus (end) of the line, for assembling, assorting, classifying and relaying trains." On the other hand, a freight terminal is defined as "an arrangement of terminal facilities for handling freight." Costly and non-revenue producing as the freight terminal is, without it there can be no railroad because there will be no profitable line-haul. By putting Terminals first in the title, Droege gives proper recognition to what he considers an often ignored part of the railroad plant. To compete with existing or proposed lines, tracks were extended toward new traffic sources. As a result, the railroad's resources were often too depleted to acquire expensive, close-in real estate and to install well-designed terminal trackage adequate for the anticipated increase in business. This taxed the ingenuity of the next generation of managers — even on the most successful lines — in coping with costly yard congestion. Doesn't that have a familiar ring, when in the absence of adequate staging trackage you have to sneak cars offshelves orout ofboxes to make up yourdream train for a few minutes ofrunning! Fig. 1 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Milwaukee, Wl freight terminal. May 14, 1919. (CM&StP Photo) Droege's recommendations for yard design are not presented in a 1-2-3, cookbook format, but rather expressed in more general and useful terms. Besides emphasizing the need during the planning phases forclose coordination between the engineering and operating departments, he points out the desirability of including input from the traffic department that is out lining up new business. Without the traffic departments input, the new facility could easily be designed and built based upon the current volume of traffic, rather than the anticipated future volume. This is simply long-term manage- ment. In modeling terms, it means keeping an eye on the car types in the stock of unbuilt kits when deciding what traffic source should go into that uncommitted comer area. A great strength of the book is its in-depth discussion of inland and waterside storage, loading, and unloading facilities. More than a third of the book is devoted to these facilities, from country cattle-chutes, freight houses and grain elevators to the most massive coal and ore piers. Plans and diagrams, many not readily available elsewhere, are detailed enough for track- and space-allocating purposes. With reasonable ingenu- ity, the complex structures themselves can be credibly modeled. But they're so BIG! As has often been noted, much of model railroading consists of condensing reality without losing its essence. With this material on too-big prototypes available, we have the incentive to allocate more space for such potent traffic- generators, but also the basis for determining the limits of "selective compression" in working out facilities that will fit on a layout while retaining essential operational