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Railroads in Two Wars 1916-1918 1940-1942 Association of American Railroads
Railroads in Two Wars 1916-1918 1940-1942 Association of American Railroads 38 pages. 1940s?
I N THE FIRST WORLD WAR, as in the present World War, the railroads played an essential -indeed, a vital - part in the fighting power of the nation.
Railway performance in this war, however, differs tremendously from that of the First World War.
A few of the many changes and contrasts between railroading today and railroading in the period of the First World War are here shown in graphic form.
The graphs are based upon two three-year periods. The first starts with 1916, when the United States undertook its program of preparedness, and extends through 1917 and 1918, when the United States was an active belligerent in the First World War. The second period starts with 1940, when the United States entered upon its national defense and lend-lease program, and extends through 1941 and 1942, when the United States was an active belligerent.
One great difference - perhaps the greatest of all - cannot be shown by so simple a presentation. This is the difference in the smoothness and dependability of the flow and movement of freight. In the First World War there was almost constant congestion. In the present war, a far heavier load has been moved freely and without delay or congestion of consequence.
The railroads are doing a bigger and better job today because of years of preparation for emergency, beginning as long ago as 1923, when they embarked upon their ten-billion-dollar program of rehabilitation and modernization. They have built increased capacity and efficiency into their plant. They have improved their methods of operation and their organization for cooperation among themselves.
But what the railroads have done in this war has been accomplished, not by the railroads alone, but by the joint work of railroads and shippers and receivers of freight.This cooperation was first organized nearly twenty years ago through the Shippers Advisory Boards, collaborating with the Car Service Division of the Association of American Railroads. With the beginning of the defense program, this cooperative organization was expanded by the addition of more than 500 local car efficiency, or "vigilance," committees of shippers, set up to assist in the prompt loading, unloading and release of freight cars.
The Association of American Railroads has added to its Car Service Division a Military Transportation Section, to work in closest cooperation with the armed forces; a Port Traffic Section, to deal with the flow of export traffic through American ports; a Passenger Car Section, to deal with the greatly increased problems of the joint use of passenger cars; and a Tank Car Section, to deal with the special problems created by the vastly multiplied demand for rail transportation of oil.
From government agencies, notably the Office of Defense Transportation and the Interstate Commerce Commission, charged with special responsibilities for transportation matters, there has been a most effective and helpful cooperation. The government agencies using transportation also have assisted in its efficient production.
This is especially effective in the case of the government departments which are the largest users of transportation-the Transportation Division, Bureau of Supplies and Accounts of the Navy Department, and the Army Transportation Corps, which has become by far the greatest shipper the world has ever known.
To show the various changes and contrasts on a uniform scale, the figures for 1918, the peak traffic year of the First World War period, have been shown as an index of 100, with figures for other years shown to scale above or below this index.
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