cast again. An Executone "music vitamin" system would relieve passengers' nervous tension, make the public happier, and even cut down on petty complaints, such as those caused by jangled nerves. Special libraries of Executone references as to records to be used have been carefully selected for industrial use. The contribution of music at railroad terminals certainly would through planned, selected programs, relieve fatigue, and render both the working crews and the public in general less accident prone. It is an effective industrial safety measure. Perhaps, by way of suggestion, it might also be applicable at railroad yards and freight stations. I would like to mention that the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, at their many shipyards, have installed comprehensive Executone systems. I cite their shipyards, in particular, located in Staten Island, New York, N. Y., and feel confident that an inspection of the service they have enjoyed for quite a long period will bear out the statement that Executone helps to speed up production, improve personnel morale and efficiency, and to reduce operating costs. The Southern Pacific Railroad, on their standard Pullman cars, use an Executone system between the kitchen and the dining car. The St. Louis Terminal Railroad uses Executone from the tower to the switch enginemen. The New Jersey Central Railroad uses Executone in their executive offices. In passing, may I mention that an Executone system can be used for communication between strategic points to about 10 miles and more, on a straight run of wire. The considerations of your association in this matter, and that also of the radio technical planning board, will be very much appreciated. For your information and that of your associates I beg to enclose illustrated printed data covering just a few of Executone distinctive model designs and systems. At any time, I am available to you and your associates for further detailed information. I wish to thank you for your personal courtesies, and hope it will be my privilege and pleasure to be of service, through the Executone Co., to the Association of American railroads. Very sincerely yours, EXHIBIT No. 396 EXECUTONE Co., THE MINNEAPOLIS & ST. LOUIS RAILWAY CO., Senator H. M. KILGORE, Let me say at the outset that there is no mystery in this rehabilitation. It was brought about, first, by realizing that we couldn't pull cars with brokendown locomotives such as are shown in the photographs, nor could we pull cars with any locomotives that had cold water. In my experience, I have found that no organization can get anywhere without enthusiasm, and my first job here was to build up enthusiasm. Second, we built up our traffic department and got our men interested in calling on the thousands of small shippers all over the country who could not afford traffic managers of their own, and assist them as much as possible and get them "M. & St. L. minded." We also opened up seven new traffic offices at various strategic locations in the country where we were not already represented. The undersigned happens to know a great many of the important shippers, and for several years, devoted 10 days to traffic solicitation, and then 10 days to railroad operations, which included the redesign and modernization of 35 locomotives. I am happy to tell you that I have as fine an organization as will be found on any railroad in the United States, and to them must go most of the credit for what has been done here. We have been sincere and earnest with the shippers in trying to give them much better service than they ever had before from this carrier. We initiated an industrial development department that has located several hundred industries on the rails of the Minneapolis & St. Louis, among which is one of the largest open strip mines in the country. At the moment, the General Mills Cor poration, one of the largest milling companies in the world, is locating two additional industries on our line, and other industries are being located on our rails continually. All of these industries have had the effect of raising the on-line carloadings about 20,000 cars per year more than they were in 1935, when the undersigned took over. It might also be of interest to you and your committee in connection with research and development, that I have long been an advocate of reducing the weight of freight car equipment, or in other words, cutting out as much of the nonpay load as possible. At the moment, we are considering the purchase of some boxcars built with aluminum bodies, which will reduce the weight of a standard boxcar from about 45,500 pounds to about 33,000 pounds. In a train of 100 cars, this would eliminate 600 tons of nonpay load. The transition from the heavier cars to the lighter cars may take a long time, due to the investment in the present useful equipment, but it is an end to be desired. May I not also say for the benefit of the subcommittee, in closing, that what has happened here may not be a criterion for other railroads for the very definite reason that every railroad has different local operating conditions, and different other characteristics, and please understand that anything I have said here applies only to our experience on the Minneapolis & St. Louis, and not to any other carrier. There is one more thought that I would like to leave with you, and that is that the larger part of the rehabilitation program on the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad was completed before December 7, 1941, such as modernization of the locomotives, replacement of obsolete freight car equipment, a large portion of the ballasting, and quite a large portion of the new rail was laid, all of which put us in a position to handle the war traffic which developed after December 7, 1941. There may not be much in this letter or the memorandum that will be helpful to your committee, but I am very happy to give it to you. I am also pleased to extend to you an invitation to be my guest on a trip over the railway so that you might get a first-hand view of the territory we serve and the kind of a freight railroad we operate. Believe me, Very sincerely yours, MEMORANDUM L. C. SPRAGUE, President. MINNEAPOLIS & ST. LOUIS SYSTEM The present Minneapolis & St. Louis system has 1,408 miles of main and branch line railway in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and South Dakota. The most important main line extends southerly from St. Paul through Minneapolis and Albert Lea, Minn.; Mason City, and Marshalltown to Oskaloosa, Iowa, where it turns easterly to Peoria, Ill., a total distance of approximately 500 miles. The other main lines extend southerly from Oskaloosa to Albia, and easterly to Tracy, Iowa; southwesterly from Albert Lea through Fort Dodge to Des Moines, Iowa; westerly from Hopkins, Minn., through Watertown and Aberdeen to Leola, S. Dak.; and southerly from Winthrop, Minn., to a connection with the Albert Lea-Des Moines line. These latter main lines are secondary, both as to the amount of traffic handled, and physical condition. Between Minneapolis and St. Paul, operation is over Northern Pacific rails by contract. The Minnesota Transfer Railway, a switching line in the midway district, St. Paul, is one-ninth owned by the Minneapolis & St. Louis. At Minneapolis, the Railway Transfer Co. of the city of Minneapolis, a wholly owned subsidiary switching line, serves the greater portion of the milling district exclusively, as well as the terminal of the barge line on the Mississippi River. The present management of the Minneapolis & St. Louis took charge in January, 1935. A $7,500,000 gross income in 1934 had produced a net deficit of $41,000. In January 1935 unpaid bills for material purchases amounted to $525,000. Cash in the bank was $103,000. On May 28, 1935, unpaid bills for material purchases amounted to $424,000. Cash in the bank was $323,000. Receiver's certificates (representing money borrowed prior to 1935), amounting to $1,185,000, were all due within 6 months. Equipment trust certificates, due over a period of years, amounted to $1,950,000. Equipment and power were inadequate, and much of it badly worn and in need of major repairs. Many old cars and locomotives, unfit for use, had been in storage on side tracks for years. (See photographs.) Many miles of track were in poor condition with badly worn and battered rail, rotted and decayed ties, poor ballast and drainage. Buildings, bridges, and other structures were in generally poor condition. Morale of employees was almost nonexistent. The dismemberment plan to split up the railroad among seven other carriers operating in the Northwest was being considered. A railroad expert described the property as the most dilapidated he had ever seen, and the general situation as hopeless. The years 1935 and 1936 were a struggle for survival. The foregoing summarizes briefly, and in a general way, the conditions found by the present management when it took over the operation of the Minneapolis & St. Louis in 1935. Among the first undertakings of the present management in 1935 was the scrapping of the many units of equipment unfit for further service, there being 3,116 units of such freight equipment and 84 locomotives, many of which had not moved in over 20 years. The proceeds were used to meet pay rolls and pay bills, in part, and to acquire some 75 new hopper coal cars and new automobile cars. Several branch lines, aggregating approximately 250 miles, which had been operated at a loss for many years, were abandoned. Passenger-train service, which had been operated at a loss for many years, 'was greatly curtailed, and over 1,000,000 passenger-train miles per year were eliminated. Methods of operation were changed, resulting in large economies. The traffic solicitation force was expanded and new agencies established, with attendant increases in revenues. An industrial development department was established to attract shippers to our rails. As earnings improved over the years, new rails, ties, and ballast were placed; shops, bridges, and buildings repaired and painted. Selected locomotives were modernized and improved. Many freight cars were secured on a rental-purchase basis to give the railway an adequate car supply, and to reduce car-rental payments to other railroads. The receiver's certificates of $1,185,000 were paid in full. Beginning in 1936, current material bills were discounted with a cash saving of approximately $10.000 per year. The attached photographs show some of the scrap equipment found in storage in 1935; some of the equipment secured by the present management on the rentalpurchase basis since 1936; and typical track conditions at the present time. All expenditures for improvement to the railroad were made out of earnings, approximately $28,000,000 having been expended from this source in the past 9 years. The gross income has been increased from $7,500,000 in 1934 to $14,800,000 in 1943; the net income changed from a $41,000 deficit in 1934 to a net income of $3,168,000 in 1943. The acquisition of second-hand equipment was at first financed by trading in scrap equipment as the initial payment, and paying the balance due under the rental-purchase agreement at the average rate of about 73 cents per day per unit, this balance being amortized over a period of approximately 54 months. title then passing from the seller to the railway. Later, when all the scrap materials and equipment had been disposed of, and the cash position of the railway had sufficiently improved, the down payment was made in cash, and the balance due under the rental-purchase agreements was paid over the following months, the time varying from 5 to 6 years, and the unpaid balances being fixed at rates varying from 70 to 90 cents per day per unit. This method of financing has been, and is now being used to acquire new equipment. (See photographs of new cars and new Diesel locomotives.) As is well known, the use of cars owned by other railroads costs the using carrier a rental charge of $1 per day per car for every day such car is on the using carrier's lines, whether loaded or empty. This rental-purchase plan initiated on the Minneapolis & St. Louis therefore permitted this railway to replenish its equipment, and at the end of each day, the rent paid applied to the purchase price, the equipment becoming the property of the railway when the balance was paid out. This kind of rental-purchase agreement was first made with one of the secondhand equipment companies to whom Mr. Sprague, the president of the Minneapolis & St. Louis was well known, and was based to a great extent upon their view of his personal integrity. Thus, it was possible to make a start in replacing the broken-down equipment shown in the pictures herewith. Senator Henrik Shipstead was interested in this plan, and proposed it to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation 6 or 7 years ago as a means of financing the construction of new railroad equipment, at a time when there were many m'en unemployed, and thousands of second-hand cars standing idle which could have been scrapped, and probably have been scrapped since. All of the second-hand freight car units purchased under the rental-purchase plan were first inspected by mechanical department officers of the Minneapolis & St. Louis, and cars with good trucks, good steel underframes, and car bodies suitable for rebuilding in our own shops were selected. The cost of such reconditioned equipment is about one-half of what new equipment would have cost, had the Minneapolis & St. Louis had the credit to buy new equipment. The maintenance expense of such equipment is minor for the first 8 years after it has been reconditioned. New railroad equipment is, of course, superior to older equipment. Continual improvements in design and use of materials are being made, and it is not possible to state the extent or degree the new equipment betters the older equipment. Perhaps an extreme parallel would be in the improvements made in new automobiles and airplanes as compared with the older models. Most railroads have large investments in freight-car equipment, and it is the common practice to use such equipment as long as possible, and until the cost is amortized according to the rules of the Interstate Commerce Commission at the rate of 3.3 percent depreciation per year. Devices to promote safety include many things-new ballast, new rail, wellmaintained locomotives and equipment, block signals when possible to buy them, safety methods in shops, strict observance of all operating rules, and an organization completely in accord with the policies to help promote safety to company property, and to the individual's own life and limb. The Minneapolis & St. Louis as not spent much money for research, as it is a member of the Association of American Railroads which maintains such a department for the benefit of all railroads, and we use whatever information they may have developed by their research. Plans for future development of the Minneapolis & St. Louis over the next 2 years involve the expenditure of approximately $5,000,000, and include the purchase of 500 new all-steel box cars, 6 combination road and switching Diesel locomotives, 150 new flat cars, 6 all-steel modern passenger coaches, repairs to 100 miles of telegraph line, converting 134 units of refrigerator equipment into modern box cars, 20 units of modern caboose cars, the laying of 60 miles of new 100-pound rail, replacing light-weight rail, and the ballasting of 80 miles of track with from 12 to 14 inches of washed gravel. EXHIBIT No. 397 THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAILWAY SYSTEM, Hon. H. M. KILGORE, We have kept actively in touch with the development of all phases of radio communication for use on railways. Our communication facilities have been set up with this ultimate objective in view. Through the Association of American Railroads we have representation on the Radio Technical Planning Board and through the activities of this Board we are hopeful that frequencies will be allocated for use by railroads on a permanent basis. During the past few months we have cooperated with the United States Army Signal Corps, using Signal Corps equipment, in making tests of radio communication in yards and from end to end of freight trains at various points on our system. Arrangements have just been completed with Bendix Radio, Division of Bendix Aviation Corporation, to conduct similar tests which will start in the terminal at Los Angeles in about 2 weeks and will extend over the entire system. When frequencies have been made available and suitable equipment has been designed we expect to use radio in yard and terminal operations, end-to-end train communication, and in such other services as it may be found to facilitate our operations. Yours very truly, EXHIBIT No. 398 E. J. ENGEL. Hon. SENATOR KILGORE, GALVIN MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, Committee on War Mobilization, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: The writer notes that you have recently established a committee to investigate the subject of possible use of two-way radiotelephone equipment by railroads, and I thought you would be interested in knowing that Motorola has made quite a number of such installations on both Diesel and steam locomotives used at various Government ordnance plants throughout the country. By the use of such equipment as Motorola's frequency modulated radiotelephone devices, it is possible with equipment now available to establish reliable two-way communication between a fixed point and a moving train up to distances of about 50 miles, from point to point, along the rail route over distances of about 100 miles, and to establish communication from one moving train to another over distances of about 25 miles. The problem of establishing communication between the engine and the caboose and freight trains, of course, presents no problem whatsoever with modern radiotelephone equipment. The writer has on a number of occasions offered to the engineering departments of various railroads throughout the country the free use of Motorola frequency modulated two-way radiotelephone equipment for the purpose of making any such tests as they wish to formulate. Further than that, I have agreed to give them engineering assistance and the use of our engineering talent to set up these tests and to conduct field experiments that would prove conclusively the feasibility of using modern frequency modulated two-way emergency radio equipment for various phases of application to railroading. I have offered to do all this without any charge or obligation to them and have asked only that they file the application for construction permit with the Federal Communications Commission in Washington in order to secure the necessary experimental licenses which would be needed to conduct such tests. Up to the present time no railroad has seen fit to accept this invitation. The writer just thought that you would be interested in knowing that two-way radio has in a very limited way been tried out on railroad locomotives, and furthermore that equipment and the technique of applying radio to railroad trains presents no particular problem, and Motorola would be delighted to work with any railroad who was sincerely interested in establishing such a communication system. Yours very truly, EXHIBIT No. 399 N. E. WUNDERBLACH. [Register, Des Moines, Iowa, March 3, 1944] WHERE RAILROADS ARE 20 YEARS BEHIND Long before the war, two-way radio permitted airplane pilots to talk with landing fields. Police departments even in small cities had facilities for keeping in touch with patrol cars by radio. Apparently a similar system could have been installed in railroad trains to improve safety and efficiency, but little interest was shown. |