Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 March 1915 — Dead Year for Railroads. [ARTICLE]

Dead Year for Railroads.

The year 1914 was the deadest in a generation for the railroads. Mileage construction fell from an average of 4,450 miles during the preceding 15 years to 1,531 miles. Only 3,691 steel passenger cars were constructed, as against 4,246 in 1911, 4,412 in 1910 and 5,457 in 1909. Only about half as many freight cars, 104,541, were built in 1914 as in 1913, when the number was 207,684. The number of locomotives constructed in 1914 was only 2,235; in 1913 the number was 5,332 and in 1912 it was 4,915. This loss in constructive business meant a difference in expenditure of many millions of dollars and it meant thousands of men idle.