Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1878 — What it a Trunk Line? [ARTICLE]

What it a Trunk Line?

Tlio renders-of the newspapers of the day constantly see mention made of Trunk Line railroads, but comparatively few fully underUr,nd whit is intended by the designation. S. me three or four railroad lines running westward from the Atlantic seaboard, era sometimes not wrongly called Trunk Lines, as they form the main arteries Of traffic toward tho West. If nny railroad in the country deserves or is ent : tlcd to the nnfho of a grand Trunk Line it is the Chicago & North-Western Railway. The company operating this greit line now controls more miles of railway than any other in America, if not in the world. Il is by all odds the. most important fine of railroad in any way running out of Chicago carries anything like as many passengers or hauls anything like the volume of freight that is transported over this road. Il alone runs in nnd out of Chicago every day in the year, nearly as many passenger trains as al) the other Chicago roads put together.* As it is with passenger trains so it is wt'h freight—it not unficquently brings into Chicago fifteen bundled loaded freight cars in a single day. and if it doe* not bring in a thousand cars it* managers think it is doing poorly. Forty to fifty passenger trains daily, leave and .arrive nt its depot at Chicano. Of suburban passengers it carries more than nil the other roads that rurt to or from Chicago. These are facts that can be established by any one wishing to do so. No road but the very best could do the business this great lino docs. Its track is of the heaviest steel rail, and is kept in constantrepair by the constant vigilance of an army of track men, and is patrolled day nnd night the year through, for the double purpose of keeping everything connected with It in perfect condition, and for the entire safety of its patrons who are traveling over it. i • * '. No road any where caq show a superior track, finer coaches, stronger, swifter or better locomotive engines; and no other road west of Chicago has ever attempted t> approach It hi its equipment of Pullman Hotel and Sleeping Coaches. It alone, of till’tlio western ttyids has the celebrated Hotel cars, nnd oh this line cnly can tho traveler between Chicago and the Missouri river procure the comf rts and luxuries that these cars alone can furnish. Other lines may talk of Dining cars, artd sixtUonwheol coatfiies, but not one of them can offer you a Pullman' or any other fbrm of Hotel ear. These cars combine great Injury with the greatest obtainable cotfifert, and at no increase in expense over the cothmon, old fashioned nnd ordinary sleeping car. The mnrVcl of those that travel on them is to kn-iw how the company can afford to run them and charge no more for berths than is charged in the old fashioned sleeper. The answer is found in the great volume, of travel this road is carrying. The thousands flock to its linei whore the hundreds seek its competitors. We are sure that no one who has once seen these cars would ever use any other if traveling in the direction they ran. Tin y are not for tl.e exclusive use of the rich, but aie just us comfortable aud elegant for the poorer traveler—costing to occupy these cars, fitfinore than does the Qcctrpanoy of the old fashioned sleeper. jn» one need for fear of expense, bo prevented from using them. They have become “the rage," so to speak, with th®, Californians, and have attracted (he majority of that of travel. Iflyo'.t nre about to travel cast or ; west between Chicago and Council flltiffs, Omahn, Denver, or San Francisco, it will pay you to see that you get your tickets by tho Chicago &■ North-Western Rtplway. Al some future time we may give you further ideas about lliis great road.—T/<e Demcerat.