Coaling station

“ The state commission found that 'the present and future public convenience and necessity' required the construction of the union station, and that it could be constructed at a cost of approximately $10,000,000 in substantial compliance with the plan outlined, which was found to be in all essential respects similar to that considered by the Interstate Commerce Commission in its order above mentioned. ”

“ The first centre should be a provisional centre, that is, a place for concentrating our co-operation so long as may be necessary, till for the same purpose a more suitable place be furnished. But not all who are invited to co-operate can have accommodation on the first central station, nor would all be ready at once, who might so desire, if buildings and other necessary conveniences were provided, which, however, is primarely to be attended to. ”

“ Then, also, to discharge the function of local executive, there is at every important centre of traffic a Station Commission ("Commission de gare") [159] which consists of a military officer and the stationmaster. It receives from the Line or Sub-Line Commission all orders or instructions concerning military transport to, from, or passing through, such station, and is the recognised intermediary for carrying them into effect and seeing that efficiency is ensured and good order maintained. ”

“ He it is who, acting in conjunction with the railway people, must see that all the details in connection with entraining and detraining are properly arranged and efficiently carried out, while the operations of the station staff are, in turn, greatly facilitated alike by his co-operation and by the fact that there is now only one military authority to be dealt with at a station instead, possibly, of several acting more or less independently of one another. ”

“ He asked discreet questions at the railway station, but the one solitary porter declared that no lady had come there that day.
“In fact, sir,” he said, pocketing Colonel Dacre’s half-crown, as if such munificence staggered him, “we have no ladies, as a rule. Our station was made principally for market fellows and farmers. When we haven’t no passengers we signal, and the train doesn’t stop.” ”

“ Commissioners, a railway company was held by Lord Chancellor SELBORNE, Lord Chief Justice COLERIDGE, and Lord Justice BRETT. in the English court of appeal, to be under no obligation to establish stations at any particular place or places unless it thought fit to do so, and was held bound to afford improved facilities for receiving, forwarding, and delivering passengers and goods at a station once established and used for the purpose of traffic only so far as it had been ordered to afford them by the railway commissioners, within powers expressly conferred by act of parliament. ”

“ It was a little wayside place without even a village that I could see to justify its claim to a station at all. Nobody else got out; and as soon as the train had gone, I was left to explain my presence to what appeared to be the entire population of the district, to wit, a station-master, a porter, and a constable who carried a carbine. ”

“ There are hurried good-byes, gathering together of souvenirs, wistful eyes of those who cannot yet go, watching those who can. Cars are brought round to the side entrance, stretchers slipped into their grooves, and the convoy is off to the station. The long train, already half filled, lies waiting. There is a last little passage across the platform, coming and going of bearers, the inevitable argument with the R.T.O., a warning shriek from the engine, and the train to the base has gone. [Pg 45]
II
'Do you think that sort of thing matters now?'
A clearing station is just what its name denotes. ”

“ In another moment they were reinforced by the marshal and his other men, and then Calliope felt that in order to successfully prolong the delights of the controversy he must find some means of reducing the great odds against him. His eye fell upon a structure that seemed to hold out this promise, providing he could reach it.
Not far away was the little railroad station, its building a strong box house, ten by twenty feet, resting upon a platform four feet above ground. Windows were in each of its walls. Something like a fort it might become to a man thus sorely pressed by superior numbers. ”

“ Over each two hundred and fifty miles of road they placed an agent or superintendent, and invested him with great authority. His beat or jurisdiction of two hundred and fifty miles was called a "division." He purchased horses, mules harness, and food for men and beasts, and distributed these things among his stage stations, from time to time, according to his judgment of what each station needed. He erected station buildings and dug wells. He attended to the paying of the station-keepers, hostlers, drivers and blacksmiths, and discharged them whenever he chose. ”

“ I don't want to say anything against the bunks in that station-house, but this I do say, that if there ever is a bed-bug convention, and that station-house is not well represented, it won't be because any lack of population deprives them of the right to a strong delegation ”

“ The Commission was created by Congress. If it was to be clothed with the power to require railroads to abandon their existing stations and terminal tracks in a city and to combine for the purpose of establishing in lieu thereof a new union station, at a new site, that power we should expect to find in congressional legislation. ”

“ Such a certificate is, we think, necessary in the construction of a new interstate union station, which involves a substantial and expensive extension of the main tracks or lines of interstate carriers who theretofore have maintained separate terminals. ”

“ As a rule, however, nobody looks as if he liked being in a railway station or would stop there if he could go anywhere else. I trust the Ministry of Reconstruction will see to it that the railway stations of the country are rebuilt and vivified. One does not really wish to stop at any station at all except one's own station. ”

“ The board of railways commissioners is a permanent department of the federal government, with offices at Ottawa. The commissioners are, however, continually moving about the country, from Cape Breton to Vancouver Island, hearing and adjusting disputes of all kinds—as to freight rates, station accommodation, the distribution of rolling stock, and a host of other questions at issue between municipalities or individuals and the various railway corporations. ”

“ The personnel of the Commissions includes Railway Troops ("Sapeurs de chemins de fer" and "Sections de chemins de fer de campagne") ; a telegraphy staff; Station Commissions; and "gendarmerie" to undertake police duties in the stations and on the trains.
In addition to making traffic arrangements and undertaking the operation of those lines at the theatre of war that may pass under full military control, the Field Line Commissions are required to carry out such construction, repair, maintenance or destruction work on the railways as should be found necessary. ”

“ Such were young Hibberd and myself at about the age of fifteen; but in order that you may clearly understand the whole of my story it will be necessary for me now to explain the situation and peculiarities of our station and the neighbouring line. Coulston is a large town on the —— railway, standing midway between Allonby, which is ten miles below, and Castleton, which is ten miles above it.
“Attached to the station are the locomotive works already mentioned, and a very large engine-house. ”

“ A staff, formed of military men and railwaymen acting in combination, is allotted to each Line, Sub-Line or Station Commission. Concerning the representation of these two elements, military and civil, on the one body, article 10 of the decree of December 8, 1913, on Military Transports says:—
The special function of each of the agents, military or technical, on the Commissions or Sub-Commissions must, in the operation of the service, be maintained in the most absolute manner. ”

“ A station which has neither Judge, Commissioner, Deputy, or 'Stunt, which is devoid of law courts, ticca-gharies, District Superintendents of Police, and many other evidences of an over-cultured civilisation, is a curiosity. "We administer ourselves," says Jamalpur, proudly, "or we did—till we had local self-government in—and now the racket-marker administers us." This is a solemn fact. The station, which had its beginnings thirty odd years ago, used, till comparatively recent times, to control its own roads, sewage, conservancy, and the like. ”

“ The station and its surroundings are like some mighty fort stocked with inexhaustible supplies, sending out hourly sorties against the unlocked resources of a great country, and coming back triumphantly, laden with spoil for the enriching of the nations. At almost any hour of the day or night the scene at the Union station is an interesting one, especially to the student of human nature. ”

“ Until the Interstate Commerce Commission shall have acted under paragraphs 18 to 21 of section 402 of the Transportation Act. the respondent railways cannot be required to provide a new interstate union station and to extend their main tracks thereto as ordered by the state Railroad Commission. ”

“ On the declaration of war the Inspector-General was to organise the stations for the feeding of the troops and horses proceeding to the front, and was then himself to go to some station one or two marches from the fighting-line, and fix, each day, the Railhead Station for the time being, moving his own head-quarters as occasion might require. ”

“ The accredited ones are indeed those that have achieved, in the eyes of underwriters, superiorities that other central stations do not have. The accredited central station is located in a building of approved design, provided with an emergency lighting system and two alternate main power sources, manned constantly by at least a required minimum of operators, provided with a direct line to fire headquarters and, where possible, a direct line to a police station ”

“ Various interests would be vitally affected by the substitution of a union station for the present terminals. A selection of its site from the standpoint of a city might greatly affect property values and likewise local transportation systems. The exercise of such power would compel the carriers to abandon existing terminals, to acquire new land and rights of way and enter upon new construction, to abandon large tracts, and to sell territory of the same extent as no longer necessary for the use of the carriers. ”

“ In time of war the Central Commission was to be supplemented by Line Commissions formed by military officers and railway officers in combination, and operating each in a leading centre of railway traffic. Their function it would be—with the assistance of District Line Commissions—not only to communicate to the line or lines of railway in their district such orders as might be necessary for the transport of troops, guns, ammunition, horses, and supplies, but, also, to draw up or make the final arrangements in connection with the time-tables for the running of military trains ”

“ The Grand Army men have made the Adams Street relief station a central relief station, and all the others, at Kernville, the Pennsylvania depot, Cambria City, and Jackson and Somerset Street, sub-stations. The idea is to distribute supplies to the sub-stations from the central station, and thus avoid the jam of crying and excited people at the committee’s headquarters.
The Grand Army men have appointed a committee of women to assist them in their work. ”

“ The special commissioner at Brétigny station has, quite late, been informed of the following facts: passengers who left the train on its arrival at the Austerlitz terminus at 5 a.m. were examined by the special commissioner at that station, and subsequently allowed to go. Possibly you have already been informed. We have, however, thought it our duty, after having searched the body, to report this identification to you, and have therefore requisitioned an officer of the police at Brétigny to convey to you the information contained in this communication. ”

“ As we approached the station the guide said in his whining German:
"Pay attention to me now. I shall leave you here. Go to the suburban booking-office—the entrance is in the street to the left of the station hall. Go into the first-class waiting-room and look out of the window that gives on to the station hall. There you will see some of the forces mobilized against you. There is a regular cordon of guides—like me—drawn across the entrances to the main-line platforms—unostentatiously, of course. If you look you will see plenty of plain-clothes Huns, too. ”

“ Without them a council cannot be held, a negotiation carried on, peace or war proclaimed, nor any public or private contract entered into; for not one of these transactions is accounted valid, till it has been smoked over, and sung and danced to. The calumet is the grand instrument of their policy. No important affair can be taken into consideration without the pipe in their mouths; and hence, to call an assembly of the chiefs is said to be lighting the council fire. This tube accompanies and is the guardian of every embassy, and to smoke together is the chief cement of national union. ”

“ There has been great and culpable carelessness in this respect on the part of those who have had the power to say whether a railway shall be made or not. It ought long ago to have been made the duty of some department of the Government to see that, wherever the Legislature is asked to confer additional powers of taking land, no needless injury shall be done to the scenery of the district through which the Company applying for these powers, proposes to carry their line. ”