Annual report of traction and transportation committee

To the Board of Directors, The past year has been one of unprecedented difficulties for all railway transportation companies. With labor conditions at their worst, the maximum tonnage ever offered, rolling stock and motive power sadly deteriorated due to a long period of lean income — all added to a winter of unprecedented severity, it is little wonder that the trunk lines practically collapsed under the strain. The collapse of the steam railways, however, did not extend to electrified lines, which once more demonstrated the superiority of electricity as a motive power, particularly in cold weather. This was especially true on the electrified steam railways, such as the Norfolk & Western, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railways, the latest railways to be electrified; and the Pennsylvania, New York Central, New Haven Railways, and others. These roads, one and all, operated successfully through the hardest weather. The record is one of which all electrical engineers may be proud.