Men who run the trains must have brain as well as muscle--Their training--From farmer's boy to engineer--The brakeman's dangerous work--Baggagemen and mail clerks--Hand-switchmen--The multifarious duties of country station-agents. CHAPTER XVI KEEPING THE LINE OPEN 256 The wrecking train and its supplies--Floods dammed by an embankment--Right of way always given to the wrecking-train-- Expeditious work in repairing the track--Collapse of the roof of a tunnel--Telegraph crippled by storms--Winter storms the severest test--Trains in quick succession help to keep the line open in snowstorms--The rotary plough. CHAPTER XVII THE G. P. A. AND HIS OFFICE 276 He has to keep the road advertised--Must be an after-dinner orator, and many-sided--His geniality, urbanity, courtesy-- Excessive rivalry for passenger traffic--Increasing luxury in Pullman cars--Many printed forms of tickets, etc. CHAPTER XVIII THE LUXURY OF MODERN RAILROAD TRAVEL 292 Special trains provided--Private cars--Specials for actors, actresses, and musicians--Crude coaches on early railroads-- Luxurious old-time sleeping-cars--Pullman's sleepers made at first from old coaches--His pioneer--The first dining-cars--The present-day dining-cars--Dinners, _table d'hôte_ and _a la carte_--_Café_-cars--Buffet-cars--Care for the comfort of women. CHAPTER XIX GETTING THE CITY OUT INTO THE COUNTRY 311 Commuters' trains in many towns--Rapid increase in the volume of suburban travel--Electrification of the lines--Long Island Railroad almost exclusively suburban--Varied distances of suburban homes from the cities--Club-cars for commuters-- Staterooms in the suburban cars--Special transfer commuters. CHAPTER XX FREIGHT TRAFFIC 325 Income from freight traffic greater than from passenger-- Competition in freight rates--Afterwards a standard rate-sheet-- Rate-wars virtually ended by the Interstate Commerce Commission classification of freight into groups--Differential freight rates--Demurrage for delay in emptying cars--Coal traffic-- Modern methods of handling lard and other freight. CHAPTER XXI THE DRAMA OF THE FREIGHT 343 Fast trains for precious and perishable goods--Cars invented for fruits and for fish--Milk trains--Systematic handling of the cans--Auctioning garden-truck at midnight--A historic city freight-house. CHAPTER XXII MAKING TRAFFIC 355