April, 1954 - Milwaukee Road Archive

THE
MILWAUKEE
ROAD
a brief account of the
highlights of the MiI,­
waukee Road's opera­
tion in 1953 prepared as
information of-special in­
terest to employes
April. )954
During 1953, our railroad took in
$9,605,393 less than it did in 1952. This
represents a 3.56 per cent decrease in
gross revenue. As a result, our net income
declined by $1,258,255 or 12 per
cent. Although the first half of 1953
showed our carloadings to be ahead of
1952, they began to decline in the third
quarter and continued to decrease
through the closing months of the year
with the result that for the full year they
were 65,022 cars short of the number we
handled in 1952. .
Freight revenue was appreciably affected
by the strike in the brewing industry
at Milwaukee, which lasted from
the middle of May to the end of July.
There was an estimated loss of $4,000,­
000 in freight revenue on shipments of
beer and the materials used in the manufacture
and distribution of it, Freight
revenue was further affected by the lesser
movement of grain, livestock, agricultural
implements, and other goods consumed
by the farming industry,
Passenger traffic was the lowest in any
year since the end of World War II, due
principally to the decline in military
travel, extended use of private automobiles,
and greater diversion of pas.
senger traffic to other forms of trans.
portation.
The improvement and modernization
program on our railroad has continued
despite the falling revenues we experienced
during the latter part of 1953.
One of the major accomplishments of
that program during the year was the
conversion of the flat switching yard at
Bensenville, Illinois, to a 70.track retarder
freight classification yard, com·
bining the most modern method of auto·
matic switching and retarder speed can·
trol.
During 1953 we added 28 new diesel.
electric locomotives to our fleet, and 65
more diesel·electric locomotives have
been delivered since January 1, 1954..
Based on the 1953 volume of traffic,
95 per cent of road freight operation,
94 per cent of passenger operation, and
99 per cent of yard operation will now
be performed by diesel-electric and electric
locomotives.