Semaphore - December 1954

Semaphore [seal]SERVICE WITH COURTESY DECEMBER, 1954 The Magazine of the Piedmont and Northern Railway Co. [image of singing mail figurines]

. Editorial Page

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE _________________________

Once again the end of a year is at hand and your editor has called on me for a message. Last year I invited your attention to the splendid progress which we has made in modernizing our railroad plant and initiating other projects which have added to our ability to provide the shipping public with the best in freight service. That progress has continued through this year and our program is virtually completed.

Toward the end of last year our volume of business began to decline slightly in line with a marked dip in our national economy. That decline continued through th spring and summer, and only during the last three months of this year did our revenues approach the high level which we had been experiencing over the previous few years. This decline, of course, had an adverse efect on the earnings of your company.

As we approach the New Year our business volume is continuing at a satifactory level and there is every indication that we will have a good year. However, if we are to equal or exceed our records of the past it will be necessary for us to exert reasonable means to maintain our high standards of service and to make a special effort to sell those services. If we are successful in doing this, there should be no reason for disappointment when we look at the record ar the end of 1955.

All of you who have contributed so materially to the sucess of the Piedmont & Northern have my personal thanks for a job well done. Through the years you have proven yourselves to be among the best railroaders in the industry.

You have my sincere good wishes for a happy and properous New Year. (signature)

W. I. Rankin

KEEPING TRACK

NINE P&N LOCOMOTIVES are headed for the bone yard. The locomotives are among the last electric owned by the railroad and were displaced recently on the North Carolina Division by diesels. The following numbers are involved: 5100, 5102, 5104, 5105, 5601, 5602, 5610, 5611, 5612. They were sold to Southern Metals Company of Charlotte and were shipped on their own wheels to Glassport, Pa., for dismantling. Final disposition of these engines will bring a twinge or sorrow to the old-timers who are familiar with the serive they have given.

COPIES OF SEMAPHORE for 1954 will be bound free of charge as in past years for employees who return their twelve issues to the editor prior to February 15, 1955. Please arrange the issues in proper order beginning with the January issue on top, then place a sheet of paper with yoour name and address on top, and mail to Editor, SEMAPHORE, P&N Railway, Charlotte, N.C. Bound issues will be ready in March.

CHRISTMAS MAIL in record volume was moved by the railroads this year. It took the equivalent of 5,000 trains consisting of 12 standard mail cars each to transport more than 5.5 billion pieces of holiday mail. That is enough mail to give every American, Canadian and Mexican at least 25 letters or cards each.

THE COMPANY MAGAZINE is nearing its tenth birthday. In fact, this issue rounds out ten years during which 119 issues were published. The magazine was a wartime baby born in January, 1945, as the P&N and D&S Magazine. In March, 1951, the name was changed to SEMAPHORE and a new format adopted. The format was again changed in January, 1953, at which time the magazine became pocket-sized. The forthcoming January number will be a tenth-birthday issue.

Semaphore Volume 10 Number 12 DECEMBER, 1954

Published by the Piedmont & Northern Railway Company. Address all communications to Editor, Sempahore, P. O. Box 480, Charlotte, N. C.

EDITOR THOMAS G. LYNCH Director of Industrial Development and Public Relations

CORRESPONDENTS

Ye Merry Gentlemen gathered around the lamp post for a lusty song seem to typify the spirit of the season -- Christmas and New Year's Eve combined. No doubt they have stopped at a few taverns on their rounds to fortify themselves against the snowy night . . . but now they seem more intent on spreading good cheer with their songs. SEMAPHORE wishes each and every one a season full of joy and the best of New Years.

[image: three men and one woman sitting at table]

IN SOUTH CAROLINA . . . General Chairman W. N. Page, third from left, called several of his committee together for this informal session. They are, from left to right, H. G. Brown, decorations; W. C. Smith, entertainment; and Mrs. Evelyn Williams, attendance.

[image: two men and one woman looking at plan book]

IN NORTH CAROLINA. . . The two co-chairmen of the entertainment committee check their plans with the general chairman, R. R. Vaughan, right. Seated is Miss Virginia Nance and J. D. Cannon is standing. This sub-committee has completed all of its arrangements.

4 SEMAPHORE

Plans! Plans! Plans! It takes a lot of smart planning to make an annual banquet turn out exactly right

THE Piedmont & Northern's popular annual banquets don't just happen. They are the result of many hours of careful planning and hard work involving as many as 75 employees.

This is the banquet season. In December of each year the management appoints a general committee composed of six or seven employees, one of whom is asked to serve as general chairman of the banquet. Since there are two banquets -- one for the North Carolina Division in Charlotte and another for the South Carolina Division in Greenville -- two separate and distinct committees are appointed.

Chairman takes the lead

The chairman then calls a meeting of his committee and designates responsibilities to members of the genenral committee. These general committee members become sub-chairmen of such special committees as attendance and registration, entertainment, decorations, and hospitality. These sub-committees, which are expanded with personnel chosen by the general committee, are the real workhorses. Under the direction of the general chairman they plan all of the details of the banquets and then carry out their plans. All a good chairman has to do is worry about whether or not his subcommittees are doing their jobs -- or at least that is the theory of it.

The attendance sub-committee extends invitations to all employees, finds out who is coming, prepares names tages, registers all guests attending the banquet, and buys the door prize. The entertainment committee engages an orchestra, arranges for special entertainment, and works out all of the details of the program, including the agenda to be followed by the toastmaster. The decorations committee plans the decoration motif, purchases needed supplies, and decorates the ballroom on the afternoon preceding the banquet. The hospitality committee is all that the name implies. Members of this committee are responsible for greeting all guests, making introductions, and generally making everyone feel at home.

Committees for the 1955 banquet next month are already hard at work. Menus have been selected, orchestras have been booked, and the entire programs have been outlined. Even the 1955 crop of toastmasters are culling over their supplies of funny stories in an effort to make the evening as enjoyable as possible.

Circle these dates

The North Carolina Division banquet is scheduled for Saturday, January 8, in the ballroom of the Hotel Charlotte. Registration will begin at 6:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 7:00. Following the banquet in the ballroom, a dance will be held in the Chelsea room across the lobby.

In South Carolina the banquet will be held a week later -- on Saturday, January 15. The times will be the same. The ballroom of the Poinsett Hotel will be the setting for both the banquet and the dance which will follow.

The North Carolina Division party is under the general chairmanship of R. R. Vaughan, Charlotte agent. Members of

DECEMBER, 1954 5