January 1953 page 3

Keeping Track . . .

On February 8 the New York TIMES will publish a special rotogravure
section featuring industrial opportunities in South Carolina. The section, a part
of the regular Sunday paper, will broadcast a few pounds of facts designed to
attract new industries and people to South Carolina. The supplement is a special
project of Governor Byrnes and the S. C. Research, Planning & Development
Board. They figured the TIMES carried more weight than any other yankee
newspaper. . . and if you are skeptical, try to lift a Sunday edition.

The P & N's Thrift Road industrial development got a nice plug at the an-
nual meeting of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce this month. a special film
shown at the meeting included scenes at the development and the area was
described as an important asset to Charlotte.

Progress editions of newspapers will be popping out all over the Piedmont
late this month. With so much progress to report and no dearth of advertisers
most of the larger papers in the section have no trouble getting the editions
together. There's no doubt that they serve as an excellent record of the dramatic
changes which the area is experiencing. The problem is how to find time to read
and absorb all the information they contain.

The P & N is getting a new set of togs. The new mileposts, whistle posts,
and yard limit signs which are now being installed will make the railroad look
its Sunday best all week long.

One of the largest railroad shipments ever to be attempted will be handled
soon on the N. C. Division. A 485,000 pound gross weight load of Allis-Chalmers
electrical equipment for the Duke Power Company's River Bend plant is ex-
pected to be delivered to the P & N within the near future.

Tweetsie, the famous little narrow-gauge train, has been sold and carted
off to Virginia where it will operate "for fun" on a one mile stretch of track
installed on a farm near Harrisonburg, Va. Tweetsie, famous for her years of
service between Boone, N. C., and Johnson City, Tenn., was formerly owned and
operated by the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad.

It looks like 1952 wills how in the records as one of the safest years for rail-
road passenger travel. In the first eleven months of 1952 there was only one
fatality for each 2,200,000,000 (that's billion, not million) miles of passenger
travel, a rate of .645 per 100,000,000 miles. Here's an idea of how safe it was
to ride the railroads last year. If you traveled continuously night and daay at an
average speed of 60 miles an hour you could keep it up for 4,734 years without
expecting your number to come up. How safe can you get?

4 SEMAPHORE