January-February 1959 page 2

NEWS AND VIEWS

Although it will come as a surprise to most employees,
pay checks were bigger beginning with the first pay period
in January- bigger, that is, in physical size, not in
amount. The net amount was smaller because by law the company
had to begin deducting North and South Carolina income taxes.
This additional deduction necessitated a larger check form to
show all the deductions. Three deductions are now mandatory
for all pay checks - federal income tax, state income tax, and
railroad retirement. All employees should understand that the
new state income tax deductions cost the company time and
trouble and all of the proceeds go into the coffers of the
state in which you work.

North Carolina Division train crews will soon be
operating over about six more miles of track. Finishing
touches are being put on the new Duke Power track from the
Riverbend steam plant to the Cowan's Ford dam. P & N crews
will handle construction materials for the $60,000,000 Catawba
River project just as they handle coal to the Riverbend steam
electric generating plant.

Railroad car loadings generall will be up 5.9 per cent
during the first quarter of 1960 as compared with the same
period last year, according to estimates fo the 13 Regional
Shippers Advisory boards. P & N business was brisk in
January - actually a little more than predicted by the traffic
department.

Every now and then it is interesting to review P & N
locomotive mileage statistics. Did you know, for instance
that the P & N's 16 diesel locomotives traveled a total of
526,977 miles last year? That was 46,186 miles further than
the previous year and enough to have gotten to the moon,
orbited a few times and returned to earth. The most traveled
locomotive is the 1602, a 1600 horsepower road switcher which
has racked up 377,562 miles during its nine-year history -
all without getting off the P & N's 126 miles of main line.
The 1601 is running a close second with 366,388 miles through
January.