The nationwide railroad strike Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks, the largest of the four unions involved in the shutdown, C. L. Dennis, ordered his men back to work.

"The assistant secretary of Labor, W. J. Usery, has advised me that the carriers are now prepared to sit down in real gut-bargaining sessions starting tonight and get our problems settled," Dennis explained.

Dennis' order came after U. S. District Judge John H. Pratt found the union in contempt of court and threatened it with fines of $200,000.

To ward off the strike which began yesterday morning, Congress enacted a special law, signed by the President at 2:10 a.m. yesterday. The bill orders the railroads to pay an immediate 13.5 per cent increase in wages to nearly 500,000 workers.

The law also states that, if there is no settlement reached by March 1, the workers can strike again unless Congress imposes a new ban.

The unions' original demands included pay increases amounting to 40 or 45 per cent over three years and reconsideration of the railroads' proposed work rule changes which would eliminate thousands of jobs as well as speed up the work load for all employees.

The rail shutdown had immediate effects. The Post Office refused to accept any second, third, or fourth class mail traveling more than 300 miles after 4 p.m. yesterday. Six hundred thousand city commuters dependent on train travel were forced to find other means of transportation. The auto industry warned of a shutdown within 48 hours.

After his announcement, Dennis said that he believed trains would be running normally by midnight Thursday.