Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-08-07
Onion aud dispatch.
WEDNESDAY. AUGUsT :. IsOz.
Largest Circulation in City and State.
TIE RAIIRnAn CnNrROVERSY.

THE RAILROAD CONTROVERSY.
As the stockholders Of the Nashville
and Chattanooga railroad have been hum
buggeds much and so long by various pub
| locations, going 10 show that coal was
| cheaper than wood as fuel for our locomo.
! tives, / propose to give them few facts IN
| reference to this question, my hands hav-
| ing heretofore been tied, being one Of
! the committee to test this question, and
! that committee not having made report,
! ] did not think it would be courteous to
! the rest Of the committee to publish our
! conclusions without their consent But l
| am no longer under this restraint, as one
! of our committee has relieved me from
! any feelings Of delicacy on that subject,
making public his conclusions. / allude
! 10 Burns right bower Col. Bosom, who Is
| on all Of Burns committees where the
Northwestern railroad is concerned, and
| where any settlement Is to be made with
| Burns or any of his officers, or campaign
documents 10 be fitted up nicely. Bosom
( is the right man in the right place, 80 says,
or so acts Burns & Co., and | guess it il
right for Col. ColyaT in his speech at Man
chester said that Bosom was the best ac-
cOuntant in the State Of Tennessee, and
who made or gave the conclusions of our
trial trip to Burns nine without having
submitted them to the balance of the COM
mlttee. / will now give you the following
facts extracted from the official locomotive
report Of the Boston and Worcester Rail
road Company for January, February and
| March, 1906, signed by A. Fish, Superin-
tendent, aud A. b. Underhill Master Me-
chanic, as follows:
The average cost Of wood permile was. 2l-33c
The average cost Of coal per mile was, 2J-2Sc
Cost OF wood delivered on tender s. 90 per cord.
| Cost Of coal delivered on tender g. 90 per ton.
| Reducing same to So 90 per cord for wood.
ands4 80 per ton for coal, il gives the
average cost of wood per mile run ........ Abe
Average cost OF coal per mile run ....... l2-Oic
Showing that on the Boston and Wor-
cester railroad il is fortythree per cent. cheap.
er to use wood at So 90 per cord, than it
would be to use coal at 81 so per ton, and
that it would be l22 per cent. cheaper to
use wood at So 90 per cord, than to use
! coal at their present prices
The average cost of repairs per mile run
fer the three months, was 80 cts. The
average cost Of repairs per mile run
for the coal burner for the same time, was
IA % cts. Showing that the cost of repairs
! coal burners as the wood burners.
Again, take the annual locomotive re
portof the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Railroad Company for lS6j-G6, Robt. Har-
ris, General Supt., c. f. Jauriet Supt Of
Machinery and it gives the
Average cost of wood per mile rum. "a SIC
| Average cost focal per mile run......-... BE
| Their wood beng rated at s. 90 per cord.
| Their coal being rated at 81 90 per ton.
Reduce the same 10 our prices-S3 % per
cord for wood and 81 80 per ton for coal,
and II gives the cost OF wood per mile run SIC
Cost Of coal per mile run 10 SEE
Showing on that road 400 miles long, if
their prices for fuel was 50 per cord for
| wood, and 81 30 per ton for coal that rood
would be nearly 100 per cent cheaper than
coal and that if they could get their wood
! a. cheap a. we can, it would be sixty five
per cent cheaper for them to use wood than
| coal, at their prices-S5 per ton
The said report further shows that the
average cost Of repairs, per mile run Of. the
| wood burners, was 9 30 100 cents, while the
| cost per mile run of coal burners was
j. 25-lOO cents. The repairs OF coal burn
ers being eiyhtyJour per cent greater than for
the wood burners.
This road has III locomotives in their
service, and il one of the most important
lines in the Northwest
To make the question "a TO the destruc-
| tive effects of coal upon the hre-boxes and
| the iiues still more plain and conclusive,
| will here state the fact that the Ohio and
| Mississippi Railroad Company, from Gin
| cinnati to ST. Louis, turned sixty Of their
| locomotive engines into coal burners in
1861, in consequence of the wood contrac-
tors combining TO put up the price to a
| point the company considered an imposi-
| ton not to be submitted to- After using
| coal about three years they turned them
| all back to wood burners; not particularly
| because wood was (abstractly) cheaper than
coal but because the use Of coal was DESTROY
ing all their engines.
To be brief, | will give You two or three
| letters from railroad men, bearing on this
question, whose testimony and experience
are unquesGonable
Copy
| CHICAGO, BURLINGTON AND QUINCY
| RAILROAD COMPANY-CiE,yERAL SUPER
| NDENT's OFFICE CHICAGO, April 18th,
1917. s. Hgggius, Esq, Manchester,
Tennessee-DEAR SIR: | have yours Of
| April 9Th, and "a embracing the informa-
|
of using coal for fuel instead of wood,
send Won inclosed our annual locomotive
| report Coal is far more destructive of
iron ire-boxes than wood, SO much so,
with the poor quality Of coal found on our
line, that We were compelled 10 adopt cop
| per boxes. The difference of cost of the
| boxes is about SlOOO-this including the
water leg-whiCh characterizes the style
Of tre-box We use exclusively The first
| copper tre-bO used on the road was put
there IN lS59-eight years ago-aud is good
as new.
| Using copper for hre-boxes, it does not
| require any more engines TO DO a given
amount of work than when using wood.
Ii iron fire boxes are used, 1t would require
more engines lust to the extent that the
engines must be in the shops for repairs
more than when wood is used The general
value will be shown by comparing what
we accomplish with coal with those roads
that use wood. This line was forced to use
coal. If We were obliged to rely upon
wood, the average value of it on the tender
would cost Us probably not less than SIC
per cord.
shall be glad TO answer any question.
further in reference TO this, and 10 give YOU
| the advantage of our ten years experience
in coal burning. lours respectfully,
ROBERT HARRIS, Gen'l Sup't
Copy
ERIE RAILWAY, OFFICE GENERAL SU
PFRINTENDEST, NEW YORK, March 4th
lS6--W. S Higgins, Esq, Manchester
Tau.-DFAR SIR: In regard to The
relative cost of coal and wood as fuel fol
locomotives. about which you make in.
uuirv il your favor ofthe 25d ult., We hay,
never kept any account with orr engine.
looking towards solution Of this question
as il has not been a matter Of choice witt
Us what fuel we should use, but we hav,
been obliged TO adopt the use of coal, be
cause wood is getting so scarce in greater
portion of the country through which on
road runs: besides which, we have so many
engines and run so many trains, 1t woulC
take a large investment TO keep the Ieces
sary wears supply Of wood on hand should
, we use il alone, and the risk Of loss by &C
cidental FIRE would be very much increased
You are correct in your suppositon tba
! a coal burning engine costs the most 70