The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-01-12
The Narrow.csaure Railroad.


subject of the narrow-gaugc railway. From
this paper the extract copied belo" -
taken. 1t presents, In the strong liSn' VI
positive estimates, the great advantages y. |
the narrow gauge-its power and eco'''Ns
"Thc goods and mineral traffic on !he
London and Northwestern ra an ivy .oi
single year amount TO about lO,'"o,ouo toils'
I Will assume that 5000, 600 out OF these
Il, 0Q0, 600 tons are minerals. consisting
chiefly of coal and I will deal only with
the 10,O00, 900 tons Of goods which are left
as the net residue of the years carrying.
1t has been proved that the proportion of
to paying weight Is about tons
to l ton; and this would give 10000, 600
tons of rolling weight employed to carry
the 10000 600 tons Of paying load. In or
der to avoid all risks Of eXaggeration, l will
assume the dead weight to be only rs tons
to l., which reduces from 70.000,000 to
tons the weight of the wagons
employed to carry the 100000 tons of
paying load. The whole gross weight haul
ed by the locomotives will then be SO. 000,-
600 tons, at an average speed Of % miles an
hour.
The earnings for the goods traffic on this
line arc Is. Sd. per train mile; which, at
an average rate all round Of I'D. per ton
per mile. would give about 30 tons as the
paying weight. and 30 tons as the
gross weight hauled per train mile.
Dividing this 30 tons into the $4,000, 900,
gives 100, $50 trains, which, being divided
bv 3l3 working days Of a year, give 626
merchandise trains over all parts Of the
Northwestern railway in the "a hours.
Tue company's balance-sheet shows that
each net ton produces about IS. 81. Gnclud-
iny minerals, but rs the net amount earned
per train mile in the merchandise and min
cral traffic may be taken aS averaging near
" the same, this does not viiiate the argyll
mcnt.) which, ut I'D. per ton per mile,
makes the average distance travcrscd by
each ton to be about IS miles q; so that as
each ton Of the total weight hauled runs
IS miles, and the entire length OF line
| worked is ,432 miles, it follows that there
must he on an average ~ merchandise
trains distributed over the total length.
| This number, divided into the total num-
! Der Of trains per day of n hours, gives an
average of over II trains per day running
| on each mile OF the line. My object in
bringing the figures to this point is to show
| that, although ut first the number, 626
| trains per day, looks large, yet, when di-
yidcd over the entire line, it is compare
| lively small.
| Having arrived ut this conclusion. we are
| in Il position to sec how it would affect the
question if the gauge OF the line were 3 feet
| instead of i feet SE inches. In the first
| place, the same or 4 greater speed could be
| maintained, say up to thrty-tive or forty
| miles IN hour. ] mention the speed here
| because am dealing with goods trains only.
| Of course. when passenger trains are con-
| sidered, the element of speed tells largely
ia, e : h., T., A ~
| gauge; but this has been already admitted.
My argument il only intended to show
what Il 3-foot gauge is capable Of accom-
| pli>hing in the way of duty up to a speed
II forty miles IN hour; speed which on
such Il gauge can only be obtained by the
| employment of the double bogie engines.
The speeds IN each case being therefore
equal, the next point to examine is the re-
suit of carrying on the narrow gauge. The
proportion of non-paying to paying load has
been taken AT to l on the broad gauge,
although it has proved largely in excess of
this. The wagons employed average tons
in weight, 50 that on this reckoning each
wagon carries ton for every mile it runs.
1t would be well to remember here that |
am dealing with things as they are, not rs
they might be.
The wagons for a line of 3-fcet gauge
L
load of 8 tons. Surprising that the same
number of wagons and trains were run on
the narrow gauge as on the broad, it follows
that the average | ton Of merchandise now
carried would easily be taken in a wagon
weighing ton instead of tons, and that
the gross load passing over the line for one
year would bc only 20.0O0.000 tons instead
of $1,000, 600: whilst the same amount of
PAVING weight would he carried in either
case. That is, the small wagons, which are
capable Of carrying three times the weight
of goods now actually carried in Atom
wagon, would only have to carry y of that
quantity, and would produce the same pay
ing load as the heavier wagons: thus, in
stead of 100000 of tons travelling over
the line, there would only be 20,0o0,0O0
and a. the haulaec cost is precisely the same,
whether the tons hauled consist OF paying
or OF non-paying load. it follows that tins
expense would be reduced to two.1ltths oil
what it now is. We must also consider the
enormous saving to the permanent way;
which would have to bear the friction ana
weight of only 20. 000, 900 tons in the place
of 90. O00. 900. If we assume the same num-
Der of trains to run per day, the weight OF
each would be reduced from 200 tons 10
l02 tons; or if the same gross weight OF
train was employed, the number Of
trains per QhS "oulu pc ltuuccu lloLn
GoG TO $50. If there should be suth-
cient traffic to load the narrow-gauge
wagons in such a way as to require the
same number and weight of trains that are
now worked, the result would be that,
without increasing by one penny the cost
of haulage and Of the permanent way eN-
penses, the three-ieet gauge would carry a
paying load Of 25,000,000 tons as against
the 100000 now carried. Here, then,
we have established the fact that, so far as
capacity goes, the narrow gauge is superior
to the broad one. The former eau produce
25,0OO,0O0 net out Of Il gross tonnage of 50,-
100000; whilst the latter, to produce the
same result, if continued to be worked as
it now is. would require that l25, 00O,0
tons should be hauled, and that at an in
creased cost in the same proportion of l25,-
900, 600 TO 100000