The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-06-08

VCIf Sl6SUr LuC IoLAS AZ vokhSo ~
The loaded trucks comm down to the quarry
termini on the main lie, and drawing the
empty trucks up by meas Of large Yindlasses.
The return tourney doWIthe main line is also
performed by gravity. 'aking our seat in q
little omen car. we maxi a rapid descent to
P%ortemadoc, spinning long at the rate Of
about thirty miles an Tour without either
traction or propulsion, nus serving to show
US very forcioly The graeents with which the
For its whole course tb line, as will have
been gathered, runs thrrgh a rocky country;
vet, owing to the SHARP curves which have
been available through The use of the very
narrow gauge, cutting, nnnellihg, &c., have
been avoided in a very remarkable manner.
The greatest cutting Is "a feet, the greatest
filling or embankment g feet, and there are
only TWO tunnels in the l24 miles, one Of 73O
Yards, and the other OF 6yards.
The amount of work: dine by this little line
is astonishing In 1869 Ietween 5000 and TO-
600 tons of goods and Minerals per mile passed
over it, andfrom 5000 to 5000 passengersrper
mile. q traffic equal to that on some Of. our
H:ost hourishing ''stanardn gauge Tines.
Seven locomotives are employed, including
one !Falrlie'' engine The Little Wonder"
of which ! shall have moe to say hereafter,
and the rolling stock consists Of IA passenger
carriages, Observation-Disclosures, 10 goods,
coal auu llue uuOW, oho oVH sio'S
trucks. The slate traficrenders the working
expenses exceptionally high, inasmueh as the
company have to supply and keep To repair
tWo.thirds more rolling sock of slate wagons
than if the slate companits delivered their pro-
duce Of the upper terminus, besides the cost
of oil and grease and additional stuff for the
same: then, all the slate wagons have to run
empty one way over thewhole length of the
line. Notwithstanding. tbs and otherdraw.
backs, and the fact that tie rates are the same
as on most other lines, tie working expenses
of the line contrast faV,rably with those OF
other companies. On the, London and North
western Railway the percentage of working
expenses to gross receipts Is 4T.84; on the
Great Western, 48. GI6; onthe North London,
52.5; on tine Metropolitan So; on the East In
dian, 49.4; on the Great 1nian Peninsula, 63.2
on the Bombay and Baroh, 70.7. On the Fes'
liniog line the percentage Is 44.5, and II allow
ance were made, on the nosC moderate scale,
fop the exceptional circumstances to which
have referred, the working expenses would
not be more than 81 per cent. OF the gross re-
ceipts.
i was somewhat anxious TO know what haC
been the effect OF the railway upon the quar-
.ries and the port, and wa scarcely surprised
to learn. that both had ieen Developed In
very rapid manner. Poremadoc, from being
q little coast-village, whhan occasional Yesse
In its bay, has become q thriving port, Will
numerous wharves and many ships.
'It's the states, say some Of the quarry pro
p~rietors. ''that!have been the making OF The
railway They forget lhtt there are two-sIde'
10 the question, aud that 1t may be said witt
as much propriety. sits The railway that ha'
BEEN The making of the trade and Of the port.
So will 1t always be.