Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-06-15
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Narrow Gauge Railroads.


few years back was considered he perfec-
ton of road-making. Rail.'2ads, how
ever, proving so Unreasonable an I'M
provement over the "old way" rapidly
commended themselves to. intelligent and
enterprising minds throughout the globe,
till our own day, when plank roads and
McAdam are scarcely ever heard of The
one great obstacle to the universal intro
duction of railroads has hitherto been
their inordinate cost. But for the great
expense of construction. every neighbor-
hood would have its .railroad-every vii
lage,. town and hamlet would send its
chariot, drawn by the snorting iron horse,
to. every other Sneighboring town. But
railroads cost money-in fact a great deal
OF money to build; and even after they
arls,bnilt they cost q great deal to-'ss-rGn,s
and keep in repair.
There is remedy at hand. The four
feet eight-and-a-half gauge, hitherto deem
ed indispensable, is now shown by COM
petent engineers. and by actual proof, tos
have involved an enormous waste of ma
terial, power and money. Narrow gsuges,
Of one foot eleven-and-a- half inches, two
feeg SIX inches, and three feet, are now
being built in various parts of the world,
and are found perfectly SAFE ample for all
business requirements, and incomparably
cheaper than the old broad gauge lines.
The narrowest gauge of which we have
heard-233 inches-is in use on short
railroad Of thirteen miles, between the
slate quarries of Festiniog and Port Mad
ock, in Wales When the COMPANY first
began to carry passengers on this line, the
government inspector of railroads limited
the rate of speed to twelve miles an hour.
He has since given authority to run the
passenger trains at any rate OF speed they
may think fit; end in his last olicial re-
port he afirns that he "trete,'el over
this little road at thirty mile n hopr
with every feeling of safety" Engineers
in different parts of the world have torr
some years past had their attention turned
TO this subject, and deviations, greater or
less from the old broad gauge have been
mace, generally with success but this ex.
permentin Wales has gone so far beyond
all preceding attempts. that it has natu-
rally attracted great attention; and ac-
cordingly We find that nearly every gov,
ernment of Europe Las sant its best enri-
neers to the slate quarri S If Wales TO owit-
ness The new railroad wonder There are
several lines also now being CONSTRUCTED
in this country, on the new principle
among them the line, three hundred mile:
lono. from Santa Fe to Denver City.
The saving Of the new over the ole
method is much greater than any one no
familiar with the details Of railroad build
in. would imagine. The roadbed Of tht
present broad gauge is almost uniformly
eighteen feet wide in cuttings and four.
teen feet wide on emhankments. Tht
reduction of two feet in the gauge woulc
allow of more than corresponding re
duction in the width Of embankments
II is also acknowledged by the most eni
nent engineers that q narrow gauge
admits Of sleeper grades and sharper
curves; both of which items sensibll
diminish the cost of construction. Th'
same lessening of cost applies to tunnels
bridges, culverts, sleepers, cross-ties, bal
lasting. &c. The smaller weight Of tht
trains, too, admits the use of lighter rails
In fact the cost Of construction of a mar
row gauge line may be fairly put down a!
at least $4,000 mile less than that of
broad gauge line But great as it is, tht
first cost Of construction Of a broad gauge
line Is not greater drain on the resource:
of railroad companies than the excessive
cost of operating them.
This is an emlnently practical subject
and will readily commend itself to railroad
men, engineers, and to thinking men gen
erallv. 1t can hardly fail to exercise. &
potent influence in the development Of the
more sparsely settled portions OF oul
country The great reluctance OF capital
ISIS hitherto and even now, to embark ii
railroad enterprises, has been the almost
universal conviction that they cannot bt
made to pay the construction, /. e, the
stockholder. But this is solely because
the cost of building and stocking then
has been much greater than necessary
We are now on the brink of q great revolu
ton in railroad building. and we earnestly
hope that South Carolina may ere Ions
enloy her share of benefit from this great
andpractical Observation-Disclosures News
On tie subject Of Narrow Gauge Rail.
ways We copy from the Chronicle Dc SENT
mel the following comments
NARROW GAUGE RAn.wAYs-We &C.
knowledge copy OF q pamphlet bearing
the foregoing title, issue,l by Born, Dear.
lng L Co, giving large amount o
st:.tisiical information touching the cost o
construction, cost Of operating, and com.
par2tivc merits Of this new departure IL
railways. As an il:pstyltion o: compaa-
s;ve cost. estimates are gwen Of the cost
Of superstrGcturc OF five diferen: gIn-e:
fof q single mile of road, as follows TINS
cost Of one mile, OF 4 feet 81 inches, being
3l0,3!7 the cost Q; feet 6 gauge, vii
be s., ,S93 20; Of 8 teot gauge, $5,124 10
of , feeJ inches, %5005 20; and @.
fe.t, S4.0512Q. TIE monopo!y Of large
corporations owning and opera5iag iarg5e
lines at extremely low rates 70. thropgi
fre;ghts. and very high !"t=s .. loc2
.feights, as monopohes, pro.nis-s tlst I,i-
row gauge roads will, at 70 eis nj q :
play no unimportant part III nj fa'iU !
economy. As feeders 10 main Ines else
where, narrow gauge roatis are already
being brought into use, and the impedi;
li.ent as 20 transfer to connecting broad
gauge lines Overcome by the construction
ot boxes which really admit OF being
paced upon platform GERS o: The wide.
road anl also by aiius-so.9 lxias.
The opponents O. ns.To's' a17sc roll
roads maintain that wa:ie t-oy us sa-
swcr :cr short branch lines, they viii t4;i
ior :r,:ul: roads wit, heavy trade. Ike
Craye.nment of British india are abou
t.stins THIS mntter il q prac.!c.i mangor.
rs first experiment is TO be with @ lin
Of more tan thousand miles in length,
reaching from Kurrachee TO Peshawar,
from the scacoast, West OF tho mouth OF
the Indus. almost to the mountains Oh The
Northwestern frontier Of British Ida:
Tie ca2acity of such a line is estim2ted 50
high tar it's conten!ed that in ore weeI;
twelve thousand men could be carrie,
..oIa the aea to the frontier, fully eQuippei
With arms, and the necessary complement
of guns, horses, stores. followers and ~
tons for month, without any more roll
ing stock than would suffice for the orli-
nary traffic. The economy OF such~a line
IS evident from the estimate That qy least
one million pounds sterling woulG Jesaved
IN the mere construction, While the COS
OF maintenance and operating would be
IT,, l4e