The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-06-29
NARRow GAUGE RAILROADS.
and Valuable Information.

Interesting and Valuable Information
The following article from the Chicago Tri.
bune satisfactorily answers number of ques-
tions which have been propounded. The mar
row gauge railroad Is exciting much interest
throughout the country, and the explanations
of the Tribune serve to throw much light on
subject so imperfectly understood:
We are asked the question how can q three.
foot gauge railway be constructed for $4,000
per mile, when 1t costs l6,oOo per mlie 10
build four-ioot ten-inch gauge track on the
best located routes. The cost of building and
eouipping railroad Of a narrow gauge is in
the proportion Y6 lis cube root to that OF q
wide gauge The cube OF four feet eight and a
half inches, which ts the narrowest Of existing
gauges, equals one hundred and tour, and IN
this proportion does the cost of building and
euuIpping roads Of these respective tracks
differ; s2700 will build as much three-foot road
as slo,4Oe will construct of four feet anda
half inch track.
To illustrate this principle A man twice
the height of boy will weigh eight times as
much. II the boy Is three teet high and weighs,
say, forty and half pounds, man five feet
eight and half inches, built In the same pro-
portion, will weigh one hundred and ffty-six
pounds, although he is only two teet eight and
half inches taller than the boy. A common
freight car weighs eight or ten tons, and car
ries burden Of ten tons. A freight locomo-
tive. weighs about thirty tons.t On three foot
track it has been found that iron made freight
cars need weigh but 1900 pounds, and are
amply strong enough to carry three tons of
freight. In this case the car can carry four
times its own weight, whereas on the wide
track it can bear load only or slightly ex-
ceedng Its own weight. Twelve narrow gauge
iron cars only weigh as much as an ordi-
nary wood and iron freight truck, but they
will convey thirty-six tons OF freight wherever
the big track can safely move under only one
fourth as much freight An empty freight train
of one locomotive, tender and twenty trucks,
will weigh over 200 tons, and, when fully load:
ed, as much more, or 400 tons. One half Of
the power of the locomotive is, therefore, COR
sumed in moving Gead weight and the other
half in moving burden. A locomotive, as we
said, weighs 80 tons; its tender, with coal and
water, weighs II tons, and the two together
AZ tons; so that the dead weight OF the engine
and tender is "a per cent OF the empty train,
or II per cent. Of the laden train. The
weight on each driving-wheel OF To-
comotlye is between FIVE and six TONS
The injury sustained by the track, under
this enormous pressure on single
point Of the rail, must be obvious at q
glance. One locomotive, exertlng pressure
OF six tons on each fits driving wheels, will
do the rails more harm than hundred loco
motives running at the same speed whose
wheels press the rail with but one ton aud a
half of pressure. IL the one case the iron is
pressed beyond its resisting power; its fibre Is
strained and crushed, and the rails soon wear
out under such excessive weight. But to OBJ
| tain The necessary adhesive power TO move
the train and its load up grades, locomotives
must be built enormously heavy, which speed
| lily deteriorates and destroys the rails; and
there is no help for ton wide track except
by the use OF steel rails. and they are liable TO
snap like pipe stems under the influence of
| frost and the weight of the locomotive.
On narrow gauge track the locomotive
may be a tank engine, and carry lis own coal
| and water and dispense with O tender. II
| need not weigh but six or eight tons with Its
| supply of fuel and water. The pressure of lis
| wheels will, therefore, be but one and hall
| to two tons each. a pony locomotive, weigh
| ing six tons, with ton and hall pressure on
| the rail from each wheel, will draw at the
same speed more than ole-quarter as much
| load as thirty-ton locomotive, because \ part
| of the weight of the latter has to be thrown on
| the guiding wheels, which subtracts rather
than adds to the power of the machine.
Four such pony engines will do the work oi
the big one with ease. Together they will
weigh, with their fuel and water, about thirty
tons, whereas the big locomotive and its ten.
| der weigh forty-seven tons. The former will
move three tons OF freight for each of "dead
weignt;n the latter will scarcely move but one
ton of freight 10 ton Of dead weight. In
passenger locomotives and cars, the relative
superiority Of the narrow over the wide track,
In an economical point Of view, is even great.
er than In freight trains, as can easily be
| demonstrated by analysis Of the respective
| cost of operating each style OF road,