Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-03-09
8 Narrow,, Guage RaiIroads.

~ NdAAVh UudSO NfttlUduSs ..sl
HOME. d. DibbleErecently addressed
a large audience in the State Capitol q
Michigan ! on j the subject Of narrow mar
guage railways. The Detriot Tribune
gives THE following summary of bis
speech';a. 1a. II. So :, i.77 =, ''a >
aThle common American guage is is
four, ffeetseight inches and half, and
the least, cost of construction of any
road Of such width is $4,000 per mile.
Roads whose lguages range from two to
three and half feet, can be constructed,
equipped,and operated at one-third of
the sum gequired for the same purpose
by wide guage lines, and as tributaries
to trunk lines, or for opening up new
countries are fully as useful as the
broaderreads.; They have lighter To-
comotives smaller cars, narro wer wheels,
lighter ties, cheaper rails, sleeper grades
and sharper curves, and connectedwith
these pecuharities are savings in the
cost ofeScaiyation, in the material used
in bridges and culverts, in the value Of
the iron, in the amount Of dead weight
per passenger orper hundred weight of
freight, Carried in each train, in the
length Of the, line, and in nerlay every
other ,itenau ofnexpenditure. Moreover,
railways of this class have been and
are practical successes. There are two
now in use in our Upper Peninsular,
one of which is eight miles in length,
and transports 7450 tons Of ore daily.
In Wales, ,airailway with a guage Of
but one.foot eleven and half inches,
which was incorporated in 1882, has
some gradients Of one foot in go feet,
has reversed curves of such character
that trains sometimes run upon three of
them at altime, and SO short that the
locomotive ard last car of the train a.e
ofteniparalIel, runs at as high rate of
speed as thirty-fve miles an hour, and
pays an annual dividend of thirty-6ve
per cent. On its original capital. Simi-
lar roads now exist in Norway and
Canada, and one is about being con-
in Pennsylvania from Allen
town to Harrisburg, which will have a
guage Of three feet six inches, and, it
is estimated, will pro6tably transport
freight atithe rate of one cent per ton
per mileaTi Mr.. .Dibble also presented
large collection of estimates, showing
that in ,sthis State railways with
guage of !. about three feet could be
built ,ands operated for, at the most,
of the cost of the usual
style Of road, and he explained that,
The measure introduced in the Senate,
to. pro9iais Tor the Incorporation of
narrow guage companies, was only a
substantial adaptation of the new sys-
TEN of the present general railroad law,
with the omission or correction of some
Of the many incongruites of the latter.
The speaker also claimed that such
roads, which experience has shown, can
be very cheaply constructed and will
exactly what is needed for
the newer portions Of the State whose
wants they would relieve fully as we'll
as the more expensive style of railway,
while they would entail fewer burdens
upon the communities constructingthem.
He also disclaimed any personal interest,
direct orindirect, present OF prospective,
in any narrow guage line or lines, and
presented the matter not as one to be
benefited by it, but only a matter Of
great possible Importance to the State
of which he is citizen.