Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-03-09
{ 6 NarroM,, Guage Railroads,


Hon.iB. d. Dibble blelrecently addressed
]. a large audience in the State Capitol q
Michigan on the subject Of narrow
guage railways. The Detriot Tribune
!. gives sathe following summary of his
speech'?e o. 10 .i.''i' 80 s'
! 1.-THE. common American guage is
four feet. eight inches and a half, and
the least, cost of construction of any
road of such width is $25, 900 per mile
Roads whose ,guages 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
broadertreads.; They have lighter To-
comotives ssmaller cars, arrower-wheels,
lighter ties cheaper rails, sleeper grades
and sharper curves, and connected with
these peeuliarities are savings. in the
cost oflekcayation, in the material used
in bridges and culverts, in the value of
the iron,inz the amount Of dead weight
per passenger or per hundred weight of
freight, carried in each train, in the
length Of the,line, and in nerlay every
other,itemo ofsexpenditure. 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 450 tons of ore daily.
In Wales, salrailway with guage Of
but one erfoot- eleven and a half inches,
which was incorporated in 1882, has
some gradients. of one foot in go feet,
has reversedcuryes of such a character
that trains sometimes run upon three of
them at a1time, and SO short that the
locomotive and last carof the train are
ofteniparailel, 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-
struoted mg Pennsylvania from Allen
town to Harrisburg, which will have a
guage of three feet six inches, and, it
is estimated, will proftably transport
freight at,the7rate of one cent per ton
per milessi Mr.. ,Dibble also presented
large collection Of estimates, showing
that in ,sthis State railways with
guage of about three feet could be
built sands operated for, at the most,
one-thirGsof the cost of the usual
style of.road, and he explained that
The measure introduced in the Senate,
to- proviSs Tor the Incorporation of
narrow guage companies, was only a
substantial adaptation of the new VS.
TEN of the present general railroad law,
with the omission or correction Of some
of the many incongruities of the latter.
The speaker also claimed that such
roads, which experience has shown, can
be very cheaply constructed and will
work-were 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 constructing them.
He also disclaimed any personalinterest,
direct orindirect, present Oh prospective,
in any narrow guage line or lines, and
presented the matter not as one to be
benefited by it, but only matter Of
great possible importance to the State
Of which he is citizen.