Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-07-06
Interestins.nnd Valuable Informa:


The following article from The Chicago
ISiLuqe satisfactorily answers a number
OF questions which have been propounded.
The narrow gauge railroad is exciting
much interest throughout the country,
and the explanations of the 7fi6Mae serve
to throw much light on subject SO I'M
perfectly understood: y.
We are asked the question how can a
threefoot gauge railway be constructed Tor
$4,000 per mile, when it costs5Sl5,0OO per
nile 10 build four-foot tcn-lnch gauge
track on the best located routes. Thecost OF
building and cquipping arallroad of anar-
row oaHge is in the proportion OF Its cube
root 10 that of wide gauge. The cube of
four feet eight and half inches, which is
the narrowest of existing gauges, equals
one hundred and four, and in this proper
tor does the cost of building and equip
ping roads of these respective tracks diff
fer: S270O will build as much three-foot
road as $1,000 will construct of four feet
and half inch track.
To illustrate this principle: A man
twice the height of a boy will weigh eight
times as much If the boy is three feet
high and weighs, say, forty and hall
pounds man five feet eight and a halt
inches, built in the same proportion, Will
weigh one hundred and fifty-six pounds,
although he is only two feet1eight and a
half inches taller than the boy. A COM
| mon freight car weighs eight or ten tons,
and carries a burden Of ten tons A freight
locomotive weighs about thirty tons; On
q three foot track it has been found that
;ron-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 exceeding. Its
own weight. Twelve narrow gauge iron
cars ONLY weigh as much as an ordinary
wood ard iron freight truck, but they will
convey thirty-six tons of freight wher-
ever 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 loaded, as much
nlor,, or 400 tons. One half of the pow
er Ct the locomotive is, therefore, con
.umed in moving dead weight and the
other half in moving burden. y locomo-
tive, as we said, weighs 30 tons its ten
Der with coal and water, weighs Il tons,
and the two together Al tons; so that the
lead weight Of the engine and tender is
24 PEI cent. of the empty train, or II per
cent. Of the laden train. The weight on
each d,iving-wheel Of locomotive is be-
Jween Eve and six tons The injury sus-
taincd by the track, under this enormous
pressure on 9 single point Of the rail, must
pc obvious at Q glance. One locomotive,
e1er.ins pressure OF six tons on each Of
is driving wheels, will Go the rails more
ham than hundred locomotives running
Il the same speed whose wheels press the
rail with but one ton and a half of pres
;ure In the one case the iron is pressed
,eyon6 its resisting power; its fibre is
strained and crushed, and the rails soon
vear out under such excessive weight.
But to obtain the necessary adhesive pow
ar to move the train and its load up
trades locomotives must be built enor-
nously heavy, which speedily deteriorates
md destroys the rails; and there is no
help for it on wide track except by the
use of steel rails, and they are liable to
snap Ike pipe stems under the influence
| If. frost and the weight of the locomotive
On q narrow gauge track the locomotive
lnay be tank engine, and carry its own
coal and water and dispense with a ten
der. 1t need moi weigh but six OF eight
IONS with its supply OF fuel and water
rhe pressure OF its wheels will, therefore,
be but Ole and half to two tops. each.
A pony locomotive weighing six tons, with
ton and a'half pressure on the rail from
each wheel, will draw at the same speed
| more than one-quarter as much load asa
hirty-tcn locomotive because part OF
The weight of The latter has to be thrown
On the guiding whaels, which subtracts
rather than aids to the power Of the ma
cline. Four such pony engines will do
the work Of the big one with ease. To.
gether they will weigh, with their fuel and
water, about thirty tons, whereas the big
locomotive and its tender weigh fortyseven
tons. Theiormer will move three tons OF
ircigh. for each OF " dead weight" the
latter will scarcely move but cne ton OF
freightto ton Of dead weight. In pas
scnger locomotives and cars, the relative
superiority Of the narrow over the wide
track, in an economical point OF view, is
even greater than ill freight trains, as can
easily be demonstrated by analysis OF the
respective cost Of operating each style OF
road.