Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-01-31

mad answered the question:, SO 1sf AS
the various widths then introduced was
the seven feet gauge gave
place to the six feet, and the six feet,
i'll turn, gave place to four feet eight
and Il hall inches, which is now the
standard gauge OF our line, and called
the AMERICAN GAUGE" and nor arc
propose to haze this gauge gre 2't1ce
to a three feet gauge, as q naanaD,una
carrying our people and their indus
tries to the markets ST the auOrid. The
reason Of all this is, that the cheaper
q road can be built, the less it aciN
charge 71cl. ton tOs. transportation, and
the closer the rails are together, or, an
other ,cords, hendgro,ccrthcg gauge, the
less the C17ocnsc Of construction, and |
of course Of transportation to such a
dcgrec as is consistent acifh SAFETY and
raIidity Of motion The capenscs Of
transportation hare been .foe,'d to bear |
u direct proportion Ia the "7dth cf |
gntgc Of ,toy Railro0d.
THE NARROW GAUGE
is nothing new. In 1880, in North
Wales, All enterprising engineer con-
ceived the idea of building a trainway
from Festinoig to Port Maddox, for
the purpose of transporting states from
the quarries at that place to a shipping
point In 1874 the project had so far
succeeded, financially, that he applied
for a royal charter to run steam cars in
place of horses, which, cf1cr much
hard arork against the 2)rcjudtccs Of
the people of ENGLAND and tic luu-
makers OF that country, he was al
$o1 l,ic of
portatiOn by steam. and of course sue
ceeded. That Railroad had capital
stock of $4,000 when steam power
was applied. 1t has been worked ever
since, until 1869, when its 16-pound
rail gave place to 30-pound rail, and
its capital stock was increased to
$500, 900, and had paid, since 1914,
torfy per cent. per nnmun on its first
cost, and tme1at.v-sir per cC'H. on its
/ increased co2,if0f. 1lasf Yca:' it trans
I 1,OrtCd. on II gnugc one inch less thu"
! ttro feet, So. 600 tons Of .firighf and
/ 121. 900 passengers. 0nt is On/y Mis'-
teen ond haif mites tong. This is
! n rc1y nurlo" ga"9r H"if'""", !"
earnest ond II great succ"Ss.
WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED.
1t is not necessary to detail III what
manner the reduction of first cost OF
/ construction or operative cost is
affected, the best proof being the
actual construction of nearly three
! fI0usu1.d antics. uifhin IT," /0@ I"H'
YcGr~ ia OuT or" cOnnfiy. HH6 nc
Thousand Dt mites IN Ofhci' cD""friHs
u,tdct' construction. At the st. Louis
Convention, held iii June last, thirty
four narrow gauge roads were repre-
scented, aggrcg:,ting nearly
TEN THOUSAND MILES OF MARROW C,UCr
railroads built and under construc,
, tiOn. At that Convention some Of the
most eminent of our American engin
cccrs and railroad men were present
and made an elaborate report, cover
ing the whole subject. which fully cs
tablishcd the fact as heretofore SCI
forth. \ noticeable part of their con
: cIusinns was the PASSAGE of the follow
ing resolution:
Y Resofrt1l, "That having the tire,
trrt ./0UYc So numerouslE represented
: in this Convention, We. Nnur Commit
tee. recommend that the three fec
c gauge be adopted as Il sfnn60iU YnHG
: in all roads where there ere no spCc'd
ycnsnn .tD,' atiopfing toss gaugc.
c With these reasons, therefore, the,
Il also recommend that two feet be th
standard height for the center of tjs
i draw head above the rail. These rcSO
X lutions carry with them the whole sub
:" jcct. for the reason that the molncn
Il Won decrease the width of the track
IL YOU mt once decrease the height of tn
rolling stock aud change the cntir
IL system The laws of statistics an
,t,,1, /,
y change,
n TIE MEANS OF CONSTRUCTING
IL the broad gauge AZ compared with III
IL narrow gauge was also argued AMI Vi
IL uallc suggestion made on this hcn'
c. and concluded that the excessive co
m of the broad gauge as compared wit
= the narrow gauge is entirely dispr
al portioned to it's light business capacit
TO and necessarily compcls the brOs
is gauge to charge high rates i'll order
II paw working expenses and interest Il
N count. and that thus were unable
G. see the propricty of taxing the Indu
tries of the country with such defe
N; tive system of transporter any longe
20 or. in other words, of Investing $50, u
az or so, 900 per mile i'll RailrOds, up'
- the same facilities can be procured I
81 400. 600 or So, 200. ! do not intend
r,l GO into detail as to all the features
as the construction of Il narrow gau
rh Railroad Sncil an argument wou
d. wear out your patience. and not cN
MS he interesting except to scientific me
MS I will, however, touch Oh some OF t
in most prominent features of this chang
re COMPARATIVE WEIGHT.
- The rails for narrow gauge are ol
of about one-half the weight, and on
on count of our light machinery are el
M bled to wear twice as long rs the hea
M rails on the broad gauge roads. c
of locomotives weigh from nine to twel
tons, while the broad guage are FRI
to TWENTY-FIVE TO fifty tons with their t.
lil- ders. Our passenger cars weigh III
I'D seven and a half tons, theirs TWEEN
five tons We carry thirty-six pass
nd gers, while they carry sixty, and av
the age only about eighteen passengers
al year round. So vou see the old syst
ate has Il carriage of about si.c tons IN IL
are wrigM to one IN 2oaying load. {
it'll freight cars weigh fromtw to six tn
ord while theirs are from eight TO TIVE
re, tons and carry fromnine to eleven to
no. 1t is unnecessary to say that the carri
ted Of all this useless weight the pu'
must pay for. From the nun
o,,s Roads already constructed
the narrt'w gauge plan 1T
- heen fully established that ie
~. motives and cars can be manut
ui tured OF sufficient power, speed
nsG strength to answer al. the purposes
o;"' %" transportation at the highest veloci
~, now made On the broad gauge road
ins this comtry. and equally AS conf
"so able and convenient and, iii fac
OH YOU were in one of the cag;s of
uSc Denver and Rio Grantle three-feet ga
'%''S % Railroad you would fail to see any
'''us ference, unless your attention was
on, i1 peciallv called to the matter.
:. ~ mention AS to the carrying capacit
" III our locomotives-a seventeen
AZ, ~ freight engine of the Denver and
'nis Grand Road hauls a train of tive
@ a. four ears with ease up Il grade st
:, miles long. OF forty feet per mlte.
'p'u miles OF which is sevcnty-tivc feet