The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-12-10
English versus American Railways.

TO the disadvantage of the latter. In all
fbut In the single particular of the failure
OF English railways to accommodate trav-
elers with checks for their baggage, he
gives the superiority to the British usage.
This is judgment singularly and even
amusingly at variance with that of some
other countries. 1t is Judgment which
almost every days experience of the pre-
sent writer. for several weeks past, on
! many different lines of English road, en-
tirely opposes. ,-.... f
| The matter is one of more than spec
tulative or emotional interest, for the road
system of neither country is perfect. and
! m both countries example from other
lands is not1without itsinfiuence. And in
4 England especially it just now happens
thar, owing to the very recent occurrence
of some more than usually unnecessary
and fatal accidents, the public attention is
turned with uhwonted earnestness to the
discussion of the defects of their own sys-
tenn, and to an inquiry whether the Amer
! icln is not in some respects better. Par
agraphs intimating belief that this is so
appear daily in the newspapers in Eng
land. EXhOrtations are based upon such
q conviction calling on railway directors
to adopt this and that specified American
Improvement"
Such a statement, therefore, by dis
| tinguished American traveller as that above
referred to, quoted and read in England,
has an influence at least to discourage at
tempts to better management which is
| declared by him to be already so much
better than the American. And any such
Encouragement is certainly to be deplOred
if the convictions of the present writer are
correct; that the general management of
| in inc Of ha
| ing superior is vastly inferior to our own.
The object of this Communication, there
fore, is to point out few simple and as
should seem quite manifest particulars of
+inferiority in British railroading.
One such can be found in the compara-
tive lightness and instability of the trucks
of English cars. The car wheels used in
Great Britain are generally of consider
ably larger diameter than the American,
and are at the same time to each carriage
fewer in number. Four to a carriage is
the usual number, though six is common
on some lines. But American cars never
have less than eight, and often twelve or
or sixteen. The result Of this diminished
size and increased number of American
car wheels is to lessen very materially the
swaying motion in travel. The heavy
truckage steadies the train. 1t is not too
much TO say that in point of freedom from
! this side-to-side movement there is no road
in England which can be compared with
the ordinary better class roads in America.
! A very simple test of this is the ease or
difficulty of reading on Journey prac-
tice which the writer uniformly INDUCES
in in America, but which he has been
obliged almost wholly to abandon here.
Another very important point of in
feriority in British railroad management is
the miserableness of the cOuplers and
brakes i'm use. On the freight trains
especially the appliances for coupling the
ears are of the rudest description, being
merely links of chain, allowing very con-
siderable space between each car. The
consequences is that the starting of a train
is accomplished by a succession OF Jerks,
often resulting in brealSage of connection,
and always allowing the greatest oppor-
! tunity for irregular and unsteady action
1 when the train is fairly under motion.
| These loose chains are not used on the
passenger trains, but even on these the
coupling apparatus is exceedingly inferior
to the American. liz is accomplished not
by the firm junction of two central broad
headed shafts of iron coupled by single
link, as in the poorest American system !:
still less by the interlocking OF two strong
shafts, as in our Miller coupler, now in so
general use !; but simply by the screwing
up, less or more tightly, of jointed iron
rod, an inch and half in diameter, con-
Meeting each pair of cars The inevitable
] consequence is decreased steadiness in
motion, increased peril of breakage, and
added danger of mounting or "telescop-
ing" in case of collision.
But if the English coupler is poor, an
tiuuated affair, the brake is not less so.
Nothing like the Westinghouse brake
that vast diminisher of the perils of rail-
road accident now almost universally en-
ploved in Americas in general use in
England. If it exists here at all, it has
not come under my notice; and | do not
believe it is on single road in Great Bri-
tain. The universal brake employed is
some form of mandrake, the application
of which depends on the activity, the
presence of mind and the physical strength
of the brakeman. And even Of these
hand-brakes the allowance toa train is but
small. Not two or one to a car, by no
means; but occasionally car in u train
having one is the common supply. The
writer has repeatedly Travelled, during
three months past, on trains OF from hve
TO ten cars with only two brakes beside
that on the engine to control the whole.
There can be no wonder, on system Ike
this. that collisions are frequent on British
railroads. Indeed, it is this precise form
of railroad accident-cOllisiOn-s cem-
raratively infrequent in America, which Is
the most common here; and it unQues-
tionably is manifoldly greater, spite OF
many other imperfections existing, than II
would be if some form of effective steam
brake were employed.
Still another deficiency of English rail
roads is the feebleness and inadequatenesS
of the headlights of the locomotive. Al
II American engine carries a light which
j casts an intense and far-reaching radiance
along the track before it. Even in the
darkest night it enables the engineer tc
see objects at a great distance. The two
feeble lanterns the English locomotive
carries arc totally insufficient for any sim
liar service. Their range is very small
Compared with an American engine
driver, an Englishman travels in darkness
Obvious and simple as seems the cure
, this evil, it lisa cure yet to'be made.@
To their infirmities of a mechanical knC
= must now be added an interiority OF an
other nature. An English railroad is, i
may be almost said. never run "ol
: time.'' No manner of comparison il
tpuneJualty ctin DE ldEoldDly maui
between English and American
roads in this matter. Its the rarest thin9
in the world, on any of thegreat British
, lines, to find train not considerably be
hind its ''due.u What this apparent OBJ
liviousness of ''time'' is owing to is mat
ter of public discussion now in Englisl
newspapers. The common verdict seem
to ascribe the trouble to the overcr0wdlnt
, of the roads with many trains. But In
evil is obvious and admitted. And out
it, it is too plain to remark, comes an aW
full amount of disaster TO property and lie
; And. indeed, the waste of life in tn
management of British roads is something
appalling. Leaving out of view the dc
/, struction of passengers, the destruc
ton of employees of the roads them
. selves is awful. Some statistics on TIN
! subject have just been published in tn
: : Times by the agent of the Railloay Se7.U'c
Z Gazette, which present a terrible showing
7 According to the returns for 1873, on
= = line of railway killed 6S of its employee
n and wounded 1917. Another killed II
! and wounded 1,l00. Another killed Z
= = and wounded above 1000. The same n
!, port affirms that in 1872, on all the Ems
lish roads, $50 employees were killed an
fuT