Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1874-02-14
Olympia -Tenino Railroad.
ENGINEER'S REPORT.

pointed by your board, ana aItcf some foh-
Vcrsation, agreed to make report for your
company. The following letter was handed
to me as expressive of the Information oe-
sired
ot,scn OF TIE oIxsr.4 T RAMHoAD Il IA. tx1Ss; ,sIS ;s.
Tuos D. MoRTus. c. e.. Dear Sir: The Trustees Of
the olympia Railroad Union desiieyou to make them
survey estimate Of cost, and re2ort for railroad Aom
Olympia to inersect the Northern Plcic Ialroad Ut or
near T,nino
maps prohlcs and notes obtained fon the surveys of
the Northern Pacific COMPANY and that but little nd
5s a . w sabdt S ss y 6sfsa ss the peps
town and county as possible and request that the
report include narrow well as b-ed gauge roads
with facts In re ard to their capacity and cost both OF
construction and operation
objective poip, Of the road on the north is oym
pense of extending the road 10 the point on I}udd'.
Inlet nearest tu Olympia, whore sca:going vessels
at all times. Very Truly Yours.
HAZARD STEVENS.
In accordance with this request, the neces-
sary surveys and calculations have been
made and comparisons Instituted for Il rail-
road from Olympia to intersect the Northern
Pacific road near Tenino, and / beg leave to
submit the following
REPORT.
Before giving the descriptions of the routes
sucvcvcd and the results, obtained for your
road, | desire to present some lacts and fig
ures bearing upon the general question of
what gauge gives the best results. l Shall
give results more than arguments on account
of being brief. For some fifteen years past,
engineers and capitalists have been agtating
the subject of decreasing the cost of trahS-
portation by railroads. In this search the
question of gauge. The result has been the
collecting and collatiny OF many facts, and
the exploding of many old theories. In Il
report of this Kind, can but glance ut these
the question is narrowed (practically) by the
construction OF and the attention to two
gauges, viz: tho broad gauge, IT. Sis ill.,,
narrow gauge B 1T. In this report. when
broad or narrow gauges are mentioned,
those of the above diminSionS will he referred
to unless specially noted. The three main
points upon which the question of gauge de-
pendS, are speed (Which is tmcj capacity
and economy. Upon narrow gauge road,
well built and in fair surface. and with roll
lilS stock ot proper construction, speed of
from 30 to 40 miles per hour can be obtained
: with safety. This rate of speed is entirely
Sufficient to answer the requirements OF the
business of amy road in the United States.
1t is nearly twice the speed of the passenger
trains an the Union Pacific road, which road
is rs wtll adapted to fast time aS any in cx-
iStancc. 1t is not necessary here to- support
tn" above statement as regards safety, by
mathematical demonstrations. showing the
comparative angles of stahilN. effect is pass
ing curves, Slipping of wheels, oscillation.
dc. We have got beyond this, and can point
10 roads in operation and give tn" results as
reported by their officers or Ivy experts who
have examined their workings.
The following are some of the results, with
the opinions OF experts" MIR. SiaS SEYMOUR
nor, ~ "u - u nii ',, "lIS;,,@ .i,t re-
l ~ Ii.i i'"vii' c'.l'i chslhcrr nt the
r . of 'a' rTw a rr1",''enuuu w in came ,me
pany, says: with the track in perfect adj
iuStmrnt, and cars of proportiunac width
''n 'i,S,'' S'' no r,asn Why an cnSinc OF
great speed and safety upon Il narrow, as
"li'ns frn ,nn ~ Tho 'n t - "' \"t"G as u,
',,n ,rinr o,' "' .nr i"i',.'oSt Oh nroau
arty t;cm VIM " % Palmrr W pre. tre H|,'"S''S ", ",
inn,", ''na, n,r nm.' ,'',. n" "ra,,' % hiwH, me
rn-.S' n"ii'W S'"Et l"'. III tne hitou
nnth irn;,,ht and , "e,"av S'n,r" ,nr tr,ins'
v"r ,md III, ~ t:r,tn,lo W'i au'' on i,.e ivh-
, % 81 ,,nI ,a ~ " ' w, ,.'i".' tt: d. nv s'Iii'
,n,, f IT,, M;s; - n NV WIZ S"us' roauS
th,t tho ,rn,J Snm". ~ ti i - ~ 'e nopeu
an, m. ,n SH ;,. Hn. y, IL ',iu 'ps w'i prevent
"nH s.tni'i i,.,tasn i III ti'r SlNrua al iHast L"
thHS ,St mo IN, ~, th ,,o ''i' % pl' curing
at IN W, n,, ,n' @ tn ann MO 'r'nue
,mL !, T. i'mnn..;IIa m ~ 500 =" ,''',In ,ol no,'I
if if baromns nr"essitv in"r,se eHH tErir h,,o.
ont = rotes ,s rnii> n o,,iI'sc ,,,n .nr,r pres
hcc,isr the hns hnn' S".,It
i'nnn SiM Nv ,'Is '"Hii greatly
nynrr;onc, nm ina r,',a NJ ~ ~ J., NJ year
Chief Engineer or the Fes,inior R,iw,,, j.,
Wales (gauge it. II = in.l in II report made
III 1870, to Il commission OF prominent railway
men of Europe, says: The company are at
present limited hy the Board of Trade to a
speed not exceeding II miles per hour, but
have since adopting the Fairlie engine. made
experiments with trains at 80 and 35 miles
per hour with ease and safety and without
heating the hearings of locomotives or ear
riagcs." Capt. w. II. Tyler Engineer of the
Board of Trade, who was Instrumental in
having the limit of II miles per hour placed
on the Festiniog road writes under date of
March 4th, 1870: "The spc Il appears to have
been increased from time, as their permanent
way has been improved and it would now, l
think. be only right to release the company
from the obligation which was imposed upon
them in this respect. on their first dpcninr for
passengers As they have hitherto conducted
inc .r!ine WIN safety to the public for SO
""H rnerI HvIrs' % tTe I'fs."n Oh speed might now
& ~. iea, 10 M .nelr own ulscrttion.
vii pa, n' .nere are cases now, ana that these
where verw hi"1 'le ra,es et"ms M % III the t4mre
ahIo onH na n.sn ,"'.s vi Sl'etu VII De uesir-
!pie anu necessary 1S most certainly true. 1t
~ aiso true mat speeds from 40 to 65 miles
per ho..r can De better Obtained on roads hav-
i, ing larger Wheeis, ana henco broader gauge
.nai ti, D ieet. but these cases are conpara-
thnr.S IL .ew, % an" wnen they occur II is where