The Grange advance., 1874-03-11
NARROW GUAGE RAILROADS..
6eme Reasons for Building Narrow
eaoge IRON Wabas1a to FAfib1alt
IN Preference TO any other.
SPEECH BIZ D. W. WELLNAN, At ZUNBRoTA,
ON THE 4rH INST.
FIRST, CHEAPNEsS.


It can be shown that Narrow Guage,
that will do the business can be built for
from one-half to two-thirds the cost Of an
ordinary guage road, built as the neces-
sites of the times demand, that is, with
heavy rolling stock, capable Of sustaining
wear and tear Of roads generally through
out the country. A light road Of the or
binary guage might be built upon which
lighter or less expensive rolling stock
could be run, and in that way the cost of
the road could be somewhat lessened. Its
carrying capacity would, however, be les
sened in proportion, and this rolling stock
would be unfit to run on any other road
than that for which it was built, for the
reason that it would not have sufficient
strength to stand the strain to which it
would be subjected when mixed up in q
train Of the heavy cars used at the present
time on all the roads Of the ordinary guage
of four feet, eight and one-half inches
You would soon find their wrecks scattered
all the way from Faribault to the lakes, so
that with road of this character there
would be as much necessity to break back
at its terminus as if the guages were diff
ferent.
Mr.. Howard Schuyler, Vice President of
the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, "a three
feet guage road, 155 miles of which was in
operation May last) states, in letter pub
lished in the Railroad Gazette Of Dec. 22d,
1871, that the cost per mile, including
equipment Of that road, was $13,
while the Denver extension of the Kansas
Pacific Railroad, four feet, eight and one
half inch guage, built over the same kind,
but less difficult country, and under the
same engineering supervision as the three
feet road, cost $23,500 per mile.
Mr.. Sickles, Chief Engineer of the Colo
RADIO Central Railroad, now Gen'l Supt. of
the Union Pacific R. r., in letter, dated
Nov. 9th, 1871, addressed to Vice President
Of the Denver & Rio Grande r. r., pub
lished in the Railroad Gazette of Dec. 9th,
1871, states that the actual cost of grading
road bed for three feet track through
the canon of Clear Creek did not exceed
$4,000 per mile while the estimated ex-
pense of grading the same for four feet,
eight and one-half inch track was 100000
per mile.
This saving was of course due in great
measure to being able to run line with
sharper curves and perhaps sleeper grades
than on the wider track.
1t must be evident to every one that the
narrower the guage, the sharper the curves
that can be run with the same power,
as in passing round curve the outside
wheels have to slip to keep pace with the
inside wheels, and the nearer the wheels
are together, the less Of this slipping mo-
tion there will be.
So also it can be shown that sleeper
grades can be used on the narrow, than
on the wide guage.
This is due to the fact that the propor
tion Of dead to paying load is less on the
narrow than on the wide guage, that is, a
narrow guage car will carry more pounds
Of freight in proportion to the wei ght of
the car than wide guage car will, and
consequently Il given power will take the
same amount of paying load in car up a
sleeper grade on a narrow track than it
will on the wide. or what is the same will
take more pounds of freight up the same
grade on narrow track than it will on the
the wide.
This difference will be seen by the fol-
lowing comparison:
Ordinary box car, four feet, eight and
one-half inches guage, weight $4,000 to
10000 pounds and carry 10000 pounds.
Ordinary platform car, four feet, eight
and one-half inches guage, weight $4,000 to
Is, 1000 pounds and carry 10000 pounds.
Four wheel box car feet guage, weight
4,5oo pounds and carry 5000 pounds.
Four wheel platform car, three feet
guage, weight $500 pounds and carry g.
600 pounds.
Eight wheel box car, three feet guage,
weight $500 pounds and carry 1860
pounds.
Eight wheel platform car, three feet
guage, weight $3.50 pounds and carry 10,
600 pounds.
The average weight of one box car, and
one platform, and one gondola, purchased
for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad,
was I, ,45O pounds average capacity, 1920