Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1874-02-14

among other valuable statistics the number
of passengers carried per mile per year aii9
per mile per year, by IS of the principal roads
in Great britain ant, the colonies.
The average for all the roads is for passen-
gers per mile per annum 9'74m; freight per
mile per apn,lm $40 tons. The largest III
freight is 1o.3l0 tons per mile per annum
passengers on same road 6,9s5 per mile per
;,nnum. The largest in passengers is 81 .99l
same road 1907 tons per milo per annuin.
The above figures speak for themselves,
and susstantiate fully the proposition ennun-
ciated. There is not even room for an opin-
gauge a1 wifi @e there is IS ~nn road
of that gauge which has been in operation
long enough or had business enough pre-
scented it to in any way test its capacity: But
1t may be stated without fear Of contradiction.
that if a it. IL inch gauge, answers fully to
the duty now done by a 4 #. Sif inch gauge,
q #. gauge will do at least as much.
ECONOMY.
In this there are two elements. 1st, econo-
my in first cost I'd, economy in operation.
Upon this point there has been more argu-
ment and contest between the advocates of
the two SYSTEMS than upon any other. I say
advisedly "has been" as the broad gauge
party are gradually being silenccd by prac,
teal results refuting their best arguments and
deductions. And now, l think, the worst
obstacle to overcome is that conservative
feeling. which resists all attempts to improve
Ill WHatcNcf UlfectloH ~ Is ttttHuIueO.
The saving in first cost by building mar
row gauge road will be fully equal to 80 per-
cent. Col. VIM. Greenwood, Chief Engineer
of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway in
leo, says 1.-The saving in first cost of loca-
ton, grading, bridging and superstructure of
a first class feet road. like Denver and Rio
.Grande Railway. (Which have had the hon
or to construc: and operate from the date of
its first inception to the present time) with
that of the usual #. o'a inch road say the
Mexico and Vera Cruz, would be about 80 per
cent, and the feet road would be superior in
every respect to the feet SiS inches road.
use the word superior in its broadest financial
sense"
General VIM. II. Palmer says: The Com
pany Dcnver and REQ Grnnde) has saved
about 37's per cent. in the first cost Of con-
struction and equipment of its road by rea-
son of the adoption of q gauge of feet in
stead of #. sls inches. This is a clear say
ing because the road is equally well built in
every respect and its capacity as great rs
though it had been of the wider gauge"
Mr.. Carl Phil. who. has introduced an en-
tircly new system, viz: II gauge of feet
inches. into Norway SAYS: "It is difficult to
make definite comparison rs every railway is
different. l believe however, that it may be
stated generally that narrower gauge g it. 6
General &. p. Buell. gives the following as
three of his reasons for recommending the
Texas Pacific Railroad Co., to build a 3 #. 6
in. gauge rather thana it, S's in. lst. That
in the construction of the road bed, &c. the
difference will be 10 per cent. OF cost of mar
rOw gauge"
2d. That in tho construction of the super
structure the difference will be 45 per cent of
the cost of the narrow gauge
3rd. That in the construction of rolling
stock, the difference will be ~ to So per cent
OF cost OF narrow gauge
THE COST OF OPERATION.
The cost of operating a road depends upon
the character OF the business and hcamo,lnt
unOn tln cost pf lnntpriul and luhnr ,,sn1 ia
cliniat" and many other circumstances. The
necessary data To fix rigid percentage has
not been obtained. 1t could only be gained
by close observation and compilation of the
results. But we have many facts bearing on
the subject and So far as results are obtained,
it is that the saving is from 30 to ~ per cent.
Some of these facts are:
list. The less amount of dead weight hauled
per ton OF freight or Ger passenger. The
amount of this may be seen by comparing
the weight of train which will move l60
gauge flat cars weighing 3 tons carry 8 tons
broad gauge. weighing Sis tons carry 10 tons.
1t will require ~ narrow gauge or l6 broad
gauge ears to move the lG0 tons paving load
multiply 20 narrow gauge cars by 3 tons equals
60 tons; l6 broad gauge cars by Ss tons equals
136 tons. That is, the narrow gauge will haul
16 tons less weight forevery 100 tons of paying
freight, while the amount of earnings remain
the same.
Passenger comparison is rs follows: broad
gauge passenger car first class, weighs 49,
tons, seats Sc passengers. This gives COG lbs.
ear weight to each passenger, ,rhfn all The seats
are fW. Narrow gauge car weighs ~ tons,
seats Sc passengers. This gives All his. of car
row gauge will haul 279 lbs. less weight for
every passenger.
These are the results when the freight and
passenger cars are loaded to their full capac-
ity. Now the cars run over the railroads of
the world are not loaded to their full capacity,
and here the lighter car and smaller capacity
of the narrow gauge stock receives IA double
advantage.
Fairlie. the most prominent English mar
tSS fSw ESsSS the results sa
average load of Il car having a capacity of 10
tons is 81 tons, about one-fourth the capacity.
That is, the railroad company haul lit tons
paper read by me before the British lAssoci-
alton, at Liverpool, in August. 1870 l showed
from actual statistics that the actual proper
tion OF dead weight to goods carried in the
was no less than to l, while the proportion
in passenger traffic was 20 tol. 1t is but
right to state here that many of these roads
have wider gauge than 1t. Sis inches In
France the proportion of seats occupied to
those provided is one-fourth, and the weight
hauled to every passenger is three -fourthS of
ton or 800 pounds. That is, averaging the
weiEht o, of passengers ger at l5O pounds the COM
ing load. Here there is the great advantage
in the narrow gauge. Less dead weight in
cars loaded to their full capacity; and I'd
making the unit of capacity approximate to
the available unit of load.
In conclusion. it is desired to notice the
objection to the narrow gauge road, so often
urged, viz: The cost of transhipment on ac-
count OF break in gauge. 1t is urged by
many engineers and railroad managers that
any long road is in better position if for any
reason its cars cannot run on to the connect
ing roads, nor the cars of the connecting road
come on to their road ; but yours is not u long
road
The cost of loading and unloading freight
at points where there is necessity for "a large
amount of this work is found by experience
to be very small. Upon the New York and
Erie Road at Dunkirk station, an accurate ac-
count WAS kept, from which it appears that
the cost is about cents per ton. Fairlie
gives the following cases where accounts
have been kept:
The Antwerp and Ghent Railway marrow
gauge) connects at the station of Lockerca
with the State railways of ordinary gauge.
The transfer of goods amounts to about l5 0C0
tons per annum. The shifting from one car
to the other by manual labor, is in the most
primitive manner except for very heavy ar
ticlcs, when crane is used coal and loose
is shifted with ShnvalS 10 ,,nut ot