Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1875-12-02
RAILWAYS.


RAILWAYS.
Canadian Narrow and standard Gausers.
Comparative Statement Of Operating
and Other Expenses.
[Frem the Railroad Guide.]
The Toronto s. Nipisslng Railway Com
pany's report states on its title-page that it
was "The first narrow-gauge railway opened
for traffic on the continent of America" and
as line of some length open for public
traffic, this, we believe, is true. It was con-
structed to 81 i've Toronto access to the coun-
try north and northeast of it-not very thickly
peopled, bet abounding in lumber, which
often affords a large traffic from thinly peo-
gauge, and was constructed by an English
engineer of good reputation, Mr.. Edmund
Wragge, now General Manager of another
and larger railroad of the same gauge, built
little later, from Toronto Northwestward
The Toronto s. Nipissing is 81 miles long,
and has now been in operation several years.
Its capital account amounts to about $18, 800
(specie) per mile, equivalent at this time to
about $4,000 in our currency. Nearly 80
per cent of this capital was supplied by Gov
ernment and municipal subscriptions.
BY the report for the year ending with June
last, the earnings of this railroad were $221,
S12 81, and its expenses $135, 733 81, or l644
per cent. This gives gross receipts of So, $50
and net earnings of $500 per mile of road-a
little more than per cent. on the cost,
which, as new railroads go, is not very bad
showing. The Toronto & Nipassing report
does not give the passenger and tonnage
mileage, but it reports what is perhaps as
good unit of work, if we know the car
capacity, that is, the mileage of cars, with
the train mileage. BY this we learn that the
working expenses per mile run by freight and
passenger trains were 72 cents gold, and per
mile run by cars 1902 cents. We believe
the freight cars have capacity for seven
tons of freight each; at least they carry less
then the standard gauge, and the locomotives
are nearly always less powerful than those
used on the standard gauge, SO that a car mile
and train mile on narrow-gauge road gen.
Of work than the same units on wider gauges,
SO that with the same cost per unit for work
ing, the standard gauge is cheaper
dhe BrOckvllle & Ottawa Railway, another
Canada railroad of 5 ft. 6 in. gauge, three
miles shorter than the Toronto s. Nipissing,
and with little greater train mileage, ID
1912 incurred an expense of n cents per
train-mle of every kind, against 63 cents on
the Toronto & Nipissing, with much smaller
engines and presumably lighter trains We
have no report of car milage or traffic on the
BrOckTille e Ottawa, and SO cannot compare
the train loads
The Midland Railway of Canada, also of
5ft. ia. gauge at that time, has 119 miles of
road, and in 1878 had a tr, in mileage about
IS per cent. greater than that of the Toronto
& Nipissing. The expense per train mile
that year-mileage of trains hauled by large
engines-was 49, cents, against 63 cents on
the Toronto & Nipissing for the last year re-
ported.
The 149 miles of the Intercolonial and the
European d North American railroads in the
Province of New Brunswick, also of 5ft. Gin.
ernment during the year ending with June
80, 1871 (when labor and supplies were much
higher than last year,, at an expense per
broad-gauge car moved one mile of 9.94
cents against 1902 cents per narrow-gauge
car moved one mile on the Toronto s. Nipis-
sing in the year reported. The train mileage
per mile of road was 1876 miles on the New
Brunswick lines and 2,471 on the Toronto s.
Nipissing-that is, the latter had the heavier
traffic.
On the Grand Trunn Railway during the
year ending with June, 1873, the expense
per car g it. 6 in. gauge then) hauled one
mile was 7.OOQ cents, against 1902 cents on
the Toronto & Nipissing two years later,
when labor and materials were much lower.
The Car mileage per mile of road on the
Toronto Il Nipissing was Is, 567, while on
the Grand Trunk it was 64,918, and the
heavier traffic of course gave the broad gauge
road material advantage. On the other
hand, the Grand Trunk. has a large traffic
which has to be removed at high and there
fore costly speed; the Toronto & Nipissing
very little. The fastest ''express" train of
the latter road runs at the rate of 165 miles
an hour; the Grand Trunk has trains which
run % miles an hour.
1t is rarely possible to compare directly the
expenses OF two railroads. If with similar
traffic, similar lengths of haul, similar grades,
etc., one may be worked at high speed at
much greater necessary cost than another,
and thus the work done will be different
kind of work; or one may carry all its traffic
in single large train, the other have many
small ones. We do not pretend that we have
data enough to make an equation, as it were,
of the tratfics of any of the roads named.
But we have made as many comparisons as
possible with Canadian roads, some of which
we ulay suppoSe ~ WoIk at as great dlSau-
vantage as the narrow-gauge line. Generally
roads are worked at lower
speeds than the average standard gauge road.
Without exception, we believe, in this coun-
Try they are roads with very light traffic,
hough there are many standard-gauge roads
with as little business. The standard gauge
roads with light traffic, however, are usually
much heavier than their traffic requires, and
calculated for Il rate of speed much too great
% be economical with a light traffic unless