The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1875-03-16
NARROW GAUGE RAILROADS
BUILT IN 1S74.
How They Compare for Cheap-
ness, etc, with Wide.Gauge
7 aG Lines. no '
Practical Success of Three-Foot
Railways in the West. 8

" luC lLullOE Oi Lue 4EluuuSs
CHICAGO, JHn 22-The bills recentlyI
in Congress for the construe
ion of narrow gauge railways-one from
Washington to Cincinnati, Chicago and
St. Louis the other from Lake Erie to]
Omaha-have impaired renewed inter
est to ,the discussion of, comparatives
merits between the standard gauge { 4 IT.
81 in and the new or 3 foot system of
railway construction. I have thought it
worth while, therefore, to give your
readers some facts regarding the process
and practical workings of narrow7gauge
roads. gathered on atrip through Iowa,
Kansas, Colorado and Utah. What lit
tie railway building there has been ac
complished during the past season, has
been very largely confined TO 3-foot
roads. ba Besides extensions of those be.
gun before, i found, five new lines start
ed, and q portion Of each put in opera
ton, aggregating altogether 109 miles.
When completed as proposed these
roads viii, add over 600 mites of narrow
gauge railway to the 1,700 already in
operation in the United States. This
statement covers but a small part OF mar
row gauge progress in 1874, being limi-
ted to the field ofpersonalobs I;
indeed. so largely has railway building
since the panic been confined to 3foot
roads, that many large manufacturers
say that orders of this class of rolling
stock have alone kept their shops from
snspending work Rolling mills, also,
that have hitherto disdained the idea OF
making lightiron, are now forced by the
changing tide Of orders into equipping
themselves for turning out 30pound
rails. The prevailing idea, in localities
where no experience IN the working Of
narrow gauge railways is'available, seems
to be that they are sort of W 1..9idi'
@ '' ONE HORSE AFFAIR, 10 sis'
good enough perhaps for branch lines OF
an unsettled country where little busines;
is done, hut not suitable for aclarge traf
fie. Such notions are very quickly dis
pelled when once foot rosd gets into
operation. AT Denver, you might a:
well talk about the Chicago Burlington
and Quincy Railway being an experimen
as to say il OF the Denver and Rie
Grande, I took pains to talk with tht
locomotive engineers and other opera
tives on the lines visited,and found then
all thoroughly converted to the marrow
gauge system, Though laughing at th'
pony engines at first, they found them q
trial always equal to their work, and han
died with greater ease and satisfaction
than the standard gauge locomotives OF
which they had been previously employ
ed. l5iR SHG5E YI7ao C5 ediTul .es .oi
8 emego59As TO ACCIDENTS, 10 a,.s.fa
we have yet to learn of sny serious one
yet occurring on foot road, or of an.
accident whatever traceable to the mar
rowing Of gauge. A car was once over
turned by a whirlwind on the Denve
and Rio Grande, tbut under the same Gil
cumstances the same, thing would hay
happened to a. wide gauge car, and, eve
in this instance, neither cal. nor passen
gers were seriously injured. The fac
that the bodysof narrow gauge car j
placed so much nearer the ground serve
greatly to diminish the danger when on
gets off the track :,
THE wYANDoTrE, KANSAS CITY 4, NeRTE
4 ~ WESTERN,
/ Z af-A.t O.. H-s.f
is, one of the new enterprises above spc
ken of. The charter originally conten
plated a road from Kansas City to Lii
coin Nebraska, abut, being drawn wit
considerable latitude as to the. route, i
was decided to build first directly cas-
from Kansas City to the valuable Goa
fields in Lafayette County, and nltimat,
ly to connect with a narrow-gauge roa
now, under construction west from S
Louis, thus forming a 3-foot line Gle.
across the State OF Missouri. Prepar;
tons are now making also to build Sc
tion of the line to Lincoln in the sprin,
The first section of 10 miles, from Ka
sas City to Independence, went into o.
eration in August last. 1t was an unu
ually expensive piece of road to bull
involving some very heavy work in ge
ting out of the Missouri bottom, wi,
grades 100 feet to the mile. The nom
nal cost, including a fine equipment
rolling stock, was 81, 900 per mile tn
includes, however, all the preliminary e.
penses incidental to getting the corpor
ton on its feet. Five trains per day a
run, each way, doing nearly all the pa
senger business between the two cite
The whole cost of operating the roa
including officers salaries, is less sth.
e $500 per month, and the receipts S1.5t
, --uot bad showing for a short pie,
of road just put in operation, | was j
!, formed by the engineer that, in Mover
I Der, only one ton Of coal per day W
used for running the engine its Eve trip
100 miles, and for keeping up six fir
besides, in the cars and station house
1.-the train usually consisted Of one ba
y gage car and TWO passenger coaches.
e Most of the line lies along the Nilsson
Pacific, and, on a short trial of spe
!, made with the express train on that Lin
b the narrow gauge came out neck ahea
: making theten miles in twenty minute
Including one stop at the crossing. I'll
+ road has thus far been huilt with priva
capital, but will have the aid of coun
bonds as it progresses. When it reach
Lafayette County q very large coal tr,
&c will be obtained. It. will cross t
! Missouri River at Arrow Rock or Boo
) vile. gs,i an .asfi,, ,7a,l .lagoor
; THE KANSAS CENTRAL,wi 9s
) also three foot road, is in operate
from Leavenworth to Houlton, Sc mil,
8 No progress has been made in extendi
O this line since the panic, but it is dol
| a paying business in spite Of it's unf'
e tunate position, sandwiched as it is
s between the two wide gauge roads, a
: ending on the open prairie 1t Is e
dently the meat of the sandwich, ho
ever, for its outlying neighbors ha
IS both defaulted their interest, provir
/ with all their land grants and thron
'e traffic, to be less remunerative as an
b vestment than this little road, dependt
'e entirely upon its local business; indet
had the Kansas Central been built on