The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-04-14
EXIT WIDE GAUGE RAILROADS.

Qetrlmentai TO the Interest OF tne Guy.
EXIT WIDE GAUGE RAILROADS.
The statement was authoritatively pub
lished not long since that the present
six-foot gauge of the corporation lately
known as the Atlantic & Great Western
Railway would on the 22d of June be
changed to the standard 4 feet 81 inch
gauge; to correspond with the other rail
roads of the country. To do this great
labor at such time and in such wise as
shall interfere as little as possible with
the regular business of the road is seri-
Gus undertaking and will, it is estimat-
ed, require an army of something like
three thousand men. ..r.'
The work will begin simultaneously
the whole 800 miles of the track and, of
course, be done in comparatively a very
brief period of time. From Leavittsburg
west this change is to be effected, but
from the latter point east third rail is
to be laid. In addition to the labor of
narrowing the track, all the rolling stock
has to be changed into tracks of the ordi-
nary standard guage, and this alone is no
small operation. .....
1t was, we believe, McHenry who
dreamed of laying six-foot railroad
across the continent, and saw this accom-
plished as far west from New York as St.
Louis. We all remember the unparal-
leled celebrity with which the sixfoot
gauge of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad
was changed few years ago, and now
the Atlantic & Great Western follows
suit as far east as Leavittsburg, and the
dream of McHenry is probably forever
dissipated,
Wide gauges for railroads were intro
duced first in England, one of the lead
ing lines in that country, if we remember
correctly, having originally gauge of as
much as seven feet, but experience has
pretty clearly demonstrated that the
necessarily greater weight Of rolling
stock on these very broad gauges proves
far more destructive to the road bed
without proportionately increasing their
carrying capacity, either for passengers
or freight. The New York & Erie
was the first considerable line that
adopted the six-foot gauge in this coun-
try, and was thought marvel of COM
fort and excellence in its way at the
time it was opened, something like thirty
years since. ...
Experience on that and later on the
Ohio & Mississippi and the Atlantic &
Great Western goes to prove that mar
rover gauges are more economical to
equip and run, and now nearly all the
Northern system of railway lines are
being brought into uniformity of gauge,
4 feet 81 inches in width, which pos
sesses the added advantage of enabling
car to carry its load of freight from one
ocean to the other or from any of the
eastern seaports to any city however re-
mote with breaking bulk.
The marrow gauge" so-called e feet
in width) is yet more recent innova-
ton in railroad building that claims ad
vantages of cheapness of construction
and equipment while admitting of shar.
per curves and sleeper grades than does
Che standard gauge. These roads are
multiplying in mountainous sections,
being, we believe, first fully inaugurated
in Colorado on lines running up into the
mining districts, and are being exten-
sively built for connecting nearly all oul
large cities with suburban or contiguous
towns and villages. We shall not under
take here to institute a comparison be-
tween these and the standard roads, al
though we have tolerably settled con-
viction as to their relative advantages.
From all indications railroads and
railroad matters bid fair to play more
important part in Cincinnatis develop
ment hereafter than they have hereto
fore, and the. action of the Atlantic 6
Great Western Road is not without it
suggestions for our business men. Il
this city does not develop more into .
railroad center than at any former periol
in her history, then all theI signs of thu
times are extremely misleading and de
ceptive. Clear the track, gentlemen, fol
the locomotive.
Editorial SpinnlnRs.