The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-02-03
RAILROAD ITEMS.

THE statement is published as coming from a
prominent railroad man, that tho Vanderbilt
special train to San Francisco will be run on the
new fast schedule, and before next summer the
passenger express viii run regularly from New
York to San Francisco, with u reduction from
the present time of from tnirty to thirty'six
hours.
The growth Of street.car lines in England has
been very rapid, In 1876 there were but "
miles open for traffic; In June, 1852, il was 4i4,
OF nearly five times rs much The total num-
Der OF passengers carried, which was S9,4il, los
In 1873. was iS7S75,7 69 in 1SS2--that is, 1t had
more than doubled: and the capital expended
had risen between 1876 and 1882 from 81 $50 900 TO
&c $4,000. In the United Kingdom the year
ending June 30. 1882, no fewer than 257. 760,060
passengers were conveyed, and the receipts
amounted to fl,970350.
The Spanish government Is now constructing
a railroad from Huesca to Caufranc, which, 1t is
stated, will shorten the distance from Madrid to
Paris by hundred miles or more. The rail;
road is to pass under the Pyrenees by n tunnel
that will be another marvel of human ingenuity
when finished The beginning OF the work was
celebrated recently with interesting ceremonies,
King Alphonso digging the first spadeful OF
earth.
The Buffalo Commercial Advertiser publishes
an order issued by Superintendent Patterson, of
the Genesee Valley canal division Of the Buffalo,
New York Il Philadelphia road, to his con
ductors, which Is as novel as 1t is commendable.
1t is as follows: "Notioe to passenger con.
ductors Spittoons will be placed in the ladies'
cars on the Rochester division, and your
brakemen. in case they find anyone spit
| ting on the floor, are to move spittoon to them
aud politely ask them TO use It, Two boxes OF
backing and blacking.brush have also been
furnished each passenger crew, and we expect
every man on passenger trains TO use them.
Please say to your crew that the maintaining OF
a neat appearance on duty will be considered
an important factor in selecting men for promo.
ton "
The movement among scientific men for the
establishment Of uniform system OF time is
steadily increasing in strength. The theory on
| small scale is row in practice on all the lead
ing railroads OF the country. There are about
eighty standards now in use by the different
railroads in this country and over 100 cities
furnish standards of local time. 1t is proposed
to simplify this by dividing the country into six
or less districts, and have the time observed by
the whole of each district Another plan sug-
gests an International time standard by the for
nation of twenty-four equal districts, starting
from an imaginary line OH the Pacific ocean.
The day Will be twenty four hours, and the
place In each district will, in point of time, be
just one hour ahead or behind those in the ad-
joining districts. Tho theory of one standard
time for all the roads has been recommended by
the American Society of Civil Engineers, and 1t
is highly probable the same will in time be
adopted
ON the LIST of January 1882, the Canadian Pa
ctc railway had 40 miles constructed and track
laid. On tho lst ef January, 1883, it had com.
pleted and trains running regularly over 9i3
miles of road. For every mile OF road con-
structed, $50 ties are required. which gives q
total OF 1880 ties used during the year, and
for every mile of track IS tons of rails are used,
giving 7Si tons of rails on the main line Alone
or taking hesidings and main line together we
have ties 1854, i40 and rails 5S,4iS tons. 1t is
the intention of the company to reach the
Rockies before the first of August next and this
winter they have a small army of men at work
on that portion of the line which lies TO the north
Of Lake Superior; hoping TO have passenger and
| freight trains running over 1t before the end OF
five years. Seven thousand men are also work.
ing on the British Columbia section Of the same
road and rapid progress is being made. The
contract WILL TO all appearances, be completed
within the allotted time.