St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-24
STREET RAILROADS ABROAD.
Wonderful Results from George
Francis Trains Experiment.

Wonderful Results from George
Francis Trains Experiment..
London Railway Times.
1t is something less than thirty years
since George Francis Train obtained power
to lay down an experimental tramway from
Kensington Common to Westminster road,
a distance of about mile. and although
the work was most unsatisfactory to the
promoter, as it had to be taken up at his
own expense after very short existence,
in it we must recognize the germ of great
industry from which the public is perhaps
deriving greater advantage than those whose
money has brought about its develOpement
The experimental mile has now grown 10
Csc miles in England and Wales alone, re-
presenting a total expended capital of 60
Sl3,OT4, out of an authorized 914 051 SAG
These miles and money are divided be-
tween 1856 undertakings, which gives an
average length of little under D miles for
each, with an average capital of G72, I55.
This is made up, OF course, of small lines
in remote provincial towns and undertake
ings of greater magnitude, by which the
metropolis and large cities are served, from
BlsckpOOl, with its mile and quarter Of
road, constructed at a cost of some ST, 600
TO Liverpool London and Manchester,
where the capital is counted by hundreds
of thousands.
1t appears that the growth Of tramway
enterprise during the past ten wears has
been steady, although not altogether salts
factory in financial point of view. In
1876 the total amount of capital invested i'll
this kind of security was g. 667. 300, repre-
senting ninety-fOur miles of road. Two
years afterward the capital had grown to
81 10 10. =,
1850 Sc, $50, 900 of capital invested, repre-.
senting 269 miles of road. So year by year
the enterprise has grown until we find re-
corded for the twelve months ending the
30th of Juue, 1885, total length OF line
amounting to $50 miles constructed at a
cost of 80, 500, 900 of money.
The advance in construction has undOubt-
edly been rapid. even more SO than the
commercial results would seem to warrant,
as profits have, upon the whole, certainly
not been in fair proportion TO the risk of
such trading concerns. On the English
and Welsh lines it appears that the total
gross income from all sources earned during
the past year was e, 094, 276, of which 81
COL, go was absorbed in working cost, leay-
ing net 9493, COG as return upon a paid-up
capital of SO, 6S2, 116. Taking the income
and expenditure in round figures. we NAV
set the former at $500, 600 and the latter at
91O, 900, 900, which shows in the aggregate
areturn of per cent. all round among the
1876 lines. of which nine serve the metropo-
Titan area.
With tramways, as with railways, success
necessarily depends upon the locality to
which their operations are confined, and
thus we find substantial profits earned in
some places, smaller returns in others and
absolute losses in others. The nine London
lines figure for an expenditure of capital TO
the amount of e., 735, 1S2, but from this we
must deduct 1928. 900, the amount which
the Croydon and Norwood represents, as
only six months return are given in that
case, and then we have left eight lines
standing at a cost of e.. 612, 1S2.