The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-12-19

az slhs1 TWO killed and four injured IN
| ls4f. Turing the same time There was
Line eInployes killed aud 30 injured, as
| t againsb, seven KILLED and 81 injured III
| loSti AN unusual number OF serious
acoiuenus enter into the statement OF our
present. report which makes the loss OF
ne anu injury more than can be ordl-
narlaly or reasonably expected
1t Will be remembered THAI in the acct
dent at Moosehead on the Canadian Pa
CHIC haiifoao, July 2, 1884, one passenger
was Killed and three employees were
k1llea anu two injured. The accident at
veaz,e and the one at Brewer resulted III
the deaths OF two employees and injury
70 " 0A-ee obner employees, and injury to
I'VE passengers. Surely we are correct
IN stating that these casualties are in a
measure extraordinary for this state.
Making no allowance for these usual &C.
cldents, we invite your attention to the
following statement:
The report of the Interstate Commerce
Commission. for the year ending June
30, 1894, (the last issued,) gives as the
the number injured 3, 034. This was an
average OF one passenger killed to every
l, 6bo, 100 persons carried, and one injury
to every l78, 200 carried. In Maine there
was one killed to every 2, 767, SIT carried,
ana one injured to every 503, 1883 carried
The casualties to employees in Maine
was one killed to every 487 employed and
one injured to every 1878 employed. In
the United States there We're Is, ara en-
plGyes killed and 20, 422 injured. This
was an average of one killed to every 443
employees and one injured to every S3
employed
The increase in the mum her of employees
killed in Maine over that OF 1894, is &C
counted for by the fact that five employees
lo1 in, ,aI aa;I a..
ferred to.
The foregoing statements and tables in
dictate clearly that our prediction in our
report of 1894 was correct and that the
transportation companies doing business
IN this state show gain in 1895 over
any previous year in the history of the
state. The increase in railroad milegae
continues an and about the same ratio
over that of 1894 as the mileage of 1894
increased over that of 1888. One thing
quite remarkable is thst throughout the
country at large, the construction of rail-
roads almost ceased in the year 500, and
since which date but little new mileage
has been added.
In the State of Maine the increase of
mileage Iadg for the year ending June 80, in
1894, was 8. 35 per cent over that of 1898,
and in 1895, for the year ending June
30, the increase was 7.77 per cent over
that of 1884 With the construction of
railroads now nearly completed and in
process OF construction, we can safely
predict larger per cent of mileage at
the close Of the year ending June 30, 1896
than that of any previous year in the
state.
STREET RAILROADS.
The street railroads of the state have
practically become electric railroads.
While horses are still used upon small
part of the Portland Railroad, this will
soon been changed to electricity, leaving
the Fryeburg Railroad the only one in
the state using horses as the motive pow
er. These railroads are all of the stan
dard gauge offour feet eight and one-half
inches between rails. There has been
much improvement in the.manner of con-
otion and N the equipment, and at
the same time a great reduction in the
cost Of all electrical appliances during
the past four years. These railroads are
used to some extent in carrying freight
as we'll rs passengers.
While electricity is obviously the better
motive power for passenger traffic over
street railways in cities and villages it
has not yet demonstrated that it can
compete with steam in hauling heavy
freight or passenger trains over long
distances. Whether it will be held in the
future that the movement of freight cars
or trains over electric lines located in
public highways is no additional sarvi-
tude upon suchlway samay. be questioned.
1t is predicted, however, by eminent ex-
perts, that within the next few years the
development of the power and uses of
electricity will be very great. If this be
SO, the time may very soon come when
electricity will take the place of steam
nm fhn nr,fi ,,N rni1, - / I.
country.
PORTLAND'S LINES.
The report says concerning the Port
land and Cape Elizabeth Railway, and
the Cape Elizabeth Street Railway: This
is line extending from Monument
Square, in Portland, through several
streets in that city over the Portland
bridge into South Portland, with termi-
nails at Simonton's Cove and Rigby Park.
While the corporation is made up of two
distinct organizations it is nevertheless,
operated as, and is practically, only one
The line from the end Of the bridge to
the aforementioned terminals was built
first and has bsen in operation few
months. 1t is very we'll built, the rails
of heavy pattern for street railway, laid
on good sound ties. large number of
them CHESTNUT and it is fairly well balas-
ted. The overhead construction Is very
good and the power house is we'll built
and finelyzsequipped building. The car
barn is orfe of the best in the state, with
ample roUm- forsall the cars that can be
required on the line. The part of the
line which is in Portland is laid with a
niue inch, 90-pound girder rail- with we'll
adjusted curves, and in all other respects
constructed in q workmanlike manner.
The bridges are those of the municipali.
ties through which the line runs, abund-
anJly strengthened to carry all the loads
which may be required of them. The
rolling stock is new, modern in design
and in all respects first class.
OF the Portland Railroad the commits
sioners say: The line of this railroad ex-
tend through the principal streets of
Portland, Westbrook and Deering, hay
ing a total length Of II IA miles. The
lines in Portland, and the Stroudwater
line, formerly operated with horses, have
been changed to electricity. The Ocean
Street Line is also being changed and
will soon be run by electricity. Most of
the track charged, has been relaid with
heavy steel rails upon good ties and
plenty of ballast. Eight miles of 90
pound, nine inch girder rail, and one and
one-third miles of 56-pound "T" rail
with II 000 new flies have hee N ,Iced n