Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-11-02
RAILROAD STATISTICS
Diminished Earnings During the Last
Business Year.
MILEAGE SLIGHTLY INCREASED
Depression Of Business Affects
Transportation Severely.
PASS ENGER CASUALTIES

Much interesting information relative to
the operations of the railways of the
United States Is contained in the fortkcom-
ing annual report of the interstate COM
nerce commission. advance sheets of which
nave just been sent to the office Of the
commission from the government printing
ofhce, where the report is being printed.
The statistician states that In the last
snnual report attention was called to the
fact that the results of railway operation
were influenced by the Columbian EXPOSE
ten, by the general depression in bust
ness, and by the large number of receiver
ships established during the year. The
hrst of these unusual conditions has, Of
course, ceased to influence the statistics of
passenger traffic.
business Depression.
MANY evidences may be observed of
continued business depression while an in
vestigation into the matter of receiverships
SHOWS that although some lines have been
discharged from the custodiarship of the
courts, others have been taken under their
protection. There were on June 80 1880,
l63 roads in the hands of receivers being
a ret decrease of % as compared with the
result of the fact that 81 roads have been
taken out Of the bonds of receivers and 81
placed in the hands of receivers during the
Nv %elve months covered by this report.
lhese ItD roads represented 81 $3.50 miles
OF operated mileage, being n decrease of
-,:'t'ol miles as compared with the pre-
Vlous year. The capital stock represented
by ra always In the hands of receivers was
$5Zo,6l3,4 6l; the funded debt was $1,31J-
2Io,2l3, and current liabilities amounted to
si'f, i'5,s26. from which it appears that
inc total capital of roads in the hands of
receivers on June 30, 1895 was 81 49, IA
SOB OF the 1863 roads in the hands of re-
reivers on June 30, 1895, 70 operated a
mileage i'll excess of 300 miles, 81 operated
mileage from 100 to 300 miles, and Il OPP
Grated mileage of less than 100 miles
Four of these Ii? roads were not in opera
tlon during the year covered by the report
ard y were subsidiary lines forming parts
OF operating systems.
Railroad Mileage.
The length of line of single track mile
age for which complete reports have been
rendered during the year ending June 30.
1879, was III, 7i6.25 miles The total mile
age for the same period being $50, 657 Al
miles, shows that there were 291122 miles
OF unreported mileage in the United States.
The present report covers S39 per cent of
total railway mileage.
The aggregate length of all tracks on
June 80 1898, was 216, Sal.26 miles being an
track mileage of the previous year In
Guided under total track mileage is the
lot.9!H miles of second track 1928 miles
or third track. I2} II miles of fourth track.
anu f,,No"'i" miles Of yard track and sid
inSs The percentage increase of single
track throughout the year covered by the
report was LOO Ter cent, that of second
track was l.34 per cent, that of third track
was d; a.aS per cent. that Of fourth track was
81 per cent and that of yard track and
sldinss was 2S1 per cent. This seems to
indicate, as was suggested in the report for
me previous year. that under the CONNER
ciai con1ltlons which exist the tendency to-
ward the development of existing property
lor assured traffic is slightly stronger than
me tendency toward the seeking of new
trafhc by the extension of line
Rolling Stock.
The total number of locomotives on June
20. 1885. in the employ of tho Railways of
the United States was 1868, being an in
crease of POI over the previous year. The
average annual increase since 1890. in
Guiding the year covered by this report is
Lip.
railways on June 30, 1895 was 1 90 y;I be-
lrg a decrease of 1917 as compared with
the previous year. The decrease in cars
assigned to freight service was 1880, pas
senger cars showing an increase during the
same period Of "a, and cars assigned to the
companys service an increase of l .439. 1t
cannot be said that this decrease in freight
cars Is due entirely to an effort on the part
or railways to economZe in equipment for
as is SHOWN by subsequent summaries
freight traffic and freight train mileage
nave Doth increased during the year COW
cred by the report, while the average length
of haul per ton has decreased The true
explanation Of this decrease in the number
OF cars assigned to freight service is found
In the Increased use which railways make
OF private cars. Reference has frequently
peen mace IN these reports to the fact that
the existing law does not enable a com
plete compilation of railway equipment.
rms must be constantly held in mad in
order to avoid erroneous conclusions II
was stated In last years report that the
railway ma nagement made the slackness in
business the occasion for DESTROYING a
larger number than usual of old cars and
cars of an inferior type 1t is possible that
this may have influenced somewhat the
changes in equipment during the present
year.
Train Brakes.
1.-THE number of passenger locomotives
fitted with train brakes on June 30. 1885,
was 1876. being an increase of 1O6 over the
corresponding figures for the previous year
1t appears that practically all passenger
locomotives are fitted with train brakes
While the Increase in the number of passen-
ger locomotives is exactly the same as the
increase IN the number fitted with train
brakes The number Of freight locomotives
fitted with train brakes on June 30. 1895
was 1912, out of total of 2O,O12 freight
locomotives. The increase In freight loco-
motives fitted with train brakes during the
year covered by the report is 729, being III
IN excess OF the Increase in locomotives
The number Of passenger locomotives fitted
with automatic couplers OH June 30, 1895
was 1888. being an increase Of Ala over the
previous year. BY comparison with the
number of locomotives in service, it ap-
90 hnr vet o{r,Q
motives without automatic couplers. TIL,
number of freight locomotives fitted with
automatic ccuplers on June 80, 1896 was
2039. being an increase of 731 over the pre-
vious year. When, however, 1t is remem-
bered there are 20,O12 locomotives in serv-
ice. the deficiency in this regard becomes
apparent.
THE number Of passenger cars fitted with
train brakes on June 3d. 1895, was 80 1884
being a decrease of 10 as compared with the
previous year. The number of passenger
cars in service was 81. 112. The number of
freight cars fitted with train brakes on June
3d. 1895, was 295.O73, out Of a total of
1861 cars assigned to the freight serv-
Ice. The number of passenger cars fitted
with automatic