Arizona republican., 1899-05-11
RAILROAD FADS IN CUBA.
Trains Run by a Queer Mixture jf Flu
 ropean and American Customs.

The Cuban railway service is new
 given space in the Travellers Official
 Railroad Guide In the way of gen.
 er2l information to travellers the guide
 gives some useful facts concerning the
 present condition of the service on the
 island as follows:
 ''The transportation of baggage is
 charged flir. The baggage system re-
 sembles the cne in use on European
 railways. Trunks are weighed and
 measured, the amount Of the charge i collected and a rece. pt given. A num- Der corrasrc tc the number of the l receipt, with the destination, isspasted | Cn the trunk. This receipt corre- | spends to the American hand check,
 and must be surrendered when the
 trunk is claimed.
 '"The railroad fares are in sane ir-
 stances printed on the local tickets, but these are the fares that prevailed
 under the Spanish rule, when that gov ernment exaoted . tax of 10 per cent of ,iie amount One-e-even'th of the printed amount must therefore be sub tractel3 to ascertain the present fare The fares are generally about five cents a mile in cur money, which
 
 Spanish silver.
 The ticket agent does net have an enyiab1e time in making change He now k25 three carrencie5 to deal with, viz, American money, Spanish gold and Spanish silver. The Spanish peso, CT dollar, is nCminaIly the same as our do-52-. but actually is quite different An American dollar is worth about S1.07 in Spanish gold and about s1.66 in Spanish silver at the cublished rates lThese rates are regulated in part by the government terms Of ex- change at the pcstoff1ce and custom house. The actual weight Of the gold and tho current value of silver, which varies from day to day, affects the rate Of exchange
 Railways in Cuba are operated partly by the methods prevailing cn the continent of Europe There is the same preliminary announcement of the starting of the train from a terminal in the way of bell ringing, etc, as in Europe, but the passenger coaches are built in American style, having cane seats, however, instead of plush cover trgs- The cars, both passenger and freight, are much shorter than in the United States, and are we'll adapted to the climate, as well as to the service for which they are intended. Each | train, as rule, consists of three 1 coaches, respectively first, second and l third class, although the classes are divided by partitions in | the same car
 The railways are not far behind the times, when the conditions by which i they have been surrounded and the | traffic they have tcr provide for, are carefully considered. The right of | way is fenced, if that is the proper term to use for cactus hedges or stone walls Tho cactus hedge is admirable fer the purpcse, being almost impen- et1Eable and unpleasant to surmount The roads are laid with steel rails, from fifty to siNty-two pounds to the yard, jointed with fish plates, with rock ballast and generally well tied and surfaced. Some of the switches are of the stub variety, but split switches are aisC in use The coup ings arc of the old fashioned link and oin style, but automatic couples are be- ng introduced. The passenger trains Ire equipped with air brakes. Freight sars are of smaller dimensions than ars recently built in the United States md mcrc like these of thirty years igo. Permanent tops are used, not the 2rpaulin covers employed on English goods wagons.
 There is no transfer system in Ha- Zana or in the other cities, and the raveler must look after his own trunk n arrival There are always plenty if p0rters and carriages and generally ln interpreter on hand A porters ee for carrying three valises and runk, the latter .cn his head, from the { ,ageage car in Regla to the ferry and cross, including leading the baggage n a carriage in Havana, was one spanish silver dollar, or sixty cents in FI- money''-New York Mail and Ex- z Tess.