The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-11-25
FIRST IN STREET RAILWAYS.

The October souvenir edition OF the
Street Railway Journal, issued in
honor OF the annual convention of
| street railway men i'm this city. con-
tains several papers on street railway
| practice in America and abroad These
| papers were written by engineers Of
| ability, and they describe fully the
! principal features of city transporta-
| tion In the United States, Germany.
Great Britain, Austria AMI the Argen- :
tine. y summary of the princiDal
points OF practice here and I'm other
countries shows a number Of interest
ing differences.
Europe builds It's street railway
roadbeds With great masses of concrete
aiming at the greatest rigidity and in
destructibility. The drft of America n
practice is toward elasticity saws M
Chicago lnter-Ocean. European rails
are lighter than American rails and
with forms or surface that make them
less safe for the passage If cars though
securing greater ease Of travel in tbo
streets for vehicles Foreign cars
owing to the high cost of wood. are
built more Largely Of iron than Anert-
can cars and are much heavier These
three points of difference have q diroct
two countries. The European road
beds and cars necessltate slow guead
since even with the best springs ranid
travel would prove disastrous IA bntt
passcngers and rolling stock. American
roads maintain an average of nearly
double the average OF speed abroad
American motors. car-coutruIlinp an
paratus, power-house machinery. and
overhead Hne construction have 90,
40, ct t,.sft t.dC fDr tho M.
superior to the types made mEur6nean
Countries, and are being adopted gen-
orally abroad. In the matter OF hrakss
however. foreign roads are edua1 ~
superior 70 the American roads sirca
air brakes are used TO a far greater ax
cent there than here. Tn new mecban-
ical brakes developed in this cpunfrv
and particularly i'm Chicago. h,t,ove,.
are considered nearly as efficient IN
the ornamentation OF trolley poles also
foreign countries are ahead OF ne
United states.
AS 10 the amount of track ana pap-
eral uansportatiCr facilities. America,
cities are far ahead uf any othcrs C,bt-
cago has practically LOO miles Of SIM.
face and elevated railway track for a..
population OF 100000 London v.tb
a population of a,5OO.OoO has only 2l2
miles Of street railway track ara ~
miles OF underground railway. or tn,
tai OF 40 miles. Paris has bur 23U ,,iics
Of street railway track with 0gj 0on
popula ton. including suburbs. Rorlin
has 2l2 miles. with i.5l0.O0O popuIatian
Manchester. England. has 1876 mn les FOR
ESQ population, Birmingham v.itb
$50. 900 population. has A miles
Liverpool with $50 00o population mas a
combined surface and elevated railwav
tiaCkaga OF 90 miles.
IN spite OF the talk az lower fares
% broad. financial statistics = Inc roads
uf the various foreign countries show
greater receipts per car mile than I'm
America. Provided cars are NOT more
abroad than here his means
that the scent fare uriypry,l i'm mis-
country is In reality chclper for the
j. 1pie tiian the Foreign syucm ,r far.,s
GRADED atclrding To the ,Iistnl..,. tray
alsd In view ~ The many stn,r pub-
lir ADVANTAGES ~ u1 rersal 5-cent
fara this showing f rtcs am argu-
m.ris for the gra ,ed far, system in
moricl.
Au n alt America s probably Far.
her ahead ~ the rest If Tho world I'm
street falirost work thnn ~ e1,.st other
great industries of the day.