The St. Johns herald., 1901-01-19
SPEED OF FREIGHTS.
Western Railroad Companies Talk
 of Reducing It >,
Proposed Reform in Running Rate Gives Promise of Great Saving in Expense and Wear
 and Tear.

in Expense and Wear
 and Tear.
 Railroad officers are seriously consid- ering the possibility of reducing freight train speeds, and we believe that the subject is to be introduced at the next meeting of the Western Railway club by gentleman quite competent to pre- sent it. We should not be surprised Ii it is correct to say that no other single reform would yield so large an increase in net earnings. A dozen or 15 years ago the doctrine was pretty ably stated and supported that there would be actual economy in running freight trains faster than they were then run, for the losses in wages, in interest on the equipment, in radiation of heat from the boiler and engines because of the longer time in service, and per haps other clements, united to make it actually more expensive to move freight trains at low speeds than at high speeds. But even then the highest speed seri- ously contemplated as economical was 20 miles an hour, with 90 as the maxi mum at very favorable points.
 It is probable that the notions then plausibly supported have had certain effect in practice during the interven- ing period, although unquestionably the one great reason why freight train speeds have been run up to the wasteful height that they have now reached is the pressure for getting and holding competitive traffic. Engineering con- alterations have had mighty little to do with the case.
 Areform such as is proposed falls into the same class as reduction of passenger train speeds and cutting of duplicate passenger service a kind of reform often discussed, but in which little has yet been accomplished. A wise control of freight train speeds would not reduce the expenditure of productive energy, but it would save waste, and so it would not only add to the wealth of the rail- road companies which might have the courage to carry out such reform, but it would add to the wealth of the world. We judge that there can be little uues- tion as to the possibility of such say ing, considered from an engineering standpoint. The great difficulty will come from the traffic department. But the engineers can at least try to analyze the subject and to state somewhat defi- nitely the sources of waste and the amount of the economies to be possibly attained.
 It is obvious that at slow speeds heav- fer trains can be hauled. We at once introduce here an economy in wages If we do the same work with three trains that was formerly done with five trains we save part of the wages of the crews of two trains. Obviously, all of these wages cannot be saved, because as trains are run slower they must be longer on the road, and, although wages are based on the length of run, still they must ultimately come down to the basis of time spent.
 In spite of the ingenious argument that the longer the locomotive is on the road the greater will be the loss of heat by radiation, nevertheless, it will prob ably be admitted by almost everybody that a great deal of fuel can be saved by running freight trains slower than many of them are now run, inasmuch as a greater amount of heat energy in the coal will be transferred to available energy in the steam at some compara- lively low speed.
 These, we take it, are the chief ele- ments of economy, namely, wages and fuel, but there are other elements which must be important. The reduction of the cost of maintenance of track and equipment would be considerable. Aside from the saving in normal wear and tear, there would be certain saw ing-probably not great, but still sig nificant-in the losses through acci- dents. It is matter of common knowl- edge that many derailments, such, for example, as those from broken wheels, have been made much more costly by high speed than would have been the case at low speed.
 It is not clear that, generally speak ing, saving could be made by the more regular and uninterrupted movement of the traffic over the road if freight trains were run at low Average speeds. It is easy to see that with mixed traf- lie the operating difficulties might be increased, but on the other hand, it seems reasonable that on most roads freight trains could jog along at slow and steady pace and keep their inter- vals and keep out of theway of the rela- lively few fast trains just as we'll as if the average freight train speed was high. Possibly they could do this even better at normally low schedule.- Railroad Gazette.
 No Panic in England.