The Elbert County tribune., 1903-01-01
THE RAILROAD SYSTEM OF THE
UNITED STATES.

The special Transportation number
OF the Scientific American. bearing date
of December l3, contains an article which
shows up very impressively the colossal
proportions of the railroad system of the
United States. The following extracts
are of particular interest;
'If one were called upon to name the
field of engineering in which the vast
scale upon which things are done in this
country is most strikingly shown, he
would be safe in pointing to the colossal
railroad system OF the United States. In
respect of the total length of track, the
total number Of locomotives and cars,
the veritable army of employees. and the
gross value of capital invested, our rail
way system is so huge that it stands alb
solutely in class by itself among the
railroad systems of the world. 1t is
equally true that in respect OF the char
acter Of its track, rolling stock. general
equipment, and methods OF operation. it
is marked by national characteristics
which distinguish it far more sharply
from the great European and Asiatic
roads, than they are distinguished from
each other.
when we remember that there are in
the United States today nearly 10000
miles of railroad track, or about $1,000
miles more than there are in the five
other great railroad systems of the world
combined, namely, Germany. France
Russia, Great Britain and British India.
it is difficult to realize that at the date
of the foundation OF the Scientific Amer
lean in 1915, there was less than 5000
miles Of track in this country, and that
this was made up Of few short discon-
nected and scattered lines in the Allan
tic and Southern states, and some un.
related systems in the Middle states.
ain attempting to impress upon the
mind the magnitude of the properties
and the operations represented 10y the
statistics of such huge properties as the
railroads of the United States, where the
figures run into the millions and billions,
it is necessary to translate these figures
into concrete terms and refer them to
some widely known standard of measure
ment, whether of distance, weight, or
bulk. In the present instance, our ar
tist has endeayored- and we think very
successfully transform the statistics
of our railroads into concrete form by
greatest single constructive work OF
man, the great pyramid of Egypt. 1t
measures some T56 feet on the base by
iS1 feet in height, and contains about
81 Z million cubic feet
snow to arrive at an estimate Of what
it has taken in material to build this
length of railroad, let us assume that
fair average size Of rail is one weighing
10 pounds to the yard. On this basis it
is an easy calculation to determine that
the total weight of these rails is over
25.0OO,OO0 tons; and if the mass were
melted and cast in solid pyramidal form
it would contain 105,540,oOO cubic feet,
and would be over fifteen per cent larger
than the great pyramid itself. II the
rails were cast in one rectangular block,
it would form a mass 436 feet square on
the base and equal in height to the
Washington monument, which towers
800 feet above its base.
"a fair average tie would be 10 inches
in width and inches in depth and o
feet long, and a good average spacing
would be "a inches, center to center of
the ties, or say 1900 to the mile. On
this basis we find that could all these
ties be gathered together on the Nile
desert and piled one upon another into
pyramid of the same proportions as
that of Gizeh, it would form pile TWEEN
ty-four times as great as the Pyramid
of the Pharaohs, measuring 2,200 feet on
its base and reaching 800 feet into the
air.
"Assuming an average depth of IL inch
es Of ballast, we find that if the railroad
builders of the United States had con
centrated their efforts, as did the Egyp-
tians OF old on the banks Of the Nile,
they would in a period Of years not
much greater than that required to build
the Pyramid, have raised pyramid Of
their own l35 times greater in bulk than
the tomb of Cheops. This vast pile
would measure $500 feet on each side
at the base, and would lift its head
nearly half mile into the air, or to be
exact Just $500 feet.
.'At the close Of the fiscal year 1901,
there were in service on the United
States railroads 1920 locomotives. As
Stunning that the average locomotive fills
n block 10 feet wide by l5 feet high bv 20
feet long. and that all these locomotives
could be brought into review at Gizeh
and there piled up into one great block.