El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-12

line two and oue-half miles long, which
ran from Mexico City to the Shrine OF
GUadaIune- This was built in 1854, ana
three years later the concession was
granted for the old Mexican railroad,
Wnlcn ran from NeraCruZ to Mexico
City This was built by English capital
under good concession, and II was
completed in 1873, having at that time
received something like $l2,000,0O0 IN
The road is about 500 miles long, in
cluolnS its branches, and it cost over
93yiVcV,VO0, or about 100000 a mile.
When II was begun the indians object
co % It's construction, and IN order 70
paclfy them the work was begun AZ
poJh ends and carried on to the meet
ing point, half way between the coast
ana the capital As all the materials
came from England, this entailed an
enormous expense, it costing as mucn
as 80 TO bring q steel rail from Vera
cruz TO the capital by wagon The same
was so for time of the MEXICAN Cen
traI railroad, which runs from Fl Paso
to Mexico City.
The road from VeracruZ was capital
lied at S4600O000, and it has always
paid a good profit on the investment,
For a long time il had monopoly, ana
at the start its freight rates for this
maui OF less than 500 miles were 80 a
cents a mile
The road is a marvel Of engineering
and il has some of the steepeSt grades
at NeracruE right up the mountains
and IL has some grades so steep that
a Siamese twin engine, with double
header, has been constructed to mount
them This engine has two fire boxes,
two boilers and two sets Of driving
wheels 10 make il 60 With IL the train
climbs an altitude of $500 feet IN. ~
miles, and more than 1900 feet in %
miles, lifting you out of the tropics
and into the temperate zone.
Some queer Railroad Building.
A large part of the old Mexican road
had ties Of mahogany and ebony The
chief objection to the ebony ties was
that II was hard to drive the spikes
into them and almost impossible 10 get
them out when the rails had 10 be
changed. On the Tehauntepec road
some Of the track is laid on mahogany
ties which cost there from IS to 50
cents each. The ebony trees DO not
grow as large as the mahogany trees
and their ties are more expensive 10
make. On the Mexican road many
steel ties have been employed These
are hollow plates, about four inches
wide and Of the same length as an or
binary tie. so made that when turned
upside down they look like a trough.
The InterOceanlC road uses steel disks
to hold the rails. tying them together
do not work as well as the solid steel
Passenger Travel.
I find the Mexican railways well
comfortable There are Pullman sleep
ers on all the main lines and under
ordinary conditions one can take his
berth or drawing room at St Louis
and go TO Mexico City without change
The eating arrangements are excellent
and the fares are about the same as
in the states.
As to the local travel, the rates are
less than those Of our country, the
usual firstclass mare being two and
40 cents gold a mile and the second
class about l = cents per mile All OF
the principal railways have first and
second class coaches. but only the COM
mon people and the indians use the
latter Nevertheless % percent OF the
passenger revenues come from the Sec
ond class The poems love TO travel
and whenever one of them gets a Few
dollars ahead he spends it by giving
himself and his family q railway jour
new. Sometimes he rides as far as
he can and then comes back upon foot.
One Of the great sources Of such
traffic is the religious shrines- The
poems so upon pilgrimages to them
and they sometimes travel hundreds
Of miles by rail in that way. The
passenger head OF the National rail-
day tells me that his road brings
Of Guadalupe. ana that this traffic
alone pays his road S150,000 gold every
year. The railroads receive large
revenue by running excursions. and
among the events which add to the
traffic are the celebrations Of saint
days. fiestas. and such attractions as
balloon aScensiOns-
During my travels here I have spent
considerable tame on these second
class coaches watching the people. The
cars are Of the cheapest description.
Their seats are hard wooden benches
which run along under the windows
like an Old-fashloned street car and
have another double row OF benches
running through the center Of the car
with their seats back TO back. There
are no cushions and no rests for the
p a 81
with men. women and children. rang
ing in color from white to a dark cop
per. the indian types predominating.
Mexican as n Railroad EmpIOye.
am told that the Mexican is a fair
~ good railroad man. About a decade
men who worked on the roads were
Americans. The engineers, brskemen
and conductors came from the United
States and every city along the line
ployeS. This has been changed Four
fifths of the Americans have gone and
the roads are now altogether managed
by natives.
force in the general offices here are
largely Americans, but the rank and
file, who do the operating and run
ming the trains. are Mexicans-
This has come from a decision OF the
railway managers made a number OF
years ago, that they must educate the
natives TO fill such positions II they
would have permanent employees at
reasonable wages. They began this,
and. wherever possible, transferred a
Mexican into the vacancy whenever a
telegraph operators to become train [
and they took the best Of l
the carpenters, mechanics and boiler
makers trained in their shops and made /
them foremen, shOpkeepers and mana
gers. They have elevated native fire
men on the engines to locomotive en- /