The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-08-16
PHYSICAL VALUATION
OF The RAILROADS
ruorInous Undertaking to OBJ
miu Information VIII Cost
SIO.OOO. 900 Each Year.

valuation Of the American rail-
,o,d. The Government engineers and
I,sre,f,rs have just about completed
ROW preparations and have begun their
a,tu.i abors on several OF the smaller
vs.,.rn railroads. and they now believe
,.,t instead Of costing s2.000,000 the
v,rk will absorb the better part Of
eva 600 O0o every year and that years
rn be- consumed in securing the in
,,rnla'lon desired. incidentally they
also say that to be Of real value and
b.r,e, this Information must be kept
,ra, up 20 date and that the bureau
srd arsar cations must be permanent.
Even tho engineers employed In the
.r.rk arc somewhat bewildered at the
,,,gr.,ydp " the task to which they
nc boon assigned. When Congress
,r.i,,e3 tho commission 10 make this
MI, .rai valuation no detailed instruc-
,rot. we're issued. II was left to the
comm. SON 90 evolve system and TO
,s,r,ra The desired Information. But the
reuh,rs ~ tho commission had no
ingredient by which TO he guided. They
yrsV ,l,. end desired but not the road
s., which that end was reached. Now,
,"er months II preliminary work. the
.,,lplssiou IS really making the physl-
"a. valuation. the s;art being made on
tho Salt Lake line between Salt Lake
CIV and Los Angeles. Cal.
The GOV, rnment engineers are taking
absolutely nothing for granted and are
.ccept,ug practically none Of the rec
ords IN the headquarters of the railroad.
Nor is the clerical department OF the In
yesugators accepting any report issued
~ the railroad company. The engineers
are proving every foot Of track, while
me clerks are scrutinizing every figure
submitted 10 them.
Tie wonderful detail OF the work
h4lrg done by the Government engi-
neers Il, shown in the manner in which
they get at the value OF railroad
bridge First they get the records
NJ tho particular bridge from the office
az the engineer Of the railroad. With
this record. they measure the length
and width Of the structure. Then they
measure the size of "A large number OF
small pieces OF steel in the framework.
rhev investigate the piers upon which
'Ae ron rests. They take note of the
condition OF the paint. They note the
year IN which II was erected and figure
he cost OF the material at the time II
was built.
After figuring the cost OF the bridge
a. the s,eel works they add the cost
Of the transportation. Of labor and of
everything else which went into the
bridge and the cost OF the bridge at
the time II was built is secured.
Arerward The present cost Of repro
dlcton is figured. and then the valua-
ton Is completed. When 1t is consid-
cred TINT many Western railroads
traverse mountainous regions and that
hundreds NJ bridges are in use, the ex-
pert work required to secure the value
is seen go be enormous.
Securing he cost OF rails and ties n
comparatively easy matter, of the
very easies, u the whole work. That is
almus, matter OF plain calculation.
But when 1t comes down to discover
Ing just In what condition the rails
and ties arr az present and what pro-
portion should be- replaced the engi-
ueer> have something OF d job on their
lands
Likewise 10 lind the value OF the roll
ing stock and motive power Is a big
Undertaking. The larger railroad sys.
TENS own thousands OF freight cars,
scattered from one end OF the country
20 the other. The engineers have al
ready declared Il to be absolutely inn
possible 10 inspect each one of these
cars, so they must make general
average according to length OF service,
similar proceedings will be followed In
regard 10 passenger cars There ara
2so3l 2S freight cars in this country.
with locomotives II is different
mater Each locomotive in the coun-
Try must be inspected by an expert and
- present value decided upon. Tho
expert must also be able TO tell the
value OF each locomotive when Il was
purchased
When the engineers attempt to value
he right OF way Of railroad they en-
counter another difficulty. The value of
ne Nils and the cuts Is simply a matter
u calculation All the engineers have
20 DO Is To cross-section every ten feet
~ track for thousand miles or more
some systems advertise 10 900 miles
81 racK-compute the number OF cubic
Yards OF earth moved. make another
computation ~ the amount of rock
u
ulne The road was constructed, the COS
VI labor at present, and then estinat,
me cost ot moving the millions and mill,
ms o. Yards Of earth and rock-and
me cost value, as we'll AZ the reproduc-
ION value, Of the cuts and Nils will be
Nho"n. or course there must be taken
mo confederation such things as the
maintenance of the camps while the
work was done, the cost of foodstuffs
Tor man aud beast, clerical work back
3" mo Headquarters, and things OF that
H.ud
But the hard work Of the engineering
'o'lS is 10 determine the value of tn,
ana upon which the road is built. TIL,
'a,la''ua must be accurate to he OF
'"'u' TO the commission and To Con,
s''ss Every acre Of the right of way
must Doe valued
TIN" Pennsylvania road, for instance
runs through diversified territory
AUNT I"o0b niles Of It, The engineers
expert real estate men, must go ovel
N''F acre ~ all that mileage must dis
,'''r W" selling value OF the acres al
y""'hH and place similar value upoI
'' ANA oi the railroad. And. at the sam,
'""'' th'y must ilnd what was the valu,
v. 'l' laud al the time the road was con
A'rnctrd When the Northwestern lin,
"'' "u"' through Iowa land was wortl