The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1915-04-18
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER

ton of So, 900, 600 and Its gross earnings
are something like s920OO,0O0 year 1t
is now operating about 5000 miles of road,
and annually carries about 21,00o,000 pas
sengers and about 10000 tons of freight
The road began building in 1864 to con-
meet Rosario and Cordoba. 1t now has
two lines from Buenos Aires to Rosario
and one from there to Tucuman, and 1t
will eventually be part of the system
which will cross the continent to Anto-
fagasta in Chile. All but few miles of
this line is now built, and it is not an
impossibility but that It may be completed
this year. The road has the highest gross
earnings per mile of any line in Argentina.
1t pays dividends of 6 per cent
Other railways which are doing big
business are the Buenos Aires Western
and the Argentine. The first is capital
lied at s1s6.edo 600 and it has gross re-
cepts of about s14,00ooO9. The other IL
managed by the Farquhar-Pearson syndl-
cate, usually known as an American
company although the most of its money
comes from Great Britain. The Argentine
road has a charter from Maine. 1t has
lines in Cordoba and Entire Rios and in
northern Argentina. and altogether has
more than 300 miles of track leased or
controlled large part of it Is narrow
gauge and one section is a part OF the
through route to Paraguay 1 have trav-
eed over much of the latter road and
find it comfortable. They are now begin
ming to ship cattle from Paraguay to
Buenos Aires and live stock may In the
future form a large part of the traffic.
The trains from Buenos Aires to Asun-
con are feiried across the Rio de la
Plata and the Parana rivers en- route.
Much of the railways of Argentina are
well built. The most common gauge is
five and one-half feet and there are also
700 thousand miles OF track whose
gauge is a meter. The broad gauge orig
mated from the fact that the first road
in the country was built to fit an Eng
lish locomotive, whose wheels were five
and one-half feet apart The most of
the roads Of the future have been kept
that extraordinary width. Our roads are
four feet. eight and one-halr inches wide.
or what is known as the standard gauge.
The most of the railways of the Argen-
tire are ballasted with dirt or clay. Many
of them have steel ties and in some the
rails lest on discs of iron connected by
reds or hollow plates of pressed steel
so fixed that they fit down in the earth,
the rails being clamped to them In one
year about $500 900 worth of steel rails
were imported.
The question of ties is important. There
are no trees on the great pampas and
all kinds of lumber must be imported.
The hard woods of the Panama and Par
aguay rivers will not float, and some
or n w
weigh 200 pounds. Some are so tough that
spikes cannot be driven into 1t and holes
have to be bored for the spikes before the
rails can be fastened.
Nevertheless, railroad building on the
Pampas is comparatively cheap. The
country is dead fiat and you can run
a roacbed for a hundred miles or So
without much grading to speak of. This
is so also in parts of Patagonia, but
there the dust storms are such that they
are liable to cover the tracks, stopping
the cars. They use dust plows as we
use snow plows. During a storm of
few years ago 1t took 2Oc0 men to clear
the track of enc road. There are also
dust storms further north, and "A neces-
sity of the passengers travelling equip
ment is buster to keep his clothes clean.
I like railway travelling in the Argen-
tine. The fares are dearer than those
OIL our tOuntTs, Jul tHc SoAo "iO Soco
and exceedingly comfortable. The seats
are wider than ours, and those of the
first class are upholstered In leather
They have also chair cars and special
sleeping compartments. On nearly every
train tea is served in the afternoon, and
the passengers universally go to the din
ing car for their tea. Most of the cars
serve a table d'hote dinner at about
D. M This costs SIS. and for that one
may have a soup, fish. stewed chicken
roast beef with vegetables and ice cream,
cheese, fruit and coffee. The dinner is
much like the old-style dollar dinner of
the American roads, save that it is served
in courses.
The compartment sleeping cars are such
that one has all the advantages of the
drawing room of our Pullman coaches II