National
Cable
Railway
Company's
SYSTEM OF TRACTION RAILWAYS
for
CITIES AND TOWNS.
Office, No. 2 Wall Street,
NEW YORK CITY.
National
Cable
Railway
Company's
SYSTEM OF TRACTION RAILWAYS
for
CITIES AND TOWNS.
Office, No. 2 Wall Street,
NEW YORK CITY.
The National Cable Railway Company.
SYSTEM OF
Traction Rai lways
FOR
CITIES AND TOWNS.
OFFICE. NO. 2 WALL STREET, ROOM 39,
NEW YORK CITY.
J U <* Is j A
JAN 7 1884
N, AN
E. D. Eu^hnei.l, Printer, 49 P>eaver Street, New York,
National Cable Railway Company.
INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
JULY, 1883.
CAPITAL, $2,500,000. NUMBER OF SHARES, 50,000.
OFFICERS :
WM. P. SHINN,
CONSTANT A. ANDREWS.
JOHN C LEWIS,
THOS. W. EVANS,
JAMES GAMBLE.
EGBERT L VIELE,
Hon. WM. DORSHEIMER
ROBERT SEWELL, Esq .
GEORGE HARDING,
JOHN R. BENNETT,
President
Vice-President
Secretary
T reasurer
General Manager
Consulting Engineer
General Counsel
1 Special Attorneys and Counsel
) (or Asserting Validity of Patents
TRUSTEES :
WALLACE C. ANDREWS,
CONSTANT A. ANDREWS,
JAMES GAMBLE,
JOHN W. MACKEY,
W. S. WILLIAMS,
JOSEPH C. WALCOTT,
WM. P. SHINN.
THOMAS D. ADAMS,
THOMAS W. EVANS,
S. F. PIERSON,
J. B. SHAW,
GEORGE H. VILAS,
THOMAS F. RYAN.
OFFICE OF THE COMPANY;
UNITED BANK BUILDING, No. 2 WALL STREET, ROOM
NEW YORK CITY.
National Cable Railway Company.
NOTICE.
The National Cable Railway Company was organized for the purpose
of introducing throughout the United States the system of Cable Railways,
matured by Mr. A. S. Hallidie, as operated in the cities of San Francisco
and Chicago.
This Company is the owner of all the Hallidie and other patents which
have been so successfully operated on the street railway cable system, and
is now prepared to negotiate for rights to use said patents in all cities and
towns east of the Rocky Mountains.
A fund of one hundred thousand dollars, amply secured, is pledged to
the Company to uphold its exclusive right to the system of street cable
railways under the patents owned by it. These patents have been twice
broadly sustained in the United States Circuit Court as commanding the
cable system, by decisions in contested cases, on both the law and equity
sides of the Court, and the Company and its counsel have an undoubted
confidence in their validity.
The charter of the Company, which is organized under the laws of
New York, confers all the powers and privileges of a Railroad Rolling
Stock and Construction Company, by which it can cable and equip existing
street railroads as well as build new lines, and the exclusive right to
grant licenses under these patents.
Under these patents the following Street Railroads have been con¬
structed and are now operating under licenses granted to them, viz :
Clay Street Hill Railroad Company San Francisco.
Sutter Street Railroad Company San Francisco.
California Street Railroad Company San Francisco.
Geary Street Railroad Company San Francisco.
Presidio and Ferries Railroad Company San Francisco.
Chicago City Railway Company Chicago.
The National Cable Railway Company, having sustained the validity of
its patents in the United States Circuit Court for the District of California, is
prepared to gkant licenses, and furnish all information, drawings, etc., to¬
gether with competent constructing Engineers if desired, to Street Railway Com¬
panies proposing to build.
The unauthorized construction of Street Raihcays, ivorked by a moving
endless cable, in an underground tube, on the principle of the Cable Railways
now operating in San Francisco and Chicago, will be an infringement upon the
patent rights owned by the National Cable Railway Company, and any infringe¬
ment of the patents for construction, as well as those pertaining to the operating
of such roads, will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Address,
NATIONAL CABLE RAILWAY COMPANY,
Office, United Bank Building,
No. 2 AYall Street, Room 39,
New York.
THE NATIONAL CABLE RAILWAY COMPANY'S
SYSTEM OF
STREET RAILWAY,
AS OPERATED IN
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, AND CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
This system of Street Railway, the invention of Mr. A. S. Hallidie,
was first put in use by the Clay Street Hill Railroad Company, in the
City of San Francisco, California, in August, 1873, since which time it has
been constantly running, and has been found to answer all requirements)
and to exceed the expectations of engineers and others who had examined
the plans of the inventor.
It is adapted to all kinds of metropolitan railways, where the sur¬
face of the streets has to be kept free from obstructions and open to
ordinary traffic, whêre locomotive steam engines are not permitted, or
where the streets are so steep as to make the use of horses difficult or
impossible.
The system consists of an endless wire rope placed in a tube below
the surface of the ground, between the tracks of a railway, and kept in
position by means of sheaves, upon and beneath which the rope is kept
in motion by a stationary engine, the power being transmitted from the
motor to the rope by means of grip or other suitable pulleys, and from
the rope to the cars on the street by means of a gripping attachment fixed
to a grip-car or dummy, and connected by a thin bar, which passes through
a narrow slot in the upper side of the tube.
It presents no impediment to ordinary travel. The rope is grasped
and released at pleasure by a grappling device attached to the passenger
car, and controlled by a man in charge. The car is more smoothly started
than by horses, and instantly stopped on any part of the road ; its me¬
chanical construction is simple and easily controlled, and on the streets of
a city it does not frighten horses or endanger lives.
CABLE RAILWAYS IN SAN FRANCISCO.
A description of this system, as in use by the Clay Street Hill Rail¬
road Company of San Francisco, will best explain the modus operandi.
f 7 I
Clay street is a central street in the City of San Francisco, and for a
number of blocks near the lower terminus of the road is very densely
populated. The street is only 49 feet wide from house to house, and be¬
tween the sidewalks is occupied by two lines of gas pipe, one line of water
pipe, a street sewer, and at the cross streets by water cisterns.
The lower terminus of the road is at the intersection of Kearny and
Clay streets. The summit of the hill is 307 feet above Kearny street.
The incline on Clay street has a double track, and is 5,197 feet long ; the
rope runs into the engine house at Leavenworth street. The ascending
grades are as follows : From Kearny to Dupont, 45 feet ; from Dupont to
Stockton, 45 feet ; from Stockton to Powell, 6'2 feet ; from Powell to Mason,
42 feet; from Mason to Taylor, 48 feet; from Taylor to Jones, 67 feet
Then the grade descends, as follows : Jones to Leavenworth, 15 feet ;
Leavenworth to Hyde, 50 feet ; Hyde to Larkin, 50 feet ; Larkin to Polk.
45 feet ; and then an ascent of 15 feet from Polk street to Van Ness avenue,
The distance between each street is 412^ feet. Clay street runs at right
angles to the above streets, which have widths varying from 45 feet to 68
feet 9 inches. All the street crossings are level. The steepest grade is 1
in 6 ,o5.
The general arrangement of the system in use by the Clay Street Hill
Railroad is as follows : An endless steel-wire rope, three inches in circum¬
ference, 11,000 feet long, is stretched the whole distance, lying in iron
tubes, supported every 39 feet on 11-inch sheaves. This rope is supported
at every change of angle at the lower crossings on sheaves four feet in
diameter, passing around a horizental sheave eight feet in diameter at the
lower end of the line, and at the engine house, around two angle sheaves,
each eight feet in diameter, which lead the rope on the grip pulleys, also
eight feet in diameter,- which are driven by one 14 x 28 engine. The
steam is furnished by one boiler, 16 feet x 54 inches, using 3,700 pounds
of coal per day. They have also duplicate engine and boiler, vhich are
held in reserve.
The grip pulleys being furnished at their circumference with jaws
that grip and release the rope automatically, by the pressure of the rope
in the jaws, prevents the rope from slipping ; and, being set in motion by
the engine, actuates the endless rope, while traveling up one tube and
down the other.
In addition to the sheaves that support the rope in the tubes, at the
upper side of each crossing where the incline makes an angle upwards,
there are sheaves in the tubes that keep the rope down and from striking
the upper part of the tube.
There is an opening in the upper side of the tube. This opening runs
the entire length of each tube, forming a long slot three-fourths of an
inch wide. This slot is not immediately over the centre of the tube, but
I 8 I
on one side, to keep sand and drift from falling on the rope, and enables
the foot of the gripping attachment to pass by and under the upper
sheaves, and over the lower sheaves in the tube.
The connection between the cars on the street and the travelling rope
is made by means of this gripping attachment, which is hereinafter de¬
scribed. The cars are made to seat 1-4 passengers and the dummy 16, but
not seldom as many as 44 have ridden in the car and 26 on the dummy—70
in all ; and the reads with broad-gauge, larger cars and mere even grades
have, in one load on car and dummy, carried as many as 160 passengers.
It is true they were crowded, but this is always the case on holidays.
The grip-car, or " dummy," with the gripping attachment, is attached to
the passenger car firmly, so that there can be no danger of accident. The
passenger car is amply provided with brakes. In addition to the usual
car-brake, there is another attachment, operated from the platform in the
same manner as ordinary brakes, which forces a broad band of wood down
on each track immediately under the car. Strong iron drags are provided,
so that if an accident should occur in going up the hill, tliev will immedi¬
ately catch in the street, and prevent the car from going backwards. When
it is necessary to back down hill, these drags are raised up out of the way
by the conductor.
The " dummy " is also provided with powerful brakes. The " dummy "
and car are connected with a suitable coupling, so that the weight of the
car going down comes on the rope, and is utilized to draw up the other
cars on the other track. The brakes are not usually employed when com¬
ing down, except when it is necessary to stop, as the car runs down with
the same speed as the rope, as long as the gripping attachment is in con¬
nection with the rope.
A modification of the Clay Street grip is used on the Sutter Street and
California Street railroads._
The rope runs 17^ hours per day. at a speed of 6 miles per hour. The
cars start every five minutes, except in the afternoon, when they start every
three minutes.
The road has a gauge of 3 feet 6 inches. An ordinary 30-pound steel
T-rail is used on Clay street, which is set flush with the street, and presents
a neat, smooth appearance. The stretching arrangement at the lower end
keeps a constant strain on the rope under all circumstances.
This machinery is so arranged that the wire rope passes for some dis¬
tance in open view of the engineer, so that it can readily be examined at
any minute.
VALUE OF CABLE ROADS TO HILL PROPERTY.
The hill is the best portion of the city fob residences, and the road brings
within five minutes of the business portion of the city a large amount of the
19 ]
property that was comparatively worthless on account of the difficulty of
access, but is now much sought after, having trebled in value since the road
was completed.
After the Clay Street Hill Railroad had been running three years and
a half, and the economy and practicability of the system was thoroughly
tested, the Sutter Street Railroad Company, whose lines had for many
years been unprofitably worked by horses, changed their system from a
horse road to the wire cable system ; and by the end of the year 1879 had
reconstructed nearly their entire road on this system. This Company has
now 17,000 feet (over three miles) of double track operated on this system.
The gauge of the road is 5 feet, and its greatest elevation is 167 feet above
its initial point.
ECONOMY OF CABLE ROADS.
The grades, however, are comparatively light, and it gave an oppor¬
tunity to test the two systems, Horse vs. Cable—not, however, under cir¬
cumstances very favorable to the cable, owing to the fact that the business
of the road was not interrupted during the transformation, and road was
not reconstructed in a very substantial way. But, in spite of that, the sav¬
ing in the running expenses of the road effected by the cable system was
stated by the Superintendent and Secretary of this road, in the case of the
Traction Railroad Company v. Sutter Street Railroad Company for the in¬
fringement of Mr. A. S. Hallidie's patents—United States Circuit Court,
California (decided against defendant)—to be thirty per cent., and that the
passenger traffic was increased 962,375 the first year after adopting the
cable system. The shares of this Company were selling at $24 before the
transfer, and are now selling at $90.
The cars of this Company seat 18 persons and the dummy 18. The
gauge of the track is 5 feet, and the cable crosses two of the main thor¬
oughfares of the city—Kearny -and Montgomery streets.
Their main cable line is on Sutter street, and is 13,291 feet long. A
branch cable road runs at right angles to this on Larkin street, and is
3,712 feet long. This latter road runs across two other cable roads, viz :
the California Street and Geary Street Railroad Company.
The gripping attachment used by this Company is somewhat different
in construction from that on Clay street, although involving the same prin¬
ciples. The motion of the gripping jaws is vertical instead of horizontal,
and it takes and releases the rope sideways, instead of beneath, as with
Clay street ; and in order to run on to or off from the rope at the termini
of the cable road, the track and slots diverge from or converge to the line
of the rope. Levers are used for operating the jaws instead of the screw.
The California Street Railroad commenced running April 1878. Its
length is 12,000 feet of double track, and it passes in that distance over
[10 ]
two elevations, the height being 265 feet and 235 feet above base respect¬
ively, the valley between being 125 feet above base. The gauge is 3.^ feet,
same as the Clay Street.
This road, like Clay and Sutter Street, has been extended beyond the
length of its original construction, which was 8,800 feet, and which was
constructed in a very substantial manner, the tube being formed of worn
65-pound rails, and surrounded by concrete.
The engine house is located in a valley about midway between the
termini of the original section. Some of the grades on this line are quite
heavy, there being a rise of 67 feet and 75 feet respectively in the distances
of 412^ feet. This is the heaviest grade in San Francisco, except one block
on the line of the Presidio Railroad, which has a rise of 78 feet in the same
distance.
This company uses a heavier rope than the other lines in this city, viz
4-inch circumference, and the driving pulleys are on the same plane as the
rope, and situated under the street.
The grip employed is worked by a lever, and like Sutter Street, takes
the rope sideways.
The Geary Street Railroad runs over a comparatively level route,
and through the most central and populous streets of the city. It was
completed and commenced running March, 1880.
The gauge of the road is 5 feet, and its length is 13,200 feet of double
track, in which distance it passes over two elevations, 350 and 280 feet
above base respectively, and attains a third elevation at its western termi¬
nus of 224 feet above base—its starting point in the city being 35 feet above
base, and the two intermediate valleys being 160 and 154 feet respectively.
The tube is constructed of cast-iron sections, and covered by concrete.
The space inside the tube is much less than any of the other roads. The
grip is worked by levers. It is vertical in its motion, and takes the rope
from above, the gripping jaws being immediately under the slot, as is also
the rope, which is thus exposed to the falling water, dirt, etc., which the
other roads avoid by having the gripping jaws and rope sufficiently off on
one side of the slot to escape falling particles.
The Presidio and Ferries Cable Railroad has a 5-foot gauge ; 10,000
feet of double track. It ascends one hill 246 feet above its initial point in
a distance of 5,00u feet. The engine is located on the summit of the hill,
about midway between the termini, and about 700 feet from which is a very
heavy grade of 78 feet in 412£, or 1 in 5i;i0. The road is built very substan¬
tially, with cast-iron sections or yokes, connected by rolled channel iron
and sheet iron.
The grip is the same as the one used on Clay street, although made
heavier, to conform to the heavier grades and rolling stock.
1111
There is a curve at the intersection of two streets, about 2,600 feet
from the starting point, and the rope is deflected by means of two 8 feet
diameter horizontal pulleys. The streets descend from both directions
towards the curve, and about 30 feet before reaching the curve the grip is
opened and released from the rope, the car and,dummy are carried around
by gravitation, and the rope is picked up again after passing the curve.
The Roslyn Tramway, in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand, is a Cable
Railroad, 3 ' 6 ' ' gauge, single track, with turnouts. It is 3,500 feet long,
and ascends 500 feet in that distance. It has two curves, both on grades.
This road has . been operating about two years, under the patents
granted to Mr. A. S. Hallidie in the colony of New Zealand.
The peculiar features of this road are :
1. Single track line, with two turnouts or sidings, both parts of the
rope running in opposite directions in one tube, except at the turnouts.
2. Two curves of 215 feet radius, forming an S-
3. Absence of level crossings, thus requiring stoppages to be made
on the grades.
At the curves, horizontal sheaves are placed in the tube, and the
shank of the gripper is provided with a roller, which rests against a guard
rail placed parallel to the track and slot inside the tube the length of the
curve. The engine is placed at the top of the hill.
THE CABLE RAILWAY IN CHICAGO.
The Chicago City Railroad Company's Cable Line, on State street, in
the city of Chicago, is 20£ miles long, with a double track, 5-foot gauge
and runs on a very busy street, which is almost a dead level.
The climate of Chicago is one of extremes, the thermometer reaching
90 degrees in summer and below zero, (Fahrenheit,) in winter, and snow
falls very heavily.
The following letter from the President of the Chicago City Railroad
Company is self explanatory :
Chicago, March 9, 1883.
Mr. Chas. H. Phelps, 206 Broadway, New York :
Dear Sir : Your favor of the 6th inst. is at hand. You ask regarding
the operation of our cable railway system during the winter, and I am
pleased to assure you that we have run smoothly and without the loss of a
single trip during the entire winter.
The frost has penetrated the ground, by actual measurement, five feet
six inches, and we have had heavy snow and hard rains, with intense cold
immediately after it, the mercury dropping to 29° below zero.
Our construction has not been affected a particle so far as we have
been able to discover, and the most skeptical now confess the system a sue-
L 12 I
cess. When our lines operated by horses were blocked by lieavystorms,
our cable lines were doing full service and at full speed.
Very truly yours,
C. B. Holmes,
Pres. and Supt. Chicago City Railway Co.
The tube in which the rope runs is made much deeper than in' San
Francisco, being over 4 feet in depth, and the rope is placed about 30 inches
above the bottom of the tube, thus allowing for a certain accumulation of
light snow which might drift in through the narrow slit in the top of the
tube, but at the depth of 4 feet there is usually natural warmth enough to
prevent any material freezing.
The foundation for the road-bed and tube was quite soft and yielding,
and consequently needed a broad base of concrete to sustain the super¬
structure ; hence the expense of construction was quite heavy.
The rope, which is 4 inches in circumference, is made of steel,
and has 6 strands of 19 wires. All the driving and angle pulleys
are 12 feet in diameter.
The engines at this time in use are two in number, of the " Wheelock ' '
pattern; cylinder, 24" diameter by 20" stroke. Two other engines are
ready for use as other Cable Lines in course of construction are completed.
The boilers are 4 sets of 2 each of what are known as the Babcock & Wil¬
cox pattern.
The town end rope is run at 8 miles per hour; the suburban end at
10 miles. At the town terminus a second rope is employed, which is driven
by a 6-foot pulley, placed on the same shaft as the 12-foot terminal pulley
of the main cable, and consequently travels at one-half the speed of the
latter, and carries the dummy and cars around a square, making a return
by way of Madison street, Wabash avenue, and Lake street to State street,
passing around four corners.
The increase of passenger traffic has been so great that one dummy
hauls several cars, carrying as high as 250 passengers in the train, 100,000
passengers have been carried daily at times.
Although this system was first adopted on roads where the grades are
too steep for horses to work to. advantage, the economy of its working has
so demonstrated itself that all the level roads in San Francisco have ob¬
tained amended charters giving them the privilege of turning their horse
roads into rope roads. The wear and tear on the streets, as well as the
accumulation of filth due to horses, are entirely avoided. Humanity is
not shocked by the overloading of street cars or the overworking of
horses.
[ 13 1
THE CABLE SYSTEM ENDORSED BY THE AMERICAN
STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION.
The following extract is from the official report of the Committee on
Motive Power, appointed bv the Street Railway Convention at, Chicago,
October, 1883 :
" We now come to the cable system of railroads. This is a system
which utilizes the power of a stationary engine to operate cars at will
miles away from the source of power, transmitting the power by the
medium of . an endless cable to the point required, and at the necessary
time. This system in our judgment, though as yet in its infancy, is on the
right road to solve the problem of dispensing with animal power ; a system,
instead of being a disadvantage, and less serviceable on heavy grades, and
in the midst of snow-storms, furnishes at such times a superabundance of
speed and ability to resist obstacles-a system that does not depend upon the
friction between the wheels and the rail for its power of locomotion—a
system that enables street railroads to handle immense crowds by the
simple addition of a few more bushels of coal and the putting on of extra
cars without the fear of overloading its animals, and killing more in one
day than its profit would be in a month ; giving us, in other words, more
latitude in the way of economizing in dull times, without having horses to
feed, and furnishing ample means* of expansion on short notice,
without the necessity of hiring extra animals for such occasions.
"We believe, in conclusion, that the only practical means presented to
our view of dispensing with animal power is the cable system. At present
the cable road is confined to a few favorable localities ; but rapid strides
are being made in the direction of its perfection, which will surely result
in bringing this motive power within the reach of roads less favorably
located.
" Concluding, we will add : Beware of ' car-starters,' and lend a help¬
ing hand to those trying to perfect that system which is, at present, our
only hope for dispensing with the noise and expense of animal power."
The saving effected by the employment of this system is from forty to
sixty per cent, on that of horse roads, while its capacity for traffic is
almost unlimited. The speed at which the cars travel is from 6 to 10
miles per hour.
The National Cable 'Railway Company has acquired control of the
various patents granted to Mr. A. S. Hallidie, the inventor of the system,
and has also secured other patents relating thereto, and control this
system of street railway traction.
Companies or individuals desiring to negotiate for the use of the fore
going system, or construction of similar lines, can communicate with the
NATIONAL CABLE RAILWAY COMPANY,
Office, United Bank Beelding,
No. 2 Wall St., Room 39, New York.
[ 14 ]
COST OF* CONSTRUCTION.
The following table shows the estimated cost of construction and
equipping three miles of Hallidie's cable railway, double track :
Excavating trenches for tubes, placing and fitting tube and
track, refilling and paving street $ 6,600 00
2,700 cast-iron yokes, 150 lbs. each, 405,000 lbs., at 3c 12,150 00
264 11 ' ' dia. rope bearing sheaves and spindles, at $2 528 00
20 manhole castings, complete, at $20 400 00
Sheet iron for casting tube, 111,000 lbs., at 3c 3,330 00
Channel iron for slot, punched and drilled, 211,200 lbs., at 4c.
pep lb 8,448 00
Adjustable slot irons, 2xJ, 71,172 lbs., at 3c 2,135 16
Timber, stringers, ties and housing for tubes 3,194 00
Tram rails, 40 lbs. per yard, 130 tons, at $30 3,900 00
Fish plates, 5,984 lbs., at 4 c 239 36
Timber dogs, $171; spikes, $72 243 00
Machine bolts, 16,464 lbs., at 6£c 1,070 16
Cost of 1 mile double-track road-bed, complete $42,237 68
Add 2 miles 3 ' ' flexible steel wire rope, 16,500 lbs., at 20c 3,300 00
Total cost of one mile double track $45,537 68
Cost of 3 miles double track $45,537 68x3—$136,613 04
2 horizontal engines, 14 ' 'x30 ' set up 5,000 00
2 boilers, 52' 'xl6 feet, set up 4,000 00
Tank, pump and heater 1,500 00
Compensating arrangements at end of line .... 1,800 00
Driving machinery, pulley, etc 6,500 00
15 cars, at 900 13,500 00
15 dummies, fitted with grips, at $700 10,500 00
42,800 00
Engineering sundries, 10 per cent 18,000 00
Total cost of 3 miles, complete $197,413 04
To the foregoing must be added cost of engine house, royalties and any
extraordinary expenses.
[ 15 ]
A SCIENTIFIC OPINION,
[Extract from a paper read by Prof. E. T. Cox, before the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, Section Economic, Minneapolis, Minnesota ]
Iii the city of New York there are 110 miles of horse railway, and
11,866 horses are used to operate them. The horses, together with their
harness, expensive lands and stables, feed and grooms, make the operating
expenses $5,104,596.79 per annum. The average life of the car horse in
New York is less than three years. This terrible abuse of animal life
should enlist the public sympathy and commend at once a system which
dispenses with the use of horses where they are so fearfully overworked.
The present horse railways may readily be adapted to the cable system
without serious interference with their travel. It simply requires the mak¬
ing of a trench in the center of the road in which to place a tube through
which the cable is to run.
That eminent authority on economics in railroad passenger and freight
traffic, S. F. Pierson, railroad commissioner, shows from official tables
that the horse railroads of New York city, which have cost, including
equipment and real estate, a trifle less than $23,000,000, carried in the year
1881 154,000,000 passengers, at a cost of 3 61-100 cents for each passenger,
while if the cable system had been employed instead of horse cars the cost
of carrying each passenger would have been but 1 46-100 cents for each
passenger; a saving of 2 15-100 cents per passenger, or $3,317,000 yearly, a
sum equal to the interest at 6 per ceut. on 56,000,000. Calculated on the
same basis, the saving in Brooklyn would represent a capital of over $30,-
000,000. A saving of two cents per passenger carried on all the horse cars
of the United States and Canada would amount to $24,249,200 yearly, a
sum equal to the interest at 6 per cent, on $400,000,090.
Gen. "W. J. Sewell, United States Senator, of New Jersey, a practical
railroad engineer, and of the management of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, who has personally investigated the cable system, both in San
Francisco and Chicago, says, " that within ten years the cable system will
supercede the horse cars on every considerable street railway line."
The cost of constructing a cable car railway double-track line is be¬
tween $70,000 and $80,000 per mile ; but it is shown that the great econ¬
omy of the system over the horse cars most fully compensates for this
increase."
Nom Prof. Cox has been spending some time in San Francisco,
where the cable system has so long been in successful operation.
[16]
THE LATEST CABLE ROAD.
The Market Street Horse Railway Company, in San Francisco, has just
been converted to the cable system. This road is about twenty-five miles
in length, which includes two branches. About one year ago the Market
Street Company issued $3,000,000 of 6 per cent, bonds, for the purpose of
making the change, which were sold at par. This change, as in the case of
other roads, has been a complete success, the increase of traffic and economy
in operating, enabling the Company to pay interest upon its bonds as well
as dividends upon its stock ; and real estate upon its extension has increas¬
ed in many cases from 50 per cent, to 150 per cent. The bonds of the roads
are now quoted as high as 112. The original portion of this road is upon
comparatively level ground, but the branches have been extended to the
hills, around the Golden Gate Park and thence to the Ocean Beach.
LEGAL OPINION
Of emminent counsel affirming the validity of the patents owned by the National
Cable Railway Co., as exclusively commanding the Cable system.
Offices of George Harding, d
John R. Bennett, )
COUNSELLORS AT LAW,
237 Broadway,
New York City, December lltli, 1883.
WM. P. SHINN, Esq.,
President National Cable Railway Co., City.
Dear Sir :
We have very carefully considered the patents transferred to your company,
by the Cable Railway Co. of San Francisco, and had an exhaustive examination
made of the prior state of the art relating thereto. In our opinion, those patents
are good and valid, and we find nothing in the prior art to, in any way, anticipate or
limit the scope of the several claims of those patents. Hallidie invented the first
practical and successful system of propelling cars by an endless travelling cable,
and constructed and put in operation, the first cable railway in this or any foreign
country, and, in our opinion, the patents broadly cover the system of propelling
cars by an endless Ravelling cable, and that no system has yet been devised that
escapes the claims of the several patents.
We are confirmed in our opinion by the fact that the Circuit Court of
the United States, District of California, Judge Sawyer presiding, has heretofore
sustained the patents in a very thoroughly contested case, giving the claims the
very broadest construction, and we state, with great confidence, that the other
Federal Courts will unhesitatingly follow the opinion of the court in that case.
Yours truly,
GEORGE HARDING,
JOHN R. BENNETT.
Cable Roads for New York.
The Rapid Transit Commission appointed by the Mayor of the City of New
York, December 1st, 1883, are taking proceedings in pursuance of the Petition of
a body of house-holders and tax-pavers, representing property to the amount of
more than four hundred million dollars, for the introduction of the Cable System
of Railway Traction in this City. The following is a copy of the Petition:
To the HON. FRANKLIN ËDSON, Mayor of the City of New York :
The undersigned applicants, residents, house-holders and tax-payers, of the
City, County and State of New York would respectfully show:
First. That the act, chapter 60G of the laws of the State of New York, passed
June 18th, 1875, commonly known as the Rapid Transit Act, and entitled "An act
to further provide for the construction and operation of a steam railway, or rail¬
ways, in counties of the State,"remains, as your applicants are advised and believe,
substantially in full force and effect, as originally applicable to the City of New
York, and i3 available as its title implies, to " further provide " for rapid transit
whenever required by the growth and business of the city.
Second. That under said act corporations may be formed with power to con¬
struct, operate and maintain cable traction street or surface railways in the City of
New York, in accordance with the system thoroughly and successfully tested in the
cities of San Francisco and Chicago, for the conveyance of passengers and property.
The advantages claimed for the cable system may be summarized as follows :
1. The steepest grades are as easily worked as levels.
2. The cars may be stopped instantly or slowed gently at any point on the
line, and started with promptness, ease and gentleness.
3. The speed can be established at any rate desired, and varied on any portion
of the road to accommodate it to obstructions in the way.
f. The method of working is noiseless and even, and unaccompanied by any
annoyance whatever.
5. Perfect cleanliness of track is secured, an important sanitary element in
the system
6. An unlimited capacity of increase at any time an increase may be required.
7. Perfect freedom from snow blockade, as the power is sufficient at all times
to remove the snow as fast as it falls.
Third. That there is urgent need of this form of Rapid Transit in the City of
New Y'ork on many convenient routes legally open to its introduction, especially
as its economies of construction, operation and maintainauce would enable it to
carry passengers at any desirable rate of speed over long or short distances (stop¬
ping like the horse cars at all street crossings to take on or let off passengers) for
a five cent fare.
Fourth. That the capacity of the Elevated roads of the city is notoriously in¬
adequate to the demands of the passenger traffic during the "Commission" hours,
and is swiftly growing inadequate to the demand for the other hours of the day.
Fifth. That each of your applicants as house-holders and tax-payers of the
City, County and State of New York, does severally depose and say that there is
nee I in sai l City and County for a steam railway or railways for the transportation
of passengers, mails or freight, and that such need exists beyond the facilities
afforded by the steam surface or Elevated railroads now in operation in said City
and County.
Wherefore your applicants respectfully apply to you for the appointment of
five commisioners for the purposes and subject to the duties that are provided in
and by the said Rapid Transit Act.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
THE NATIONAL CABLE RAILWAY COMPANY.
Tiie Advantages of this Company's System may he
Summarised as follows:
1. The steepest grades are as easily worked as levels.
2. The cars may be stopped instantly at any point on the line, and
started with promptness, ease, and gentleness.
3. The speed is uniform and any rate may be established that is
desired.
4. The method of working is noiseless and even, and unaccompanied
by any annoyance whatever.
5. Perfect cleanliness of the track is secured, an important sanitary
element in the system.
6. An unlimited capacity of increase at any time an increased capacity
may be required.
7. Perfect freedom from snow blockade, as the power is sufficient
at all times to remove the snow as fast as it falls.
8. A simple and economical administration unattended with unfore¬
seen and unexpected emergencies.
9. The surface of the road bed is not impaired, as in the case of horse
roads.
10. As a consequence of all these advantages, real estate is advanced
in value, and rents improved, by the construction of cable roads, which are
regarded as an advantage to the best streets.
A pamphlet is being prepared, fully illustrating the Halladie cable
system, and will be issued as soon as the engravings are finished.
This book is a preservation facsimile
produced for the Northwestern University Library.
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Preservation facsimile printing and binding
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2012