RAILWAY ECONOMY;
A TREATISE ON THE
NEW ART OF TRANSPORT,
ITS
MANAGEMENT, PROSPECTS, AND RELATIONS,
COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, AND SOCIAL,
WITH AN EXPOSITION OF
THE PRACTICAL RESULTS OF THE RAILWAYS IN OPERATION IN
THE UNITED KINGDOM, ON THE CONTINENT,
AND IN AMERICA.
BY DIONYSIUS LARDNER, D.C.L., &c.
"There be three things which make a nation great and prosperous'a ferte soil,
busy workshops, and easy conveyance of men and things from one placeb another."
-BACON.
"Let us travel over all the countries of the earth, and wherever we shall find no
facility of passing from a city to a town, or from a village to a hamlet, there we may
pronounce the people to be barbarians."'-RAYNAL.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PIJBLISHERS,
82 CLIFF STREET.
1 8 50.  
ANALYTICAL TABLE
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INFLUENCE OF IMPROVED TRANSPORT ON CIVILIZATION.
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Art of transport essential to social advancement...............................
Requisites of transport......................................................
Advantages of transport....................................................
Transport confers value on articles valueless and even nuisances...............
Transport stimulates consumption and production.............................
Railway transport increases demand for labor.................................
Advantages of increased speed by railway transport...........................
Railway transport affords superior advantages.................................
It increases the profit of the farmer, and the rent of the landlord...............
Importance of railway transport as regards persons............................
Its advantages to operative classes...........................................
Extends the area of supply of large cities and for residence of their population...
Comparison of these advantages in England and on the Continent..............
Good means of communication advantageous in the diffusion of knowledge and
the increase of civilization.................................................
Electric telegraph, its advantages and results.................................
Journalism in England supplies a striking illustration of the effects resulting from
improved transport........................................................
CHAPTER II.
RETROSPECT OF THE PROGRESS OF TRANSPORT.
Of the first construction and improvement of roads and carriages...............
Roads do not exist in more than two-sevenths of the inhabited parts of the globe.
Rolman and Egyptian roads..................................................
Roads constructed by order of Semiramis.....................................
Internal communication in ancient Greece....................................
Roads of the Phlenicians and Carthaginians...................................
Roman military roads.......................................................
f, y- -L.
,,
't, 7, (4 - c; -'-'
S ,, -.1
OF
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Commercial intercourse during the middle ages...............................
Influence of tile crusades on the art of transport...............................
Roads and intercommunication on the Continent to the middle of the seventeenth
century..................................................................
System of roads projected by Napoleon.......................................
Improvement in internal communication after the peace of 1815................
Roads of France............................................................
First roads in England, those made by the Romans............................
Watling-street-Ermine-street-Fosse-way and Ikenald........................
First attempts to improve roads in Great Britain in reign of Charles the Second..
Transport in Scotland to the middle of the eighteenth century..................
Slowness of traveling in Scotland............................................
Arthur Young's account of the roads in England in 1770.......................
Comparison between cost and speed of former and present modes of transport....
CHAPTER III.
THE ORGANIZATION OF A RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION.
Its four principal departments................................................ 52
Their respective services explained generally.................................  52
CHAPTER IV.
THE WAY AND WORKS.
Maintenance of way and works involves consideration of several kinds and
degrees of wear and tear..................................................
Wear and tear classified and explained.......................................
Annual repairs of new railway greater than at later period....................
Wear and tear not made good by annual repairs............................
Erroneous opinion of engineers as to durability of rails.........................
Mode of calculating the average duration of rails..............................
Circumstances hitherto attending railways throw difficulties in the way of such
inquiry...................................................................
First English passenger railways laid with rails of 351bs. to the yard...........
Weight of engines successively augmented, carriages and goods wagons under  going a corresponding increase.............................................
Rails originally laid thus rendered inadequate in strength......................
Speed and weight of trains also increased.....................................
From these circumstances, weight of rails increased..........................
Railways at present laid with rails varying from 65 to 85 lbs. a yard............
MIessrs. Stephenson and Locke recommend rails of 85 lbs. a yard...............
Mode originally used for supporting rails....................................
Now superseded for the most part by sleepers.................................
Material of sleepers.........................................................
Their p])reparation to insure durability.........................................
Dislances between them.....................................................
Their cubical magnitude.....................................................
Wear of rails mtight have been ascertained....................................
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CONTENTS.
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But their ultimate destination considered so remote-problem left without
solution.................................................................. 61
In Belgium circumstances more favorable to investigation of questions more re
mote than immediate......................................................  61
Official reports of Belgian railways throw considerable light on this point.......    61
Durability of sleepers depends solely on intrinsic qualities......................   61
Duration of sleepers of white wood averages eight years, of oak not ascertained.  61
Average duration of sleepers on Belgian railways.............................. 61
On Belgian lines about 8 per cent. renewed annually..........................   61
Calculations by Belgian engineers as to advantage of oak exclusively............ 61
Result, that cost nearly the same ultimately..................................  61
Cost affected by local circumstances........................................  61
Durability of rails independent of time, and exclusively consequent on quantity of
work............................................................ 62
Observations of wear of rails on Belgian lines................................. 62
Belgian engineers have endeavored to ascertain proportion of wear assignable to
engines, vehicles, and load................................................. 62
IHave arrived at conclusion of quantities abraded from rails by engine, vehicles,
and load.......................................................... 62
Such quantities are in fact in the ratio of the weights of these objects...........  62
Directors of Northwestern directed investigation in 1849........................ 63
Report of Captain Huish..................................................... 63
Comparison of report of Captain Iluish with conclusions of Belgian engineers...  64
Financial expedient necessary to meet the exigency........................... 65
Cost of relaying permanent way............................................. 65
Annual reserve necessary to meet such cost................................... 65
Extent of railways in United Kingdom.......................................  65
Distribution of railways between England, Scotland, and Ireland...............  66
Rate of construction of railways............................................. 66
Table showing, for the railways authorized previously to the end of 1843 and in
each succeeding year, the propsortion opened for traffic during each year, and
the proportion remaining to be completed at the end of 1848; and also showing
the length of railway opened for traffic in each year since 1843............... 67
Railways sanctioned by parliament on January 1, 1849......................... 67
Length likely to be constructed..............................................  68
Financial condition of railway companies to May 1, 1848....................... 68
State of execution of recently opened railways................................ 69
Probable cost of construction, stock, &c....................................... 69
Tabular analysis of the number and description of persons employed on May 1,
1848, on 4253 miles of railway open, and 2958 in progress, by 170 companies... 69
Railways then supplied means of living to two per cent. of population........... 70
State of railways since May 1, 1848, as to labor employed on them.............  70
CHAPTER V.
LOCOMIOTIVE POWER.
Its economical importance.................................................. 71
Stock divided into that of passenger and goods traffic..........................  71
Passenger and goods engines................................................. 71
Register should be kept of locomotive engines................................. 71
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Kept by establishment of Belgian railways................................... 
Number of engines employed on Belgian lines at end of 1847...................
None had then been superannuated..........................................
Circumstances of locomotives on English railways.............................
Mode of ascertaining the average mileage of each engine.......................
Example deduced from Belgian railways.....................................
Although mileage might be augmented should not exceed certain limits.........
Expenses of cleaning, lighting, and raising steam should be charged on its
mileage..................................................................
Important to ascertain proportion of mileage to times cleaned and lighted........
Mode of determining average number of miles run by each engine after cleaning
and lighting..............................................................
Examples deduced from official reports of Belgian railways....................
And of the Orleans railway.................................................
Expense incurred by engine standing with steam up...........................
Reserve engines and assistant engines described..............................
Separate account of reserve engines, &c., should be kept.......................
Mode of ascertaining actual mileage of each working engine...................
Average distance run by each engine lighted and worked......................
Reserve engines, if included; would reduce this...............................
A record of number of hours each engine has been lighted and standing should
be kept....................................................................
Example of this deduced from Belgian railway, in 1846, 1847...................
For every 10 miles of practical work, each engine kept one hour standing.......
Fuel consumed in working....................................................
Its classification-in lighting and steaming-in standing with steam up, or in
reserve, and in drawing trains.............................................
Quantity of coke consumed in drawing trains depends on their magnitude,
weight, and speed..........................................................
Economy of fuel on Belgian railways.........................................
Rules established on these railways for allowance of coke to engine drivers for
different purposes.........................................................
Quantity consumed per engine per mile on Belgian railways...................
Register should be kept of fuel constumed under the three heads of lighting,
standing, and working, with hours standing, engines lighted, and mileage
worked..................................................................
Statement of fuel consulned on Belgian railways...............................
Sources from which economy of fiuel may be expected.........................
Manner of fabricating coke...................................................
Small coke unfit for locomotive engines......................................
But useful for fuel..........................................................
Quantities of large and small coke produced on Belgian railways...............
On English railways no data for similar calculations..........................
7x,'rsct from report of Great Western of coal and coke.........................
lleturn of Northwestern of coke consumed by locomotives and mileage of engines
p,odiiced thereby........................................................
?X,nples from Brighton and South Coast for 1848 and 1849....................
Ol,de of ascertaining the number of tinmes per annum each engine lighted.......
Examples from Belgian railways.............................................
Three days a week required on average for rest, cleaning, and repair of engine..
Striking result of calculations.-Smatll amount of useful service of locomotives...
Table of service of engines, dedt ced from returns of several continental railways
Resttlt of investigation................................................
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CONTENTS.
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Data supplied by English railways afford no means of comparison..............  84
But as to Northwestern, comparison instituted................................  84
Hence conclusion that engines worked, one with another, lI hour a day......... 85
Distances worked by engine drivers and firemen on Northwestern line and time
of their performance......................................................  85
Distance in each trip run by each engine on Northwestern line, and time of its
performance.............................................................. 85
Locomotive power worked more advantageously on these than on continental
lines generally.......................................................... 85
Comparisons between railways sometimes instituted in reports on relation between
locomotive stock and length of line......................................... 86
Afford no consequence of importance......................................... 86
Quantity of locomotive power does not depend on length of railway, but on quan  tity of traffic and its mileage............................................... 86
Test of comparison should be quantity of work executed by given power........ 86
Comparison between mileage of engines on Northwestern and North of France..  86
Determination of number of engines necessary to work a given mileage.........    87
Amount of locomotive stock necessary may be assumed to be in direct proportion
to receipts................................................................  88
Number and Mileage of locomotives in the United Kingdom.................... 88
Consumption of fuel for twelve months ending June 30, 1849...................  89
Quantity of coal consumed in its fabrication..................................  89
Quantity of coal consumed annually on the railways.......................... 89
CHAPTER VI.
CARRYING STOCK.
Vehicles of two classes for passengers and goods..............................  89
Trains propelled by different engines and under different circumstances.........    90
Doubtful whether separate lines of rails for each traffic would not have been
advantageous............................................................. 90
Carrying stock of railways an important item in movable capital...............   92
Quantity on Belgian, North of France, and English Northwestern lines........    92
In carrying department, register should be kept of mileage of each vehicle...... 94
Mode of ascertaining average mileage of each vehicle.......................... 94
Table of number and mileage of vehicles on Belgian railways..................  95
Daily duty of carriages smaller than expected................................. 95
Table of mileages and quantities of carrying stock on five foreign railways......    96
No data for similar calculations as to English railways........................ 97
Table of vehicles of passenger traffic and their mileage on Northwestern railway
during hlalf-year ending December, 1848..................................... 97
Mode of calculating necessary amount of carrying stock........................ 98
Table of goods-carrying stock and its mileage on six continental railways.......   98
Approximate estimate of mileage of goods carrying stock of Northwestern Com  pany for half-year ending December, 1848..................................  99
Small amount of daily useful mileage of goods-carrying stock explained......... 99
Average time of stock in carrying transport on continental lines about one hour
per day................................................................... 99
On English lines each vehicle worked one hour and a half daily...............  99
Necessary to ascertain composition of each train..............................  99
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CONTENTS.
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Mode of determining this, and examp es......................................   90
Mileage account should be kept of passenger traffic carried with goods train..... 100
Table exhibiting the mileage of the goods vehicles, the average number of vehicles
per engine, and of vehicles per train, with their designation, on Orleans railway 101
Deductions of composition of trains, as to passenger coaches, on English railways
from data of Northwestern................................................ 101
But such data insufficient, and conclusions only approximate................... 102
Mode of obtaining number of wagons composing goods train, and results........   102
In near accordance with the estimate of Captain Hluish.......................  102
Mode of exhibiting average extent to which railway has been used by rolling stock 103
As to locomotive stock....................................................... 103
As to mileage of goods engines and other vehicles............................. 103
Example from Belgian railways, for 1844..................................... 104
Table showing the quantity of locomotive and carrying stock which, being moved
the whole length of the Belgian railways, consisting of 347 miles, would have
the same mileage as the actual stock....................................... 104
Where traffic uniform, average distribution of traffic over entire line may be
adopted as basis of general reasoning....................................... 104
But different parts of line unequally used by traffic............................ 104
Desirable to obtain estimate of extent of each section used by rolling stock......  104
Weights of vehicles on Belgian railways...................................... 105
Mode of finding average amount of dead weight drawn by each engine......... 105
Table of average dead weight drawn by each class of engine................... 105
No satisfactory data to ascertain proportion of dead weight to profitable load on
English railways.......................................................... 106
Weights of passenger coaches on English railways............................ 106
CHAPTER VII.
MAINTENANCE AND REPRODUCTION OF THE ROLLING STOCK.
Question raised as to wear and tear of rolling stock...........................  107
Analogies suggested between this and permanent way......................... 107
Only lately that question raised, whether rolling stock in condition analogous to
permanent way........................................................... 107
Economical principles on which solution of question depends.................. 107
First projectors of lines contemplated themselves only as mere proprietors of the
railway................................................................. 107
Intended to offer it to the public to be run upon, receiving a toll................ 108
Proprietors compelled to become carriers..................................... 108
Provide apparatus for transport, and erect works for fabrication of engines and
carriages................................................................. 108
Establishments of Northwestern for fabrication of rolling stock................. 108
Capital absorbed in them...................................................  109
Factory at Wolverton....................................................... 109
Establishment at Crewe.................................................... 109
Stock of engines on Northwestern...........................................  110
Statement showing quantity and estimated actual value of articles included in
amount charged to capital for "working stock" of ~1,462,901Jantiary 1st,
1848..........................................................    110
Number of passenger coaches in progress at Crewe............................ 111I
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Statement of Captain Huish of carrying stock of railways in England and Scot  land, on 1st January, 1848................................................ 111
Formier and present cost of railway carriages..................................  112
Estimate of total carrying stock used for working railway traffic in United King  dom in 1848, 9............................................................ 113
Aggregate value of such stock............................................... 114
Question of annual reserve fund for future replacement of rolling stock discussed 114
Discussion of question between revenue and capital........................... 115
Reported malpractices in railway management, by drafts of revemne on capital.. 116
Discussion of question as to closing capital account............................ 116
Shown to be impracticable................................................... 116
Question as to taking annual valuation of stock discussed...................... 117
Propriety of measure tested by examining its consequences.................... 117
If made, must be on principle of estimating it by its quantity and efficiency only,
and not its marketable value............................................... 119
CHAPTER VIII.
STATIONS.
Transport constitutes only a part of the railway business....................... 119
Theatre of many operations preliminary, subsequent, and during transport-the
stations................................................................... 119
Thley consist of four departments:
1. The passenger station:
2. The goods station:
3. The dlp6t of the locomotive power:
4. The carriage dep6t...................................................  120
General description of passenger station...................................... 121
Quantity of baggage allowed on continental railways.......................2... 12
Parcels, important branch of traffic of passenger trains........................ 123
Reception offices for parcels established at various places in large towns........   123
Distinct department for parcels at chief stations............................... 123
Mode of dealing with "light" parcels........................................ 124
Majority of parcels "light"..................................................  124
Heavier parcels generally sent by goods trains................................ 124
Rates for transport of parcels vary...................................... 124
In England, charge for light parcels sometimes as low as 6d. including delivery.  124
Penny postage greatly reduced this branch of traffic...........................  125
Not above one parcel in 400,000 lost.......................................... 125
Horses and carriages also composed traffic of passenger station................. 126
Arrangement of passenger trains............................................. 126
Carriages forming train screwed together to avoid collision.....................  126
And provided with buffers................................................... 126
Arrangement of platform for passengers......................................  127
Fixed engines of the Northwestern and Liverpool Railways.................... 127
Lost luggage office.......................................................... 128
General description of goods stations.......................................... 131
Goods wagons of the Northwestern, the York and Newcastle, the Belgian, and
North of France Railways, and their performance.......................... 131
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Average number of goods wagons of Northwestern arriving and departing daily
at London station......................................................... 132
Average load per wagon.................................................... 132
And total weight of goo(ls.................................................... 132
Parcels of goods collected throughout capital by vans, tnd brought by themn and
other vehicles to station................................................... 132
Mode of dealing with such goods at station...................................  132
Change effected by railways in management of business of retail dealers........ 133
Rates for transport by goods trains........................................... 133
Goods trains on Northwestern................................................ 133
Description of engine stable.................................................. 134
In larger class of railways, expedients adopted for economy in consumption of fuel 135
Water heated in reservoirs and introduced into boilers......................... 135
Coke prepared by ignition, and thrown into fire-box............................ 135
Workshops for smaller repairs attached to engine department.................. 135
Larger repairs conducted in larger establishments............................. 135
General description of carriage and wagon station............................. 136
Construction of wheels in railway carriages explained......................... 136
Yellow grease described.....................................................  137
Its composition on English railways........................................... 137
On Belgian railways........................................................  137
Quantity used on Belgian railways in 1844.................................... 137
And cost...................................................................  137
Sheds for reception of carriages.............................................. 137
Workshops for smaller repairs of carriages...................................  138
Number of stations on English railways...................................... 138
Railway refreshment rooms................................................. 138
CHAPTER IX.
CLEARING HOUSE.
After several railways had been opened, inconveniences arose menacing railway
establishments with insurmountable difficulties.............................  140
In consequence of separate railway administrations, passenger compelled to change
carriage.................................................................. 140
Trans-shipment of goods graver inconvenience............................... 140
Inconvenience so enormous, and clamor so irresistible, that traffic of all descrip  tions carried without interruption from lines of one company to another......  141
Produced great difficulties among companies.................................. 141
Difficulty removed by expedient suggested by London bankers' clearing house... 14t
Analogy led M. K. Morrison to suggest railway clearing house................. 141
Description of operations in clearing house of London bankers................. 141
Reciprocal interchange of business creating mutual debits and credits between
railway companies explained.............................................. 143
Number of comlallies which have combined their operations................... 143
Number of their stations.................................................... 143
In adjusting accounts, clearing house regarded as common creditor and common
debtor of all the companies................................................. 146
Mlode of adjustment as to goods, traffic, and live stock.......................... 146
From each station, goods may be forwarded daily to all other stations........... 146
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Account of such goods forwarded daily to central clearing house............... 146
Account of goods received forwarded to central clearing house................. 146
Mode of rectifying errors.................................................... 147
Debtor companies having liquidated balances, clearing house distributes them
between creditor companies................................................ 147
Mode of adjusting accounts of passenger traffic...............................    147
Clearing house debits companies for receipts, and credits companies interested... 148
Accounts balanced monthly, and dealt with as in case of goods................ 148
Separate account kept of government duty....................................  148
Weekly abstract of accounts sent by clearing house to companies............... 149
Mode of adjusting accounts of carrying stock.................................. 149
Account as to rolling stock opened with companies............................ 149
Questions respecting lost luggage or parcels arranged by clearing house.........    150
Extent of transactions settled by agency of clearing house......................  150
Nutmber of communications made daily from central clearing house to stations.. 150
Number of monthly accounts furnished to companies..........................  150
Clearing house statistics for year ending June, 1849...........................  151
Principle of clearing house admits of more extensive application................ 151
Interchange limited to vehicles of transport................................... 151
Nothing to prevent same interchange of locomotive power...................... 151
Clearing house may ultimately grow into establishment for maintenance of gen  eral locomotion and carrying stock for all railways........................... 151
No.thing to limit operation of clearing house to United Kingdom................ 152
Same reciprocal conveniences as to traffic booked through might be extended to
entire continent of Europe................................................. 152
CHAPTER X.
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
Movement of passenger traffic expressed by mileage.......................... 152
Mileage easily calculated from records of booking office........................ 152
Tabular analysis of the movement of passengers on the railways of the United
Kingdom during the six years and a half terminating December 31, 1848......  153
Mode of ascertaining average distance traveled by each passenger booked in the
successive periods......................................................... 154
3Iode of determining average number of passengers booked per day............. 154
Tabular  analysis of the daily mileage distance traveled and numbers booked on
the railways of the United Kingdom.......................................  154
Average distances traveled much smaller than might have been supposed....... 155
Through traffic produces little effect.......................................... 157
Passengers generally travel short distances.................................... 157
Tabular analysis of the passenger traffic of the railways of the United Kingdom,
du'ing the twelve months which terminated on June 30, 1847................   158
T'abular analysis of the proportion of business supplied to the railways of the
United Kingdom by the several classes of passengers respectively, during the
seven years ending June 30, 1849........................................... 159
Second and third classes supply chief business of railway......................  1(0O
Blsinress of stations proportional to number of passengers booked, irrespective of
distance................................................................... 1;9
Bausiness of the road proportional to mileage, irrespective of number booked..... 160
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Ratio of business supplied to stations by several classes of passengers........... 160
Causes of augmentation of third class passengers firom 1845 to 1847............  160
Necessary to classify passengers according to distances........................ 161
Tendency to augmentation in numbers and mileage of lower classes............ 162
Comparison between railway and stage coach traveling........................ 162
Table showing the rate at which the average daily passenger traffic has aiug   mented on the railways of the United Kingdom during the six years and a half
ending December 31, 1848.................................................. 163
Tabular analysis of the progressive development of the railways of the United
Kingdom, and of the movement of passengers upon them during the seven years
ending June 30, 1849......................................................  166
Increase of passenger traffic has not kept pace with increase of railways........   166
Tabular analysis of the passenger traffic per mile of the railways during 1846, 7.. 167
Tabular comparison of the annual rates of increase of the railways in operation,
the total traffic in passengers, and the average traffic per mile of railway......  167
Cause of decreased traffic per mile...........................................  168
Mode of ascertaining the average load of each carriage......................... 168
Estimate of Captain Huish.................................................. 168
Average on some French and Belgian railways................................ 169
Estimate of carriages on English railways.................................... 169
To estimate the necessary carrying stock of railways.......................... 170
Table showing the average number of passengers of each class carried by each
passenger train on the Belgian and North of France railways................ 171
Tabular analysis showing the relation between the movement of the engines and
the movement of the passengers on the Northwestern, Great Western, and
London, Brighton, and South Coast Railways............................... 172
Average composition of trains................................................ 173
To compute average load of horse boxes and carriage trucks................... 174
Advantages of frequency of departure....................................... 174
Departures fiom London stations............................................. 175
Expedition depends more on few stoppages than speed........................175
Reflections on the enormous speed of locomotion on railways..................  176
Tabular analysis of the movement of the passenger traffic on the principal lines
of railway diverging from London, showing the average speed, stoppages, &c.,
of each class of trains..................................................... 1] 77
Danmage to railway and stock by extreme speeds..............................179
Danger of express trains..............................................80.......
Necessity of checking tendency of public to demand excessive speed...........181
CHAPTER XI.
GOODS TRAFFIC.
Importance of goods traffic.................................................. 182
Subject to more difficult conditions than passenger traffic......................  182
Graduations of tariff........................................................ 182
Data necessary for complete analysis of goods business........................ 183
Tabular analysis of the quantity of goods and live stock traffic on the railways of
the United Kingdom for twelve months ending June 30, 1847................. 184
Tabular analysis of the daily traffic in goods, and of the distance carried on the
railways of the United Kingdom for twelve months ending June 30 1847.... 181
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Tabular analysis of the average distances which each ton of goods was trans  ported on the railways of the United Kingdom during twelve months ending
June 30, 1847.............................................................  185
Tabular analysis of the goods traffic on the railways of the United Kingdom
during the six years and a half ending December 31, 1848....................  186
Table showing the comparative rates at which the average daily traffic in pas  sengers and goods has augmented on the railways of the United Kingdom
during the six years and a half ending December 31, 1848.................... 186
Striking results of this tabl  e.................................................. 186
Captain Huish's estimate of loads of goods wagons............................ 187
Tabular analysis showing the total daily mileage of tihe goods wagons, and of the
goods engines of the English railways for six years and a half ending Decetn  ber 31, 1848............................................................... 187
Estimate of equivalent business by goods wagons on common roads............. 188
Tabular comparison of the progressive development of the railways of the United
Kingdom and of the movement of goods upon them during the six years and a
half ending December 31, 1848.............................................  188
Increase of goods greater than passen      gers.....................................  189
Tabular analysis showing the average daily mileage of tons of goods, and the
average number of tons carried daily per mile, on the railways of the United
Kingdom during the twelve months ending June 30, 1847....................190
Numerical estimate of men and horses employed by Northwestern............. 190
CHAPTER XII.
THE EXPENSES.
Introduction................................................................ ]9i
Analysis of the past expenses of a railway has two objects-retrospective and
prospective............................................................... 194
Considered prospectively, supplies grounds of estimate of future expenses and
basis of future tariff....................................................... 194
Tariff may increase receipts, and yet be unjust and disadvantageous............ 195
Profits should separately be made on each class of objects..................... ]95
Past expenses should be classified, and each branch dissected.................. 195
Cost of transport of each object should be known............................. 195
Such cost supplies data for ameliorations.................................... 196
Belpaire's investigation of Belgian railways................................... 197
Jullien and Teisserenc on French railways................................... 197
To ascertain how much of expenses should be debited to each object of traffic... 198
Details of expenses included under direction and management.................. 201
Expense of direction and management on Belgian railways in 1844............. 201
Charge per mile on each vehicle............................................. 202
Expenses of direction and management of Northwestern Railway............... 202
Their distribution among vehicles of transport................................. 202
Comparison of these expenses oil Belgian and Northwestern Railways.......... 203
To estimate cost of direction of a projected railway............................ 203
Estimnating by length of line a fallacy......................................... 203
Expenses of way and works classified........................................ 204
Portions of expenses of repairs, of wear produced by time and weather, and by
other agencies..........................................................20-1
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May be shared among carrying stock......................................... 205
Example from Belgian railways.............................................. 205
These expenses augment for several years after a railway opened.............. 206
Cause of this.............................................................. 206
Correct estimate of expenses of maintenance can only be obtained after road
permanently consolidated................................................. 206
Expenses of maintenance of Northwestern.................................... 206
Compared with those of Belgian railways.................................... 207
Annual reserve fund........................................................ 207
Experiments to determine expenses made on Belgian railways................. 207
Formrula by which expense of wear of one ton passing over road may be ascer   tained................................................................... 209
Example from Belgian railways............................................. 209
Expenses of mnaintenance of road resolved into four items.....................  210
To what accounts chargeaible................................................ 211
Expenses of locomotive power classified...................................... 211
To be brought to accounts of carrying expenses, traffic, and mileage of engines 212
Portion of expenses chargeable to each class of engines........................ 213
Mode of finding charge per mile on each vehicle drawn........................ 213
Another unode by which cost of locomotive power may be distributed among
vehicles.................................................................. 213
Subdivision of expenses primarily chargeable on mileage of engines............ 214
Formula for finding expenses chargeable per mile fo)r each engine.............. 215
Cost per mile of driving train................................................ 215
Approximate calcuelations made as to some English railways................... 218
Comsparison of results on Belgian and English railways........................ 218
Average cost fo)r locomotive power on English railways in working trains......  220
Definition and classification of carrying expenses.............................. 220
Table of expenses per mile of each object of traffic, the average number of such
objects of traffic carried by each vehicle, and the expenses per vehicle per mile
produced by the load on Belgian railways.................................. 223
Table showing the share of expenses, the share by equal division among vehicles
and thle difference of overcharge and undercharge.......................... 224
Table showing the actual share of the total expenses of transport, per mile, of
each object of traffic, and the amount per cent. of the overcharge or under  charge, by a uniform distribution among the vehicles........................ 224
Recapitulation of various heads of expenses before explained.................. 225
Expense per mile chargeable on eachi vehicle of passenger train and goods train 226
The expenses of the stations are chargeable on traffic without reference to
distance................................................................. 226
Classification of expenses of stations.......................................... 226
Some common measure must be selected..................................... 228
Difference of expense of each class of objects................................... 229
Estimated expenses of stations on Belgian railways........................... 230
Practical example of application of analysis of general expenses in case of Belgian
railways................................................................. 230
Illustrates the economy of working with full trains........................... 230
Table showing expenses of stations and of transport for each class of objects on
Belgian railways.......................................................... 231
Process of computation of this table suggests means of economy of transport.... 231
Tabular analysis extracted from published reports of thirteen English companies
of approximate proportion, in which the working expenses of railways were
distributed under the several specified heads................................ 233
xiv 
CONTENTS.
Page
Statement of principal measures tending to increased economy of expenses in
working railways.........................................................  232
CHAPTER XIII.
rtE CEIPTS-TARIFFS-PROFITS.
Relation of receipts to services............................................... 235
Tabular analysis of the revenue arising from the passenger traffic on the railways
of the United Kingdom during the six years and a half ending December 31,
1846.................................................................... 235
Tabular analysis of the proportions in which each class of passengers contributed
to every ~100 of gross revenue in the six years and a half ending December 31,
1848..................................................................... 237
Increase of inferior classes of passengers..................................... 237
Tabular analysis of the revenue proceeding from the passenger traffic of the rail  ways of the United Kingdom during the twelve months ending June 30, 1847 238
Table subject to correction owing to through passengers....................... 239
Statement of the gross receipts proceeding from merchandise, cattle, carriages,
parcels, mails, &c., on the railways of the United Kingdom during the six
years and a half ending Dec. 31, 1848...................................... 239
First projectors of railways contemplated traffic in merchandise exclusively... 239
Tabular analysis of the receipts produced from the traffic in merchandise on the
railways of the United Kingdom during the twelve months ending June 30,1847 240
Table showing the total receipts for passengers and goods on the British railways
during six years and a half ending Dec. 31, 1848............................. 240
Share per cent. of gross revenue contributed by goods traffic................... 241
Recent railway returns supply no data to ascertain proportion of revenue from
different classes of traffic................................................ 241
Tabular analysis, deduced from reports of 1847, showing approximate proportion
in which the gross revenue proceeding from railways of the United Kingdom
arose from certain classes of traffic during twelve months ending June, 1847... 241
No data for exhibiting relations between receipts, expenses, and profits on Eaglishi
railways......................................................... 241
Gross receipts on all the railways collectively do not appear to have ever amounted
to 8 per cent. on capital................................................... 242
Table, calculated on hypothesis, showing the proportion of the receipts on the
railways of the United Kingdom to their length, to the movement of the traffic
upon them, and to the capital expended on them...........................  243
Tabular analysis showing the proportion which the increase of receipts has borne
to the increase of railways open during the six years and a half ending Dec. 31,
1848..................................................................... 244
Goods and third class passengers supply a more steady revenue than the other
classes.................................................................. 245
No data to exhibit analysis of receipts, expenses, and profits on English railways 245
Tabular classification of the receipts, expenses, and profits of the Belgian rtil  ways daring the year 1844................................................. 246
Chief financial object to render ratio of gross receipts to expenses as great as pos  sible...................................................................... 247
Elements on which gross receipts depend..................................... 247
xv 
CONTENTS.
Pago
Problem for solution to investigate manner in which quantity of traffic and dis  tance of transport can be influenced by tariff................................  247
Diagram illustrating the relation between the variations of tariff and receipts.... 249
Problem railway manager has to solve-discovery of the point at which net
profits are a maximum.................................................... 250
But involves the necessity of having regard to the expenses....................  2-50
Of what the gross expenses consist........................................... 250
Relations of receipts and expenses considered and illustrated by diagram.......   250
The point of maximum receipts not the point of maximum profits.............    2. 252
To determine point of maximum profits, necessary to express arithmetical relation
between tariffand traffic................................................... 052
Different on every railway, and only to be determined by tentative means......   252
Practical illustrations of the principles proposed, and examples................. 253
Table showing the cost of transport per mile, the expenses per ton independent
of distance, the tariff per ton per mile, the average distance carried, the total
receipts and expenses per ton booked, and the total expenses per ton per mile. 256
If average distance of transport doubled a tariff, 50 per cent. less would yield
same profit............................................................... 256
Proportional expenses could be diminished by reduction of tariff............... 257
Rate of charge per mile on traffic liable to variation...........................  257
An important question in railway economy................................... 257
Advantage to railways from graduated tariff favoring transport to greater dis  tances.................................................................. 258
Table showing rates at which expenses of transport per mile are decreased corre  sponding to increase of distance............................................ 259
Tariff graduated on principle of diminishing as distance increases, source of
largely augmented profits.................................................. 259
Great encouragement on Belgian railways to secure complete loads............. 261
Difficulties in case of passenger traffic.......................................  261
May be partially obviated by careful classification of passengers in carriages, and
by proper distribution of carrying stock..................................... 251
Table exhibiting relation between mileage of engines and receipts on some
English and foreign railways............................................. 26
Average receipts per engine on English railways 7s. per mile.................. 233
Mode of diminishing expense in goods and passenger traffic....................     263
Table exhibiting proportion which receipts have borne to capital of railways of
the United Kingdom, during 61 years, ending December, 1848................ 264
CHAPTER XIV.
ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
Chances of accident......................................................... 266
From causes beyond the control of sufferer................................... 266
Agents and servants of railways more exposed to accident..................... 266
Analysis of railway accidents for two years ending December, ]848............. 267
Number of accidents to passengers from causes beyond their own control......2. 209
Amount of risk to which railway passengers expose agents of transport........ 269
Number of accidents to railway servants from causes beyond their owni control,
in two years ending with 1848, fatal to life and resulting in personal injury.... 269
Number of passengers who must travel one mile to cause the death or injury
of a railway servant..................................................... 71
xv! 
CONTENTS.
Table showing the number of chances to one against accidents producing loss
of life or bodily injury to a railway passenger in traveling distances from 10
miles to 10,000 miles; and also the chances against his being the cause of loss
of life or bodily injury to a railway servant in such a journey................ 271
Accidents on foreign railways............................................... 272
On Belgian railways........................................................  272
Ratio of risks on Belgian and English lines.................................... 272
Accidents on French railways............................................... 272
Contrasted with accidents by stage coaches in and near Paris..................  272
Frequent departures, great expedition, and numerous stoppages create danger of
collision.................................................................. 274
Liability to collision with express trains......................................   275
Accidents by escaping rails..................................................  275
Neglect of points and switches.............................................. 275
Analytical table of proportion of causes of accident in 100 cases................ 276
Number of brakes.......................................................... 276
Accident near Wolverton in 1847............................................. 276
Rule proposed by the Board of Trade........................................  277
Similar rule in France....................................................... 277
Greater number of brakes necessary with fast trains.......................... 277
Danger of bringing train to rest too suddenly.................................. 277
Danger of reversing action of engine.......................................... 277
Fog signals.................................................................  278
Coisequences of collision aggravated by manner of connecting vehicles......... 278
Derailment of carriages...................................................... 279
Necessity of adopting means of watching train................................  280
Proposals of Great Western and Northwestern................................ 280
Investigation of circumstances producing accidents arising from imprudence or
want of vigilance or care.................................................. 282
Instances from reports of railway commissioners............................... 282
Analysis of 100 accidents produced by imprudence of passengers...............  282
Precautions against accidents................................................ 283
PLAIN RULES FOR RAILWAY TRAVELERS TO AVOID ACCIDENTS................ 284
CHAPTER XV.
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
Electric Telegraph suggested in early part of present century................... 296
Only within twenty-five years invention reduced to practice..................  296
Electric effects now used as signals........................................... 297
In what manner signals may be multipled so as to indicate letters, &c........... 300
Principle of American telegraph explained.................................... 302
By this system correspondence may be kept secret............................. 305
Mode of forwarding message and receiving answer............................ 306
Charge for transmission..................................................... 306
Intelligence of the morning received by 8 A.M. in the country................... 307
Modes of constructing wires................................................. 307
Extent of electric communication in England and America..................... 308
East India Company propose to lay down 10,000 miles......................... 308
Cost of construction in England and America................................. 308
xvi'i
P,g. 
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI.
INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE UNITED STATES.
Page
Natural apparatus of internal communication in United States................. 308
Canal navigation............................................................ 309
Erie Canal.................................................................  310
Extent of canals............................................................ 311
Total cost, and cost per mile................................................. 311
Extent of canals as compared with population................................. 311
River and coast navigation in United States.................................. 311
Steam navigation on Hudson................................................. 312
Table of nine Hudson steamers recently built................................. 315
Explosions on eastern rivers rare............................................. 317
Description of paddle-boards and mode of working steam in steamers of eastern
rivers.................................................................... 317
Increased dimension of vessels attended with increased economy...............  318
Resistance not increased by increased length.................................. 319
Fares reduced with increased size of vessels................................... 319
Formn and structure of Hudson steanmers...................................... 320
Steam navigation of other American rivers................................... 323
Mississippi steamboats..................................................... 323
Ericsson's propellers....................................................... 325
Table of sea-going American steamers recently built.......................... 326
Railway system introduced.................................................  327
Principally in Atlantic States................................................ 327
Description of lines constructed, in progress, and projected..................... 328
Management of steam ferries................................................  331
Curves of small radius and gradients of rapid acclivity adopted.................  335
Great economy in constructing and working railways..........................  335
Ordinary speed.............................................................  336
Railway carriages described................................................. 337
Mode of mioving vehicles through curves..................................... 338
Proportion of dead to profitable weight........................................ 338
Railways carried to centie of cities........................................... 338
Mode of turning corners of streets........................................... 339
Tabular report of the extent of the lines completed and under traffic in June,
1849; the length of lines projected btut not completed; the cost of construction
and plant, where such particulars can be ascertained; the last dividends, and
the average prices of shares............................................... 339
Tabular analysis of the movement of the traffic on twenty-eight principal railways
in the States of New England and New York in 1847........................ 343
Proportion of railways to population.......................................... 345
Proportion in United Kingdom............................................... 345
Greater in United States than the United Kingdom............................  345
Basis of comparison should be capital expended............................... 345
Effects of easy means of conmimunication in United States...................... 346
Passengers not classed on American railways.................................  346
Small transport of goods on Amnerican railways............................... 347
Means of obtaining act for railway........................................... 348
State generally offers inducements to companies............................... 348
xviii 
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
BELGIAN RAILWAYS.
Parge
History of their construction................................................. 349
Constructed at national expense....................................... 351
Tabular statement of the progressive increase of the commerce of Belgitum during
ten years ending December 31, 1845........................................ 351
Value of imports and exports at Antwerp.................................... 351
Increase in production of coal................................................ 354
And in other branches of commerce......................................... 352
Character of the country as regards construction of railways.................. 352
High gradients and curves of small radius sometimes adopted................. 353
Railways pass roads on level, where practicable.............................. 353
Cause of the expedition of their construction................................. 353
Cost of construction and stock................................................ 353
Tabular analysis of the receipts, expenses, and profits arising from the traffic
carried on the Belgian railways during tile seven years ending December 31,
1847..................................................................... 354
Synopsis of the movement on the Belgian railways, computed from official docu  ments, during the four years ending December 31, 1847......................  355
Table shiowing the average amnount of traffic carried daily over each mile of the
Belgian railways during the four years ending December 31,1847............. 358
Diagram of local variation of traffic.......................................... 359
Diagram of variation of daily traffic with change of seasons.................... 360
Table showing the number of each class of passengers in every 100 booked, the
share of each class in every 100 miles traveled, and the share contributed by
each class to every ~100 receipts on the Belgian railways during the four years
ending December 31, 1847................................................. 361
Tabular analysis of the traffic on the Belgian railways, classified according to tihe
distances over which the objects of transport were severally carried, showing
the proportion of 1000 objects booked of each class which was carried over
each specified distance, and also showing the proportion per 1000 of the mile  age of each class assignable to each specified distance....................... 361
Table showing the share of every ~100 of gross revenue contributed by each
class of traffic on the Belgian railways, during the four years ending December
31, 1847.................................................................. 363
Analysis of the proportion in which the working expenses of the Belgian railways
were distributed, under the specified heads, in the four years ending 1847.... 363
Synopsis of tile proportion between the receipts, expenses, and profits, and tile
length of line worked, the movement of the trains, and the amount of capital on
the Belgian railways during the seven years ending December 31, 1847.......   364
Tabular analysis of the movement of the passenger traffic on the principal Belgian
lines of railway, showing the average speed, stoppages, &c. of each class of
trains.................................................................... 365
Railways completed and in progress, by companies............................ 364
Estimated cost of them...................................................... 367
xix 
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FRENCIHI RAILWAYS.
Page
Introduction of passenger railways into France by M. Emile Pereire...........  367
Commission appointed by Chambers to prepare project of law for railways-con    cession to Paris and Orleans Company-concession of line from Paris to Rouen
-law of 11 June, 1842.................................................... 368
Railways contemplated by this law..........................................  370
Railways constructed, ill progress, and projected.............................. 374
Synopsis of the length, and cost of construction of fifteen of the principal French
railways................................................................. 376
Capital required for French railways.........................................  377
Railway companies tenants of the State......................................  377
State executed principal portion of works..................................... 377
iMode of offering leases to public competition.!................................ 377
Locomotive and carrying stock..............................................  378
Tabular synopsis of the average daily movement of the locomotive stock of the
North of France Railway during 1848...................................... 379
Tabular synopsis of the average daily movement of the carrying stock on the
North of France Railway during 1848......................................  379
Tabular synopsis of the average daily movement of the passenger traffic, and the
revenue proceeding from it on the principal French railways during 1848...... 380
Table showing the proportion of business supplied to the principal French railways
by the several classes of passengers, and the proportion in which they con  tributed to the receipts.................................................... 382
Tabular analysis of the daily movement and daily average receipts of the passen  ger traffic on ten of the principal French railways for 1848................... 383
Table showing the share of every ~100 of gross revenue contributed by each
class of traffic on four of the principal French railways.....................   384
Tabular analysis of the movement of the goods traffic, and the receipts proceed  ing from it, on some of the principal French railways.......................    384
Tabular analysis of the total average daily receipts, expenses, and profits on the
principal French railways during 1848, showing the proportion due to passen  gers and goods............................................................ 385
Tabular analysis of the proportion of the receipts, expenses, and profits on the
French railways chargeable per mile run by the trains per mile of the lines
worked, and per cent. of the capital expended............................... 385
Tabular analysis of the movement of the passenger traffic on the French lines of
railway, showing the average speed, stoppage, &c., of each class of trains..... 386
CHAPTER XIX.
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
German railways completed, in progress, and projected........................ 387
Table showing the progress of the railways in the Germanic States during the
five years ending December 31, 1849........................................ 392
Table showing the railways of the Germanic States, distinguishing those which
were in operation, those which were in progress, and those which were pro jected but not commnenced in 1849.......................................... 393
xx 
CONTENTS.
Page
Table showing the proportions in which the German railways on January 1, 1847,
were distributed among the several states.................................. 395
Some railways constructed by Government, some by companies................  395
Prussian Government has not interfered with railways........................ 396
But has reserved a power of redemption......................................   396
Railways have been constructed with view to economy....................... 396
Curves of short radius admitted.............................................. 396
Table showing the prevailing gradients and curves on the principal railways of
the Germanic States, as well as the exceptional gradients of steelper acclivities,
the exceptional curves of shorter radius where they occur................... 397
No difficulty in working lines with exceptional gradients and curves............ 398
Self-acting planes adopted................................................... 398
Mode of working traffic on them.............................................. 398
Narrow gauge generally adopted.............................................  399
Form and weight of rails....................................................  399
Table of details of construction of principal German lines...................... 400
Table showing the estimated cost of construction of the railways of the Germanic
States to be completed, in progress, and projected........................... 401
Average annual expenditure.................................................   401
Causes of low rate of cost of German railways...............................   402
Table showing the average cost of land per acre, and the average wages of earth  work laborers per day on the principal German railways..................... 402
Table showing the cost of construction per running mile of each of the principal
German railways, with the share of the total expenses assigned to each head. 403
Traffic small as compared with English and other continental lines............. 403
DIode of working traffic...................................................... 403
Three classes of passengers..................................................    403
No classification of trains................................................... 404
Mixed trains, which generally take goods..................................... 404
Table showing the number of trains daily which depart fromn each of the termini
of the principal German raivlways, distinguishing those which go from terminus
to terminus from those which ply to intermediate stations................... 404
Locomotive engines first supplied by foreign manufacturers.................... 405
But now extensive factories in Germany..................................... 405
Table showing the dimensions of the locomotive engines used on the principal
German railways.......................................................... 4 06
Table showing the magnitude and average cost of the vehicles of transport used
on the principal German lines.............................................. 406
Vehicles of transport described.............................................. 407
Tabular analysis of the average daily traffic in passengers and goods on the Ger  man railways during the year 1846......................................... 407
Table showing the average distance carried, and the average receipts obtained,
per head or per ton per mile, from the passengers and goods transported on the
principal German railways during the year 1846............................. 409
Third class a large proportion of passengers................................... 409
Tabular analysis, showing the number of passengers belonging to each class in
every 100 booked on sixteen of the principal German railways............... 410
Average fares............................................................... 410
Average Tariffs............................................................. 410
Table showing the average receipts per mile and per cent. of cost of construc  tion on several railways during the four successive years ending December,
1846..................................................................... 411
Gross receipts on 2000 miles of railway in 1845 and 1846....................... 411
xxi 
CONTENTS.
Patge
Do not exceed 6 per cent. on capital.......................................... 411
Tabular analysis of the expenses, receipts, and profits on several German railways
during the year 1844....................................................... 412
Tabular analysis showing the receipts, expenses, and profits compared witih the
length of railway worked and the cost of constrtuction on several German rail  ways during the year 1844................................................. 412
Tabular analysis of the movement of the traffic on the principal German railways,
showing the average speed, stoppages, &c. of each class of train............. 413
CHAPTER XX.
RAILWAYS IN RUSSIA, ITALY, AND SPAIN.
Railways in Russia.........................................................  414
Advantages offered to companies............................................. 414
Railway from St. Petersburgh to Moscow constructed by the State............. 415
Other railways............................................................. 415
Railways in Italy........................................................... 415
Railways in Spain.......................................................... 416
CHAPTER XXI.
COMiPARISON OF RAILWAY TRANSPORT IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.
Comparative progress made in railways in different countries................... 416
Table showing the population, extent of territory, and extent of railway in opera  tion and in progress, in the several countries of the world where railways have
been constructed.......................................................... 417
Comparison of the extent of railways in operation, and the amount of railway
capital, with the population and territorial extent of the countries which pos  sess them................................................................ 418
Remarkable results of this table.............................................. 418
Comparative view of the movement of the traffic on a portion of the railways in
operation in the United Kingdom, the United States, Belgium, France, and the
Germanic States......................................................... 420
CHAPTER XXII.
RELATION OF RAILWAYS TO THE STATE.
Monopolies necessarily consequent on the system of railways.................     422
Some states have assumed entire construction and working of lines, in others a
mixed system prevails..................................................... 423
In almost all the authority of the State asserted...............................  423
The case of English railway companies peculiar..............................  424
Whence a demand for control met by directors by denial of right of Parliament to
interfere.................................................................. 4 24
This question discussed..................................................... 425
xxii 
CONTENTS.
Page
Necessity of control by an independent body admitted by all but railway directors
and persons influenced by them............................................ 426
And even by some directors................................................. 426
Question of the authority from which nomination of such a body should emanate
discussed.............................................................. 426
Absurdity of directors and impracticability of shareholders makting nomination
demonstrated............................................................. 426
Parliamentary evidence as to usual audit system.............................. 427
Board of railway control properly constituted................................. 427
Such a board would represent interests of public at large...................... 428
And must be perfectly independent of directors................................ 428
Objects of control........................................................... 428
Views of the Ilouse of Lords................................................ 428
Parliamentary evidence and Lords' report as to question of capital and revenue.. 430
Powers hitherto conferred on shareholders insufficient to guard against abuses... 431
Necessity of ample and unreserved publicity in railway management insisted on 431
By which means public at large would become one great and unquestionable board
of control................................................................ 432
Details necessary in well organized system of railway accounts............... 433
Most of such details furnished in annual reports of continental railways........ 435
Advantage of employing a self-acting coenter to register mileage.............. 436
Necessity of a statistical bureau in each railway administration................ 437
xxiii  
RAILWAY ECON0OM1Y.
CHAPTER I.
INFLUENCE OF IMPROVED TRANSPORT ON CIVILIZATION.
1. THE Art by which the products of labor and thought, and
the persons who labor and think, are transferred from place to
place, is, more than any other, essential to social advancement.
Without it no other art can progress. A people who does not
possess it can not be said to have emerged from barbarism. A
people who has not made some advances in it can not yet have
risen above a low state of civilization. Nevertheless, this art has
been, of all others, the latest in attaining a state of perfection,
so late, indeed, that the future historian of social progress will
record, without any real violation of truth, that its creation is
one of the events which have most eminently signalized the
present age and generation. For, although transport by land
and water was practiced by our forefathers, its condition was
so immeasurably below that to which it has been carried in our
times, that a more adequate idea of its actual state will be conveyed by calling it a new art, than by describing it as an improvement on the old one.
But if human invention have been late in directing its powers
to this object, it must be admitted to have nobly compensated for
the tardiness of its action by the incomparable rapidity of advancement it has produced, when once they have been brought
into play. Within an hundred years more has been accomplished in facilitating and expediting intercommunication than
was effected from the creation of the world to the middle of
the last century. This statement may, perhaps, appear strained
and exaggerated, but it will bear the test of examination.
B 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The geographical conditions of the world, the distribution of
the people who inhabit it, and the exclusive appropriation of
its natural productions destined for their use, to the various
countries of which it consists, have imposed on mankind the
necessity of intercommunication and commerce. Commerce is
nothing more than the interchange of the productions of industry between people and people. Such interchange presupposes the existence of the art of transport by land and water.
In proportion to the perfection of this art will be the extent of
corn merce.
A people incapable of communicating with others must subsist
exclusively upon the productions of its own labor and its own
soil. But nature has given us desires after the productions of
other soils and other climates. Besides this, the productions of
each particular soil or country are obtainable in superfluity.
They are infinitely more in quantity than the people by whom
and amid whom they are produced have need of; while other
and distant peoples are in a like situation, having a superfluity
of some products and an insufficiency or a total absence of others.
The people of South Carolina and Georgia have a superfluity
of cotton, the people of the West India Islands have a superfluity of coffee and tobacco, the people of Louisiana have a
superfluity of sugar, the people who inhabit the vast valley of
the Upper Mississippi and Missouri have a superfluity of corn
and cattle, the people of civilized Europe have a superfluity of
the products of mechanical labor, those of France have a superfluity of silk goods, those of England of manufactured cotton,
porcelain, and hardware. Each of these various peoples is able
and willing to supply the others with those productions in which
themselves abound, and to receive in exchange those of which
they stand in need, and which abound elsewhere.
But, to accomplish such interchanges, means of transport
must be provided, and this transport must be sufficiently cheap,
speedy, safe, and regular, to enable these several productions
to arrive with their consumers, and be delivered on such terms
and conditions as will be compatible with the ability of the consumer to purchase them.
Among the advantages which attend improved means of transport, one of the most prominent is that of lowering the price of
all commodities whatever in the market of consumption, and
thereby stimuliting production.  The price paid for an article
by its consum~,r consists of two elements:  1st, the price paid
for the article to its producer at the place of its production; and,
" 6
LCHAP. I. 
CHAP. I.] INFLUENCE OF IMPROVED TRANSPORT.
2dly, the expense of conveying it from that place to the consumer. In this latter element is included the cost of its transport and the commercial expenses connected with such transport. These last include a variety of itemns which enter largely
into the price of the commodity, such as the cost of the transport, properly so called, the interest on the price paid to the
producer proportionate to the time which elapses before it
reaches the consumer, the insurance against damage or loss
during the transport. This insurance must be paid directly or
indirectly by the consumer. If it be not effected by those who
convey the commodity to the consumer, the value of the goods
which may be lost or d    ed in the transport will necessarily
be charged in the price o0se,wlwhich arrive safe.  In either
case the consumer pays the insurance. There are also the
charges for storage, packing, transhipment, and a variety of other
commercial details, the total of which forms a large proportion
of the ultimate price paid by the consumer.
In many cases, these expenses incidental to transport amount
to considerably more than half the real price of the article; in
some they amount to three-fourths or four-fifths, or even a larger
proportion.
Let us take the example of raw cotton produced on the plains
of South Carolina or Georgia. This article is packed in bales
by the producer at the place of production. These are then
transported to Charleston or Savannah, whence they are exported to Liverpool.   Arriving at Liverpool, they are transferred upon the railway, by which they are transported to Manchester, Stockport, Preston, or some other seat of manufacture.
The raw material is there taken by the manufacturer, spun
into thread, woven into cloth, bleached and printed, glazed, and
finished for the consumers. It is then repacked, and again
placed on the railway and transported once more to Liverpool,
when it is re-embarked for Charleston and Savannah, for exampl)le. Arriving there, it is again placed on a railway or in a
steam-boat, and is transported to the interior of the country, and
finally returns to the very place at which it originally grew, and
is repurchased by its own producer. Without going into arithmnetical details, it will be abundantly apparent how large a proportion of the price thus paid for the manufactured article is to
be placed to the account of the transport and commercial expenses.  The article has made the circuit of almost half the
globe before it has found its way back in its manufactured state.
The products of agricultural labor have, in general, great
27
I 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
bulk with proportionately small value. The cost of transport has
consequently a great influence upon the price of these in the
market of consumption.  Unless, therefore, this transport can
be effected with considerable economy, these products must be
consumed on the spot where they are produced.
In the case of many animal and vegetable productions of agriculture, speed of transport is as essential as cheapness, for they
will deteriorate and be destroyed by the operation of time alone.
Without great perfection, therefore, in the art of transport,
objects of this class must necessarily be consumed in the immediate neighborhood of the place where they are raised. Such
are, for example, the products of the dairy, the farm-yard, and
the garden.
In countries where transport is dear and slow, there consequently arises great disadvantage, not only to the rural, but
also to the urban population. While the class of articles just
referred to are at a ruinously low price in the rural districts,
they are at a ruinously high price in the cities and larger class
of towns.  In the country, where they exist in superfluity, they
fetch comparatively nothing: in the towns, where the supply is
immeasurably below the demand, they can only be enjoyed by
the affluent.
But if sufficiently cheap and rapid means of transport be provided, these productions find their way easily to the great centres
of population in the towns, and the rural population which produces them receives in exchange innumerable articles of use
and luxury of which they were before deprived.
France, one of the most civilized states of Europe, exhibits
a deplorable illustration of this.  Notwithstanding the fertility
of her soil, the number, the industry, and intelligence of her
population, the products of every description, animal and vegetable, which abound in her territory, yet, from the absence of
sufficiently easy means of intercommunication, these advantages have been hitherto almost annihilated. All these productions, in the place where they are raised, can be obtained at a
lower price than in most other countries; and yet, in consequence of the cost of transport, they would attain, if brought to
the place where they are in demand, a price which would
amount to a prohibition on their consumption. From this
cause the industry of France has long been to a great extent
paralyzed.
In some cases the price of an article at the place of consumption consists exclusively of the cost of transport. An article
28
[CHAP. I. 
CHAP. I.] INFLUENCE OF IMPROVED TRANSPORT.
has frequently no value in the place where it is found, which
nevertheless would have a considerable value transported elsewhere. Numerous instances of this wvill occur in the case of
manures used in agriculture. Every reduction, therefore, which
can be made in the cost of the transport of these, will tend in a
still greater proportion to lower their price to those who use them.
Cases even occur in which the cost of transport is actually
greater than the price paid for an article by the consumer.
This, which would seem a paradox, is nevertheless easily explained. An article in a given place may be a nuisance, and its
possessor may be willing to pay something for its removal.
This article, however, transported to another place, may become eminently useful, and even be the means of stimulating
profitable production. The cleansing the common sewers of a
city affords a striking example of this. The filth and offal which
are removed are a nuisance where they exist, and may even be
the cause of pestilence and death. Transported, however, to
the fields of the agriculturalist, they become the instruments of
increased fertility. Cases may be cited where the whole cost
of transport will be more than covered by the sum paid for the
removal of the nuisance.*
Every improvement in the art of transport having a tendency
to diminish cost, and augment speed and safety, operates in a
variety of ways to stimulate consumption and production, and
thereby advance national wealth and prosperity. When the
price of an article in the market of consumption is reduced by
this cause, the demand for it is increased: 1st, by enabling
former consumers to use it more freely and largely; and, 2dly,
by placing it within the reach of other classes of consumers who
were before compelled to abstain from it by its dearness.   The
increase of consumption from this cause is generally in a larger
ratio than the diminution of price. The number of consumers
able and willing to pay one shilling for any proposed article is
much more than twice the number who are able and willing to
pay two shillings for the same article.
But consumption is also augmented in another way by this
diminution of price. The saving effected by consumers who,
before the reduction, purchased at the higher price, will now
be appropriated to the purchase of other articles of use or enjoyment, and thus other branches of industry are stimulated.
* In Aberdeen the streets are swept every day, at an annual cost of
~1400, and the refuse brings in ~2000 a year. In Perth the scavenging costs  1300 per annum. and the manure sells for e1730.
29 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The improvements which cheapen transport, necessarily including the expenditure of less labor in effecting it, might seem,
at first view, to be attended with injury to the industry employed in the business of transport itself, by throwing out of
occupation that portion of labor rendered superfluous by the
improvement. But experience shows the result to be the
reverse.  The diminished cost of transport invariably augments
the amount of commerce transacted, and in a much larger ratio
than the reduction of cost; so that, in fact, although a less
amount of labor is employed in the transport of a given amount
of commodities than before, a much larger quantity of labor is
necessary by reason of the vast increase of commodities transmitted. The history of the arts supplies innumerable examples
of this. When railways were first brought into operation it
was declared, by the opponents of this great improvement (for
it had opponents, and violent ones), that not only would an immense amount of human industry connected with the business
of land carriage be utterly thrown out of employment, but also
that a great quantity of horses would be rendered useless. Experience was not long in supplying a striking proof of the fallacy
of this prevision.
The moment the first great line of railway was brought into
operation between Liverpool and Manchester, the traffic between those places was quadrupled, and it is now well known
that the quantity of labor, both human and chevaline, employed
in land carriage where railways have been established, has been
increased in a vast proportion, instead of being diminished.
In 1846 there were seventy-three stage-coaches or lines of
omnibus employed in the transport of passengers to and from
the several stations of the North of France Railway, which
supplied 176 arrivals and departures, had 5776 places for passengers, and employed daily 979 horses. In the six months
ending 31st December, 1846, these coaches transported 486,948
passengers.
Improvements in transport which augment the speed, without iinjuriously increasing the expense or diminishing the safety,
are attended with effects similar to those which follow from
cheapness.
A part of the cost of transport consists of the interest on the
cost of production chargeable for the time elapsed between the
departure of the article from the producer and its delivery to
the consumer. This element of price is clearly diminished in
the exact proportion to the increased speed of transport.
[CHAP. I.
30 
CIAP. I.] INFLUENCE OF IMPROVED TRANSPORT.
But increased speed of transport also operates beneficially on
commerce in another way.  Numerous  classes of articles of
production become deteriorated by time, and many are absolutely
destroyed, if not consumed within a certain time. It is evident
that such articles admit of transport only when they can reach
the consumer in a sufficiently sound state for use; various
classes of articles of food come under this condition.
WVhile the Houses of Parliament were occupied with the
numerous railway acts which had been brought before them, a
great mass of evidence was produced illustrating the advantages
which both producer and consumer would obtain by the increased
cheapness and expedition of transport which railways would
supply. It was shown that the difficulties atttending transport
by common roads affected, in an injurious manner, thie grazier
who  supplied the markets with veal and lamb.  Lamtbs and
calves were generally sent by the road; and when too young to
leave the mothers for so long a time as the journey lrequired,
the producer was obliged to send the ewes or cows with them
for at least a part of the way.   This also rendered( it impossible)o
to send them to market sufi,ciently young, which it would have
been  advantageouLs to do, that the mothers  might feed off
earlier.
But, independently of thii, the animals of every species driven
to market on the common roads were proved to suffer so much
fiom the fatigue of the journey, that when they arrived at market their flesh was not in a wholesome state.  They were often
driven till their feet were sore. Sheep frequently had their
feet literally worn off, and were obliged to be sold on the road
for what they would fetch. Extensive graziers declared that,
in such cases, they would be gainers by a safe and expeditious
transport for the animals,, even though it cost double the price
paid to the drovers."
Butchers engaged in large business in London proved that
the cattle driven to that market from considerable distances
sustained so imuch injury that their value was considerably lessened, owing to the inferior quality of the meat, arising from
the animal being slaughtered in a diseased state; that the animnal, being fatigued and overdriven,, became feverish, his looks
became not so good, and he lost weight by the length of the
journey and the fatigue."
It was shown further, that even steam-vessels, when  they
could be resorted to, did not altogether remove this objection.
Cattle arriving from Scotland in steam-vessels are found in
31 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
London to be in an unnatural state;, they seem stupefied, and
in a state of suffering from fatigue."
It is not merely the fatigue of traveling which injures the
animal, but also the absence from its accustomed pasture. The
injury from this cause is more or less, under different circumstances, but always considerable: in order to obviate this, a large
portion of the mneat supplied to the London market was slaughtered in the country, and came in this state, in winter, from
distances round London to the extent of one hundred miles.
In warm weather a large quantity of it was spoiled. The transport of calves and lambs from a distance greater than thirty
miles is altogether impracticable by common roads, and even
from that distance is attended with difficulty and injury.
To convey these and other live cattle from a great distance,
not only speed but evenness of motion is indispensable. Now
these two requisites can not be combined by any other means
than the application of steam-engines upon a railroad.
The whole of the evidence showed that the supply of animal
food to the metropolis was not only defective in quantity, but
of unwholesome quality-comparatively, at least, with what it
might be, if the tract from which it could be supplied were
rendered more extensive.
But, forcibly as the evidence bore on this species of agricultural produce, it was still stronger respecting the produce of the
dairy and the garden. Milk, cream, and fresh butter, vegetables
of every denomination, and certain descriptions of fruit, are
usually supplied exclusively from a narrow annulus of soil which
circumscribes the skirts of great cities. Every artificial expedient is resorted to, in order to extort from this limited portion
of land the necessary supplies for the population. The milk is
of a quality so artificial, that we know not whether, in strict
propriety of language, the name milk can be at all applied to it.
The animals that yield it are fed, not upon wholesome and
natural pasturage, but, in a great degree, on grain and similar
articles. It will not be supposed that the milk which they yield
is identical in wholesome and nutritious qualities with the article
which could be supplied if a tract of land, of sufficient extent for
the pasturage of cattle, was made subservient to the wants of
such cities. Add to this that, inferior as must be under such
circumstances the quality of the milk, there exists the strongest
temptations to the seller who retails it, to adulterate it still further before it finds its way to the table of the consumer.
Since the introduction of transport by railways, we see attach
[CHAP. 1.
32 
CHAP. I.] INFLUENCE OF IMPROVED TRANSPORT.
ed to the fast trains, morning and afternoon, numerous wagons
loaded with tier over tier of milk-cans for the supply of the
metropolitan population. Milk is thus brought from pastures at
great distances from the cities where it is consumed. In Paris
the benefits of this have been very conspicuous.
The benefits which would accrue to farmers and landlords, as
well as to the inhabitants of towns, by carrying extensive lines
of railroad through populous districts, connecting them with
those places from which supplies of food and other necessaries
might be obtained, are always considerable.  The factitious
value which tracts of land immediately surrounding the mnetropolis and large towns acquire from the proximity of the markets,
is thus modified, and a portion of their advantages transferred
to.the more remote districts; thus equalizing the value of agricultural property, and rendering it, in a great measure, independent of local circumstances. The profit of the farmer and
the rent of the landlord are augmented by the reduced cost of
transport, while the price paid by the customer is diminished;
the advantages of centralization are realized without incurring
the inconvenience of crowding together masses of people within
small spaces, and the whole face of the country is brought to
the condition, and made to share the opportunities of improvement which are afforded by a metropolis and by towns of the
larger class.
Steam navigation affords many striking examples of like advantages obtained in the transport of perishable productions.
Pines are now sold in the markets of England which are
brought from the West Indies; various sorts of fi'uit are likewise brought from the countries on the coast of Europe which
could not be transported in sailing vessels, as they would not
keep during the voyage. Oranges are sent in large quantities
from the Havanna to New Orleans and Mobile, in the United
States: when they are brought by sailing vessels, a large
proportion of the cargo is lost by the destruction and deterioration of the firuit; when sent by steamers, they arrive
sound.
The utility of an article often depends on its place. Thus,
what is useless at one part of the world will become eminently
valuable if transmitted to another. We have already given examples of this in the case of agricultural manures.  Others
present themselves.  Ice, at mid-winter, in Boston, Halifax, or
St. John's, has no value; but this ice, properly packed and embarked, is transmitted to the Havanna or Calcutta, where  a
B*
33 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
price is readily obtained for it which pays with profit the cost
of the voyage.
Like all the other effects of improved transport, this reacts
and produces collateral benefits.   The ships thus enabled to go
to Calcutta with a cargo which costs nothing and produces a
considerable profit, instead of going in ballast, which would be
attended with a certain expense, return with cargoes which
again become profitable in the port fiomrn which they sailed, and
which they could not have bought with profit unless aided by
the expedient just mentioned.
Important as are improvements in the transport of the products of industry, they are less so than those which facilitate
the transport of persons. Here speed becomes of paramount
importance.  In the case of the products of industry, the time
of the transport is represented only by the interest on the cost
of production of the article transmitted.
In the case of the transport of persons, the time of transport is represented by the value of the labor of the travelers,
and their expenses on the road; and as travelers in general
belong to the superior and more intelligent classes, their time
is proportionally valuable.
When cheapness can be sufficiently combined with speed,
considerable advantage is gained by the operative classes.
The demand for labor in the several great centres of population varies from time to time, sometimes exceeding, and
sometimes falling short of the supply.  In the latter case, the
operative having little other capital save his bodily strength, is
reduced to extreme distress, nay, often even to mendicancy.
In the former case, the producer is compelled to pay an excessive rate of wages, which falls disadvantageously on the
articles produced, in the shape of an undue increase of price,
and thereby checks consumption.  But although the equilibrium
between supply and demand in the labor market is liable to be
thus deranged, it rarely or never happens that it is subject to
the same derangement in all the centres of population. Supply
is never in excess every where at once, nor is it in all places at
once deficient. Improvements in transport which will render
traveling cheap, easy, and expeditious, so as to bring it within
the means of the thrifty and industrious operative, will enable
labor to shift its place and seek those markets in which the
demand is greatest. Thus, the places where the supply is in
excess will be relieved, and those where the demand is in excess will be supplied.
[CfIAI?. 1.
34 
CHAP. I.] INFLUENCE OF IMPROVED TRANSPORT.
The extent of soil by which great cities are supplied with
perishable articles of food, is necessarily limited by the speed
of transport.   A ring of country immediately about a great
capital, is occupied by market-gardens and other establishments
for supplying the vast population collected in the city with their
commodities. The width of this ring will be determined by
the speed with which the articles in question can be transported. It can not exceed such a breadth as will enable the
products raised at its extrenme limit to reach the centre in such
a time as may be compatible with their fitness for use.
It is evident that any improvement in transport which will
double its speed will double the radius of this circle; an improvement which will treble its speed will increase the same
radius in a threefold proportion. Now, as the actual area or
quantity of soil included within such a radius is augmented,
not in the simple ratio of the radius itself, but in the proportion
of its square, it follows that a double speed will give a fourfold
area of supply, a triple speed a ninefold area of supply, and so
on. How great the advantages therefore are, which in this
case attend increased speed, are abundantly apparent.
So far as relates to the transport of persons, the advantages
of increased speed are equally remarkable.   The population
of a great capital is condensed into a small compass, and, so to
speak, heaped together, by the difficulty and inconvenience of
passing over long distances.   Hence has arisen the densely
populated state of great cities like London and Paris.  With
easy, cheap, and rapid means of locomotion, this tendency, so
adverse to physical enjoyment and injurious to health, is proportionally neutralized. Distances practically diminish in the
exact ratio of the speed of personal locomotion. And here the
same arithmetical proportion is applicable.  If the speed by
which persons can be transported from place to place be doubled,
the same population can, without inconvenience, be spread over
four times the area; if the speed be tripled, it may occupy nine
times the area, and so on.
Every one who is acquainted with the present habits of the
population of London, and with those which prevailed before
the establishment of railways will perceive the practical truth
of this observation. It is not now unusual for persons whose
place of business is in the centre of the capital, to reside with
their families at a distance of fiomn fifteen to twenty miles from
that centre. Nevertheless, they are able to arrive at their
respective shops, counting-houtses, or offices, at an early hour
35 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
of the morning, and to return without inconvenience to their
residence at the usual time in the evening.  Hence in all
directions round the metropolis in which railways are extended,
habitations are multiplied, and a considerable part of the former
population of London has been diffused in these quarters. The
same will, of course, be applicable to the country which surrounds all other great towns. It is felt at Paris, Brussels, and
other capitals of Europe, just in the same proportion in which
they are supplied with railway communication.
This principle of diffusion, however, is not confined to the
towns only. It extends to an entire country when well intersected by lines of easy, rapid, and cheap communication.
The population, instead of being condensed into masses, is
more uniformly diffused; and the extent of the diffusion which
may be thus effected, compatibly with the same degree of
intercourse, will be, to use an arithmetical phrase, in the direct
proportion of the square of the speed of locomotion.
The common average of the speed of diligences in France
and other parts of the Continent, is two leagues, or about five
miles an hour. The speed of stage-coaches in England, before
the establishment of railways, did not average eight miles an
hour. According to the principle just explained, it would follow that the same degree of intercourse could be kept up in
England in a space of sixty-four square miles, which in France
could be maintained only within twenty-five square miles.
Since the establishment of railways the average speed upon
these lines of communication, on most parts of the Continent
and in America, is fifteen miles an hour. By this improvement, so far as it has been carried, as compared with diligences,
the area of practical communication, or, what is the same, of
the diffusion of the population compatible with a given degree
of intercourse, has been augmented in the ratio of the square
of five to the square of fifteen; that is, in a ratio of twenty-five
to two hundred and twenty-five. In other words the same
degree of intercourse can be maintained by means of the present railways within an area of two hundred and twenty-five
square miles, as could be previously maintained by diligences
within an area of twenty-five square miles.
But in England, where the average speed of railway transit
is much greater, this power of diffusion is proportionally increased. Assuming the average speed on English railways at
twenty-five miles an hour, which is less than its actual amount,
the power of intercommunication thus obtained will bear to that
36
[CHAR. 1, 
CHAP. I.] INFLUENCE OF IMPROVED TRANSIPORT.
obtained on the continent of Europe where railways are in
operation, the ratio of the square of twenty-five to the square
of fifteen; that is, of six hundred and twenty-five to two hundred and twenty-five, or of twenty-five to nine.
Thus, the English railways afford the same facilities of communication within an area of twenty-five square miles as is
afforded by the continental railways within an area of nine
square miles; and thus, by augmenting the speed from fifteen
to twenty-five miles an hour, the practical convenience to the
public is augmented in the ratio of nine to twenty-five, or very
nearly as three to one.
The importance of good internal communications in military
affairs has long been acknowledged. By the possession of such
means of transport as may enable a body of troops, with their
arms and ammunition, to be transported promptly and rapidly
from one part of the country to another, the standing army,
maintained as well for the purpose of order at home as for the
defense of the frontiers, may be diminished in proportion to
such facilities.
Instead of maintaining garrisons and posts at points of the
country within short distances of each other, it will be sufficient
to maintain them at such points that they can, at need, be transported with promptitude to any other point that may be desired.
In case of invasion, or any foreign attack on the frontier, by
good internal communications, the troops quartered throughout
the interior can be rapidly transferred and concentrated upon
the point attacked.
If, however, such improvements in the art of transport facilitate
the means of maintaining order at home and of defense against
a foreign enemy, on the one hand, they also happily, on the
other, greatly diminish the probability of a necessity for such
expedients. ", The natural effect of commerce," says Montesquieu,,is to tend to and consolidate peace."  Two nations who
trade with each other soon become respectively dependent. If
one have an interest to buy, the other has an interest to sell,
and a multitude of ties, commercial and social, spring out of their
mutual wants.
Nothing facilitates and develops commercial relations so
effectually as cheap and rapid means of intercommunication.
When, therefore, all nations shall be found more intimately
connected with each other by these means, they will inevitably
multiply their exchanges, and general commerce will undergo
great extension, mutual interest will awaken moral sympathies,
37 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
and will lead to political alliances. After having for ages ap proached each other only for war, peoples will henceforward
visit each other for purposes of amity and intelligence, and old
antipathies, national and political, which have so long divided and
ruined neighboring states, will speedily vanish.
But if, in spite of this general tendency toward pacific progress
and peace, war should occasionally break out, the improved means
of intercommunication will aid in bringing it to a prompt close.
A single battle will decide the fate of a country, and the longest
war will be probably circumscribed within a few months.
The advantages of good means of communication in the diffu sion of knowledge, and the increase of civilization by intellectual
means, are not less considerable. While the means of intercommunication are slow, difficult, and costly, great cities have a
tendency to monopolize intelligence, civilization, and refinement.
There genius and talent are naturally attracted, while the rural
districts are left in a comparatively rude and almost barbarous
state. With easy and rapid means of locomotion, however, the
best part of the urban population circulates freely through the
country.   This  interfusion  improves and  civilizes the rural
population. The highest intelligence will be occasionally found,
both in public and in private, diffusing knowledge and science
in the remotest villages. We can not now take up a London
journal without observing announcements of men distinguished
in the various branches of knowledge and art, visiting the various
towns and villages of the provinces, and delivering there lectures
on science, and entertainments and exhibitions in the fine arts.
So rapid are the communications, that it is frequently announced
that this or that professor or artist will, on Monday evening,
deliver a lecture or entertainment in Liverpool, on Tuesday in
MIanchester, on Wednesday in Preston, on Thursday in Halifax,
on Friday in Leeds, and so forth.
Nor is this all. The aspirations of the present generation after
the spread of knowledge and the advancement of mind, unsatisfied with a celerity of transmission so rapid by the railway, which
literally has the speed of the wind, has provoked from human
invention still greater wonders.   The Electric Telegraph for
the transmission of intelligence, in the most literal sense of the
term, annihilates both space and time.   The interval which
elapses between the transmission of a message from London and
its delivery at Edinburgh, provided the line is uninterrupted, is
absolutely inappreciable.
This system is now spreading throughout the whole civilized
38
[CHAP. 1. 
CHAP. I.] INFLUENCE OF IMPROVED TRANSPORT.
world.  The United States of America are overspread with a
net-work of electricity.  The President's message delivered at
Washington, was transmitted from thence to St. Louis, on the
confines of the state of Missouri, a distance qf about 1200 miles,
in an hour. The news from Europe arriving at Boston by the
Cunard steamers, is often transmitted to New Orleans, over
almost the entire territory of the United States from north to
south, a distance of nearly 2000 miles, in less time than would
be necessary to commit it to paper. Even the small delay that
now exists arises, not from any imperfection in the instrument
of transmission, but merely from the line of electric communication being interrupted from point to point, and transferred
from one system of telegraphs to another, at several intermediate
stations. After improvements shall remove such delays as these,
we shall probably see intelligence conveyed in an instant over a
quadrant of the globe.
But if we would seek for a striking illustration of the effects
of the rapid transmission of intelligence by the combination of
all the various expedients supplied by science to art, it is in the
practice of Journalism that we are to look for them, and more
especially in the great enterprises of the London newspapers.
The proprietors of a single morning journal are able to maintain
agencies, for the transmission of intelligence to the central
office in London, in all the principal cities of Europe, besides
roving correspondents wherever the prevalence of war, revolution, or any other public event exerts a local interest. These
various agents or, correspondents" as they are called, not only
transmit to the centre of intelligence in London regular dispatches by the mails, but also, on occasion of emergency, by
special couriers.
These dispatches are first received by an agent at Dover, by
whom they are forwarded to London by a special messenger.
But in cases where intelligence arrives of adequate importance,
this Dover agent sends it to London, in an abridged form, by
the electric telegraph, thus anticipating the detailed dispatches
by about three hours. Within two hours of its arrival the in telligence is in the hands of the London public.
That portion of the journal intended for the provinces is sent
to press at 3 A.M.; and by the activity of the editors, reporters,
and compositors, all of whom work during the night, it includes
not only the detailed reports of the Houses of Parliament, which
often sit to a late hour in the morning, but also the foreign news
received from Dover, as above explained, by electric telegraph.
39 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
This earliest impression is printed and delivered to the news venders, in sufficient time to be dispatched to the provinces by
the early railway trains, and it is thus delivered at all the stations
along the road.
The part of the impression intended for London circulation is
worked off and delivered later.
Thus we see that, by these combinations of enterprise, intel lectual and material, the intelligence which arrives in London at
3 A.M., is written, composed, printed, and distributed within a
radius of one hundred miles round London, and in the hands of
the population before their customary hour of breakfast.
Even before the present improved methods of transport were
brought into operation, wonders in this way were effected.
Thus, in some cases where debates of adequate public interest
took place in Parliament in the evening, the evening mails (for
there were then no other) carried to the provinces the first part
of an important speech, reported and printed before the remaining part was spoken. Thus it was related that the commencement of Mr. (since Lord) Brougham's celebrated speech on the
reform of the laws was read at tea-tables twenty miles from
London before he had pronounced the peroration.
Few of the numerous readers of newspapers have the least
idea of the immense commercial, social, and intellectual powers
wielded, and benefits conferred, by these daily publications, a
large portion of which influence is to be ascribed to the cheapness, promptitude, and rapidity with which they are transmitted
fromn the capital to all parts of the country.
It is commonly estimated, that the average number of copies
of the most widely circulating London journal which are daily
issued amounts at present to little less than forty thousand.
Each of these forty thousand copies, according to common
estimation, passes under the eyes, upon an average, of at least
ten persons. Thus we have four hundred thousand daily readers
of one organ of information and intelligence. But the effects do
not end there. These four hundred thousand readers, long before the globe completes a revolution on its axis, become four
hundred thousand talkers, and have vastly more than four hundred thousand hearers. Thus they spread more widely by the
ear the information, the arguments, and the opinions they have
received through the eye. We shall certainly not be overstating
the result if we assume, that this influence of a single journal,
directly and indirectly, reaches daily a million of persons.
40
[CHAP. I. 
CHAPTER. II.
RETROSPECT OF THE PROGRESS OF TRANSPORT.
IN the first attempts at an interchange of the products of industry, which mark the incipient commerce of a people emerging
from barbarism, human labor and the strength of the inferior
animals, applied in the most rude and direct manner to transport,
are all the means brought into play. The peddler and the packhorse perform all the operations of interchange which take place
in an infant society. Pathways are formed over the natural
surface of the ground, in a course more or less direct, between
village and village. The beds of streams following, by the laws
of physics, the lowest levels, serve as the first indication to the
traveler how to avoid steep acclivities, and by deviating from
the most direct and shortest course, to obtain his object with a
diminished amount of labor.
As industry is stimulated and becomes more productive, invention is brought more largely into play, and these rude expedients
are improved. Wheel carriages are invented, but the earliest
theatre of their operations is the immediate surface of the soil
from which the products of agriculture are raised. They are
used to gather and transport these to a place where they may
be sheltered and secured.
But to enable wheel carriages to serve as the means of transport between places more or less distant, the formner horse-paths
are insufficient. A more uniform and level surface, and a harder
substratum, become indispensable. In a word, a ROAD, con structed with more or less perfection, is necessary.
These roads, at first extremely rude and inartificial, and ren dered barely smooth and hard enough for the little commerce
of an infant people, are gradually improved. The carriages,
also, which serve as the means of transport undergo like im provement, until, after a series of ages, that astonishing instru inent of commerce, the modern road, results, which is carried
on an artificial causeway, and reduced, at an enormous expense,
to a nearly level surface by means of vast excavations, extensive
embankments, bridges, viaducts, tunnels, and other expedients
supplied by the skill and ingenuity of the engineer. 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Between the pack-horse, used in the first stages of growing
commerce, and such a road with its artificial carriages, there is
a prodigious distance. The first step, from the pack-horse to
the common two-wheel cart, was, in itself, a great advance.
It is calculated that a horse of average force, working for
eight or ten hours a day, can not transport on his back more
than two hundred weight, and that he can carry this at the rate
of only twenty-five miles a day over an average level country.
The same horse, working in a two-wheel cart, will carry through
the same distance per day twenty hundred weight, exclusive of
the weight of the cart. By this simple expedient, therefore,
the art of transport was improved in the ratio of one to ten; in
other words, the transport which before was effected at the cost
of ten pounds, was, with this expedient, reduced to the cost of
one pound.
The adoption of expedients for the maintenance of commerce
so obvious as roads, would seem to be inevitable among a people
who are not actually in a state of barbarism. Nevertheless, we
find, that not only was the construction of good roads for com mercial purposes of comparatively recent date, but that, even
at the present day, a very large portion of that part of the world
called civilized is unprovided with them. With the exception
of certain parts of Europe, the French colony of Algeria, and
the United States, the entire surface of the world is still without this means of intercourse.
It is calculated that, of the entire inhabited part of the globe,
roads do not exist in more than two-sevenths.  The extensive
empire of Russia, with the exception of one or two main communications, such as that between Petersburg and Moscow, is
without them.  In general, the only practicable communications
through this vast territory are effected in wintelr on the surface
of the frozen snow by sledges. On the return of summer, when
the snow has disappeared, the communications become extremely difficult, slow, and expensive. Spain is scarcely better supplied with roads than Russia, nor do we find much improvement
in the practice of transport in Italy.  Until recently, Corsica
possessed no communications of this sort; horses and mules
were the common means of communication and interchange in
that island until the French government constructed some
roads.
The roads constructed by the Romans and Egyptians will
probably be referred to as instances of an early advance in this
art.  But these great monuments of antiquity, though serving
[CHAP. 11.
42 
CHiAP. II.]   THE PROGRESS OF TRANSPORT.
incidentally, to some extent, as means of commerce, were constructed for exclusively military purposes.
The most ancient roads which are recorded in history, are
those constructed by order of Semiramis, throughout the extent
of her empire. It would seem, however, that the commerce
of that day did not find these communications suitable to its
objects; for it is certain that, at the epoch at which Tyre and
Carthage were signalized for their enterprise, their commerce
was almost exclusively carried o.n by the coasting navigation of
the Mediterranean.
Notwithstanding the advanced stage to which civilization had
arrived in Greece, the means of internal communication in that
country remained in a state of great imperfection. This may
in part be explained by the multitude of small states which
formed that confederation, by their conflicting interests, and
their want of any moral or social sympathies. The common
sentiment of nationality slumbered, except when it was awakened by the strong stimulus of foreign attack. The intercourse
between one centre of population and another was then very
restrained, and although the public ways were placed under the
protection of the gods, and the direction of the most considerable men of the respective states, they were suffered to fall
into neglect. The exigencies of internal commerce were never
sufficiently pressing to excite the people to contribute to the
maintenance of good means of intercommunication and exchange.
The earliest roads which were really rendered conducive to
the purposes of commerce on any considerable scale, were those
constructed by the Phenicians and Carthaginians. To the latter
is ascribed, by Isidore, the invention of paved roads.
When imperial Rome attained the meridian of her power,
and her empire extended over a large portion of Europe and
Asia, colossal enterprises were entered upon for the construction
of vast lines of communication, extending over the immensity
of her territory.   These roads, however, like those of the
Egyptians, were constructed without the slightest view to commercial objects. It concerned imperial Rome but little that her
provinces should be united by commercial or social interests.
What she looked to was to be enabled to convey with celerity
her powerful legions, at all times, from one extremity of her
dominions to another. With this purpose, she availed herself
of her vast resources to construct those military roads intersecting her territory, the remains of which have excited the admiration of succeeding generations.
43 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The first of these great monuments of the enterprise and art
of the Roman people, were those so well known by the names
of the Via Appia, the Via Aurelia, and the Via Flaminia.
Under Julius Cesar, communications were made by paved
roads between the capital of the empire and all the chief towns.
During the last Afiican war, a paved road was constructed from
Spain, through Gaul, to the Alps.  Subsequently similar lines
of communication were carried through Savoy, Dauphine6,
Provence, through Germany, through a part of Spain, through
Gaul, and even to Constantinople.
Asia Minor, Hungary, and I,iacedonia were overspread with
similar lines of communication, which were carried to the
mouths of the Danube. Nor was this vast enterprise obstructed
by the intervention of seas.   The great lines which  term inated on the shores of continental Europe were continued at
the nearest points of the neighboring islands and continents.
Thus Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, and England, and even Africa
and Asia, were intersected and penetrated by roads, forming
the continuation of the great European system.
These colossal works were not paths rudely prepared for the
action of the feet of horses and the wheels of carriages, by
merely removing the natural asperities from the surface of the
soil. They were constructed, on the contrary, on principles in
some respects as sound and scientific as those which modern
engineering has supplied. Where the exigencies of the country
required it, forests were felled, mountains excavated, hills leveled, valleys filled up, chasms and rivers bestridden by bridges,
and marshes drained, to an extent which would suffer little by
comparison with the operations of our great road-makers of
modern times.
On the fall of the empire, these means of communication, instead of subserving the purposes of the commerce of the people
through whose territory they were carried, were, for the most
part, destroyed. When the barbarians conquered Rome, and
a multitude of states were formed from its ruins, the victors
shut themselves up, and fortified themselves in these several
states, as an army does in a citadel; and, far from constructing
new roads, they destroyed those which had already existed, as
a town threatened with siege breaks those communications by
which the enemy may approach it.
From this epoch, through a long series of ages, the nations
of Europe, animated only by a spirit of reciprocal antagonism,
thought of nothing but war, and entered each other's territories
44
(CHAP. II. 
CHAP. II.]   THE PROGRESS OF TRANSPORT.
only for the purposes of conflict.  The history of the intercommunications of nations during the middle ages is only a
history of their wars.
When Europe emerged from this state, and when commerce
began to force itself into life, its operations were in a great
measure monopolized by Jewish and Lombard merchants, who
carried them on subject to the greatest difficulty and danger.
The provincial nobles and lords of the soil, through whose
possessions the mnerchants necessarily passed, in carrying on
the internal commerce of the country, were nothing better than
highway robbers.   They issued with their bands from their
castles, and arrested the traveling merchant, stripping him of
the goods which he carried for sale.
The sovereigns of France endeavored in vain, by penal enactments, to check this enormous evil.  Dagobert I. established a
sort of code to regulate the public communications through his
dominions, and decreed heavy fines against such provincial lords
as might obstruct the freedom of communication, by interrupting
or plundering travelers. These decrees, however, remained a
dead letter, no adequate power in the state being able to carry
them into practical effect.
Under the successors of Charlemagne, this abuse, which it
was found impossible to repress, was in some measure recognized and regularized. Tolls of limited amount were allowed
to be exacted by the local proprietors from those who passed
through the provinces for purposes of trade, on the condition that such travelers and merchants should be otherwise unmolested.
The prevalence of all these vexatious impediments soon rendered intercommunication by land almost impracticable. The
roads, such as they were, became accordingly deserted, and
were suffered to fall into utter disrepair. During a series of
ages, internal commnunication and internal commerce became
almost suspended; a journey even of a few leagues being regarded as a most serious and dangerous undertaking.
The crusades had a favorable influence on the art of transport.
The population of Western and Northern Europe became by
them acquainted with the productions and arts of the East.
New desires were excited, and new wants created. Commerce
was thus stimulated, and greater facility of intercourse becoming necessary, governments were forced to adopt expedients for
the security of the traveler.
The same difficulties and dangers did not, however, affect
45 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
navigation. We find this art developed in a much higher degree
than that of internal commerce. Hence arose the dispropor  tionate commercial opulence of maritime people.  The British,
the Dutch, and the Portuguese rose into immense commercial
importance, as well as the Genoese, the Tuscans, and the
Venetians.
Even so late as the middle of the seventeenth century, the
roads throughout the Continent continued in a condition which
rendered traveling almost impracticable.
They are described by writers of this epoch as being absolute
sloughs. Madame de Sevigny, writing in 1672, says, that a
journey from Paris to Marseilles, which by the common roads
of the present day is effected in less than sixty hours,* required
a whole month.
Besides the material obstacles opposed to the growth of in ternal commerce on the Continent by the want of roads in suf ficient number, and the miserable state of those which did exist,
other impediments were created and difficulties interposed by
innumerable fiscal exactions, to which the trader was exposed,
not only in passing the confines of different states, but even
in going from province to province in the same state, and in
passing through almost every town and village. Hence the cost
of every commodity was enormously enhanced, even at short
distances from the place of its production.
The disorganization of society and the destruction of the
institutions of feudalism which followed the French Revolution
of 1789, caused some improvement in the means of internal
commerce in Europe, and would have caused a much greater
development in this instrument of civilization, but for the wars
which immediately succeeded that political catastrophe, and
which only terminated with the battle of Waterloo.
Indeed Napoleon, conscious of the vast importance of a more
complete system of roads, had actually projected one, which he
intended to spread over Europe. His fall, however, intercepted
the realization of this magnificent design, and the Simplon remains as the only monument of his glory in this department of
art.
After the re-establishment of peace, the nations of Europe,
directing their activity to industry and commerce, soon became
impressed with the necessity of effecting a great improvement
* The projected railway from Paris to Marseilles is not completed
at the time of writing these pages (October, 1849).
46
[CHAP. II 
CHAr. II.]   THE PROGRESS OF TRANSPORT.
in the means of internal communication. Western Europe,
accordingly, soon began to be covered with roads and canals.
The obstructions arising from fiscal causes, if not removed,
were greatly diminished.
The advance made by France, especially, in this department,
is deserving of notice. That country possesses at present four
or five times the extent of roads which were practicable under
the Empire; a sum of nearly four millions sterling was, until
lately, expended annually upon the completion and maintenance
of these great lines of communication.
The roads of France consist of three classes; the first, until
the late revolution, were called royal roads, and are now called
national roads. These are the great arteries of communication
carried from one chief town to another throughout the territory,
and being used indifferently, or nearly so, by the whole population, are constructed and maintained at the general expense of
the nation. The second class are departmental roads, or what
would be called in England county roads. These are chiefly
the branches running into the royal roads, by which the local
interests of the departments are served, and are accordingly
maintained at the expense of the departments. Finally, the
third class is called vicinal roads, which would correspond to
our parish roads.
The rate at which these improved communications have contributed to augment the internal commerce and national wealth,
may be estimated in some degree from the statistical results
which have been published. In 1810, the various stage-coach
establishments in Paris transported each day from the capital
into the departments, two hundred and twenty passengers, and
twenty-one tons of merchandise. Before the establishment of
railways, they transported nearly one thousand passengers and
forty-five tons of merchandise. Thus the passengers were augmented in a fourfold, and the merchandise in a twofold proportion.
In 1815, the length of roads in operation in France was as
follows: there were three thousand leagues of royal roads, and
two thousand leagues of departmental roads. In 1829, there
were four thousand two hundred and five leagues of royal roads,
and three thousand leagues of departmental roads. In 1844,
there were eight thousand six hundred and twenty-eight leagues
of royal roads, and nine thousand one hundred and forty-six
leagues of departmental roads, independently of twelve thou sand leagues of vicinal roads. Thus, it appears that between
47 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
1815 and 1844, the total length of roads of the first and second
classes was augmented from five thousand leagues to nearly
eighteen thousand, or in the proportion of three and a half to
one.
Although the practice of road making in England attained a
certain degree of perfection at a much earlier period than in
other parts of Europe, and the united kingdom was overspread
with a noble network of internal communications, while continental Europe remained in a comparatively barbarous condition,
the art of transport nevertheless, even in England, remained
for a long series of ages incalculably behind what would seem
to be the commercial wants of the population.
The first English roads of artificial construction were those
made by the Romans, while England was a province of that
empire. The island was then intersected by two grand trunk
roads running at right angles to each other, the one from north
to south, and the other from east to west.
These main lines were supplied with various branches, extending in every direction which the conquerors found it expedient to render accessible to their armies.
The Roman road called Watling Street commenced from
Richborough, in Kent, the ancient Ruterpiac, and, passing
through London, was carried in a northwesterly direction to
Chester. The road called Ermine Street commenced from
London, and, passing through Lincoln, was carried thence
through Carlisle into Scotland. The road called the Fosse-way
passed through Bath in a direction N.E., and terminated in the
Ermine Street. The road called Ikenald extended from Norwich in a southern direction to Dorsetshire.
But these great works, at the date of their construction, exceeded the wants of the population, who, unconscious of their
advantage, allowed them to fall into neglect and disrepair. Nor
were any new roads in other or better directions constructed.
For a succession of ages the little intercourse that was maintained between the various parts of Great Britain was effected
almost exclusively by rude footpaths, traversed by pedestrians,
or at best by horses.
These were carried over the natural surface of the ground,
generally in straight directions, from one place to another. Hills
were surmounted, valleys crossed, and rivers forded by these
rude agents of transport, in the same manner as the savages
and settlers of the backwoods of America or the slopes of the
Rocky Mountains now communicate with each other.
[CHAP. II.
48 
CHAlAr. II.]   THE PROGRESS OF TRANSPORT.
The first important attempt made to improve the commnunica tions of Great Britain took place in the reign of Charles II. In
the sixteenth year of the reign of that monarch was established
the first turnpike road where toll was taken, which intersected
the counties of Hertford, Cambridge, and Huntingdon.  It long
remained, however, an isolated line of communication; and it
was little more than a century ago that any extensive or effect ual attempts were made, of a general character, to construct a
good system of roads through the country.
Until the middle of the eighteenth century, most of the mer chandise which was conveyed from place to place in Scotland
was transported on pack-horses. Oatmeal, coals, turf, and even
hay and straw, were carried in this manner through short dis tances; but when it was necessary to carry merchandise be tween distant places, a cart was used, a horse not being able to
transport on his back a sufficient quantity of goods to pay the
cost of the journey.
The time required by the common carriers to complete their
journey seems, when compared with our present standard of
speed, quite incredible. Thus, it is recorded that the carrier
between Selkirk and Edinburgh, a distance of thirty-eight miles,
required a fortnight for his journey, going and returning. The
road lay chiefly along the bottom of the district called Galawater, the bed of the stream, when not flooded, being the ground
chosen as the most level and easy to travel on.
In 1678, a contract was made to establish a coach for passengers between Edinburgh and Glasgow, a distance of forty-four
miles. This coach was drawn by six horses, and the journey
between the two places, to and fro, was completed in six days.
Even so recently as the year 1750, the stage-coach from Edinburgh to Glasgow took thirty-six hours to make the journey.
In this present year, 1849, the same journey is made, by a
route three miles longer, in one hour and a half!
In the year 1763 there was but one stage-coach between
Edinburgh and London. This started once a month from each
of these cities. It took a fortnight to perform the journey. At
the same epoch the journey between London and York required
four days.
In 1835 there were seven coaches started daily between
London and Edinburgh, which performed the journey in less
than forty-eight hours. In this present year, 1849, the same
journey is performed by railway in twelve hours!
In 1763, the number of passengers conveyed by the coaches
C
4D 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
between London and Edinburgh could not have exceeded about
twenty-five monthly, and by all means of conveyance whatever
did not exceed fifty. In 1835 the coaches alone conveyed between these two capitals about one hundred and forty passengers daily, or four thousand monthly. But besides these, several steam-ships, of enormous magnitude, sailed weekly between
the two places, supplying all the accommodation and luxury of
floating hotels, and completing the voyage at the same rate as
the coaches, in less than forty-eight hours.
As these steam-ships conveyed at least as many passengers
as the coaches, we may estimate the actual number of passengers transported between the two places monthly at eight thousand. Thus the intercourse between London and Edinburgh
in 1835 was one hundred and sixty times greater than in 1763.
At present the intercourse is increased in a much higher
ratio, by the improved facility and greater cheapness of railway
transport.
Arthur Young, who traveled in Lancashire about the year
1770, has left us in his Tour the following account of the state
of the roads at that time., I know not," he says,,in the
whole range of language, terms sufficiently expressive to describe this infernal road. Let me most seriously caution all
travelers who may accidentally propose to travel this terrible
country to avoid it as they would the devil, for a thousand to
one they break their necks or their limbs by overthrows or
breakintgs down. They will here meet with ruts, which I
actually measured, four feet deep, and floating with mud, only
from a wet summer.  What, therefore, must it be after a winter? The only mending it receives is tumbling in some loose
stones, which serve no other purpose than jolting a carriage in
the most intolerable manner. These are not merely opinions,
but facts; for I actually passed three carts broken down in
these eighteen miles of execrable memory."
And again he says (speaking of a turnpike road near Warrington, now superseded by the Grand Junction Railway),
,,This is a paved road, most infamously bad. Any person
would imagine the people of the country had made it with a
view to immediate destruction! for the breadth is only sufficient
for one carriage; consequently it is cut at once into ruts; and
you may easily conceive what a break-down, dislocating road,
ruts cut through a pavement must be."
Nor was the state of the roads in other parts of the north of
England better. He says of a road near Newcastle, now super
50
[CHAP. II. 
CHAr. II.]   THE PROGRESS OF TRANSPORT.
seded by railway,, A more dreadful road can not be imagined.
I was obliged to hire two men at one place to support my chaise
from overturning. Let me persuade all travelers to avoid this
terrible country, which must either dislocate their bones with
broken pavements, or bury them in muddy sand.  It is only bad
management that can occasion such very miserable roads in a
country so abounding with towns, trade, and manufactures."
Now it so happens that the precise ground over which Mr.
Young traveled in this manner less than eighty years ago, is at
present literally reticulated with railways, upon which tens of
thousands of passengers are daily transported, at a speed varying from thirty to fifty miles an hour, in carriages affording no
more inconvenience or discomfort than Mr. Young suffered in
1770, when reposing in his drawing-room in his arm-chair.
Until the close of the last century, the internal transport of
goods in England was performed by wagon, and was not only
intolerably slow, but so expensive as as to exclude every object
except manufactured articles, and such as, being of light weight
and small bulk in proportion to their value, would allow of a
high rate of transport. Thus the charge for carriage by wagon
from London to Leeds was at the rate of X13 a ton, being
13id. per ton per mile. Between Liverpool and Manchester
it was forty shillings a ton, or 15d. per ton per mile. Heavy
articles, such as coals and other materials, could only be available for commerce where their position favored transport by
sea, and, consequently, many of the richest districts of the kingdom remained unproductive, awaiting the tardy advancement
of the art of transport. Coals are now carried upon railways
at a penny per ton per mile, and, in some places, at even a
lower rate. Merchandise, such as that mentioned above, which
was transported in 1763 at from 14d. to 15d. per mile, is now
carried at from 3d. to 4d., while those sorts which are heavier
in proportion to their bulk, are transported at 22'd. per ton per
mile.
But this is not all: the wagon transport formerly practiced
was limited to a speed which in its most improved state did not
exceed twenty-four miles a day, while the present transport
by railway is effected at the rate of from twelve to fourteen
miles an hour.
51 
CHAPTER III.
THE ORGANIZATION OF A RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION.
THE organization of the administrative machinery necessary
for the conduct of the practical business of a railway, or a system of railways, brought under a common direction and management, includes the following four principal departments or
services, more or less distinct from, and independent of each
other. These are  1st. The service of the way and works.
2d. The service of the draft.
3d. The service of carriage.
4th. The service of the stations.
Each of these departments has its separate staff, machinery,
and stock.
The, service of the way and works" consists in the due
maintenance and repair of the road structure, including rails,
chairs, sleepers, ballasting, drains, the slopes of the embankments and cuttings, and the works of art, such as bridges, tunnels, and viaducts, the gates of level crossings, and, in a word,
all that is necessary for the due maintenance of the line in a
fit state to bear the rolling stock and traffic which pass over it.
For this purpose a staff of superintendents, engineers, artificers,
and operatives of various grades and classes, is necessary.
In the,service of draft" is included the entire staff of engineers and operatives employed in the maintenance, repair,
management, and working of the locomotive stock, consisting
of engines and tenders, with all their accessories, and including
the means of cleaning and repairing them-sheds, workshops,
tools, &c.-and due means for the supply of water and fuel.
In this department is included, also, all the means provided by
the establishment for the reproduction of the stock as it is
,vorn.
In the. service of carriage" is comprehended all that is
necessary for the proper preservation, management, and repair
of the coaches used for the passenger traffic, the horse-boxes,
baggage-vans, parcel-vans, and carriage-trucks, with all the
accessories necessary for their maintenance, cleaning, and re 
CHAP. III.]   RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION.
pair, and also all that appertains to the maintenance, cleaning, and repair of the wagons of every description used in the
goods department.
The, service of the stations" consists of the staff of clerks,
porters, and others, supplied with all the necessary means for
the reception, weighing, booking, and embarkation, and for the
disembarkation, discharge, and delivery of the passengers, baggage, and goods, of every class and description, which are transported on the road, together with the maintenance and repairs
of the buildings in which the stations are established, consisting
of booking-offices, baggage and parcel-offices, passengers' waiting-rooms, sheds, warehouses for the reception of goods, and
the entire furniture and machinery necessary for the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers, baggage, and goods.
Each of these services is attended with arrangements of more
or less complexity and importance, which it is necessary to explain in detail, and to reduce to such order and arithmetical
statement as may supply the means of comparing the operations and results of different railways one with another, and the
performances of the same railway with itself, during different
and successive epochs. We shall, therefore, consider successively each of the above services.
CHAPTER IV.
THE WAY AND WORKS.
THE subject of the maintenance of the way and works involves the consideration of different kinds and degrees of wear
and tear:
1st. That wear and tear which, taking place at short intervals
of time, is repaired and made good annually.
2dly. That wear and tear of the fixed materials which,
though not strictly speaking insensible, takes place in a mannet
which does not admit of annual repair, and which, accumulating from year to year, after a period of greater or less duration,
must render necessary the complete reconstruction and repro
duction of the materials so worn.
3dly. That wear and tear which, being due to the slow
operation of time acting upon the more solid structures, pro
53 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
duces an effect altogether insensible when observed through
short periods, but which, after a long interval of time, such, for
example, as centuries, must necessitate the reconstruction of
some or all even of the most solid structures.
These changes may not unaptly be assimilated to the periodical and secular inequalities which take place in the movements
of the great bodies of the universe.
The operation of time upon the more massive works of art
upon the railway, such as the bridges, tunnels, viaducts, &c.,
afford examples of what may be called the secular wear and
tear. The more rapid and visible deterioration, which is made
good by repairs or reconstruction effected at shorter intervals,
is analogous to the periodic inequalities.
In the annual repairs is included the casual damage which
the exterior of the more solid and durable works may from
time to time sustain; but, independently of these repairs, age
produces its effects even on these structures, and an epoch
must arrive, however remote it be, at which they would be reduced to a state which will necessitate their reconstruction.
For financial and economical purposes such an epoch is, perhaps, too remote to render it necessary to bring it into practical
calculation, and therefore it need here only be noticed in passing.
It might be expected that the annual repairs would, in the
commencement of a well-constructed railway, amount to little,
and that, as the establishment advances in age, they would increase.
The result of experience, however, shows the effects to be
to some extent contrary, the annual repairs for the first years
being invariably greater than at a later epoch.
The cause of this is easily explained.
In a newly constructed railway the earth works are fresh and
unconsolidated, the embankments have had no other means of
acquiring solidity than the gravity of their own materials, and
the work of their own construction which has been conducted
upon them.
When the road gets into operation, the traffic which is carried over the embankments gradually consolidates them. This
produces a corresponding subsidence in the substratum of the
road, and a consequent derangement of the position and level
of the rails. Such derangement requires to be continually
redressed, and this rectification will require to be constantly
made until, after an interval of more or less duration, according to the materials composing the embankments, and the
[CHAP. IV.
1 54 
THE WAY AND WORKS.
amount of traffic carried over them, a complete, consolidation
takes place.
Although the same observations do not apply with equal
force to the cuttings, they are, nevertheless applicable to them
in a modified sense. When the natural bed of the road consists of solid and dry materials, the superficial structure, when
once properly laid, will retain its position; but when the natural soil through which the cutting is carried, and upon which
the road materials rest, is soft or yielding, then similar effects to
those already described in the case of the embankments ensue.
Perhaps, in strictness of language, those operations which
take place after the railway has been brought into use ought
not to denominated repairs, but should be considered as an
essential part of the construction of the railway, and in the
financial accounts should be debited to capital, and not to revenue, not being expenses due to wear and tear, or to the legitimate operations of the traffic, but to the original and inevitable
incompleteness of the construction of the line.
In like manner, in a newly constructed railway, the slopes
both of the cuttings and embankmients are liable to occasional
slips, a term expressing the falling down of portions of the
earth which forms the surface of these slopes.
In the case of cuttings, the earth which thus slips sometimes
falls upon the road so as to obstruct the traffic, and it is therefore necessary to have means at hand at all times for its immediate removal.
In the case of embankments, these slips leave the crown of
the embankment, constituting the road structure, with imperfect support, and they require therefore to be immediately
repaired.
After wet weather, or during the vicissitudes of frosts and
thaws in winter, such effects firequently ensue.
After, however, the road has been in operation for a sufficient
length of time, the slopes of the cuttings and embankments be come more or less covered with vegetation, which forms a sort
of skin or coating, giving security and permanence to their
surfaice.
The chief objects, however, of the annual repairs of a rail road are the iron and wood-work, which form the immediate
materials of the road structure-the sleepers, chairs, pins, and
rails.
Whatever care or skill may be used in the fabrication of these
materials, and however severe the proofs to which they may
CHAP. IV.]
55 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
have been subjected before being laid upon the road, they will
be found in practice to be liable to casual defects, in consequence
of which failures and firactures will fi'om time to time take place.
Individual sleepers will prove unsound, and exhibit premature
decay; chairs will be firactured, pins displaced, rails exfoliated
or broken.  In all these cases, the broken or failing materials
have to be removed and replaced by sound ones.
So far as these repairs depend on casual defects and flaws,
their number and extent will be greater in the commencement
of the operation of a railway than later; but, on the other hand,
as the regular wear and tear of the road structure proceeds,
its natural strength will be proportionally diminished, and the
chances of fracture and failure multiplied.
It therefore often happens that this class of repairs, consider able within the first years, becomes less later, and later still in creases; its excess at first being ascribable to casual and undis covered defects and flaws, and its excess at a later epoch being
due to the deterioration and diminished strength of the materials.
But, independently altogether of these annual repairs, which
arise firom the casual fracture and failure of the road structure,
the rails and other iron-work of the road are subject to a gradual
and slow, but not insensible wear and tear, arising firom the continual operation of the vehicles rolled upon the road. Not one
of these vehicles passes over a rail without detaching from its
surface more or less of the metal which composes it; and when
the enormous number of these vehicles which pass over a railway in active traffic is considered, the wonder will be, not that
the rails are subject to wear, but that their durability is as great
as it proves to be. Yet strange to say, the prevalent opinion,
countenanced and supported by the most eminent practical engineers, was, until a late period, that the duration of a railway
was secular, and that the wear and tear of the rails was so
utterly insensible, that for all practical, financial, and economical purposes, it might be totally disregarded. Thus, it was said,
that the rails of a properly laid line would last firom one hundred
to one hundred and fifty years.  Such statements are examples
of how small value are opinions of practical men not based upon
their own immediate experience.
The only sure ground on which to calculate the average
duration of the life of the rails would be from a careful record
of the effects observed on railways under traffic for periods of
time of sufficient length; but for this we should possess more
extended experience than railways have yet furnished.
[CIJAP. IV.
56 
THE WAY AND WORKS.
The modern railway may be dated from the opening of the
Liverpool and Manchester line in 1830.  Its duration, consequently, has not yet covered a space of twenty years. Unless,
therefore, the average life of the rails were less than twenty
years, we could not determine as yet its duration from the immediate results of experience. No rails, in fine, have yet lived
out their natural lives.
In the absence, however, of the direct evidence of experience,
we may reason firom analogy.
If, for example, the rails originally laid down on some of the
lines first brought into operation be taken up and weighed, their
weight having been accurately ascertained at the time they were
laid, their loss of weight might be determined.   The traffic
which has passed over them might also be ascertained.
The cause and effect would thus be brought into immediate
juxtaposition, and we should possess data, by which the wear
and tear of a rail, produced by a given amount of traffic passing
over it, might be known.   This being determined, the only
question remaining would be, what loss of weight a rail must
sustain before it would be necessary to replace it by a new
one.
The circumstances attending the construction and operation
of the railways hitherto established have, however, thrown great
difficulties in the way of such an inquiry.  When the railways
were first projected, the amount of traffic which they were
destined to bear was not foreseen; still less was it known with
what speed such traffic must be carried, or by what description
or weight of engine it should be propelled. Nevertheless, all
these circumstances vitally affected the duration of the rail.
The engineers who constructed the roads were therefore obliged
to provide a structure endowed with strength for a traffic unknown in amount. The conditions of weight and strength to
be imparted to the rails were altogether conjectural.
The first railway for passenger traffic with locomotive engines
was accordingly laid between Liverpool and Manchester, with
rails of the description called fish-bellied, now out of use, weighing 35 lbs. per yard. The strength of these was at the time considered great to superfluity, and this form was regarded as eminently favorable to their durability.
Experience soon proved their weight to be utterly insufficient,
and their form to be a source of weakness.
The first engine run upon the line thus constructed weighed
7i tons, including the tender.
CIIAP. IV.]
51, 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
It was soon found, however, that engines of this power were
altogether insufficient for the traffic, which increased beyond all
the estimates of the projectors of the line.
The capability of speed developed by the locomotive engine
also vastly exceeded all previsions, and the appetite of the public
for even augmented expedition appeared to increase with what
fed it. Increased speed required increased power, and increased power necessarily inferred increased weight. It was,
accordingly, not long before the weight of the engines was successively augmented to 10, 12, and 15 tons; and now there is
actually an engine on one of the English railways which, with
its tender, water, and fuel, weighs about 60 tons; and in the
service of a single company there are at present more than 36
engines, weighing, with their tenders, about 40 tons each.
The weight of the carriages underwent a corresponding,
though not proportionate increase. The first carriages placed
on the railways weighed from 3 to 321 tons; their weight now
sometimes exceeds 41 tons.
The strength and weight of the goods wagons have undergone a like increase.
But these were not the only circumstances which rendered
the rails originally laid inadequate in strength. The quantity
of traffic, and its speed, were gradually increased far beyond
any limit which had entered into the contemplation of the engineers who projected and constructed the roads. Thus the
average speed of the passenger trains, which in 1831 was 17
miles an hour, was gradually increased, until in 1848 it was 30
miles an hour; while the speed of the fastest trains, which in
1831 was 24 miles an hour, was in 1848, on the Liverpool and
Manchester line, 40 miles an hour, and on the Grand Junction
and the Liverpool and Birmingham, 50 miles an hour.
In 1837, the number of trains per day which arrived at and
departed from the Stafford station, on the Grand Junction line,
was 14; in 1848 it was 38. The number of trains per day
which arrived at and departed from the Euston-square station
of the Birmingham line in 1837 was 19; in 1848 it was 44.
In fine, the number of trains per day arriving at and departing from the Liverpool terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1831 was 26; in 1848 it was 90.
A corresponding augmentation took place in the weight of the
trains. In 1831, the average weight of a passenger train, engine and tender included, was 18 tons. In 1848, the average
weight of the engine and tender alone was considerably above
53
[CHAP. IV
0-1 
THE WAY AND WORKS.
20 tons; and the average weight of the passenger trains, including the engine and tender, exceeded 75 tons.
In 1831, the average weight of a goods train, including engine
and tender, was 52 tons; in 1848 it varied from 160 to 176
tons.*
Thus the number of trains on some railways was augmented
150, on others 250 per cent.; the weight of the engines was
increased 114 per cent.; the weight of the carriages 30 per
cent.; the average speed about 90 per cent.; and the average
weight of the trains 350 per cent.
For such increased work the rails originally laid down at
35lbs. a yard would have been totally inadequate, and they
were accordingly soon replaced by others which weighed 50 lbs.
These, again, under the gradually increasing traffic, being found
insufficient, were taken up, and successively replaced by rails
weighing 62 lbs. and 65 lbs. These were succeeded by others
weighing 72 lbs. and 75 lbs.; and the latest rails laid down have
weighed 85 lbs.
These changes were not made suddenly. The weight and
strength of the permanent way were gradually increased, under
the gradually increasing traffic; and, at present, the principal
railways exhibit a motley arrangement of rails of various weights,
the lightest being 60 lbs. and the heaviest 85 lbs. per yard.
Thus, on 438 miles of railway, placed under the direction of
the Northwestern Company, there were, at the commencement of the present year (1849), about 150 miles laid down
with rails of 75 lbs. per yard, 100 miles at 65lbs. per yard, and
the remainder, in detached lengths varying from 50 to 70 miles,
with rails of weights varying from 60 lbs. to 851 lbs. per yard.
In a joint report of Messrs. Stephenson and Locke, dated
April, 1849, the company is recommended to adopt for the future
the heaviest description of rails, viz., 85lbs. per yard.
The mode originally adopted for supporting the rails was
upon square blocks of stone, measuring 2ft. in the side and 1 ft.
in depth, upon which a cast iron chair was fastened by wooden
pegs driven into holes bored ill the stone block, the rail being
fixed in the chair by an iron pin.
After a time, these stone blocks were superseded by transverse beams of wood called sleepers, which served at once as
supports for the chair and rails, and as ties for keeping the rails
in gauge.
* Report of Captain Huish, manager of the Northwestern Railway.
London, 1849.
CHAP. IV.]
59 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The material selected for these sleepers, when  first used,
was larch, which was considered to be the most durable wood
for the purpose, next to oak.
Later, the timber used for sleepers was prepared by impreg nating it with certain saline substances, by a process variously
denominated, according to the principle and mode of impregna tion. Sleepers of soft wood thus prepared were regarded as
having a durability equal to that of oak.
It has recently been proposed to substitute sleepers of cast
iron for those of wood, and the plan has been already reduced
to practice on a large scale.
The distances between sleeper and sleeper were subject to
as much variation as were the strength and weight of the rails.
At first, the sleepers were placed at 3ft. asunder; the distance
was afterward increased fiom 3 to 5ft., according to the weight
of the rails; and at present the rails are variously laid on supports at 3ft., 3ft. 6in., 3ft. 9in., 4ft., and 4ft. 6in. asunder.
The cubical magnitude of the sleepers has been subject to
similar changes, according to the increasing amount of the traffic.
When these rapid and successive changes, spread over so
brief a period as twenty years, are considered, it will be easily
understood how difficult a problem is the solution by analogy of
the average life of a rail. No rails hitherto laid down have ever
been, strictly speaking, worn out. They have been successively
taken up and replaced, not because they were worn out, but
because their strength was insufficient for the increasing amount
and speed of the traffic, and the consequently augmented weight
of the engines.
If rails, selected in sufficient number, and in positions sufficiently various, had been accurately weighed when first laid
down, and the amount and speed of the traffic passing over them
had been accurately recorded, and if, after a sufficiently protracted interval, these rails had been taken up and weighed, the
loss of weight corresponding to the traffic would have been
ascertained; but directors and engineers were too actively
engaged in the practical working of the lines, and too deeply
involved in the present interests of their respective concerns,
to give themselves much trouble about a problem which was
regarded as affecting the interests of their remote successors
rather than their own.  Few scientific men devoted themselves
to these practical questions, and those few could scarcely expect that the directors of railways would allow their current
business to be interfered withl by experiments and observations,
[CLIAP. IV,
60 
THE WAY AND WORKS.
which would necessarily involve labor, cost, inconvenience, and
even the danger of the temporary displacement of the rails.
The problernm was therefore left, without solution, to vague conjecture.
In Belgium, where the railway system was first adopted on
the Continent, it was placed under the superintendence of the
government, and was therefore in circumstances more favorable
to the investigation of questions having an interest more remote
than immediate. We find, accordingly, in the official reports
of the Belgian railways, observations on the circumstances which
determine the duration of the permanent way, which throw
considerable light on this point.
The durability of the sleepers depends solely upon their intrinsic qualities, without reference to the traffic carried on upon
the road. Their deterioration is produced by the gradual destruction of the timber, by the vicissitudes of moisture and
temperature to which it is exposed. The sleepers of the Belgian railways are partly of oak and partly of white wood.
The average duration of the white wood sleepers has been
found not to exceed eight years, but the duration of oak sleepers,
though much more considerable, does not appear to be ascertained with the same accuracy. The average duration of the
entire system of sleepers used on these lines, partly white
wood and partly oak, has been found, however, from observations of sufficient extent and accuracy, to be twelve years. No
sleepers'impregnated with chemical principles have been used
on these lines.
It appears to be the result of experience that the sleepers do
not all perish at the same rate, but that a portion require to be
replaced year by year; and the experience of the Belgian lines
shows that each year about eight per cent. of the sleepers are
renewed. Thus, in the course of twelve years, by the gradual
annual repairs, all the sleepers are renewed.
Calculations have been made by the Belgian engineers as to
tile economical advantages derivable from the use of oak sleepers
exclusively, instead of the more perishable description of wood.
The result of this calculation was, that the ultimate cost is
nearly the same, whether the sleeper used be more perishable
and cheaper, or more durable and dearer, the increased expense
being very nearly equal to the augmented durability. These
calculations, however, must vary in their results, according to
local circumstances, and according to the market price of the
material of the sleepers.
CIIAP.'lV.l
61 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The durability of the rails, on the other hand, is altogether
independent of time, and exclusively consequent on the quantity
of work which they have performed. Rails, laid under various
circumstances, and in various positions, on the Belgian railways,
have been previously weighed with great accuracy, and, being
taken up after the lapse of a certain time, have been again
weighed, and the loss of weight ascertained, the quantity of
work performed meanwhile having been accurately recorded.
The result of these observations has been, that, taking into account the wear and fracture of the rails, a railway composed of
well-manufactured rails, weighing 27 kilogrammes per current
metre, which is equal to 552lbs. per yard, and giving passage
annually to 3000 trains, of 14 coaches or wagons per train,
would last 120 years before it required to be relaid.
The rails from which these calculations have been deduced
were of English manufacture, and they were taken in every
variety of position which could be supposed to influence the
rate of their wear. Thus, some were taken near a station
where the action of the brake in stopping the trains, and the
action of the driving-wheels in starting them, necessarily augmented the weal'; some were taken at an intermediate position
between station and station, where such causes did not operate;
some were taken on ascending and some on descending gradients, so as to efface from the calculation, by the various conditions of the data, the peculiar influences of each variety of
position, and to obtain an average result.
The Belgian engineers have carried their investigations further,
and have endeavored to ascertain the proportion of this wear
assignable to the engine, the vehicles which it draws, and the
load.
M. Belpaire has accordingly made an elaborate investigation,
founded on the theory of the action of the driving-wheels of the
engines, and the effects produced by the weight of the carriages
and by the increased tractive power exacted from the engine;
and, after a long and complicated calculation, has arrived at the
conclusion that in passing over ten myriameters, or about 60
English miles, the engine abrades from the rails 2-21bs., each
empty carriage or wagon abrades 4.5oz., and each ton of load
abrades 1.4 oz. of iron.
It appears to have escaped the notice of the Belgian engineer
that-these quantities of wear, which he has assigned respectively to the engines, the carriages, and the load, are as nearly as
possible in the ratio of the weights of these objects severally;
62
[CHAP- IV. 
THE WAY AND WORKS.
and his conclusions might have been obtained very simply, and
more directly, and supported by reasoning equally cogent, by
assuming that the wear produced by each object would be in
the direct proportion of its weight. Such an hypothesis would
be quite as admissible as those which are involved in his investigation.
The average weight of the vehicles of transport of various
sorts may be taken at about 3 tons. Now 4.5 oz. is nearly three
times 1.4oz., the latter being the wear assigned to one ton
weight of load, and the former the wear assigned to three tons
of weight of vehicle.  Again, 2.21bs. is 25 times 1.4oz. very
nearly, and the engine and tender weigh upon an average about
25 tons. Thus the wear assigned to the engine and tender is
just so many more times the wear assigned to one ton as is expressed by the number of tons in their weight.
The reasoning upon which this distribution of the wear of
the rails by the engine, the vehicles, and the load is based, is
necessarily more or less theoretical, however conclusive. The
most material point, however, is the total wear, which appears
to have been very satisfactorily established.
It was incidentally observed in these inquiries, that, although
the rails of 55 lbs. per yard were well adapted to the traffic of
the Belgian lines, a railway having more active traffic would be
more advantageously worked with heavier and stronger rails;
and it was inferred, that rails weighing 80 lbs. per yard would
be sufficient for a traffic ten times more active than the average
traffic of the Belgian lines.
The Board of Directors of the Northwestern Railway
Company, the largest and most important of the British railway
establishments, ordered, at the commencement of the present
year (1849), their manager and engineer to investigate the condition of the extensive system of railways, amounting to nearly
500 miles, placed under their direction, with a view to solve the
same question as that to which the labors of the Belgian engineers were directed; that is to say, to ascertain the probable
duration of the permanent way, and the future epoch at which
it might require to be relaid.  This investigation was accordingly made by Captain Huish, the manager of the railway, aided
by the engineer and superintendent permanently engaged on
the line.  A report was made in April, 1849, in which it was
stated, that the actual average age of the then permanent way
was 71 years, and that, all things considered, the reporters concluded that its total duration might be estimated at 20 years,
ffi
CHAP. IV.]
63 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
thus leaving 122 years of its present life to run, the railway
being laid chiefly with rails weighing 65 lbs. and 75 lbs. per yard,
as above stated.
Now, let us compare the conclusion arrived at by Captain
Huish and his assistants, by means totally different from, and
independent of, those used by the Belgian engineers, with the
conclusion obtained by the latter, as already stated.
It appears by the report of Captain Huish, that the number
of trains passing daily over the principal sections of the line
was as follows: the Liverpool and Manchester, 90; the Grand
Junction,  38;  and the London  and Birmingham,  44.   He
takes the average at 50 trains daily, which is equal to 18,250
trains annually; and this being continued for 20 years  (the
duration assigned by Captain Huish to the permanent way), we
should have a total of 365,000 trains, as the traffic necessary to
wear out the line, and render necessary its reconstruction.
Now, according to the conclusion of the Belgian engineers,
3000 trains per annum would wear out the Belgian lines in 120
years, which would give a total amount of work of 360,000
trains for the entire existence of the road.
The coincidence of these two conclusions is very remarkable, especially as Captain Huish himself does not seem to be
aware of the striking manner in which his report is confirmed
by the Belgian observations.
It must be observed here, that the Belgian rails are 55 lbs. per
yard, while the rails upon which the English estimate is made
range between 60 and 80 lbs. per yard, the average being 70 lbs.;
but, on the other hand, the weight of the trains and engines,
as well as their velocity, worked  upon the English lines is
proportionately greater than on the Belgian lines, so that the
coincidence of the conclusion is not disturbed by this difference.
It may therefore be calculated, that, with a traffic equal to
that now carried upon the system of railways under the direction of the Northwestern Company, rails laid down at the
average weight of 70lbs. per yard will have a duration of 20
years, after which the entire line must be relaid.
It is evident, that if fiom its nature the amount of wear
which thus gradually takes place upon the rails from year to
year could be included in the annual repairs, it ought to be
comprised in them; but from the nature of the case it must
necessarily be allowed to accumulate, so that at the end of a
period of 20 years the entire expense of relaying the line
would have to be incurred.
[CIIAP. IV.
64
i 
THE WAY AND WORKS.
The financial expedient proper to meet this exigency is evident. Estimating as nearly as is possible the major limit of the
cost of relaying at the end of the period just mentioned, the
amount of an annuity (to use a term well understood), must
be calculated which at the termination of 20 years would be
equal to the estimated cost of relaying the rails; and an equivalent sum must be annually taken from the revenue, and invested at compound interest to meet the future exigency.
It appears by the tables of annuities, that an annuity of X1
reserved and improved at compound interest, would at tho
expiration of twenty years attain the following amounts:
At 3 per cent........................... 26-870
At 3~I per cent......................... 28'280
At 4 per cent........................... 29778
At 42 per cent......................... 31'378
To find the annual reserve which ought to be invested, it is
only necessary to divide the estimated cost of relaying a mile
of the road by one or other of the above sums, according to the
rate of interest at which the investments can be made.  The
quotient will be the annual reserve necessary for each mile of
the road.
The cost of laying a mile of the permanent way with 80 lbs.
rails, and suitable chairs and sleepers (the duration of the latter
being taken at twelve years), is estimated in round numbers at
p3000, after allowing for the value of the old rails and chairs.
Let us suppose that the investment can be made at 4 per
cent., that the cost of relaying is X3000 per mile, and that the
length of the line is 75 miles.
To find the necessary annual reserve, divide 3000 by 29.778,
and the quotient is 100.75; multiply this by 75, and the
product is 7556.75. The annual reserve would therefore be
X7556 15s.
It now remains for us to explain, so far as the data before us
will enable us to do, the extent of railways projected, executed,
and in process of execution, in the United Kingdom, the cost
of their construction, and the cost of their maintenance.
By an official report of the railway commissioners, published
in June, 1849, it appears that on the 1st January, 1849, there
were completed and in actual operation in the United Kingdom,
5007 * miles of railway.
* Since the above was written, it appears by a more recent report,
that the length of railways open on the 1st Jan., 1849, was 51263
CI.AP. IV.]
65 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
This differs slightly firom the reports of the different organs
of the press devoted to railway affairs, their estimate being as
much below 5000 as that of the railway commissioners is above
it. We may take, therefore, 5000 miles in round numbers to
express the actual length of railways which were in operation
on 1st Jan., 1849.
According to the commissioners, this extent of railway communication is distributed between England, Scotland, and Ireland in the following proportions:
Miles
England.............................. 3918
Scotland.............................. 728
Ireland............................... 361
5007
The rate at which the construction of railways has proceeded
during the last seven years in these countries, may be estimated
from the following statement, in the second column of which is
given the number of miles of railway which were in operation
on the first day of each of the years given in the first column.
In the third column is given the number of miles of railway
which were opened for traffic in the successive years, being
the difference of the numbers given in the second column.
Miles opened during
Miles open on January 1.  the Year.
the Year.
1843.....................         1857                  95
1844......................        1952                 196
1845.....................         2148                 293
1846.....................  2441                  595
1847.....................         3036                 780
1848.....................        3816                 1191
1849.....................        5007
It further appears that acts had been obtained previously to
1st January, 1849, for other railways, and for branches and
extensions, the total length of which was 7005 miles. Thus
the total extent of lines constructed and projected to this date
was 12,012 miles.
All the railways for which acts had been passed up to the
close of 1844, with the exception of about 20 miles, had been
completed and in operation by the end of 1848.
In 1845 Parliament passed acts sanctioning the construction
miles.   But the additional miles consisted of lines leading to collieries
and mines, and such as are not used for the general purposes of
traffic.
66
(CIIAP. IV. 
THE WAY AND WORKS.
of 2700 miles of railway. Of these not much more than one
half was completed on the 1st January, 1849. In 1846, parliament passed acts authorizing the construction of a further
extent of 4538 miles of railway, of which only 500 miles was
completed and opened on 1st January, 1849.
The following table taken from the report of the railway
commissioners of May, 1849, will exhibit the rate at which
railway projects have been sanctioned by parliament, and the
rate at which their execution has proceeded, up to the cornmencement of 1849.
TABLE showing, for the Railways authorized previously to the End of
1843 and in each succeeding Year, the Proportion opened for Traffic
during each Year, and the Proportion remaining to be completed at
the end of 1848; and also showing the Length of Railway opened for
Traffic in each Year since 1843.
Length of Line opened.             Total         Length
Length  Length of Line
Pre-                                        of Line of Line remain
viouslyto During During During During During opened  autho-  ing to
Dec. 31,  1844.   1845.  1846.  1847.   1848.  to Dec.  rized.   be
1843.                                       31, 1848.       opened
_..__...
Ms   Mile   Mile ls.ile                 les   Mie    Mi.    Miles.
Of Lines autho rized previously
to Dec. 31, 1843.  1952    196    129         8.......           2285   2285...
Of Lines  autho rized in 1844.......... 158    365    140    121               784     805    21
Of Lines autho rized in 1845...........              6    222    556    618    1402   2700  1298
Of Lines aiLtho rized in 1846........................84    398            482   4538  4056
Of Lines autho rized in 1847............................                54        54   1354  1300
Of Lines authorized in 1848..............................  330    330
Total....    1952    196    293    595    780   1191    5007  12,012  7005
On the 1st May, 1848, about 2960 miles of railway were in
course of construction, of which 800 miles were opened by the
end of the year, during which period no new works had been
commenced. There were therefore in progress of construction, on the 1st January, 1849, only 2160 miles.
The account of the total amount of railways sanctioned by
parliament on the 1st January, 1849, was therefore as follows:
Miles.
Open for traffi........................... 5007
In process of construction.................. 2160
Not commenced........................... 4845
Total sanctioned by Parliament....... 12,012
CHAP. IV.]
67 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Of this extent of 4800 miles of railway sanctioned by the
legislature, but not commnenced, on 1st May, 1849, the railway
commissioners considered that there was good reason for inferring that one half at least would never be constructed, so
that the total amount of railways which were considered likely
to be constructed, including those already in operation and in
progress, on 1st January, 1849, was as follows:
Miles.
Open for traffic............................  5007
In process of construction...................    2160
Not commenced, but likely to be executed..... 2400
9567
The following particulars respecting the financial condition
of the railway companies are also supplied by a parliamentary
return, dated 1st May, 1848:
Capital paid up in cash by shareholders to January 1,
1848....................................... 126,149,476
Capital paid by lenders on railway debentures and other
securities.................................... 40,788,765
Total capital paid up to January 1, 1848..........         166,938,241
Paid up in shares during 1848....................           30,359,102
Paid up in loans during 1848........................   2,875,715
Total capital raised by shares and on loan to January 1,
1849........................................
Balance of capital, to raise which, by existing shares,
by new shares, and by loan, the actual companies
possessed powers on January 1, 1849............
143,717.773
,X343,890,831
Thus it appears that upon these works a sum expressed in
round numbers by 200 millions sterling had been actually expended on 1st Jan., 1849, and the chartered companies had
retained powers to expend a further sum, to be raised by shares
or loan, of 140 millions, making a total of 340 millions to be expended on 12,000 miles of railway. But as 2400 miles of these
were estimated as likely to be abandoned, a corresponding portion of the capital would not be raised or expended.  This
would authorize the supposition, that of the 340 millions above
mentioned, 68 millions would not be required; but this computation rests on the supposition, that the railways in progress, and
those to be abandoned, were estimated at the same average
68
[CHAI'. IV.
200,173,058 
THE WAY AN) VWORKS.
rate as those which are constructed. The estimates, however,
being lower, the railway commissioners calculate that the probable abandonment of 2400 miles of the projected lines would
cause a diminution of the estimated capital amounting only to 50
millions, leaving a total amount of capital of 290 millions to be
absorbed by 9500 miles of railway. This would be at the average rate of X30,500 per mile.
Of the sum of 200 millions, which had been expended bbfore
thie 1st Jan., 1849, a part had been absorbed by the lines which
were in process of construction, but had not yet been opened.
Against this, however, there remained an amount of capital
still to be expended on the lines already open. On most of the
more recently opened railways, the stations were still incomplete; in some cases, de6p6ts, workshops, and other permanent
buildings, had not even been commenced. The full complement
of the locomotive and rolling stock had not been provided. In
the absence of exact data, then, if these latter expenses be
placed against the former, the entire capital of 200 millions may
be placed to the account of the 5000 miles open for traffic;
which would give an average expense of construction, including
the locomotive and carrying stock, and the workshops and dep6ts for its repair, &c., of X40,000 per running mile.
An estimate of the actual quantity of labor of every class employed on this stupendous national enterprise may be obtained
fi'om a parliamentary return, showing the number of persons
employed on the railways on the 1st May, 1848; the extent
then open for traffic being 4253 miles, the extent in process of
construction being 2958 miles, and the number of distinct coinpanies by whom these works were directed being 170.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Number and Description of Persons employed
on the Railways of the United Kingdom on May 1, 1848.
On Lines open
for Traffic.
81
30
29
95
343
125
70
48
106
927
Secretaries.-..........................
Managers.............................
Treasurers............................
Engineers.............................                    0
Superintendents.......................
Storekeepers..........................
Accouintants..........................
Cashliers..............................
Draughtsmen.........................
Carry forward —-.......
CilAr. IV.]
69
On Lines not
open.
102
93
21
405
1,897
243
145
88
306
3,300 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
On Lines open
for Traffic.
927
4,360
10,814
14,297
..
1,010
2,475
7,559
4,391
1,752
1,809
1,464
1,058
401
141
32
197
52,687
Brought forward    -......
Clerks............ —------------------------------
Artificers —-------------------------—.
Laborers.............................
Inspectors -----------------------------
Land  surveyors........................
Miners, or quarrymen.. —----------------
Foremen or overseers.................
Policemen... —-----------------------------
Porters and messengers... —-—..-...
Platelayers............................
Drivers and carters.....................
Engine-drivers.. —----------------------
Engine-stokers........................
Guards...............................
Switchmen. —-------------------------
Gatekeepers.......................... —Wagoners...       -......... —--..4
Brakesmen. —-...........................
Miscellaneous.. —------------------- -
Total —-----------— 52,687        188,071
It appears, therefore, that in 1848 a quarter of a million of
persons were employed on the railways of the United Kingdom; and if it be considered that each of these must have contributed to the support, on an average, of one or more other
persons, it will follow, that this vast enterprise must have, at
that epoch, supplied means of living to at least two per cent. of
the entire population of these countries.
Since the date of these returns, the extent of railway which
has been completed is greater than the length which has been
commenced, and the extent now in process of construction is
therefore less than at the epoch just referred to. It is probable,
therefore, that the quantity of labor employed in this branch of
industry has been somewhat diminished; because, although the
length of lines under traffic is greater than formerly, the length
in process of construction is less, and the latter, for a given
length, employs more industry than the former, in the proportion of three and a half to one.
70
[CHAP. IV.
On Lines not
open.
3,300
887
29,087
147,325
119
26
6,250
685
71
10
256
45
188,071
Total.,.......... 
CHAPTER V.
THE LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
WHEN the magnitude of the capital invested in the locomotive
stock of a railway, and the large proportion of the annual rev enue absorbed in maintaining it, are considered, its economical
importance may be readily estimated.
The locomotive stock may be primarily resolved into two
classes-that which is employed in working the passenger traf fic, and that which is employed in drawing the goods trains.
The passenger engines are so constructed as to draw light
loads at great speed, the goods engines heavy loads at a low
speed. In the one, the driving wheels are large, so as to carry
the train forward through a great space by each stroke of the
piston; in the other they are of more limited magnitude, in
order to give the moving power a greater leverage upon the
load. In the one, they are single, rendering the engine light,
so as to absorb less of the moving power in propelling itself; in
the other, they are double and coupled, and sometimes even
tripled, so as to give a greater purchase to the impelling power.
In the one class of engine steam of small density is consumed
rapidly and in great volume; in the other, steam of greater
'density is consumed at a slower rate.
These different mechanical requirements render it necessary,
in general, to provide a locomotive stock for the goods service,
separate from, and independent of, that provided for the pas senger service.
In the locomotive department a register should be kept, con taining a record of the past and current performances and con dition of every engine in the service of the railway. Such a
record should contain the following particulars of the past serv ices of each engine:
1st. The day and year it was put upon the road.
2d. Its maker.
3d. The diameter and stroke of its cylinders.
4th. The diameter and number of its driving-wheels.
5th. The numiber of times it was cleaned, lighted, and had
steam raised. 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
6th. The number of hours it was standing with steam raised.
7th. Its total mileage, from the commencement of its service
to the current date.
8th. The total quantity of fuel it had consumed.
9th. Original cost of engine.
10th. Total sum expended on its repairs.
And, with respect to its current service during the past year,
the following details should be given:
1st. The number of times it was lighted, and had steam raised.
2d. The number of hours it stood with steam raised.
3d. Its mileage by months, and its total mileage.
4th. The quantity of fuel consumed in lighting and raising
steam.
5th. The quantity of fuel consumed in standing.
6th. The quantity of fuel consumed in working.
7th. A memorandum of any accident, or other notable circumstance, attending the performance of the engine.
Such a record as the above is neither impracticable nor unimportant. A register of this kind is kept by the establishment
of the Belgian railways, and the principal results of it are
published annually, in a tabulated form, in the,Compte Rendu," or official report of the service of the railways, delivered
to the Chambers by the minister of public works every session.
Such a table exhibits a " coup d'ceil" of the condition and the
past history of the entire locomotive stock.
On the Belgian lines, which consist of 347 miles of railway,
there were employed, at the end of the year 1847, 154 locomotives, of the conditions and performance of which a tabular
statement appears in the report of that year.  The Belgian
railways had been then 13 years in operation, and no engine
had yet been superannuated.
The first engine placed upon the road was, La Fleche,"
constructed by Messrs. Stephenson & Co. This machine had
performed, within the 13 years, a total mileage of 86,932 mniles,
and within the year 1847 had performed a mileage of 7292
miles.  Thus, in its thirteenth year of service, it performed
more than its annual average.
Another engine constructed by Messrs. Stephenson, called St.
Hubert, which had been put on the road in December, 1838,
had, at the end of 1847, completed a mileage of 130,962 miles,
having performed within the year 1847 21,737 miles.
Another engine, called, Les Quatre Journ6es," constructed
by Messrs. Cockerill, which had been put upon the road in
[CliAP. V.
72 
THE LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
September, 1837, and had then been upward of ten years in
service, had performed a total mileage of 130,160 miles, and
within the year 1847 performed, in five months, a mileage of
11,537 miles.
In short, it appears from this register, that not only were none
of the engines composing the stock of the Belgian railways, which
had been accumulating for 13 years, superannuated, but that the
current mileage of the oldest engine was equal to that of the
youngest and most vigorous.
In the progress of the English railways, locomotives have been,
from time to time, cast aside, and put, as it were, upon the retired list; but this has in general arisen, not from the circumstance of their being superannuated, but because the conditions
of the traffic had undergone such a change that the natural
powers of these engines were not suited to it. Immediately
after the comencement of the operation of the railway system,
the traffic augmented so rapidly as to exceed all the previsions
of those who constructed and organized the first railways. The
weight and strength of the rails were successively increased, as
well as the weight and magnitude of the trains, and the weight
and power of the engines underwent a corresponding augmentation.
A regularly kept journal of the life of some of the oldest
locomotives working on the English railways would be a record
of profound interest. Whether such a register exist, I am not
aware; but none such has, I believe, ever been published.
From a comparison of the total mileage of each class of the
locomotive stock with the number of engines in service, the
average mileage of each engine can be ascertained.
Thus, if E express the number of passenger engines, and e
E
express their total mileage, then    will express the average
mileage of each engine. In like manner, if E' express the num                                              E'
ber of goods engines, and e' their total mileage,, will express
the average mileage of each.  Or, in fine, if E+E' express the
total  number of engines of both kinds, and e+e' their total mile     aethnEq-E'
age, then  E+,e  will express the general average mileage of
each engine.
As an example of such a calculation, let us take the Belgian
railways for 1847.
The total number of engines in active service was 154, and
D
CHAP. V.]
73 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
their total mileage was 2,366,885; this divided by 154 gives
15,369 as the average annual mileage of each engine, the average
daily mileage being therefore 42 miles.
It may be asked, whether a locomotive engine, once lighted,
may not be worked almost indefinitely?
It is known that many steam-engines used in the manufactures
and in mining are kept for several months together in unceasing
action night and day; and the engines used in steam-ships are
often kept in incessant operation throughout a voyage of 3000
miles.  Why  therefore, it may be said, may not a locomotive
engine be worked for a much longer distance without interruption, and thus distribute the expense of lighting and cleaning
over a greater extent of mileage, and thereby diminish the cost
per mile?
Although the mileage of the engine might be augmented much
beyond its present amount, it is nevertheless indispensable that
it should not exceed a certain practical limit. The locomotive
engine, an iron horse, requires intervals of repose as much as do
the horses of flesh, blood, and bones.  It becomes fatigued, so to
speak, with its work, and its joints become relaxed by labor, its
bolts loosened, its rubbing surfaces heated, and often unequally
expanded  and strained.  Its grate-bars and fire-box become
choked with clinkers, its tubes become charged with coke; and
were its labor continued to a certain point, it would end in a
total inability to move. The durability of the engine, therefore,
requires that its work should be suspended before these causes
of disability operate to an injurious extent.
When its labor ceases, the engine-cleaners, who are, as it
were, its grooms, clean out its fire-place, scrape its grate-bars
and the internal surface of the fire-box, clean out its tubes,
tighten all its bolts and rivets, oil and grease all its moving parts,
and, in a word, put it again into working order.
The expense of cleaning an engine, and the cost of the fuel
consumed in lighting it and raising the steam, so as to prepare
it for propulsion, must necessarily be charged upon the mileage
which it performs; and the cost of this mileage will therefore
be augmented in the inverse proportion of the ratio of the total
mileage of the engine to the number of times it has been cleaned
and lighted during the period of its service. It is therefore iunportant, in the economy of the locomotive power, to ascertain
with precision the proportion which the mileage of the engines
bears to the number of times they have been cleaned and
lighted.
74
[OHAP. V. 
THE LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
Hence appears the importance of the record above mentioned,
of the number of times each engine has been lighted and cleaned.
To determine the average number of miles run by each engine after such cleaning and lighting, it is only necessary to
divide the total mileage of the locomotive stock, or of each class
of it, by the total number of engines lighted; the quotient will
give the distance run by each engine lighted. In general, if E"
express the number of engines lighted, then e+e will express
the average distance run by each engine lighted.
As examples of the application of this, we take, from the
official reports of the Belgian railways, the number of engines
lighted during 1846 and 1847. The number was 27,452 for
1846. Dividing this into the total mileage, 2,027,014, already
given, the quotient is 73.8, which is therefore the average number of miles run by each engine cleaned and lighted.
In 1847 the number of engines lighted was 30,676. We have
already seen that the total mileage was 2,366,885.  Dividing this
by the number of engines lighted, we find 77.6 miles as the distance run by each engine lighted, being an improvement on the
performance of the previous year.
On the Orleans Railway, in 1847, there were 11,315 engines
lighted, of which the total mileage was 853,505. Dividing the
latter by the former, we find 76 miles as the average distance
run. On the same railway, during the year 1848, there were
11,072 engines lighted. The total mileage of all the engines
was 782,591.  Dividing the latter by the former, we obtain 70.7
miles, the average distance run by each engine lighted.
In the practical working of the locomotive stock, it inevitably
happens that engines, after they have been lighted, had their
steam raised and prepared for starting, have to stand, keeping
their steam up more or less time, waiting for trains which they
are to draw; and thus an expense is incurred, not directly productive, for fuel and wages.
But, besides this, the service of the road requires that, at
certain stations, engines shall be kept waitingfwith their steam
up ready for work, for the mere purpose of providing for the
contingencies of the active service of the road. Thus, if an
accident occur to a train, by which the engine that draws it is
disabled, notice is sent forward by the electric telegraph, by
signals or otherwise, to the next engine station, summoning an
engine to proceed to the spot to take on the train. If an engine
were not prepared for such a contingency, with its steam up,
CHAP. V.]
75 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
the road would be obstructed for a considerable length of time
by the train thus accidentally brought to a stand.
The engines thus kept prepared for accidents are called Reserve Engines.
Another cause which renders it necessary at certain points
of the line to keep engines waiting with their steam up, is the
existence of exceptional gradients.
Thus, if a railway be generally laid out with gradients of about
15 feet a mile, but at a particular point a natural elevation of the
ground, or other cause, renders the construction of a gradient
rising at the rate of 60 feet a mile necessary, then the engines
which are adapted to the general character of the line become
insufficient for such exceptional gradient; and, in such case, the
expedient resorted to is to keep one or more powerful engines
constantly waiting with their steam up at the foot of the incline,
for the purpose of aiding in propelling the trains in their ascent.
These engines are denominated Assistant Engines or Bank Engines. Their mode of operation is as follows. They wait near
the foot of the incline in a siding provided for the purpose; and
when a train arrives and begins to ascend, the assistant engine
follows it, and, pushing from behind, aids the regular engine in
front in propelling it up the plane. When it arrives at the summit,
the assistant engine drops off, and, descending the plane, returns
to its station.
In the above calculations of the proportion of the engines
lighted to the actual mileage, these reserve and assistant engines, when such occur, are included; and the average mileage
per engine lighted, which has been obtained as above, is less
than the actual average performed by the engines worked, because the engines lighted for reserve enter into the divisor, which
gives the mileage. It is convenient, therefore, in the records
of the locomotive department, to keep an account of the engines
lightedforreserve, &c., separate firom the engines lightedforwork.
On the Orleans Railway in 1848, of 11,072 which were lighted, 1825 were reserve engines, and 9247 only were worked.
To ascertain the actual average mileage of each of the working engines which were lighted, it would be therefore necessary
to divide the total mileage by 9247, which will give 84.6 as the
actual average distance run by each engine lighted and worked.
In like manner, in 1847, on the same railway, the numtber of
reserve engines lighted was likewise 1825, and, therefore, the
numnber of engines lighted and worked 9490. Dividing the
mileage, which was 853,505, by 9490, we obtain 90 as the
76
[CHAP. V. 
CHAP. V.]    THE LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
average distance run by each engine lighted and worked.  Thus
it appears that, if the reserve engines be included in the computation, they would reduce the average run of each engine
lighted in 1848 from 84-6 to 70.7, and in 1847 from 90 to 76.
To estimate the time during which the locomotive stock is
kept standing with steam up in reserve or waiting for work, a
record of the number of hours each engine has been lighted and
standing should be kept. By dividing this total number of hours
by the number of engines lighted, we obtain the average number of hours which each engine lighted had been kept standing
with steam up.
As an example of this, on the Belgian railways, in 1846 and
1847, the number of hours which engines were kept standing
with steam up was 204,124 in 1846, while the number of engines lighted was 27,452.  Dividing the former by the latter, the
quotient is 7-43, which is the average number of hours each
engine lighted was kept standing with steam up.
In like manner, in 1847, on the same railways, the number
of hours the engines were kept standing was 214,610, and the
number of engines lighted was 30,676. Dividing the former by
the latter the quotient is 7. Hence it appears that the average
number of hours each engine lighted was kept standing in this
year was 7 hours. In this, however, are included the reserve
engines.
As on the same railways the average distance run by each engine lighted was about 70 miles, it follows, that for every 10
miles of practical work performed by each engine the engine
was kept one hour standing.
The fuel consumed in working a railway may be classed,under three heads:
1st. That which is consumed in lighting the engines and
raising their steam, to prepare them for work.
2d. That which is consumed while the engines stand with
their steam up, waiting for the trains they are intended to draw,
or standing in reserve, prepared for the contingency of accidents
on the line.
3d. That which is consumed in drawing the trains.
When the engine has stopped work, its fire-box is cleared,
preparatory to the engine being cleaned. A certain portion of
coke, more or less, according to the state of the fire-box at the
moment the engine is stopped, is collected in this way half conconsumed. This coke is to a certain extent available to aid in
lighting the engine when next started. The small coke which
has been rejected as unfit for the working engine is mixed, in a
77 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
greater or less proportion, by the engineer with the large coke
used for raising the steam, for in this process the draft is not
so strong as to carry this small coke injuriously through the
tubes. The small cokle is also used, mixed in a certain proportion with the large coke, for keeping the steam up in the reserve engines.
The quantity of coke consumed in drawing a train will depend upon the magnitude and weight of the train, and the speed
with which it is moved. The greater the resistance which it
has to overcome, the greater will be the consumption of fuel in
a given distance. The resistance increases in a high ratio with
the speed. Now as the speed of passenger trains is usually
greater than that of goods trains, the consumption of fuel, so
far as it is affected by the speed, will be greater in the former
than in the latter; but, on the other hand, goods trains consisting of a much greater number of vehicles and of a greater gross
weight than passenger trains, the resistance due to the load is
greater in the latter case than in the former.
On the Belgian railways the economy of fuel is very strictly
attended to.  Rules are established by which a certain weight
of coke is allowed to the engineer for the different purposes:
For lighting and raising the steam, 280 kilogrammes, equal
to 618lbs., of coke are allowed.
For each passenger coach drawn, 43 kilo. per kilometre, equal
to 2.64 lbs. per mile, are allowed.
For each loaded goods wagon, 3 of a kilogramme per kilometre,
equal to 2.30 lbs. per mile, are allowed.
Two empty wagons are accounted as equal to a loaded one,
and 21-kilogrammes per kilometre, equal to 8.82lbs. per
mile, are allowed for an engine without a load.
Ten kilogrammes, equal to 221bs., per hour, are allowed for
keeping up the steam while the engine is standing.
These quantities are, however, understood to be average
major limits which ought not to be exceeded. To stimulate
the engineers and their superintendents to the observance of a
due economy of fuel, premiums are awarded, in proportion to
the extent of the saving effected upon these allowances; 5s. 6d.
a ton is allowed to the engineer for every ton of coke by which
his actual consumption falls short of these limits, and a further
premium of one-fourth of this amount is allowed to the superintendents of the locomotive department.
In the year 1846 the amounrt of premiums paid for these
[CHAP. V.
78 
THE LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
ngine-drivers was X678, and to the superintend
f fuel are not either alone or chiefly effected by
ed on feeding the fire-box.  Much more depends
not being lighted at too early a moment before
nsequently not being kept standing with steam
841 the engines upon the Belgian railways conn average, 70lbs. per mile, including the fuel
hting and standing.
was reduced to 45lbs., and in 1844 and 1845 to
d economy was not altogether owing to the
nce of the engine-drivers and stokers, but was
n improvement in the arrangement of the valves,
eam was allowed to escape firom the cylinders,
omy was partially effected on the consumption
rough that on the consumption of fuel.
otive department, a register should be kept of
led, distinguishing such consumption under the
standing, lighting, and working, together with
e noted the hours standing, the engines lighted,
e worked.  There is nothing impracticable or
maintenance of such a register in every wellishment, and such a one is regularly kept in the
f the Belgian railways.  It appears from these
e following was the fuel consumed  for  these
tively on the Belgian railways during the years
1846 and 1847:
1847.
214,610
5,306,573
24.7
30-676
18,605,263
606.4
2,366,885
71,500,965
30.0
40-3
NumLber of hours standing. —----------------
Number of lbs. of coke consumed in standing
Average number of lbs. consumed per hour. 
Number of engines lighted —-------------—.
Total number of lbs. consumed in lighting.  -6
Average number of lbs. consumed per engine
lighted —-----------------------------—..
Total mileage worked —--------------------          
Total number of lbs. of coke consumed in
working   ---------------- I -------------- 
Average number of lbs. consumed per mile
worked.... —-----------------------------—.
Average consumption per mile, including coke
consumed in lighting and standing -.......
CHAP. V.]
79
1846.
204,124
4,503,077
22-0
27,452
16,828,505
613-0
2,027,014
60,698,538
30-0
40-5 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
It may then be stated in round numbers, that 600 lbs. of fuel
are consumed in lighting an engine and raising the steam, and
that every engine lighted travels, on an average, as worked upon
the Belgian lines, 70 miles.
The fuel consumed in lighting adds, therefore, 8 lbs. per mile
to the working consumption, which latter being 30 lbs., the pro portion consumed in lighting is 28 per cent. The fuel consumed
in standing with steam up, either as an engine of reserve or
otherwise, adds 121 per cent. more to the working consumption
per mile, the total amount of which may be taken in round
numbers at 40 lbs., as these railways are worked.
To determine what part of this consumption is directly ex pended on the load, it would be necessary to ascertain the pro portion which the dead weight bears to the profitable load. This
will become the subject of inquiry in a succeeding chapter.
The sources, therefore, from which the economy of fuel may
be expected, are the extending the mileage of each engine
lighted, the keeping the engines waiting as short a time as pos sible for their loads, and securing as full a load as possible for
the carriages.
It is well known that the fuel invariably used in locomotive
engines on European railways is coke.
Weight for weight, this fuel develops a greater amount of
heat, and develops it in a smaller space and more rapidly, than
coal. It is therefore better adapted to produce the quick evaporation in a small space, which is indispensable to railways. Its
combustion is not attended with the evolution of the black, sooty
smoke produced by coal; and the engines, therefore, in passing
through districts more or less populous, are not productive of
the same nuisance.
Coke is fabricated by submitting coal to the process of baking
or being heated in close retorts, by which means its volatile
constituents are driven out of it, and little more than carbon
remains. In this process, the magnitude of the fuel is considerably increased.
The  augmentation  of magnitude varies according to the
quality of the coal. In some cases it is augmented 50 per cent.
in bulk, and of course proportionally diminished in weight.
In the process of coking, coal loses the weight of the volatile
elements expelled. This diminution of weight varies according
to the quality and analysis of the coal, from 15 to 25 per cent.
of the total weight.
Thus, it may be assumed, that, allowing for waste in incom
80
[CHAP. V. 
THE LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
bustible matter, contained even in the best coal in greater or
less proportion, the weight of coke derived from 100 tons of
coal will be about 70 tons; but of this quantity a portion, more
or less according to the mode and the skill of fabrication, will
be produced in pieces of too small magnitude to be capable of
being used in locomotive engines. The small coke, if burned in
the locomotive engine, either falls through the grate-bars, or is
drawn through the tubes unconsumed, and a portion of it remaining in them, obstructs the draft.  The small coke is, nevertheless, useful as fuel, and is valued at its own weight of coal.
On the Belgian railways, 65 per cent. of large coke, and 22 per
cent. of small, is obtained from the coal.
By analysis, this coal contains from 17 to 25 per cent. of volatile matter, and consequently, even by distillation in close vessels, would yield, in coking, only from 75 to 83 per cent. A
portion of the coal, however, in the common process of coking,
is consumed in producing the necessary heat, and the remainder
is waste and incombustible matter.
In the ycar 1844, 23,800 tons of large coke and 900 tons of
small were produced on the Belgian railways firom 36,500 tons
of coal, the cost of the coal being 11s. 4d. per ton, and that of
the coke 20s.
In 1846, 52,185 tons of coal were used in making 28,220 tons
of large and 834 tons of small coke.
In 1844, 3.6 per cent. of the coke produced was small, and
had only the value of its weight in coal.
In 1846, only 2.8 per cent. was small, an improvement in the
fabrication having taken place, which effected a saving of nearly
1 per cent. in the coke produced.
In the reports of the English railways, no data are supplied
by which similar calculations can be made.
According to the reports of the Great Western Railway, the
cost of coke, its consumption, and the mileage of the engines
during the last four years, had been as follows:
Cost per Ton.    Coke consumed.   Mileage of Engines.
s.  d.            Tons.
1845.... —---------  21l  0            21,919            1,240,412
1846...........  -23  8                  19,731            1,346,341
1847...........       24  4             21,454            1,454,610
1848 -----------.21  4             25,346            1,582,672
The mileage here given includes that of the assistant engines,
D*
CHAP. V.]
81 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
and of engines traveling without a train; and the consumption
of fuel is the total quantity, including what was consumed in
lighting the engines and in standing.
Hence it follows that the consumption in each year per engine
per mile, including lighting and standing, was as follows:
Coke consumed
per Engine
per Mile.
1845.................................... 39- lbs.
1846.....................................33,
1847................................. 33,
1848.....................................358 
By a return now before me, I find that, in the twelve months
ending the 30th June, 1849, the total amount of coke consumed
by the locomotive stock of the Northwestern Railway was
116,396 tons, or 260,727,0401bs., which produced a total mileage of the engines amounting to 7,532,230. Dividing the former by the latter, we find the consumption per engine per
mile to be 34.6 lbs.
As may be expected, considering that the consumption of fuel
must depend on the magnitude and weight of the trains, as well
as on the speed, the consumption per mile is found to vary considerably on different railways.
Thus, on the Brighton and South Coast Railway, in the halfyear ending the 30th June, 1849, the total consumption of coke
was 6345 tons, or 14,212,800 lbs., which produced a total mileage of the engines amounting to 593,844 miles. Dividing the
former by the latter, it appears that the consumption per engine
per mile was about 24 lbs.
On the same railway, during the half-year ending the 30th
June, 1848, the fuel consumed was 9319 tons, or 20,874,560 lbs.,
which produced a mileage of the engines amounting to 668,785.
Dividing the former by the latter, the consumption per mile
proves to have been 31.21 lbs.
Since in this case it is not likely that any material change
took place in the nature of the traffic, the increased economy
must have been produced by improved management.
In comparing the total number of engines worked with the
total number lighted, we obtain the number of times per annum
that each engine in service was lighted.
As the number of engines worked on the Belgian railways in
1846 was 151, and in 1847, 154, by dividing these respectively
into the total number lighted already given, we obtain the quotients 181 and 200 very nearly.
\
82
[CHAII. V. 
THE LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
It appears, therefore, that in the year 1846 each engine, on
an average, was lighted on 181 days, and in 1847 on 200 days.
This is on four days per week very nearly.
From this it follows, that three days per week were required,
upon an average, for the rest, cleaning, and repairs of an engine.
This result is in accordance with another obtained previously,
viz., that the average daily mileage of the engines was 42 miles,
which would give an average weekly mileage of about 300 miles,
whlichl would be four working days per week of 75 miles, nearly
the amount of the average run of each engine lighted.
One of the nlost striking results of the preceding calculations
is the apparently small amount of useful service obtained from
the locomotive engines.
We have seen that in each run, an engine on the Belgian
lines, at the most improved epoch of the service yet reported,
did not quite average 78 miles, and that even this was performed
only four days in seven. Thus the average daily work of an
engine would appear to be only 42 miles.
But it also appears, that for 74 miles run the engine is kept,
on an average, 72 hours standing. This being reduced to a daily
average, leads to the conclusion, that the daily service of the
engines consisted in 42 miles run and 343 hours standing with the
steam up.
But as the average speed on the Belgian railways is about 20
miles an hour, the run of 42 miles would occupy about two hours.
The daily service of an engine, therefore, expressed in time,
would be nearly 2 hours working and 3-43 waiting with steam up.
These inferences are so striking, that we naturally turn elsewhere to inquire how far the results of other railways vary from
or corroborate them.
In general, the daily mileage of the engines employed in the
service of a railway may be found by dividing the average annual
mileage by 365.  In all cases, therefore, where the reports
supply the annual mileage and the number of engines, the daily
mileage is a matter of easy calculation.
The results given in the subjoined table (see p. 84) are calculated from the returns of the several railway companies therein
mentioned now before us.
From this table it appears that the useful daily service of
an engine varies on the above railways between 28 miles as a
minimum and 45 as a maximum. This variation depends partly
on the degree of skillful management under which the locomotive power is placed, and partly on the nature of the traffic.
CI.IAP. V.]
83 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Average Average
Number                 annual   daily
Name of Railway.         Year       of       Total    Mileage  Mileage
Engines.   Mileage.      per       per
Engine.  Engine.
Belgian Railways........ 1844           143    1,584,532   11,080    30.4
1845      148    1,694,203   11,447    31-4
1846      151    2,027,014   13,490    37'0
1847      154    2,366,885   15,369     42-0
North of France Railway.  1847           175    1,789,152   10,224       28.0
1848     177    1,917,855   10,835       29'7
Orleans Railway:
Passenger traffic.........           43      483,206  11,237    30'8
Goods traffic.......-..         9       153,227   17,026    44'0
Paris and Rouen Railway:
Passenger traffic....... 40                  406,039   10,151      28'0
Goods traffic.. —---------   10       147,174   14,717    40'0
Alsace Railway.............              29       335,405   11,565    31-6
Gard Railway:
Passenger traffic.........        5        82,429   16,486    45'0
Goods traffic.............             13       191,814   14,755    40'0
Rhenish Railway.........             16       201,534   12,596    35.0
Totals and general averages..       ]113   13,380,469   12,022    32-9
The data supplied by the English railways are so scarce, and
in general so vague, as to afford no adequate means of general
comparison with the results above given. In the case of the
London and Northwestern lines, however, a more detailed account has been published, which, considering the great extent
and traffic of that system of railways, is entitled to much attention.
On these lines, during the twelve months ending June 30,
1849, there was a stock of 504 locomotives; but of this number,
47 were in store, newly-made, and not yet worked. The number of engines, therefore, actually worked during the year, was
457. These engines supplied the locomotive power, not only
to the Northwestern lines, properly so called, but to the following railways:
Miles.
Chester and Holyhead......................... 80'50
Preston, Lancaster, and Carlisle................. 90'00
Kendal and Windermere......................9 75
Shropshire Union (Shrewsbury and Stafford)......  29-25
North Union (Parkside and Preston)............. 2200
Total........... 231'50
London and Northwestern, main line and branches. 438'00
Total......... 669'50
84
[CHAP. V. 
THE LOOOMOTIVE POWER.
The traffic of these lines was worked, during the twelve
months ending June 30, 1849, by 457 locomotive engines, the
total mileage of which was as follows:
Mileage.
Passenger engines......................  4,649,556
Goods engines.........................     2,882,674
Total............  7,532,230
Hence the average daily run of each engine was 45 miles.
These results, obtained from services so various and numerous,
leave no doubt that the average daily service of each locomotive
engine is much less than would have been expected. If the
average speed on the Northwestern lines be taken at 28 miles
an hour, we shall obtain the singular and somewhat unexpected
conclusion, that the engines, taken one with another, are each
worked with traffic little more than one hour and a half a day.
By a return which I have obtained from the Northwestern
Company, I find that, in the twelve months ending June 30,
1849, they had in active employment an average number of 275
engine-drivers, and an equal number of firemen. Now it has
already been stated, that during the same period the number of
engines employed was 457; there were thus 10 engine-drivers
and firemen for every 16 engines.
By dividing the total annual mileage of the engines by the
total number of engine-drivers and firemen employed, we shall
find the total annual distance driven by each; and dividing this
by 365, we shall obtain the average daily work of each enginedriver and fireman, expressed in distance. This distance, divided
by the average speed in miles per hour, will give the daily work
on the road in time. The following are the details of this for
the lines worked by the Northwestern Company:
Total mileage of engines...............   7,532,230
Number of engine-drivers and firemen.....   275
Annual distance worked per head.......       27,390 miles.
Daily distance worked per head.............. 75
Time daily on the road (at the average
speed of 28 miles per hour).............    23   hours.
If it be assumed that the engines, one with another, work on
alternate days, the actual distance run in each trip by each
engine on the system of lines worked by the Northwestern
Company will be 90 miles; which, in time, at 28 miles an hour,
would be very nearly 3134 hours.
It appears, therefore, that the locomotive power is worked to
CHAP. V.]
85 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
greater advantage on these than on the continental lines generally. We have seen that the average distance run by each
engine lighted on the Belgian lines was about 75 miles.
It has been customary, in some of the reports presented to
the railway companies, to institute comparisons between one
line of railway and another, founded upon the relation between
the locomotive stock and the length of the line.
Now such a mode of comparison can afford no legitimate
consequence of the least importance, either in a financial or
mechanical point of view. The quantity of locomtotive power
does not in any manner depend on the length of the railway.
The locomotive power is used to draw the traffic, and for no
other purpose.   Its quantity, therefore, will depend on  the
quantity of the traffic, and the average distance to which it is
carried, or, in other words, on the mileage of the goods and
passengers.
Two railways having the same traffic mileage will require
the same locomotive stock, be their length equtal or unequal.
If a million of tons of goods require to be annually transported
an average distance of 500 miles, and ten millions of passengers
also require to be annually transported 300 miles, it is manifest
that the same locomotive power will be requisite to execute the
traffic, whether the railway on which it is carried be 400 miles
or 800 miles in length.
If the object be to compare the merits of the management
of the locomotive power, then the test of comparison should be
the quantity of work executed by a given quantity of this power;
and the quantity of work must be decided by the useful mileage
of the engines, and not by the length of the line.
Nevertheless, we find railway authorities in high repute announcing, that to stock a line requires so many engines per mile.
To such a statement there can be no objection, provided it be
made with the understanding that it applies to railways only
which have a certain understood amount of average traffic.
But it is clear that, with every variation of the traffic upon
the proposed railway, there must be a corresponding and proportional variation in the necessary amount of locomotive stock.
A legitimate mode of comparing the merits of the management of the locomotive department will be found in the estimate
of the average daily mileage of the engines.
It is evident, that if we find on one railway-for example, the
Northwestern-the engines performing a daily mileage of 45
miles, while on another-the North of France-we find them
86
[CHAP. V. 
THE LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
performing a daily service under 30 miles, that the locomotive
stock in the one case was more profitably managed than the
other in the ratio of 2 to 3, it being understood that other
things are similar.  But even in this comparison it would be
necessary that the length and weight of the trains should be
taken into account; for if it prove that the weight of the train
drawn 30 miles is greater than the weight of the train drawn
45 miles in the proportion of 3 to 2, then the useful labor of the
engines will, after all, be the same. In short, the test, and the
only test, of the useful effect of the locomotive power is the
actual mileage (including in that term the quantity) of the traffic
which it executes in a given time.
It may be well here to repeat what is to be understood, through
this work, by the term mileage.
The entire amount of traffic of a given kind is supposed to be
reduced to another imaginary amount carried one mile; and the
expression thus obtained will involve at once the consideration
of weight and distance. Thus, for instance, if 10,000 tons be
carried 100 miles, we assume it to be equivalent to a million of
tons carried one mile, this last expression being denominated
the mileage of the tons. It is evident that such an expression
combines the consideration of both weight and distance.
The conditions which determine the amount of the locomotive
stock necessary to work any given railway form a very important
subject of inquiry in railway economy; but it is a subject upon
which we as yet possess but scanty and unsatisfactory data. As
has been already stated, railway authorities have, with more rashness than skill, given a sort of rough estimate of it at so much
per mile. This must, however, be regarded as utterly unworthy
of attention, for the very intelligible reasons already explained.
The amount of locomotive stock depends exclusively on the
mileage of the traffic. We shall see, in a subsequent chapter,
how, when the quantity and quality of the traffic is given, the
number and mileage of the trains necessary for it can be ascertained. This being done, the mileage of the engines necessary
to work these trains easily follows.
The question is thus reduced to the determination of the
number of engines necessary to work a given mileage.
If we assume the results of the working of the Northwestern lines as a general modulus, it would follow, that to find the
quantity of stock necessary for working a given daily mileage, it
will be sufficient to divide this mileage by 45; the quotient will
express the requisite number of locomotive engines.
CHAP. V.]
87 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
But if there be any thing in the peculiar nature of the traffic
to show the practicability of better economizing the locomotive
power, and of obtaining from the engines a greater average
amount of daily work; or, on the contrary, if there be any thing
in the proposed service to render it impracticable to obtain so
great an average amount of daily work, then the estimated average of 45 miles must be augmented or diminished, according to
the proposed conditions.
It is found that the number of tenders ought to be equal to the
number of engines.
In the absence of more certain and exact data, we may assume,
as the means of an approximate calculation, that the amount of
the locomotive stock necessary for each line of railway is in the
direct proportion of the gross amount of its receipts, these receipts being taken as the modulus of the traffic.
We find by the official returns of the railway commissioners
for the half-year ending December 31, 1848, that the receipts
of the lines worked by the locomotive stock of the Northwestern
Company was X1,320,819, while the total receipts of all the
lines open for traffic was e5,744,964. It follows, therefore,
that the ratio of the traffic of all the railways of the United
Kingdom, taken collectively, to that of the lines worked by the
Northwestern Company, was 43 to 10 nearly.
Since, then, the number of locomotive engines and tenders
necessary to work the traffic of the Northwestern lines was
457, the number necessary for the traffic of all the railways col                        43195
lectively would be 457 X   = 1965.
10
It follows, therefore, firom this approximate calculation, that
the total work of the five thousand miles of railway open for
traffic on Jan. 1, 1849, was performed by 1965 locomotives.
In the same manner, assuming that the mileage of locomotives, in performing this work, was proportional to that of the
Northwestern engines, its total amount would be found by
multiplying the mileage of the Northwestern engines by 4.3.
Thus we have
7,532,230 X 4-3 - 32,388,589.
The total distance run, therefore, by all the locomotives working the traffic of the railways of the United Kingdom for the
twelve months ending June 30, 1849, was 32,388,589 miles.
This gives a total daily mileage of 88,736 miles.
To illustrate these stupendous results, let us compare them
[CHAP. V.
88 
THE CARRYING STOCK.
with moduli more in accordance with their magnitude than are
the ordinary phenomena witnessed around us.
The distance from the earth to the sun is ninety-six millions
of miles.
The locomotives of the British railways would, at their present rate of work, pass over it in three years!
The circumference of the globe is twenty-five thousand miles.
The same engines, with their present work, would go seven
times round it in two days; and, in doing so, each engine would
work only 31 hours.
Taking the average consumption of fuel by the locomotives at
35 lbs. per mile, the total consumption for the twelve months
ending June 30, 1849, would be found as follows:
32,388,589 miles at 35 lbs. per mile = 506,071 tons.
The traffic was therefore worked by half a million of tons of
coke.
But ten tons of coal are required to make seven tons of coke.
The quantity of coal consumed in making the coke was therefore 728,958 tons.
We may, therefore, conclude, that the railways consume at
present nearly three quarters of a million of tons of coal annually.
CHAPTER VI.
THE CARRYING STOCK.
THE various forms of vehicle composing the carrying stock of
a railway consist, like the locomotive stock, of two classes, corresponding to the two great divisions of railway traffic, the traffic
in passengers and the traffic in goods.
By passenger trains are conveyed, besides passengers, certain
other objects of transport which require expedition, and can bear
a tariff of corresponding amount. These are principally carriages, horses, baggage, parcels, and the mails.
By the goods or merchandise trains are conveyed all descriptions of merchandise, of heavy goods and live stock, such as
cattle, sheep, pigs, and calves.
These two species of traffic are conducted by a different set
CHAP. VI.1
89 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
of agents, and in a great measure by a different establishment,
though connected with the same company.
The trains are in general propelled by a different class and
form of engine, at different speeds, and in some cases at differ ent epochs in the 24 hours. In short, between these two classes
of traffic there is very little in common, except the road on which
they are transported; and it is doubtful whether the advantage
of the railways would not have been better consulted, if a separate line of rails had been laid for the goods traffic.
It is true that on most of the continental lines, and occasionally on the English railways, one or two passenger carriages are
often attached to goods trains, and goods wagons are occasionally
attached to passenger trains; but these may be regarded as exceptions to the general rule. We shall therefore fall into no
error of practical importance, if we consider the passenger trains
as exclusively devoted to the one class of traffic, and the goods
trains to the other.
To each of the objects composing the passenger traffic a particular form of vehicle is appropriated. The first-class passenger
is accommodated with a spacious carriage, in which usually a
separate seat is divided off for each passenger, the interior being
luxuriously cushioned, lined, and carpeted. Convenient means
of varying the ventilation at the will of the passenger are provided over the windows. A lamp is placed, in some of the best
conducted railways, in the centre of thle roof, with a reflector
projecting the light downward, which illuminates the carriage in
passing through tunnels, and at night. In some railways, also,
a heater is placed in cold weather in first-class carriages under
the feet of the passengers, and other accommodations of minor
importance are provided.
Carriages are appropriated to the second-class passengers, in
which the seats are not divided, and where less room is left for
each passenger. On the continental lines these carriages are
usually lined, and have the seats cushioned. Less space is also
left between the seats; carpets are not provided; nor are they
always lighted or ventilated; and never warmed.
The carriages appropriated to third-class passengers are still
more contracted in the space allowed for a given number of
passengers. They are neither cushioned, lined, carpeted, ventilated, nor illuminated, and in some cases are unprovided with
any other means of closing the windows than wooden blinds or
coarse curtains. These carriages are, however, usually roofed.
These several arrangements vary much in different railways.
[CHAP. VI.
90 
THE CARRYING STOCK.
The carriages provided for the transport of horses are called
horse-boxes. Each of them consists usually of three stalls, the
animal standing across the road, and therefore being carried
sideways, and being completely inclosed and covered in.
Private carriages are transported on flat trucks constructed
for the purpose. They are rolled upon these, and when brought
to their position, wedges are placed before and behind the
wheels, and the carriages are lashed in their places.
Passengers' baggage, except such small baggage or packages
as the passengers are enabled to take with them, is usually carried
in baggage-vans appropriated to the purpose, which are placed
under the superintendence of a baggage conductor. These vans
are divided into compartments, so as to enable the conductor to
sort the baggage according to its place of destination.
In some railways, including most of the English lines, passengers' baggage is placed on the roof of the passenger carriages.
Under the title of parcels is included that class of transport
which, before the establishment of railways, was denominated
coach parcels, and which on the Continent is called, Articles
de Messagerie." This class of traffic, before the establishment
of railways, was also extensively expedited in vans, which traveled at 5 or 6 miles an hour.
The increased powers of expeditious transport obtained by
railways has augmented this class of transport in a very large
ratio.
For the transport of the mails a special vehicle is provided,
which is a moving post-office, being a bureau of considerable
magnitude, provided with all the usual office furniture, and all
the necessary means for the sorting of the correspondence as
the train proceeds.
In this way a certain portion of the business of the post-office,
formerly executed before the dispatch of the mails, is performed
upon the road, whereby expedition is gained.
On some of the foreign railways, cattle, sheep, and pigs are
also sent by the passenger trains. In England these are, however, sent by goods trains.
Commodities of consumption which are perishable are frequently sent by the passenger trains. Thus, on the continental
railways, the produce of the dairy, the garden, and the farmyard, as well as fish, are fiequently sent by these trains.
The goods trains are appropriated to the transport of heavy
commodities of every description.  They consist of wagons of
CHAP'. VI.]
91 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
various forms, some closed, some open, some having sides and
ends, but open at the top, and some being mere platforms on
wheels.
These are appropriated to the transport of different classes
of goods, according to their quality, and the degree of care and
shelter necessary for them.
The roofs of close wagons are frequently covered with an
awning prepared with caoutchouc, so as to render them waterproof.
The forms of the wagons appropriated to cattle vary according to the class of cattle they are intended to carry.
Beasts are carried in wagons having only a single tier. Pigs
and sheep are often carried in the same wagon, tier above tier,
and crowded very closely together, a wagon not unfrequently
carrying 70 to 80. To facilitate the loading and discharge, these
classes of animals are sometimes sent in cribs provided by their
owners, which only require to be laid and fastened upon a platform wagon.
The carrying stock of a system of railways forms an important item in its movable capital.
On the Belgian railways, consisting, as has been stated, of 347
miles, there were, on 1st January, 1847, 724 passenger carriages
and 2507 goods wagons.
On the North of France railway there were, on 1st January,
1848 (322 miles of railway being then open), the following carrying stock:
passenger coaches............   102
s passenger coaches..........    183
passenger coaches...........    199
a gons............................ 97
i cks....................... 78
3e,......................... 50
Is.........................  20
ns........................ 1459
ns........................ 200
ns........................ 410
ns........................  50
...........................  2
Total stock of vehicles......  2850
According to the report of Captain Huish, the following was
the amount and value of the carrying stock of the Northwestern Railway Company, on the 1st January, 1848.
92
[CHAP. VI.
First-class
Second-clas
Third-class
Baggage-w
Carriage-tr
Horse-boxes
Milk-wagon
Goods-wago
Sugar-wago
Cattle-wag
Sheep-wago
Post_offices 
THE CARRYING STOCK.
0
. E 4  =. ~~~~~~                Value.
Id2.. 0   Manchester               Value.
Passenger Vehicles.:'              and                       T
If  -   Birmingham. e                  Total.
.................. _....Price.
'a ~                               p~ 0~
State carriage --------—.
First class, 6 wheels.-.
Do.    4  do....           1
Mails —----------------                   -
Composite.............
Second class —-------— 1
Third class (closed)..8
Do.    (open).....
Post-offices.............
Horse-boxes............
Carriage-trucks                  5        12.2          8
Parcel-vans.........1
Guard-vans............
Bullion-vans —---------.
Post-office tenders..'-    6
Luggage-vans-.                          -.-..
Parcel-carts —----------     
Milk-trucks............
Brake-wagons —--------  
Convict carriage-truck-.
842    596       188      1626          317,646
Goods Vekicles.
6 Ton large goods wagons
4i "ordinary    do.1
3" small          do.
Cattle-wagons..........
Coal-trucks (iron)......
Timber-trucks —--------
Brake-wagons.........
Sheep-vans. ——........ —----
Powder magazines.....
Iron  trolleys.........-                     -.
2745
2129
49;5
653
12
77
117
4
4
2877     1446       6236
Viz.:                               ~      s.
Southern Division, 1913 at 721. 10s. each, average ------—.  138,692  10
Northern Division, 2877 at 561. each... —----------------—...  161,112   0
Manchester and Birmingham, 1446 at 411. 10s...... 60,009   0
The carrying stock, like the locomotive power, of the Northwestern Company, was used to work the traffic of other
lines which the company contracted to supply with rolling
stock.
e
CHAP. VI.]
93
XO.
1
20
154
16
. 25
178
52
43
3
136
149
13
42
4
6
NO.
8
136
16
6
178
80
54
56
6
18
5
7
5
14
2
4
1
X.
900
420
320
250
200
220
170
80
390
105
88
180
175
100
210
220
20
60
30
160
NO.
38
4
45
18
32
5
20
12
7
2
5
XO.
1
28
1 328
32
35
401
150
75
8
210
217
26
62
9
13
5
19
2
4
1
ic.
900
11,760
104,960
8,000
7,000
88,220
25,500
6-,OOO
3,120
22,050
19,096
4,680
10,850
900
2,730
1,100
380
120
120
160
831
510
382
12
53
117
4
4
1913
100
1593
1077
83
24
29 
192
542
o
6a3 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Passenger vehicles were supplied by the company for the
entire traffic of the following lines during the twelve months,
ending 30th June, 1849:
Miles.
438
80o
93
291*
90
22
669
London and Northwestern, and its branches.........
Chester and Holyhead............................
Kendal and Windermere............................
Shrewsbury and Stafford (Shropshire Union).........
Preston and Carlisle..............................
Preston and Parkside (North Union).................
Goods vehicles were provided for all the above lines, except
the Preston and Carlisle.
In the carrying department a register should be kept exhibiting the mileage of each individual vehicle, similar to the register
already described in the drawing department; but inasmuch as
the duty of the carrying stock is more simple than that of the
drawing stock, there will be less complexity in such a register.
All that can be required is, that the carrying stock shall be
classed and properly designated by numbers, so that each vehicle may be distinguished and referred to.
In the register should be stated the total mileage from month
to month, of each particular vehicle. By comparing the total
mileage of all the vehicles, of any particular class, worked upon
the railway with the number of such vehicles included in the
carrying stock, the average mileage of each vehicle of that class
can be ascertained.
Thus if C express in general the number of any particular
class of vehicle, and c the total annual mileage of such class,
C
then   will be the average annual mileage of each vehicle of
that class
As an illustration of this, I give in the following table the
number, the total mileage, and the average annual mileage of
the various classes of vehicles employed on the Belgian railwvays in the year 1844. In the first column is given the number of vehicles, in the second their total mileage, in the third
their average annual mileage, and in the fourth their average
daily mileage.
* The Shropshire Union was not opened for traffic until June, 1849.
94
[CIIAP. VI. 
THE CARRYING STOCK.
Total    Average  Average
Description of Vehicle.     Number.        Mileage. annual  dailyage
Mileage. Mileage.
Passenger-coaches, 1st class —--—.  110   1,671,454  15,195    41-6
"    2d class —----    186    2,013,231  10,824   29-5
"   3d class. —----   290    2,591,136   8,935    24-5
Baggage-vans......... 27          839,000  31,074    85-0
Parcel-vans ---------------------    33    1,056,360  32,010    86-0
Horse-boxes --------------------      25       93,208   3,728   10-2
Carriage-trucks -----------------     75      310,700   4,143    11-0
Goods-wagons ------------------   1735    8,432,188   4,860   13-0
Cattle-wagons (beasts) -----------    36      139,777   3,883    10-5
"   (sheep, pigs, &c.).     12       46,604   3,882    10-5
It appears from this table that very considerable differences
exist, in the case of the Belgian railways, betwen the extent to
which the different classes of vehicles comprising the passengercarrying stock have been utilized. That part of the stock, however, which appears most exceptional in this respect, viz., the
horse-boxes and carriage-trucks, were comparatively little used.
The baggage-vans and parcel-vans, on the other hand, were
more largely utilized, having a daily mileage of more than double that of the first-class passenger coaches, while the latter
had a considerably greater daily mileage than either the second
or third class.
It is to be regretted that the railway reports, whether in
England or on the Continent, supply extremely scanty materials for general conclusions as to the relative daily service of
the different classes of vehicles employed in passenger trains.
We have, however, some collective results, which afford conclusions that may pretend to generality.
I have arranged these in the following table (see page 96),
in which is included also the aggregates of the preceding
table.
The daily duty resulting from these calculations of the different classes of carriages employed is so much smaller than
might have been expected, that, if we had not so large a basis as
that given above, some distrust might be entertained of the accuracy of the results.
Although we can not command, at present, more extensive
data for the calculations of the carrying stock in classes, we
have some further means of estimating its collective amount,
the results of which will further corroborate the above conclusions.
95
CHAP. VI.] 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
NumNber      otal   Average  Average
Name of Railway.             of      Milag   annual    daily
Carriages.  Mileage.  Mileage. Mileage.
First-Class Carriages.
Belgian Lines,   1844...........  110    1,671,454  15,195   41-5
North of France, 1847...........  101    1,889,990   18,811    51.0
"    1848...........  102    1,544,011  15,137    41-5
Totals and averages.....  313      5,105,455   16,311    44'7
Second-Class Carriages.
Belgian Lines,   1844.. —---------   186  2,013,231  10,824   29-5
North of France, 1847...........   183       2,364,209  12,919    35.5
"    1848...........  ]183      2,330,800   12,731    35-0
Totals and averages.....  552    6,708,240   12,152    33.3
Third-Class Carriages.
Belgian Lines,   1844...........  290       2,591,136   8,935    24-5
North of France, 1847...........  218       2,442,726  11,205    31-0
"    1848...2........   00   2,197,287  11,042    30-5
Totals and averages.....  708      7,231,149   10,213    27-8
We have before us the collective mileages and quantities of
the carrying stock used on five foreign railways, including the
results of the year 1845 of the Belgian railways. We have
given these in the following table:
Mileage of Passenger-carrying Stock.
No. of
Vehicles in    Total     Average  Average
,ninTota
Names of Railways.          carrying     e           annual    daily
stock.      Mieage    Mileage. Mileage.
Paris and Orleans...........       269        4,462,822  16,613    45-5
Paris and Rouen............     207        4,817,792   23,274    64-0
Alsatian Railways..........        112        2,427,924  21,669    59-0
PRhenish Railways............       63        1,084,373   17,212    47-0
Belgian Railways, 1845         -. 940         10,030,078   11,202    310
Totals and averages.......    1591         22,828,989   14,349    390
The daily mileage obtained here, as the average for all classes
of vehicles used in passenger traffic on the above railways, is
greater than what would result from the previous calculations.
This is explained by the particular character of the traffic on
the principal lines included in the table.  They pass, in general,
[Cl4AP. VI.
96 
THIE CARRYING STOCK.
through districts thinly peopled, having few important stations
and few departures, the consequence of which is, that the dislance traveled in a single trip, or the average mileage of the
passengers, is greater than in the case of railways passing
through a more densely peopled country. This is rendered
manifest in the table itself, by the comparatively small daily
mnileage afforded by the vehicles on the Belgian railways.
As I have so often already stated, we are without the necessary data for making similar calculations with respect to English
railways generally; but I have procured a return of the carrying
stock on the lines worked by the Northwestern Railway during
the half-year ending 31st Decenlber, 1848, which will supply
inferences which are valuable in proportion to the great extent
of railway to which they refer. I have already shown that
these returns include the traffic on nearly seven hundred miles
of the most active railway enterprise in the United Kingdom.
In the previous table I have given the number of vehicles
employed in the passenger traffic, their total mileage, as calculated from the average loads estimated by Captain HIluish, as
being transported in each class of carriage, and the total mileage
of the passengers, of which I possess a return.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Movement of the Passenger-carrying Stock
on the Lines worked by the Northwestern Company during the Half year ending December 31, 1848.
Average
Number               Average   daily
Tot l         Mileage Mileage
of Mileage.e
Vehicles.               per
Vehicle.
Vehicle.
Passenger coaches:
1st class............. —---------------  451    4,834,324  10,719    58-8
2d class. —--------------   416    3,448,364    8,289    45-5
3d class ----------------   229    1,606,760    7,016    38-6
Totals and averages --------   1096   9,889,448   9,023    49.5
.
The general accordance of these results is remarkable, and,
considering the great extent of mileatge, and the various sources
from which they are derived, the conclusions deduced from
themn may be considered to be attended with much precision
and generality. We may therefore be safe in assuming, as a
fair approximate estimate of passenger traffic as now worked
on British railways, that the average daily mileage of first,
FE
CIIAP. VI.]
97 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
second, and third-class coaches is 59, 45, and 38 miles respectively.
In calculations, therefore, of the requisite amount of carrying
stock of each class, it is only necessary to obtain an estimate of
the mileage from the assumed traffic, the method of ascertaining which we shall explain hereafter. Let, then, the estimated
daily mileage of the first-class carriages be divided by 59, that
of the second-class carriages by 45, and that of the third-class
carriages by 38, and the quotients will give the number of each
of these classes of vehicles necessary to work the traffic.
Meanwhile, let us proceed to the examination of the merchandise-carrying stock.
For this purpose, we have data sufficiently extensive derived
from foreign railways.
In the following table I have given the goods-carrying stock
and its mileage on the undermentioned lines.
Mileage of the Goods-carrying Stock.
Number                 Average  Average
Name of Railway.             of   Total Mileage. annual    daily
Vehicles.              Mileage. Mileage.
Belgian Railways, 1844 -------  1,783        8,618,569    4,883    14-0
"    1845 -------  2,073    14,103,406      6,803    19-0
North of France,   1847. —-----  2,316    13,402,330     5,786    16-0
"          1848 -------  3,069    14,505,689      4,739    13-0
Paris and Orleans ------------   380         3,783,963     9,957    27-0
Paris and Rouen -------------   420          4,237,034    10,088    28-0
Alsacian Railways -----------       155      1,389,847     8,966    24-0
Rhenish Rltailways -----------    304        2,267,962    7,460    20- 5
Totals and averages.. —   10,500    62,308,800     5,934    16-25
The discordance which prevails in some of these results admits of easy explanation. On lines which pass through a thinly
peopled district, having but few stations, the distances to which
the traffic is transported are proportionally great, and, accordingly, the average daily mileage of the wagons is increased. In
the case of more busy traffic, as on the Belgian and North of
France railways, the distances are less, and we find, accordingly, the average daily run of the wagons proportionally decreased.
The general average of 16 miles may be taken as a fair estimate, at least on the continental railways.
According to the reports of Captain Huish, given above, the
98
[CHAP. VI. 
THE CARRYING STOCK.
goods-carrying stock on the lines worked by the Northwestern
Company, in 1848-9, consisted of 6236 vehicles of all descriptions, the chief part of which were merchandise wagons, carrying an average load of 24 tons. We have no direct or accurate
means of calculating the mileage of this stock, but I have made
an approximate estimate of it by comparing the total receipts
with the average tariff per ton per mile.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Movement of the Goods-carrying Stock on
the Lines worked by the Northwestern Company during the half.
year ending Dec. 31, 1848.
Number of vehicles........................... 6,236
Total estimated mileage...................      31,259,840
Average mileage per vehicle.................       5,013
Average mileage per vehicle, per day........ 27'5
The small amount of the daily useful mileage of the goodscarrying stock, is explained by the great length of time which
is always consumed in the loading and unloading of the wagons,
and in waiting for the formation of complete loads and trains.
The goods are not generally dispatched at stated intervals, like
the passenger traffic; they are collected in the goods d6p6t,
sorted according to their destinations, and loaded. The wagons
are detained in sidings, until a sufficient quantity is collected to
form a complete load. When they have arrived at their several
destinations, they have to be discharged, and to wait for a return load, or to be sent back empty.
All these circumstances involve a large consumption of time,
and it will be easily understood, when the speed of the transport is considered, how small a proportion the time of transport
must be to the time during which the goods-carrying stock is
either waiting or undergoing the process of loading or discharge.
Taking the average speed of the goods traffic on the continental line at 14 miles an hour, it would follow that the average
time that the carrying stock is actually employed in carrying
transport does not mnuchi exceed one hour.
If we take the average speed of the goods trains on the English railways at 18 miles an hour, it will follow that each vehicle
is worked for an hour and a half daily.
In exhibiting the annual duty of the rolling stock, it is necessary to ascertain the average number of each class of vehicle
drawn by each engine, or, in other words, the average composition of each train. This may always be determined by comparing the analysis of tile carrying stock, such as above do
CHAP. VI.]
99
. I
I
.1 I 11  
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
scribed, with the analysis of the performance of the locomotive
stock exhibited in the last chapter.
To ascertain, for example, the average number of first-class
carriages drawn by each engine, it is only necessary to divide
the total mileage of the first-class carriages by the total mileage
of the passenger engines; and in the same way may be determined the number of each class of vehicles drawn by each class
of engine.
As an example of this calculation, the following computation,
from the official reports of the Belgian railways for 1844, is
given. The numbers are merely the quotients found by dividing the total mileage of the several classes of vehicles already
given by the mileage of the passenger engines on the one hand,
and of the goods engines on the other.
Average Number of Vehicles of each Class drawn by each Engine.
In passenger trains:
Passenger carriages, 1st class............. 1-61
, 2       2d class................1-94
3d class................2-50
Baggage-vans............................. 0-81
Parcel         -vans............................... 1-01
Horse-boxes.............................. 009
Carriage-trucks..........................  0 30
In goods trains:
Goods-wagons........................... 15 41
Cattle-wagons (beasts)...................... 025
1,,    (small cattle)................. 008
Total number drawn:
In passenger trains........................ 826
In goods trains...........................15-74
To explain the meaning of the numbers contained in the
above table, it is only necessary to state that, when it is said
that the average number of vehicles composing a passenger
train was 8.26, and the average number of vehicles composing
a goods train was 15.74, it is meant that 100 passenger engines
drew 826 vehicles, and that 100 goods engines drew 1574
vehicles. In like manner, when it is said that the average
number of baggage-vans drawn by the passenger train was
0.81, it is meant that, in 100 passenger trains, there were 81
baggage vans.
On railways where passenger traffic is to any considerable
extent combined with goods traffic, it is desirable that a mileage
account should be kept of such passenger traffic as is cttriied
100
[CI-IAP. VI. 
THE CARRYING STOCK.
with the goods train separate from the general passenger
traffic.
The following example, computed from the reported performinance of the Paris and Orleans Railway, will further illustrate this.
As the goods trains were frequently drawn by two engines,
we shall give separately the computation of the average number
of vehicles drawn by such goods engines, and the average number of vehicles composing each train. The one will be found
by dividing the mileage of the vehicles respectively by the total
mileage of the goods engines; the other will be found by dividing them by the mileage of the trains. The latter will evidently
give the average composition of the trains; while the former
will give the average composition of the trains, considering each
train drawn by two engines as two trains.
In the first column of the following table is given the designation of the vehicles, in the second is given their mileage, and in
the third is given the quotients obtained by dividing this mileage by the total mileage of the goods engines, which, in this
case, was 153,227 miles; and in the fourth column is given the
quotient obtained by dividing the mileage of the vehicles by the
total mileage of the trains, which, in this case, was 140,147.
Average
Number of
Vehicles per
Train.
Vehicles drawn.
Ave      rage
Number of
Vehicles per
Engine.
Flour-wagons..................Covered goods-wagons..........                            -
Platform-wagons................Cattle-wagons..................              --
Horse-boxes —----------------—.
Carriage-trucks —-------------—.
Passenger carriages:
1st class......................             --
2d class....................... —
3d class —--------------------        
Baggage-wagons...............                 --
Total —------          
The reports of the English railways afford no general data
for such estimates of the composition of the trains. Some conclusions respecting the composition of the trains may, however,
be deduced from the data given above, in reference to the
traffic of the lines worked by the Northwestern Company.
CHAP. VI.]
101
Mileage.
1,303,298
992,244
627,614
580,108
22,423
21.023
32,232
140,147
21,023
60,725
3,800,837
8-5
6.5
4-1
3-8
0.15
0-14
0-5?1
0.91
0-14
0,39
23-13
9-30
7-08
4-48
4-14
0-16
0.15
0-23
1.00
0.15
0-43
27-12 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
By dividing the estimated mileage of the three classes of
passenger-coaches by the mileage of the passenger-engines, of
which we have given the return, p. 85, we find that the number of each class of carriage drawn by each engine was, on an
average, as follows:
1st class coaches............................ 200
2d class,............................  1'48
3d class.........0...................         69
Total....... 417
This result must be interpreted with reference to the manner in which the trains are organized on these and other English railways. Some trains consist of first-class carriages only;
others of first and second-class; and others exclusively, or
principally, of third-class coaches.   The  above  computation
gives the number of coaches of each class which would enter
into the composition of each train, if the coaches of each class
were uniformly distributed among all the trains. In the practical working of the line the first-class trains have more than
2-00 first-class coaches; and the third-class trains more than
0.69 third-class coaches.
It is necessary also to state, that the data on which these calculations are made, so far as relates to the English lines, are
altogether insufficient and unsatisfactory; and the conclusions
are only to be received as the best approximation that can be
made with the stinted information obtained.
No data are attainable by which either the mileage of the
other vehicles composing the passenger trains, such as horseboxes, carriage-trucks, vans, &c., or the number of these respectively which enter into the average composition of a train,
can be ascertained, even approximately.
To ascertain the average number of wagons composing a
goods train, we must divide the mileage of the goods wagons by
that of the goods engines. This gives, for the lines worked by
the Northwesternl Company, as quotient, 21.7. Thus it would
follow that the average number of goods wagons entering a train
was 21.7, which, with brake-vans, &c., would compose a train
of 24 to 25 vehicles.
These conclusions, though obtained only on approximate data,
are in near accordance with the average magnitudes of the trains,
according to the estimate of Captain Huish.
He estimates a passenger train, on the Northwestern lines,
at 70 tons, engine and tender included. If the engine and ten
[CHAP. VI.
102
1. 
THE CARRYING STOCK.
der, with their complement of water and fuel, be taken at 30
tons, and 51 tons be allowed for each vehicle with its load, we
should have about seven vehicles composing the train.  But, from
the preceding calculation, it appears that of these, 4.17 are passenger-coaches. There would remain, therefore, about three
for horse-boxes, carriage-trucks, luggage and parcel-vans, breakvans, and post-offices.
Captain Huish also estimates the average weight of a goods
train at 154 tons. If 34 tons be allowed for the engine and
tender, we shall have 120 tons for the wagons, which, at 5 tons
per wagon, would give 24 wagons as composing the train. By
the preceding computation the number of goods wagons would
be nearly 22, which, with brake-vans, would make up the estimnated number.
If it be required to exhibit the average extent to which the
railway has been used by the rolling stock, it will be sufficient to
compare the mileage of each class of vehicle with the length of
the line. To prevent erroneous inferences, it will be necessary,
however, clearly to explain what meaning ought to be attached
to the results of such a process of calculation.
Let us first take the locomotive stock.
If the total mileage of the passenger engines be divided by
the total length of the railway upon which they are worked, the
quotientwill represent the average number of passenger engines
which have run over every part of the road. The meaning of
this is, that the quotient will express the number of passenger
engines which, having run each once over the entire extent of
the railway, will have accomplished the same total mileage as
have the actual passenger engines. In effect, this is nothing
more than diffusing, as it were, the mileage of the engines,
which was unequally distributed over different parts of the line,
uniformly over the whole line.
The same explanation will apply to the mileage of the goods
engines, and to the mileage of every class of vehicles.
If, then, we divide successively the total mileage of each class
of engines, and of each class of vehicles composing the carrying
stock, by the length of the railway, we shall find a series of
quotients which will express the number of engines and of vehicles of each class, each of which being once moved over the
entire railway would have accomplished the same total mileage
as the entire rolling stock has actually done.
Thus, as already explained, this process consists in diffusing
uniformly over the whole line the mileage of the rolling stock.
CHAP. VI.]
103 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
As an example of this, let us take the Belgian railways for the
year 1844.
The entire length of the railways on which the rolling stock
was employed was 347 miles.  If we divide this into the mileage of the locomotive stock given in table p. 84, and into that of
the carrying stock given in table p. 95, we shall obtain a series
of quotients which will exhibit the number of engines, and mileage of each kind, which, being distributed uniformly over the
whole length of the railway, will represent the actual amount
of traffic. This is exhibited in the following table:
TABL.E showing the Quantity of locomotive and carrying Stock which,
being moved the whole Length of the Belgian Railways, consisting
of 347 Miles, would have the same Mileage as the actual Stock.
Engines....................................... 4556
Passenger-carrying stock:
Passenger carriages, 1st class................   4814
, 2d class................ 5802
3d class................   7467
Baggage-vans.............................. 2418
Parcel-vans................................ 3044
Horse-boxes.............................. 268
Carriage-trucks............................ 895
Goods-carrying stock:
Goods-wagons............................ 2429
Cattle-wagons (beasts)......................  402
,,  (small cattle)..................   134
In the case of a system of railways on which the traffic is
tolerably uniform, this average distribution of the traffic over
the entire line may be safely adopted as the basis of general
reasoning; but it frequently happens, in an extensive system of
railways, that different parts of the line are very unequally used
by the traffic.  An extremely active traffic will prevail on some
sections, while others are comparatively deserted. Any average calculation of this kind requires, therefore, in such case, to
be applied in a qualified sense; and indeed it is desirable in all
cases to obtain, as far as practicable, an estimate of the extent
to which every separate section of the railway is used by the
rolling stock.
On the continental railways, where records of the services
are maintained with more care and accuracy than appears to be
customary in England, the amount of traffic on every section of
the line can be separately obtained and exhibited. We shall
return to this subject in a following chapter.
104
[CHAP. VI. 
THE CARRYING STOCK.
To ascertain the dead weight drawn by each engine, it is
only necessary to know the average weight of each species of
empty vehicle. In the case of the Belgian railways, the following were the weights of the different classes of vehicles:
n Tons.
3-15
3'00
2-75
3'50
3'25
3'40
2-60
2-60
2'60
2-60
Passenger carriage, 1st class.................
2d class....................
3d class..................
Baggage-vans..............................
Parcel-vans..............................
Horse-box..................................
Carriage-trtuck............................
Goods-wagon...............................
Cattle-wagon (beasts).......................
"     (small cattle)...................2
The average amount of dead weight drawn by each engine
may be found by comparing the average composition of each
train with the average weights of the different classes of carriages composing it. Thus, by comparing the above tables, the
one showing the average composition of the passenger and goods
trains, and the other the weights of the vehicles composing them
respectively, we shall find the following to be the average dead
weight drawn by each class of engine:
In passenger trains:
Passenger carriages, 1st class................
2d-class................
7    3d class................
Baggage-vans.............................
Parcel-vans...............................
Horse-boxes...............................
Carriage-trucks.............................
In goods trains:
Goods-wagons............................. 4007
Cattle-wagons (beasts)...................... 065
"      (small cattle)................. 0'21
Total dead weight drawn by each engine:
In passenger trains......................... 2773
In goods trains........................... 4093
As the carrying business of the railway companies is at present
conducted, some practical difficulty may arise in making deductions from the mileage of the carrying stock, as compared with
that of the traffic; for, as will be presently explained, the car                              ]E*
CHAP. VI.)
105
Tons.
5'07
6-82
6-88
2'84
3'28
0'30
0'78 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
rying stock of each company runs more or less over the lines
of the others. The traffic, therefore, of each company is not,
strictly speaking, carried byits own carrying stock exclusively;
and, on the other hand, its own carrying stock is not exclusively
employed in carrying its own traffic. If, however, it may be
assumed, in reference to the operations of a large company like
the Northwestern, that the average amount of mileage of the
rolling stock of other companies which pass over its lines is equal
to the average mileage of its own rolling stock upon other lines,
the result of calculations made by comparing the mileage of the
rolling stock with the traffic, will still in the main be correct.
To obtain perfectly exact inferences, however, with regard
to the use of the carrying stock, we ought to be in possession,
on the one hand, of the total mileage of the traffic of each class
carried by all the companies, who use their carrying stock in
common; and, on the other hand, of an account of the mileage
of the total carrying stock they use in common. In effect, the
general business should be treated as though it were the business
of a single company, and the general carrying stock similarly
regarded.
This point naturally leads to the consideration of the subject
of the clearing-house, which we shall explain in a subsequent
chapter.
To ascertain the proportion of the dead weight to the profitable load on the English railways, we do not possess as full or
satisfactory data as in the case of foreign railways, where the
official and other reports supply more ample and minute details.
It may be stated, however, generally, that the weight of the
first-class coaches on the English railways at present varies from
42 tons to nearly 5 tons; that the weight of the second-class
carriages varies from 31 tons to 4i tons; and that of the thirdclass carriages from 3 to 4 tons.
106
[CHAP. VI. 
CHAPTER VII.
MAINTENANCE AND REPRODUCTION OF THE ROLLING STOCK.
A QUESTION has lately been raised among railway companies,
respecting the wear and tear of the rolling stock, and the proper
method of maintaining it in a state of perfect efficiency.
Analogies have been suggested between this and the permanent way, and it has been argued that, as the permanent way,
notwithstanding its annual repair, is liable to a gradual deterioration from year to year, and will at length become so worn as to
require complete renewal; so the rolling stock, notwithstanding
its annual repairs, will be in a like condition, and at a certain
epoch, more or less remote, will be brought to a state of decrepitude, so to speak, which will reduce its value to that of old
materials; and that at this epoch, whenever it may arrive, a
like renewal of the rolling stock, including under this term
the drawing stock and the carrying stock, will become necessary.
It was only lately, however, that the question was raised
whether the rolling stock was really, in the condition here described, analogous to the permanent way, and whether there is
in fact incidental to it the insensible deterioration not made
up by the regular annual repairs and replacement of worn-out
stock.
Nothing can be more simple and manifest than the economical
principles upon which the solution of such a question must be
founded. Railway companies have a double character. They
are at once proprietors and farmers, landlords and tenants. As
owners of the road they are proprietors, as workers of the road
they are tenants.
In the one capacity, they are guardians of capital; in the other,
they are administrators of revenue: in the one, they have an
interest to maintain the permanent way and the floating capital
in the highest state of efficiency out of revenue; in the latter,
they have an interest not to expend more out of revenue than
they are required to do with reference to the stock delivered to
them for work.
The first projectors of the improved modern railways contelnm 
plated themselves only as proprietors of the lines.  They in tended to make a road, and to offer it to the public to be run
upon, all persons having the means of transport upon it, paying
them a toll for its use. The railways, however, had scarcely
come into operation, when it became glaringly manifest that this
analogy to a common road was altogether destitute of foundation,
and that the new instrument of transport must be worked upon
principles, and by methods, totally different. It became evident,
in a word, that the proprietors of the road must themselves be come carriers upon it; the unity of management, and the harmony
of movement, indispensable to the efficient action of its peculiar
mode of transport, rendering this indispensable.
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company therefore
at once provided, under the force of circumstances, an apparatus for transport between these two great commercial marts.
Other railways quickly succeeded, and followed the same
course.
Various other exigencies soon pressed upon the railway proprietary.  In the first instance, they derived their supply of
drawing and carrying stock from the established mnanufactories
of engines and carriages in various parts of the country. The
demand, however, for these objects of fabrication multiplied with
unparalleled rapidity. A supply was required, not only by coinmpanies throughout the United Kingdom, but by companies which
sprung into existence in all parts of Europe. The established
manufacturers were utterly unable to meet demands so extensive,
and, in a short period after the opening of the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway, all the steam-engine manufacturers in
England had more orders than they could satisfy in several
years.
Under these circumstances, the railway companies saw themselves reduced to the alternative, either of suspending their
progress, or of fabricating for themselves.   They, of course,
adopted the latter measure, and proceeded to erect extensive
works for the manufacture of engines and carriages, at convenient
points upon the principal lines.
Ultimately, this measure was crowned with complete success;
and the large companies were soon in a condition, not only to
supply all their own wants, but to furnish engine power and
vehicles of transport for the smaller companies, whose means
did not justify them in erecting similar establishments. Thus,
the Northwestern Company have establishments for the fabrication of every part of their rolling stock at Crewe, Wolverton,
108
RAILWAY ECONOM'Y.
[CHAP. VII. 
CHAP. VII.] REPRODUCTION OF ROLLING STOCK.
Longsight,Liverpool, and London; and theotherlarge companies,
though less amply, are still adequately provided. The establish inents of the Northwestern Company are of such magnitude
as to enable them to supply the stock necessary to work, not
only their own lines, consisting of about 450 miles, but also the
lines of other companies, extending to about 220 miles more.
The three factories at Crewe, Wolverton, and Longsight have
absorbed a capital of nearly half a million sterling.
At Wolverton, a station about 50 miles from London, and
therefore midway between London and Birmingham, the Northwestern Company have built a factory for the maintenance
and repair of the locomotive stock employed upon this section
of the railway, with its branches included between London and
Birmingham, formerly known as the London and Birmingham
Railway, and at present distinguished as the southern division
of the Northwestern Railway. The aspect of this establishment would afford to any intelligent observer a striking evidence
of the great cost at which the locomotive power of a railwvay,
having so active a traffic as this, is maintained.
The factory itself, of immense extent, is supplied with a
large stock of machinery of every kind used in constructing
those great engines whose performance has so justly excited
the astonishment and admiration of the public. Here are seen
two or three dozen lathes driven by steam, as well as planing
machines, screw-cutting machines, boring and drilling machines,
and, in a word, all the stock of an engine factory on a vast
scale. Attached to it is an extensive stable, for the reception
of the engines which are under repair, corresponding in form
and magnitude with those already described as being erected
at chief stations.
The company have built a small village around the works
for the habitations of the operatives employed in them, and we
there see a population of from  1800 to 2000, with a church,
schools, libraries, reading-rooms, and all the conveniences that
an opulent and intelligent body like that which presides over
this system of railways may be conceived to provide.
The establishment of Crewe is on a still more extensive
scale, being erected for the purposes not merely of maintenance
and repair, but for the manufacture of engines.
The town of Crewe has sprung up within a few years in
connection with these works, and now contains a population of
about 8000, of whom about one half are in the employment of
the railway company.
109
. I 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The works of Crewe are erected upon a vast scale.  Here
machinery may be seen of every description, driven by steamengines of great power, and performing all the operations connected with the construction of the ponderous engines which
work the passenger and goods traffic, on nearly 700 miles of
railway, spread over the country between Birmingham, Liverpool, Holyhead, and Carlisle; for the Northwestern Company
not only provides the power necessary for working its own
lines, but also works, by a species of contract, several other
adjacent lines of railway.
I have already stated that the stock of engines in actual
operation during the twelve mnonths ending the 30th June,
1849, was above 457, besides 47 new engines in store.
In the workshops at Crewe may be seen, engines in every
stage of progress, from the unconnected parts, the disjecta
membra, to the machine in combination and ready for starting
on the road.
There is sufficient power there to turn out a complete engine every week, malking an annual supply amounting to about
10 per cent. on the total stock.
The following statement of the locomotive stock of the Northwestern Railway on the 1st January, 1848, when it was less
in amount than at the epoch above mentioned, is given by Captain Huish in his report to the directors, dated June, 1848:
STATEMENT showing Quantity'and estimated actual Value of Articles
included in Amount charged to Capital for "Working Stock" of
~1,462,901.-January 1st, 1848.
mIzNS            Value.
PtNTNTZ~~ ~ ~                      Pe Engine
Ii
Average.     Total.
~.  S.
1,499 10
1,321 0
1,400 0
750   0
Southern Division................ 
Northern Division —--------------         
Manchester and Birmingham. —-..
Engines condemned and used in)
pumping, ballasting, &c.-South- 
ern Division.-.-. —-----
Engines sold, less amount receiv-)
ed for 6-deducted from Capital 
Account to Dec. 31st, 1847.
15
426
110
[CHAP. VII.
NO.
71
60
8
NO,
109
126
25
NO.
180
186
33
12
.E.
269,900
245,706
46,200
9,000
6,775 
CHAP. VII.] REPRODUCTION OF ROLLING STOCK.
m   |  Value.
ENGINES.               8 
E  Per Engine   Total.
;~       Average.
WORK IN PROGRESS.       No..o.               ~O.
Locomotive Department.
Southern Division...... —--------------             -       3,610
Northern Division (Crewe) —-....2              ~...2 7, 410 0
t32,894
Ditto,L. & M.).-.....   5,484 0 32,894
Ditto      (Stores)..........  25,802
N5o.  Price.
TENDERS.
Southern Division.............. —------------—. 187 250 0 46,750
Northern Division ----------------.    178     274 0    48,772
Manchester and Birmingham........ 31    300 0     9,300
TOOLS, MOVABLE MACHINERY, &C., 
IN ENGINE SHOPS.  I
Southern Division....... —--------------                     31,800
Northern Division. —--------------                          23,687
Manchester and Birmingham.. —--—.. 3,119
Amount advanced to Sharp, Broth- )
ers, on account of undelivered ----.... —       5,000
engines. —--------- 
Total for Locomotive Account-....     -       808,315
A second department of this vast establishment is devoted to
the supply of the carrying-stock, that is to say, of the passenger
carriages of every description-the horse-boxes, baggage-vans,
parcel-vans, brake-vans, carriage-trucks, post-offices, and merchandise wagons of every class.
When it is considered that the company keep in active
service about 1100 passenger coaches and above 6000 goodswagons of various kinds, and that, besides the innumerable
passenger trains which run upon the lines, there are 15 regular
goods trains daily, it will be easily conceived how vast a power
of supply must be necessary for the maintenance of the rolling
stock, and what ample employment is supplied for this department of the Crewe establishment, where there are always from
50 to 60 new passenger coaches in progress, besides numberless
other vehicles.
Captain Huish has given the following statement of the carrying stock employed upon various railways in England and Scotland on the 1st of January, 1848, an epoch when the rolling
111 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
stock of the Northwestern was considerably
than at the present time:
Line.     a   Total.  Reinarks.
$                        Q I_
London and Northwestern 
Midland —-------------— 3Eastern Counties —-------- 7
Great Western ------------
York and North Midland. -       -
York, Newcastle, and Ber wick —----------------.Edinburgh and Glasgow...
Lancashire and Yorkshire -.
The Great Western wagons are of twice the capacity of those on the
narrow gauge, and their merchandise traffic is one third of the London and
Northwestern Company's.
Before the fabrication of railway vehicles was conducted on
the present extensive scale, the cost of a first-class carriage
was X420, and that of a second-class carriage X300. By im proved processes consequent upon the more enlarged scale of
the manufacture, these vehicles are now constructed with
greater capacity and accommodation, at lower prices. A firstclass carriage, affording ample accommodations for 18 passengers, is now constructed for X380, and a second-class carriage,
accommodating 25 passengers, costs X260; horse-boxes about
X150, and other passenger vehicles, varying in cost, but averaging about X100. These prices, it must be observed, however, are the actual cost incurred by the company fabricating
for themselves, without including any profit to the manufacturer.
They are, in fact, the cost prices.
From  the actual quantity of carrying stock of each kind
employed in working certain railways of which the total amount
of the traffic is known, we can obtain a close approximation to
the quantity employed on all the railways of the United Kingdom.
For this purpose we may, as in like computations relative to
the locomotive power, take the gross receipts as a fair exponent
of the amount of the traffic.
To find the number of passenger carriages of each kind, and
of other vehicles of transport used on the railways, let us then
112
[CIIAP. VII.
less in extent
NO'
484D
3600
1057
890
861
1991
917
3000
NO.
612
300
639
NO.
653
2500'
529
826
9798
NO -
97
70
30
34
6,07
6,400
2,0,95
922
1,721
11,783
917
3,000
' Can
be used
for
Goods
also. 
CHAP. VII.] REPRODUCTION OF ROLLING STOCK.
augment the stock of the Northwestern Company in the ratio
by which its traffic of each kind, is exceeded by the total traffic
of all the railways of the kingdom taken collectively.
We find, by the official reports, that the relative amount of
the receipts for the half-year ending 31st December, 1848, was
as follows:
On all the Rail-     On the Lines
ways of the King- worked by the North- Ratio.
dom.         western Company.
~.                  ~.
For passengers, 1st class         1,003,516           302,892         3'3
,, 2d class..1,360,468                   273,434          5-0
3d class..       919,316           141,263          6-5
For goods, &c.                    2,461,663           603,228          4'0
The stock of the Northwestern Company for the twelve
months ending June 30th, 1849, was as follows:
Passenger coaches, 1st class...............4
2d class...............
3d class...............
Horse-boxes............................. 246
Carriage-trucks.......................... 228
Goods-wagons........................... 6395
To find, therefore, the stock necessary to work the railways
generally we shall multiply the stock of the Northwestern
Company by the numbers given in the last column. Hence
we find:
ESTIMATE of the total Carrying Stock used for working the Railway
Traffic of the United Kingdom in 1848-9.
Numbers Estimated
Numbers.    Vle
Value.
Passenger coaches, 1st class....................  1,488      665,440
,,  2d class....................  2,080       540,800
3d class....................  1,488    223,200
Horse-boxes..................................  820            82,000
Carriage-trucks -...............................   760        66,880
Wagons for merchandise, live stock, &c......... 24,944    1,621,360
Coal-wagons (uncertain)........................ 25,000      875,000
Totals...........  56,580    4,074,680
113
451
416
229
246
228
6395 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Thus the carrying stock of the railways of the kingdom consists of nearly sixty thousand vehicles, of which a)bout six
thousand are passenger coaches; and the aggregate value of
this stock is four million sterling, being about two per cent. of
the entire capital expended.
It appears, therefore, that the chief railway companies are
not merely proprietors of railways and carriers upon them, but
they are also engine-builders and carriage and wagon-builders
upon a scale of almost unparalleled magnitude.
By such nieans the rolling stock, in the widest sense of the
term, is kept in a state of perfect efficiency, and receives from
month to month, and from year to year, such additions as the
gradual and inevitable increase of the traffic renders necessary.
As has been already observed, a question has lately been
agitated as to the necessity of establishing an annual reserve
fund for the future replacement of the rolling stock at a future
epoch, when, notwithstanding the current annual repairs, and
the infusion of new stock, the whole stock will have beent so
worn as to be in the mass unfit for future use, and of no other
value than old materials.
On the assumption of such a contingency, several of the
most considerable railway companies have for many years back
put aside a sum calculated upon a conjectural estimate for this
purpose. It was only recently that the question was raised,
whether such a contingency as that here contemplated is really
within the scope of possibility, and whether the rolling stock
was, like the permanent way, subject to age? Is there or not
a gradual and insensible deterioration of its condition, not made
good either by annual repairs, or by the gradual infusion of new
stock rendered necessary by circumstances? A practical inquiry has been accordingly instituted on this question, and it
has been demonstrated that the natural progress of repairs and
renewals in the movable capital of railway companies is such
that no such gradual deterioration exists, and that at no future
epoch could such an event arrive as that of the movable stock
being reduced to such a state of deterioration as to require a
complete renewal. In the course of time the stock of engines
and vehicles is continually repaired. New wheels are put on at
one time, and a new body at another. The different moving
parts most subject to wear are gradually renewed; and the
engines and vehicles may be conceived even to be subject to
such a succession of repairs, that in many of them not a vestige
of the original materials remains. But, independently of these
[CIIAP. VIT.
114 
CHAP. VII.] REPRODUCTION OF ROLLING STOCK.
repairs, fresh stock is added from year to year, to supply the
place of stock which has become unfit for use, either because
of its insufficient magnitude, or because of its extreme disrepair.
Eiven in this case, however, the old materials of coaches ox en gines are more or less worked up into other vehicles or engines,
and never totally disappear from the road.
The movable capital, therefore, may be considered to be in a
state of continual reproduction; and that which, in the case of
the permanentsway, must take place altogether at a future
epoch, when the entire road will have to be relaid, takes place
in the rolling stock gradually from year to year. Its existence
is perennial, and it is in a constant state of rejuvenescence.
This point having been conclusively established, the companies
very properly discontinued to set aside from revenue any fund
for the future reproduction of stock; but they would have been
justified, in strict equity, in going further, and in taking back
from the capital, and placing to the credit of revenue, all the
sums which, in previous years, they had erroneously brought
to the credit of capital, to represent a deterioration which did
not exist, and to pay for a future want which can never arise.
Connected intimately with this circumstance was the whole
question between revenue and capital, which has of late been
the subject of so much discussion.
If a railway company had the permanent character of a commercial firm, the interchange of value between revenue and
capital would be a matter of less importance, being a subject
altogether discretionary with the proprietary. But a railway
company is a fluctuating body, consisting of a variety of parties,
having various, and, in some respects, opposite interests, and,
nevertheless, having each claims and rights entitled to respect
and consideration on the part of those to whom the management
of the affairs of the company is delegated.
A part of the proprietary consists of persons who have selected the railway as a means of permanent investment. These
regard the steadiness, uniformity, and permanence of dividends
with quite as much solicitude as their amount. To them these
dividends form a permanent current income, on the periodical
return of which they lay their account.
Another class use the railway as a temporary investment,
and no inconsiderable portion of them resort to it as a means of
commercial speculation, purchasing the shares, not with a view
to the enjoyment of dividends, but with the prospect of their
re-sale at advantageous prices. With these the railway shares
115 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
are objects of commercial speculation, of purchase and sale, as
any other object in the market might be, being bought at a lower
and sold at a higher price, and becoming thereby an ordinary
source of commercial profit.  Whatever may be thought of this
traffic, it is an inevitable consequence of the facility with which
railway stock may be transferred from hand to hand; and that
quality having been conferred upon it by its creators, the con sequences can not be rejected.
The rights, therefore, even of speculators in railway stock,
not to mention those who in good faith use it as a temporary
investment, or a sort of savings-bank, are entitled to respect and
consideration.
Now the class of proprietors first mentioned have less regard
to the amount of present dividends than to the permanent value
of the stock, and they chiefly expect from the directors of the
railway a due regard to the efficient maintenance of the permanent way and the movable stock out of revenue, before any surplus be appropriated to dividend.  On the other hand, the latter
class, and especially the speculators, care nothing for the permanent value of the concern, and look only to the present
amount of dividend. Between these two classes of proprietors
the directors are called on to do equal justice.
To augment revenue out of capital would be beneficial to the
latter class at the expense of the former; and to augment capital out of revenue would be beneficial to the former at the expense of the latter. Both proceedings would be equally unjust,
and ought to be avoided.
The public has of late been excited in an extraordinary degree
on this question by certain reported malpractices in railway
management, by which the value of shares has been raised to a
spurious price in the market by unacknowledged drafts of revenue on capital, and, as usual when public excitement operates,
a clamor has been raised which would hurry railway directors
into the other extreme. They have been even urged on all
hands to close the capital account with all practicable expedition;
a measure which, it is easy to demonstrate, would be utterly
impracticable, unless it were deliberately intended in future to
feed capital at the expense of revenue.
It is manifest that the total cost of the permanent way, the
stations, workshops, the furniture, tools, and machinery, and the
entire amount of rolling stock, must be charged to capital. Now,
so long as trade is progressive, so long will the traffic on railways
be in a state of gradual increase. It consequently follows that
116
[CHAP. VII. 
CHAP. VII.] REPRODUCTION OF ROLLING STOCK.
a corresponding increase must annually be made in the movable
stock necessary to work this traffic.
To charge such annual increase upon revenue would be to
debit revenue with capital, or, what is the same, to make unac knowledged drafts on revenue in favor of capital. Such a pro ceeding would be unjust to the temporary shareholder.
But the impossibility of closing the capital account does not
arise solely from the continual necessity of augmenting the
movable stock. To the most superficial observer it must be
evident that other exigencies upon capital will continually arise.
The extension of traffic renders necessary the augmentation
of workshops, the increase of warehouses and stations, the con struction of new wharves and sidings, and, in fine, the addition
of short branches, on the one side, and on the other, of the
main line. These demands on capital are not such as will recur
at distant intervals, and in such a manner as to be met by extraordinary measures. They are of constant recurrence; and
it must be expected, in every half-yearly account of the extensive companies, that an addition, more or less, will appear to
the capital.
In the conflict that has arisen between those who, on the one
hand, are interested in the maintenance of capital, and, on the
other, in securing present large dividends, a question has arisen
as to the expediency of taking an annual valuation of stock, and
charging the revenue with a sum representing its depreciation.
The propriety of such a measure may be tested by examining
its consequences.
The value of the property which a railway company possesses
and uses depends jointly upon the condition of efficiency in which
it is maintained, and on the market value of the objects which
compose it. Now, it is evident that the duty of the existing
proprietors is to maintain the entire property, fixed and movable, of the company in a state of perfect efficiency, its quantity
and quality being equal to what they were when the railway
commenced its operations. If time has deteriorated some portion, new portions have been infused; so that, on the whole,
the value in use remains the same. What depreciation, it may
be asked, is the existing company called upon to make good
firom year to year?
The answer to this must be the marketable depreciation; that
is to say, the fall in price produced, not by any deterioration of
real value in the stock, but by other causes foreign to the business of the company acting on the tmaiket.
117 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Now let us consider the consequences of the admission of
such a principle.
The fluctuation of the marketable value of various classes of
objects constituting the property of a railway company is very
considerable. The rolling stock, for example, owing to improvements which have taken place in its manufacture, has undergone
a considerable fall in price. Thus, a first-class carriage, which
in 1837 cost X420, in 1847 could be obtained for Z380. But
besides this fall in price, the capacity and value for use of the
first-class coach obtained in 1847 for Z380 was much greater
than that for which X420 was paid in 1837. In short, price
and value taken together, the carriage of 1847 was more than
25 per cent. cheaper than the carriage of 1837. The same
observation would be applicable to all other classes of vehicle.
It appears, then, that, in the course of ten years, a rolling
stock could be obtained for X30,000 which would previously
have cost X40,000. The rolling stock, therefore, in this interval, underwent a depreciation of X25 per cent. in marketable
value, while it suffered no depreciation whatever in real value.
Nevertheless, if the principle of annual valuation and making
good depreciation out of revenue be admitted, the existing
proprietors could be called upon to pay out of revenue this difference of price.
But, if the principle be good in one way, it can not be bad in
another; and those who maintain that revenue must make up to
capital for the diminution of marketable value in the property
of the railway, can not deny that capital should, on the other
hand, supply to revenue the augmentation which such value
may receive from like fluctuation in the market.   Now, since
the establishment of railways, the price of iron rails has been
subject to great fluctuations. At one time they were as low as
X5 a ton, and at another epoch as high as X15 a ton.  Let us
suppose this fluctuation, as might easily have happened, to take
place in two successive years. On valuing the rails in one year
they would be estimated at 10 a ton more thian their value the
preceding year. Now, as in a double line of railway laid with
rails of 75 lbs. per yard there are 235 tons of rails per mile, the
existing shareholders would be entitled, in case of a rise in tlhe
price of the rails of 10 per ton within the year, to take firom
capital, in favor of revenue in this case, a credit amounting to
o2350 per mile of the entire length of the double line.  If the
principle of depreciation and annual valuation be adopted at all,
this consequence of it can not be rejected.
[CHAP. VII.
118 
THE STATIONS.
But, in truth, such a principle can not be maintained. If an
annual valuation or survey of stock be made, it must be upon
the principle of estimating it by its quantity and efficiency only,
and not by its marketable value, which is determined by causes
over which the company has no control, and quite independent
of the use or abuse of their property.*
CHAPTER VIII.
THE STATIONS.
THE ultimate object of the railway business being the transfer
from place to place of persons and goods, and the phenomena
attending this operation having been peculiarly imposing and
unexpected, it has, not unnaturally, so engrossed public attention, that very large and important branches of the service are
almost wholly left out of view.
Nevertheless, the mere operation of change of place or transport, properly so called, constitutes in reality only a part of the
great business of this branch of commerce.
To secure the safety and promptitude of dispatch and delivery,
many operations are necessary, and numerous agents of a highly
responsible character are employed, both before the actual business of transport begins and after it has been completed.  Even
while the process of locomotion is in progress there are a variety
of measures necessary, not immediately connected with transport itself, for the attainment of the ultimate object of the traveler or the expeditor.
The great theatres of these operations, preliminary and subsequent to the transport, as well as at certain epochs in its
progress, are the STATIONS.
It is impossible to regard the vast buildings and their dependencies, which constitute a chief terminal station of a great line
of railway, without feelings of inexpressible astonishment at the
* These questions have been discussed with much ability by Captain Huish, manager of the Northwestern Railway, in two reports
addressed to the directors of that company, on the renewal of the permanent way and stock.  I have been indebted to these reports for
much valuable information relating to the condition of the lines and
the stock.
CHAP. VIII.]
119 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
magnitude of the capital and the boldness of the enterprise,
which are manifested-in the operations of which they are the
stage.
Nothing in the history of the past affords any parallel to such
a spectacle.
Such an establishment may be regarded as consisting primarily
of four distinct departments:
1st. The passenger station, appropriated to the embarkment
and disembarkment of the passengers, and other objects of traffic
which are carried by the same trains.
2d. The goods station, which is appropriated to the reception
and embarkment, and the disembarkinent and discharge, of all
descriptions of goods and live stock transmitted by railway.
3d. The de6p6t for the locomotive powerI, where the engines
repose, are cleaned, examined, and repaired, and from which
they issue prepared for the traction of the trains.
4th. The carriage de6p6t, appropriated to the cleaning, maintenance, and repairs of the carrying stock, consisting of passenger-carriages of the various classes, cairriage-trucks, and horseboxes, baggage and parcel-vans, goods-wagons of various forms,
cattle-trucks and brake-vans.
The stations for passengers and goods are generally in different and sometimes in distant positions, the place selected for
each being that which is most convenient for the approach of
the traffic to which they are respectively appropriated. Often,
at a point short of the terminus, the line forks into two branches,
one leading to the passenger, the other to the goods station.
The former is established at a place as near as can conveniently
be obtained to the centre of the population which constitutes the
passenger traffic; the other is established in the position found
most convenient for the arrival of the goods traffic. Thus at
Liverpool the branch leading to the passenger d6p6t enters the
town by a tunnel carried beneath the streets, and terminates
at a point not far from the centre of population. The branch
leading to the goods station, likewise conducted through a tunnel
under the town, is carried to the docks and quays, where the
goods are received directly fronm the shipping upon the rails,
and reciprocally delivered from the rails to the shipping.
To avoid the necessity of taking locomotive engines into the
town under such circumstances, and sometimes because the
lines are conducted to the terminus by inclined planes, these
terminal branches of the railways are sometimes worked by
stationary engines and ropes. By means of these the trains of
120
[CHAP. VIII. 
THE STATIONS.
passengers or goods, as the case may be, are drawn fiomn their
respective stations to the point where the terminal branches
intersect, and where they are delivered over to the locomotive
engine.
Thus, firom the Euston-square passenger station of the Northwestern Railway, the passenger trains were originally drawn
by stationary engines up an incline, by which they were taken
to the goods station at Camden Town, where they were delivered over to the locomotive. This was afterward done by the
locomotive engines. At Liverpool two stationary engines are
appropriated to the goods and passenger trains; one draws the
passenger trains from the Lime-street station through the tunnel to the point of junction; the other draws the goods trains
from the goods station at the docks to the same point.
THE PASSENGER STATION.
The passenger station consists of two departments, which
are separated from each other by the lines of railway and the
numerous trains of carriages which always occupy them, so that,
except to the privileged agents of the railway, these departments
are inaccessible to each other.
They consist of separate buildings, are supplied with separate
approaches, and often lead into different lines of streets.
These two departments are appropriated, the one to the
passengers about to depart upon the railway, and the other to
the passengers who have arrived.
To facilitate the service of the station, the companies enter
into arrangement with various public vehicles,-which start from
various quarters of the capital at such hours that they shall
arrive at the railway station about a quarter of an hour before
the trains leave.
As the hour of departure approaches, lines of these carriages
will be seen rapidly converging toward the entrances of the
station of departure. As they arrive, they find agents of the
railway, distinguished by their uniform, ready to aid the traveler.
The moment the vehicle arrives, these agents assist him to
dismount, and immediately take charge of his luggage.  They
supply him with the local information which may be necessary,
such as the proper fare for his carriage, if he arrive in a hired
vehicle. This service is important not only for the convenience
of the traveler, but for the expedition of the railway business.
A large number of vehicles must arrive, deliver their fare, and
F
CLIAP. VIII.]
121 
RAlLWAY ECONOMY.
depart within a very brief space of time, and such a process
could not be completed without all the aid which the wellorganized service of the railways can supply.  The passenger,
dismounted, finds that his luggage has disappeared, an agent of
the railway having taken charge of it. He enters the station,
and proceeding directly to the booking-office, where he pays his
fare, receives a ticket, which bears marks indicating the train
by which he is about to start, the hour of his departure, the
class of carriage in which he is entitled to travel, and the place
of his destination. Entering the building, he is conducted to a
waiting-room, several of which are prepared, furnished, warmed,
and lighted, and appropriated to the different classes of passengers.  Here he finds, if he have a few minutes to wait, innumerable conveniences, such as guide-books, journals, and periodical publications, of the kind most in demand by travelers, offered
for sale.
On passing to the platform, he finds his luggage deposited
there on a b)arrow, in charge of a railway agent. He proceeds
to the baggage-office, where it is weighed, labeled, and booked,
ind where he pays for excess of weight, if any such there be.
ills baggage is then put in charge of a loading-porter, who
wvheels it to the baggage-van, unless it be so small in bulk and
weight that the passenger can take it in or upon the carriage in
which he travels.
It is customary on the English roads to allow passengers a
certain amount of luggage without additional charge, that amount
being, in fact, included in their fare. The quantity allowed to
first-class passengers is about 1 cwt.; to second-class passengers
generally 43 cwt.; and to third-class passengers -2 cwt. The
charge for additional weight varies on different railways.  In
some it is at the rate of Id. per lb., independent of distance; in
others it is at the rate of ld. for every 80 miles traveled.
On the continental railways the quantity of luggage allowed
to be taken without charge by passengers is incomparably less;
but, on the other hand, the personal fares charged to passengers
are also less. On some railways on the Continent no luggage is
allowed to go free, unless it be smnall parcels which the passenger takes in his hand.
Tile question of free luggage is one in the equitable arrangernent of which the passenger is as much interested as the railway company; and it may fairly be questioned whether the
rigorous rules observed by some of the continental railways,
under which all luggage whatever must be regularly weighed,
[CIIAP. VIII.
I  -1, 
THE STATIONS.
booked, paid for, and placed in charge of the railway agents, is
not, after all, most convenient, most economical, and most ad  vantageous to the traveler.
If an amount of luggage so considerable as that allowed to
railway passengers in England be included in their personal
fare, it follows that the portion of the passengers who take no
luggage pay for the transport of the luggage of the remainder;
for it is clear that the railway company carries nothing gratu itously, and in fixing its tariff of fares, it assumes that each
passenger will take a certain average amount of luggage.
The passenger who has no luggage is generally of the class
who can least afford extra expense, and the injustice of exacting
from him, in the amount of his fare, the price of the transport
of the luggage of the wealthier passenger is the more unjust
and oppressive.
But there is another inconvenience attending the gratuitous
transport of luggage. The railway company is responsible only
for such articles of transport as are regularly weighed, booked,
put upon the way-bill, and paid for. Gratuitously transported
luggage involves, therefore, no responsibility on the part of the
company. It is presumed to be in charge of its owner. Hence
arise endless disputes respecting lost luggage.
An important branch of the traffic transported by passenger
trains is that which in England is called Parcels, and on the
Continent,, Articles de Messagerie."
Booking and reception offices for such articles are established
at various places in the capitals and the large towns with which
the lines of railway communicate.
The parcels thus sent are transmitted to the railway station
at a specified timne before the starting of the trains.
A distinct department is assigned to this business at the chief
stations, supplied with a proper staff of agents, consisting of
superintendents, book-keepers, weighing and loading porters,
conductors, &c.
This parcel office, like the passenger station itself, is subdivided into two bureaux, one appropriated to the business of
delivery, and the other of reception; or one to the parcels which
arrive, and which are to be distributed and delivered, and the
other to the parcels which are received and which are to be
forwarded.  These two offices, which are constructed on a scale
proportionate to the importance of the station, and the extent
of the traffic, are usually separated by the bureau of the superintendent.
C14AP. Vill.]
123 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
On the delivery of a parcel, if its carriage is prepaid, it is
first handed over to a weighing porter, who throws it into an
index weighing machine, and calls out its weight to the booking
clerk; the latter enters it with its destination and cost of transport.
Meanwhile the parcel is handed to another porter, who receives from a clerk a label indicating the price paid for the
transport, the place of its departure, and the place of its destination, and in some cases the hour of departure. Another clerk
prepares a receipt, and delivers it to the party depositing the
parcel, receiving the amount of the transport.  The porter who
labels the parcel hands it over to the loading porter, who takes
it in a barrow, with a mass of others which have been similarly
dealt with, and rolls it to the parcel-van.
There an immense heap of these parcels is sorted, according
to their places of destination, and delivered succesively to the
conductor of the parcel vans, who disposes them in different
compartments, according to the places to which they are addressed, in such a manner that he may be able, as the train
passes along the road, and arrives at the successive stations, to
deliver in a mass, and without delay, the parcels corresponding
to each station.
To expedite the business of labeling, printed labels are prepared, completely filled up for all parcels which are what is called
light, that is to say, under 12lbs. weight, all such being charged
at one uniform rate. The weighing porter calls out, in passing
the parcels respectively to the booking clerk,, light" for such
parcels, and the printed label is immediately attached to them.
But when parcels are overweight and subject to a different
charge, he calls out their weight, and the corresponding rate
of charge is written into th6 label by the clerk, and is attached
to the parcel.
In the experience of railways, it is found that an immense
majority of the parcels thus expedited are light; parcels of the
heavier description are generally such as do not require very
pressing expedition, and are accordingly sent by the goods trains.
The rate charged for the transport of parcels varies more or
less on different railways, and still more in different countries.
In England the charge for light parcels is sometimes as low as
6d., and this includes delivery at the domicile of the party to
whom it is addressed.
For a distance of about 100 miles, as, for instance, between
Birmingham and London, the charge is ls., including delivery
124
[CIIAP. VIII. 
THE STATIONS.
at any part of Birmingham, and delivery in London within a
radius of 3 miles round the General Post Office. The charge
for such parcels increases with the distance, in the proportion
of about is. for every additional 100 miles. Thus the charge
between London and Edinburgh or Glasgow is 4s.
The establishment, however, of the uniform penny postage
has greatly diminished this branch of parcel traffic, compared
with what it would have been but for this system of postage reform. Thus it is clear that no parcel would be sent by railway
between London and Edinburgh weighing less than 25 oz., inasmuch as the postage of such a parcel sent through the postoffice would not exceed the railway tariff. Indeed, this limit
might be fairly stated at a higher amount, because the expeditor
can deposit his parcel in any receiving-house; whereas for the
railway he is very limited in the places of delivery, and forced
to observe more troublesome formalities, especially if the parcel
be prepaid.
The business of the parcel department is subject, as may be
expected, to great variation at different times.
Thus at seasons like Christmas it has an enormous momentary
increase in both directions, so that a corps of supernumeraries
is obliged to be employed at the chief stations. The average
daily amount of parcels transmitted through some of the London stations is nevertheless surprising. Thus it is estimated
that more than 2000 parcels per day are booked at the station
of the Northwestern Railway.
On the Belgian railways, in 1847, the number of parcels
booked, weighing less than 12lbs., was at the average rate of
750 per day, and the gross weight of the parcels booked which
were above that weight was at the average rate of 120 tons per
day. This, however, includes the parcels booked at all the stations for 347 miles of railway.
On the Paris and Orleans Railway the average weight of
parcels carried per train, during the year ending 30th June,
1847, was 43 of a ton; and, as there were 8 trains per day, the
total weight of parcels booked per day was 6 tons. In this estimate are not included the parcels brought by passengers as
part of their luggage, and which were also booked and paid for.
The accuracy with which this part of the business of transport is executed may be estimated from the fact that not above
one parcel in 400,000 is lost.*
* As an example of the enormous amount of business of this description occasionally transacted at chief stations, it is stated that. in
CIIAP. VIII.]
125 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The other objects which compose the traffic of a passenger
station are horses and private carriages.  These are embarked
at wharves especially provided for their reception at the station; and arrangements are made so that they can be always
loaded, provided they arrive at the station 10 or 15 minutes before the hour of starting the train. Horses travel in a vehicle
called a horse-box, which is a sort of locomotive stable, consisting of two or three stalls, so placed that the animal in traveling
stands sideways. Private carriages are mounted on flat wagons
called carriage-trucks, on which they are secured by wedges,
and properly tied.
The owners of private carriages have the option either of
traveling in them or in the railway carriages. The latter is always the most desirable course, with a view to safety, as will be
explained when we come to consider the causes of accidents on
railways, and the rules to be observed as conducive to the safety
of the traveler.
The railway porters and agents charged with the formation
of the trains arrange the carriages composing each successive
train, placing usually in front the baggage-vans, horse-boxes and
carriages of the inferior classes; the first-class carriages being
generally placed in or near the cenitre of the train, which is
considered the preferable position as respects safety.  This
will be also explained when we come to treat of railway accidents.
The carriages which form the train are screwed together so
as to form a solid and compact column, and so that, upon any
change of speed, either in slackening or accelerating, there
should be no collision between vehicle and vehicle, as necessarily would be the case with any flexible connexion, such as a
chain. But in order to prevent the shock which would necessarily be produced by change of speed in a moving mass so ponderous, the carriages are provided with an elastic apparatus called
buffers, which have cushions placed at their points of junction,
and are pressed by the force of the screw that unites the carriages face to face. These cushions are attached to strong cylindrical rods of iron, which press against springs having sufficient elasticity and strength to yield without breaking, and to
Christmas week, as many as 5000 barrels of oysters have been sent as
parcels from the Euston-square station of the Northwestern Railway
within 24 hours, each barrel containing 100 oysters. The number of
these fish, therefore, expedited from this station alone to the interior,
within the day, was half a million.
126
[CHAP. VIII. 
THE STATIONS.
receive and moderate the momentum arising fiom change of
speed.
These couplings and other arrangements are strictly attended
to by the agents of the station, whose business it is to form the
trains at starting.
The wharf or platform from which the passengers take their
departure is elevated above the rails of the station to such a level
as to be flush with the floors of the carriages, so that the passengers step into the carriages with the same facility as they would
pass from one room to another.
In cases where the trains are drawn from the passenger station by a fixed engine, as already explained, this engine is usually erected, not at the passenger station, which would be an inconvenient and objectionable position, but at the most remnote
point to which the train has to be drawn, so that the engine
draws the train toward it from the station. Thus, at the London station of the Northwestern Railway, the passenger station is at Euston-square, and the fixed engine was formerly
erected at Camden Town; and on the Liverpool Railway the
fixed engine is at the top of the tunnel, the passenger station
being at Lime-street. In such cases, when the train is ready
to start, a communication by signal is made from the passenger
station to the fixed engine, so that the latter is brought into
operation when required.  The mode of giving this signal varlies
in different places. It has in some cases been done by a tube
containing compressed air, which, being suddenly opened, a
whistle is sounded by the air rushing out of the tube; but it is
probable, henceforward, that the agent used for this purp)ose
will be the wires of the electric telegraph.
Having thus explained the proceedings of the stations of departure, let us now pass to the other side of the railway, to the
station of arrival.
In cases where the station is approached by a tunnel and inclined plane, such as has been already described, on the Northwestern Railway and at Liverpool, signals are given of the  Ipproaching arrival of a train, so that the agents of the station of
arrival are prepared for it, and have the rails clear. The train
is not allowed to start from the fixed engine station until the signal is replied to from below, and an intimation given that Ill is
prepared.  These formalities,  however, are unnecessary  on
lines where the locomotive engine is enabled to arrive with the
trains directly at the station. In this case its approach is signified by the whistle of the engine, which is generally heard for
CIIAP. VIII.]
l7 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
more than a mile distance; and as the train always begins to
slacken its speed at this distance, there is abundant time for prep aration.
Generally, before the entrance of the train into the d6p6t,
the engine is detached from it, passes off into a siding, and
aillows the train to proceed by its momentum to the station,
where it is brought up by the brake.
Previous to the arrival of the train, the carriages, omnibuses,
and vehicles of every description, which wait to convey the
passengers to their destinations, are admitted to a convenient
place in the d6p6t. For the good conduct of the drivers of many
of these, the railway company makes itself, to some extent, responsible;  its title is inscribed on their panels, and in some
cases, as they leave the station, the drivers announce to the
gate-porter the places to which they are about to take their
fares, which is entered by the gate-porter, with the number of
the vehicle, so that in case of any question arising for articles
left or misconduct, the number of the vehicle, and the time of
its departure from the railway station, can be always ascertained.
On the arrival of the train at the station, the agents and porters of the railway open the carriages for the liberation of the
passengers, while others rapidly unload the vans containing the
passengers' baggage.
The distribution of this is effected with inconceivable rapidity
and regularity.   Railway porters are ready with the utmost
civility and promptitude to take charge of the baggage of each
passenger, and carry it to the vehicle by which he is about to
depart. The rules of the companies exclude the payment of
gratuities for these services; nevertheless, it is most just to say
that nothing can exceed the civility and obliging conduct of all
the inferior agents thus employed.
When the train has been evacuated, the agents of the railway
take possession of it. One class enters the carriages and carefully searches them for such articles as passengers may have
inadvertently left behind them. These, some of which almost
invariably are found, are taken to the office specially appropriated
to the purpose, called the Lost Luggage Office. The carriages
are, in fine, drawn away to the dep6t, where they are examined
and cleaned.
The ", Lost Luggage Office," though not immediately connected with the active business of transport, is a department
which demands notice. Such an office, established in connection
123
[CHAP. VIII. 
THE STATIONS.
with all railway stations both in England and on the Continent,
and at chief stations, such as those of London and Paris, is an
object of considerable interest.
We have already alluded to the operations of the carriagesearchers, who examine the interior of the passenger coaches
immediately after the evacuation of each arriving train. They
raise the cushions, search the pockets, take up the carpets, and
diligently examine every part of the carriage, and it rarely happens that some articles, more or less, are not found which the
passengers inadvertently leave behind them. These are sent
by the searchers immediately to the, Lost Luggage Office,"
where they are delivered into the hands of a clerk, who enters
in a register a description of the articles, the number and designation of the carriages in which they were left, the hour of the
arrival of the train, and the route which the carriage, in which
the articles were found, had followed. A label is attached to
the article, numbered in accordance with the entry in this
register, so that at any future period it may be compared with
such entry and identified. If the article in question is marked
with the address of its owner, or if any indication of such address can be discovered from its contents, it is sent without
delay to the proprietor; if not, it is deposited in a certain place,
according to its magnitude and quality, where it is left for a
certain assigned time waiting for an application on the part of
its owner. If at the end of such specified time, which varies in
different railways, no application be made, if it be a box, trunk,
or other similar object, it is broken open and the contents ascertained. From the contents the ownership is frequently discovered, and it is restored; but if no clew to such discovery be thus
obtained, then the article is transferred to a permanent place
of deposit in the office or store-room, where it remains for a
more extended period, such as one or two years. If at the end
of this period no claim be made on the part of the owner, then
the article, with others kept for a like time, is publicly sold by
auction or otherwise, and the proceeds of the sale appropriated
as directed by the managers of the railway. Such proceeds
are usually applied to some charitable object in connection with
the railway business.
It frequently happens that applications are made at the railway stations for lost luggage which is not found in the Lost
Luggage Office. In that case a circular is dispatched to all the
stations along the line or system of lines at which the passenger
sustaining the loss has touched, and where, by any possibility,
Far
CHAP. VIII.]
1129 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
the lost object might have been left, and answers are rapidly ob tained. This useful system of inquiry is greatly extended
through the agency of the railway clearing-house, which we
shall notice hereafter. By this means such inquiries can be ex tended not merely to all the stations belonging to the railway in
which the inquiry originates, but to all the other railways spread
over the chief part of the United Kingdom.
I can not conclude this notice of the Lost Luggage Office
better than by quoting a part of the description of it given by a
popular author in a recent work.
,, In this office are to be seen, in shelves and in compartments,
the innumerable articles which have been left in the trains
during the last two months, each being ticketed and numbered
with a figure corresponding with the entry-book in which the
article is defined.
,, Without, however, describing in detail this property, we
will at once proceed to a large, pitch-dark, subterranean, vaulted
chamber, warmed by hot-air iron pipes, in which are deposited
the flock of lost sheep, or, without metaphor, the lost luggage
of the last two years.
,, Suspended from the roof there hangs horizontally in this
chamber a gas-pipe about eight feet long, and as soon as the
brilliant burners at each end were lighted, the scene was really
astounding. It would be infinitely easier to say what thlere is
not, than what there is in the 40 compartments like great wine
bins in which all this lost property is arranged.
,,One is choke-full of men's hats; another of parasols, umbrellas, and sticks of every possible description;  one would
think that all the ladies' reticules on earth were deposited in a
third. How many little smelling-bottles-how many little embroidered pocket-handkerchiefs-how many little musty eatables and comfortable driukables-how many little bills, important
little notes, and other very small secrets each may have contained, we felt that we would not for the world have ascertained;
but when we gazed at the enormous quantity of red cloaks, red
shawls, red tartan plaids, and red scarfs, piled up in one corner,
it was, we own, impossible to help reflecting that surely English ladies of all ages who wear red cloaks, &c. must, in some
mysterious way or other, be powerfully affected by the whine
of compressed air, by the sudden ringing of a bell, by the sight
of their friends-in short, by the various conflicting emotions
that disturb the human heart on arriving at the up-terminus of
the Euston station; for else, how, we gravely asked ourselves,
130
[CIIAP. VIII. 
THE STATIONS.
could we possibly account for the extraordinary red mass before us?
",Of course in this Rolando-looking cave there were plenty
of carpet bags, gun-cases, portmanteaus, writing-desks, books,
cigar-cases, &c.; but there were a few articles that certainly
we were not prepared to meet with, and which but too clearly
proved that the extraordinary terminus excitement, which had
suddenly caused so many virtuous ladies to elope from their red
shawls-in short, to be not only in, a bustle' behind, but all over
-had equally affected men of all sorts and conditions.
,, One gentleman had left behind him a pair of leather hunting-breeches! another his boot-jack!  A  soldier of the  22d
regiment had left his knapsack containing his kit. Another
soldier of the 10th, poor fellow! had left his scarlet regimental
coat! Some cripple, probably overjoyed at the sight of his
family, had left behind him his crutches!  But what astonished
us above all was, that some honest Scotchman, probably in the
ecstasy of seeing among the crowd the face of his faithful
Jeannie, had actually left behind him the best portion of his
bagpipes!
", Some little time ago the superintendent, on breaking open,
previous to a general sale, a locked leather hat-box, which had
lain in this dungeon two years, found in it under the hat X65
in Bank of England notes, with one or two private letters, which
enabled him to restore the money to the owner, who, it turned
out. had been so positive that he had left his hat-box at a hotel
at Birmingham, that he had made no inquiry for it at the railway office." *
THE GOODS STATION.
If the passenger station of a great railway excite an interest
by its animation, the goods station scarcely excites less by the
enormous magnitude of the property in the transfer of which it
is employed. The mere statement of the number of goodswagons used by different railway companies will itself suggest,
to some extent, the immense amount of this department of railway business.  One railway company alone, the Northwesl-tern,
had in active employment during the twelve months ending the
30th June, 1849, 6236 wagons, and another, the York and Newcastle, 11,788.
* "Stokers and Pokers," by the author of "Bubbles from  the
Brunnens of Nassau."
CRIAP. VIII.]
131 
ERAILWAY ECONOMY.
The goods engines of the former company performed, within
that year, a mileage amounting to 2,882,674 miles, and consumed
about 40,000 tons of coke. The Belgian railways employed,
during the year 1847, 3309 goods-wagons, which made a total
mileage of nearly 9 millions of mniles. The North of France
railway in the year 1848 employed 3069 wagons, and made a
total mileage of nearly 15 millions of miles.   These  numbers
present a lively picture of the prodigious amount of the inter change of the products of industry which takes place through
this great agency, and the business of registration, embarkation,
and delivery of which are necessarily transacted at the goods
stations.
It is calculated that from the London goods station of the
Northwestern Railway, situated at Camden Town, the average
number of wagons arriving and departing per working day, is
nearly 500. Now each of these wagons is capable, when fully
loaded, of carrying, on an average, nearly 6 tons, but it is found
that their actual average load is only 241 tons, which would give
the weight of goods arriving and departing daily at this station
alone, 1125 tons. But even this statement is probably below
the truth, since we happen to know that the number of tons
received and delivered at the Northwestern Railway within
one year by Mr. Pickford alone, on account of the company,
was at the average rate of very nearly 900 tons a day.
The goods station, like the passenger station, consists of two
distinct departments, one appropriated to the goods about to be
dispatched, and the other to the goods which have arrived, and
which are to be delivered.
A multitude of carts and vans, which serve as a sort of tenders
to this department of the railway business, are employed in
radiating through every part of the capital, which they sweep
over and collect such parcels of goods as are individually too
small to be sent by their expeditors by separate wagons. These,
with the larger and heavier parcels brought by independent drays
and wagons, arrive without interruption during the day and t
great part of the night at the station of departure, on the wharves
and under the sheds of which they deposit their loads. They
are received by the loading porters, and booked and labeled by
clerks stationed on the wharves for the purpose. The smaller
parcels, which are extremely numerous, are rolled in barrows
and trucks, after being sorted and classed according to their
destinations and qualities, to the wagons and vans in which they
are to be transported.  The larger articles are seized by cranes,
[CIIAP.-VIII.
132 
THE STATIONS.
lifts, capstans, and other machinery, much of which is worked
by steam power, and expeditiously laid on their respective
wagons, having previously undergone the processes of weighing,
booking, and labeling.
In all these busy operations, nothing is more surprising than
the interminable multitude of small parcels, especially among
those which arrive in London firom the chief seats of manufac ture. Since the establishment of this great agent of commercial
intercourse, the London retail dealers, instead of laying in as
formerly, at intervals more or less distant, a large stock, now
order the goods as they want them, and these arrive in small
detached parcels, some of which often contain only a single
article. Thus it is not uncommon for a purchaser in a London
shop to order an article of household use: the shopkeeper sells
it as though it were vlying on one of his shelves ready for delivery.
The moment the order is received a communication is dispatched
to Sheffield, Birmingham, or Manchester for the article in question, and in the course of the succeeding day, or at the latest
within 48 hours, the article is delivered to the purchaser.
It may be asked how the dealer can manage his business subject to the cost which must attend the frequent transmission of
such small parcels. The answer is easy.
By the perfect organization of the railway system, and the
enormous amount of transport executed by each company, they
are enabled to deliver these parcels at a cost which falls but
lightly on the retail vendor and consumer. These light parcels,
such as objects of hardware from Birmingham or Sheffield, are
collected, conveyed, and delivered at the domicile of the retailelr
in London for ls., and in the case of shorter distances the entire
business of the transport, collecting, conveyance, and delivery in
spring-vans in London, is actually executed for 6d.
We have already mentioned the rates at which parcels are
delivered by the passenger trains, but the objects we now refer
to are different, and for the same or a less cost of transport are
greater in weight and bulk. They are, however, forwarded by
the goods trains, moving at a slower speed, with greater loads,
and less promptitude and frequency of departure.
On the Northwestern Railway, which performs a larger
amount of goods business than the other English lines, 9 goods
trains start from each terminus every 24 hours, 5 during the
night, and 4 during the day.
A goods train leaves Birmingham every evening at 8-2 o'clock,
anal aTrives in London by 4 o'clock the following morning, and
CHAP. VIII.]
133 
RAILWAY ECONOMIY.
its contents are distributed over all parts of London in two or
three hours. Thus an order sent by a London retail dealer by
one of the fast trains in the afternoon to Birmingham will be
responded to by the goods train which arrives at an early hour
the following morning.   The  possibility of the commercial
operation we have described above will therefore be readily
comprehended.
By the goods trains which start from London on the different
roads during the day, the products of the London markets
which are in demand in the interior of the country are carried
down, such as fish, fruit, and groceries, hundreds of tons of
which are dispersed over the country, and offered for sale in
the markets of Birmingham and other central towns.
London fruit is thus supplied to the markets of Liverpool and
Glasgow. As much as 20 tons of this article are frequently
carried daily on the Northwestern line alone.
The supply of articles of consumption by these goods trains
to London is of enormous amount. Not only cattle and smaller
live stock, such as sheep, pigs, and calves, are brought up in
immense numbers, but meat ready killed is brought in great
quantities to the London markets.
ENGINE STATION.
Connected with all the chief stations of great railways, there
is an establishment which is not unaptly called the engine stable.
It consists of buildings for the reception of the engines detached
from the trains on their arrival, where they are cleaned, put to
rights, and prepared to renew their work. In short, these iron
horses are cleaned, groomed, fed, and refreshed, so to speak,
and prepared to renew their periodical labor. When a train
arrives, the engine is detached from it while yet in motion, and
running on before leaves its load behind. Tile, pointsman"
dextrously shifts his switches, so as to guide the engine to another line of rails, and before the train arrives he again shifts
them back again so as to let the train run to the station.
The engine thus unharnessed proceeds toward its stable. On
arriving near it, it stops over a pit of some depth, excavated
between the rails. There the fireman, opening the grate-bars,
lets the coke which remains unconsumed in the fire-box fall into
the pit, where it is extinguished by water. He then proceeds
with the engine into the stable, which is variously constructed
on different lines, but generally in a circular or polygonal form.
134
[C.',IAP. VIIT. 
THE STATIONS.
In the centre there is an immense revolving platform, called a
turn-table. When the engine arrives upon this it is brought to
a stand, and the table is turned until the engine is directed
straight toward its stall, into which it is then moved.
Between the rails in this stall there is an excavation of such
depth that a man can stand upright in it under the engine, with out being incommoded by its machinery. This pit is entered
for the purpose of enabling the artificers to examine the works
of the engine, to clean them and put them in order, tightening
and adjusting all the joints, and oiling all the moving parts.
The tubes of the boiler are cleaned, the smoke-box and chimney
put to rights, and the interior of the boiler itself washed clean
at proper intervals; in fine, the engine being put into fresh
working order, is again rolled out on the centre turn-plate,
turned in the direction of the gate, from which it again issues
forth to its labor.
I have adverted elsewhere to the amount of fuel consumed in
heating the water in raising the steam in an engine preparatory
to starting. In the larger class of railway establishments, ex pedients are adopted to obtain further economy and expedition
in this process.
Thus the water is heated in large reservoirs, and introduced
into the boiler at nearly the boiling temperature.
Coke is already prepared in a state of ignition, and thrown
into the fire-box while in vivid combustion. A certain amount
of coke is thus saved, inasmuch as coal is or may be used in
heating the water previously to its introduction into the boiler.
The same expedient may be adopted at the several water
stations on the road where there is a sufficiently active traffic.
The water-tanks may be kept constantly heated, so that the
feed, when introduced into the boiler, does not lower in the
same degree its temperature. When the traffic is so active
that the feeding-tanks are kept on constant duty, it may be
economical to adopt this expedient.
Many of the larger class of engine-stables which we have
adverted to, contain from 25 to 30 stalls.
Attached to this department, in all the chief stations, are extensive work-shops provided with all the means for executing
the smaller class of repairs necessary for the engines. Here
duplicates are kept of the moving parts, which are most liable
to firacture and derangement.
The larger class of repairs, as well as the construction of engines, is, however, conducted in larger establishments, which
CHAP. VIII.]
135 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
have been erected at convenient places on some of the principal
lines of railway.
CARRIAGE AND WAGON STATION.
The fourth and last department of a chief station which we
shall notice, is that which is appropriated to the carrying stock.
The passenger carriages, goods-wagons, and vehicles of every
description, are collected in proper sheds, of immense extent,
adapted for their shelter and preservation.
Here, after performing their work, they are submitted to the
process of cleaning, internally and externally, all of which is
executed, with admirable skill and dexterity, by a troop of
servants of the company, each of whom is disciplined in his
duty. Some are appointed to clean the panels and glasses, and
are provided with sponges, chamois-skins, brushes, cloths, and
other utensils for the purpose. Others have the duty of washing
and mopping the wheels and carriage, properly so called, of examining the grease-boxes, and re-oiling, when necessary, all the
moving parts. Another set of agents have the internal duty,
and are provided with proper brushes and other implements for
cleaning the interior of the first and second class carriages.
Another is supplied with oil, blacking, and brushes for putting
to rights the leather and straps on the roof and different parts
of the vehicles. A distinct set of agents have the duty of oiling
the buffer-rods and other moving parts of the vehicles, and of
replenishing the grease-boxes by which the axles and journals
of the wheels are lubricated.
It may be necessary here to explain that the construction of
the wheels in railway carriages differs from that of the wheels
of common road vehicles.
In the carriages used on common roads, the axle is attached
to and forms part of the carriage, and the wheels turn upon it,
a circular box being formed in the centre of the wheel fitted to
the axle, and provided with means of lubrication, so that it may
turn freely upon the axle. In railway carriages, on the contrary,
the axle is permanently attached to and connected with the
wheels, both being separate from and independent of the carriage. The axle projects on either side beyond the wheels.
When the wheels are placed under the carriage, the bearings
are outside the wheels, and are formned into a sort of fork, which
rests outside upon that part of the axle which projects beyond
the wheel.
136
[CHAP. VIII. 
THE STATIONS.
The outside bearing, as it is called, is provided with a small
box made of brass or gun metal, placed immediately over the
axle, called the grease-box, which communicates with the axle
by an opening in the bottom. The top opens by a hinged lid,
so as to enable it to be replenished from time to time. As the
carriage passes along the road, men are prepared at appointed
stations with grease cans, and they go round the carriage refilling
these grease-boxes.
The grease used for this purpose, known by the name of
yellow grease, is composed of tallow, palm-oil, soda, and water,
which are combined in different proportions according to the
season of the year, and according to the varying usages of different railways.
On some of the English railways the following is the customary proportion of these constituents in 1000 lbs. of grease:
Tallow.................................... 253
Palm-oil................................... 88
Soda...................................... 25
Water.................................... 634
1000
On the Belgian railways, a much larger proportion of palmoil is used, the following being the composition:
Tallow.................................... 83
Palm-oil.................................... 207
Soda...................................... 14
Water..................................... 696
1000
This analysis compared with the former shows in the constituents 3 times less tallow, and 2' times more palm-oil.
The only variation in different seasons of the year is that the
proportion of water is augmented with the temperature of the
weather.
In the year 1844 the quantity of this grease used on the Belgian railways was 75 tons, the cost of which was X84, being at
the rate of 22s. 5d. per ton. The cost, according to the English composition, does not differ materially from this.
The mileage of the trains upon which this grease was consumed was equal to a single train of 14 vehicles running about
a million of miles.
At the chief stations sheds of vast extent are provi(ledl f)or the
CIIAP. VIII.]
137 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
reception of the carriages, in which a great number of parallel
lines of railway are laid down, and in which the carriages are
received for purposes of cleaning and repair. At such stations,
also, workshops and artificers are provided for the smaller class
of repairs which may be required by the carriages and other
vehicles, and a sufficient supply of duplicates is kept.
These observations are applicable chiefly to principal stations.
The intermediate stations which are established along the line
of railway vary in magnitude according to the population of the
town or district with which they communicate, the smallest
class consisting of a single waiting-room, booking-office, and two
or three clerks and porters.
The number of stations provided upon a line of railway is
necessarily governed by the density of the population and the
activity of the commerce and intercourse prevailing in the
country through which the railway is carried; and in this respect railways differ very much from each other, especially on
the Continent.
On the English railways they are necessarily numerous, the
population being dense and busy. On May 1, 1848, the total
number of miles of railway under traffic in the United Kingdom
was 4253. The number of stations distributed over this length
was 1831, being at the rate of a station for every 3} miles. If
the number of stations on the railways now open be in the same
proportion,-their number is 1553.
The activity of the intercommunication which is maintained
throughout the country may be indicated, in connexion with the
mileage of the traffic, by the number of stations combined with
the number of departures which take place daily from them,
which are seen in the time-tables.
RAILWAY REFRESHMENT ROOMS.
It would be an unpardonable omission if this exposition of the
arrangements made by the railway companies for the convenience of the public in their embarkation and disembarkation, and
other accessories of transport, were concluded without some
notice of the refreshment-rooms.
The stage-coach traveler, who dates his experience from an
epoch anterior to the last fifteen or twenty years, will not forget the miseries of the  road incident to coach breakfasts,
lunches, dinners, and suppers; and the squabbles about the
138
[CHAP. VIII 
THE STATIONS.
bill, the wretchedness of the fare, and the indefinite cravings
of the waiters, the watermen, luggage-porters, and other in  terminable animals of prey, which ever infested the coach
taverns.
These are now among the things that were, and are hence  forward consigned to the novelist and the historian of the
manners of a lpast age.
The railway traveler finds at those points of his route where
the train stops for the purpose of refieshment, magnificent
salons, luxuriously furnished, warmed, and illuminated. In
these are established buffets and all the appliances necessary
for the supply of every variety of refreshment which each
class of travelers can possibly desire. These being placed
directly or indirectly under the control of the railway authori ties, are organized and disciplined in the most admirable man ner. A tariff of prices, most moderate in amount, guarantees
the traveler from extortion. The attendants being all paid by
the company or its subordinates, neither desire nor expect
gratuities, and, indeed, the acceptance of such is strictly for bidden.
As the trains which move in opposite directions always keep
different sides of the road, and as the practice of crossing the
line is attended with much personal danger, as will be shown
when we come to consider the causes of accidents on railways,
the railway companies have in general, at the refreshment
stations, erected two buildings, one on each side of the line, in
each of which a series of refreshment-roomrns is provided.
The upper part of these buildings is appropriated to lodgingrooms for the superintendents and waiters of the rooms, and
the two buildings are usually connected by a bridge crossing
the road, so that the attendants can pass with facility from one
to the other without incurring the danger of passing over the
line.
In these establishments a certain number of the waiters and
superintendents sit up during the night by turns to attend on
the passengers arriving by the night-trains.
CHAP. VIII.]
139 
CHAPTER IX.
THE CLEARING-HOUSE.
WHEN some progress had been made in the completion of
the vast network of iron roads which now overspreads the
United Kingdom, and when railway after railway, to the number of some thirty or forty, had been successively opened for
traffic, and had effected junctions with each other, so as, in
reality, to form one connected system of internal communication, though under numerous independent administrations, an
inconvenience arose which for some time appeared to menace
the operations of railway establishments with insurmountable
difficulties.
The exigencies of the transport had no relation with the
arbitrary limits which separated the domain of one company
from that of another. Passengers and goods required to be
booked and continuously transported from one point of the
kingdom to another. But no company possessed the power to
do more than carry the passenger or the goods to the limits of
its own line; there they were handed over to another company, who, in like manner, carried them over its territory, and
transferred them to a third, and so on. Each company had its
own independent machinery of transport, consisting of engines,
carriages, wagons, and vehicles of every description. It had its
own system of financial operations and accounts, and its own
tariff; the consequence of which was, that the traveler was
compelled, in passing every boundary between the rails of two
adjacent companies, to pass from one carriage to another, with
his luggage, no matter what might be the inconvenience attending such an operation, arising firom inclemency of weather, or
from the hour of night.
Great as was this inconvenience, that which attended the
transhipment of goods was infinitely more grave. The wagons
had to be unloaded, and their contents discharged upon wharves
and platforms; and these had again to be reloaded upon the
wagons of the other company.
Such an operation was not only attended with great expense,
which must necessarily fall upon the expeditor of the goods, 
THE CLEARING-HOUSE.
but also with serious delay, damage, and risk of loss. In short,
the inconvenience to the public was so enormous, and the
clamor which it excited, both among the commercial classes,
and those who traveled by the railways, was so irresistible, that
it became manifest that some arrangement must be adopted
by which the public would be accommodated, and the traffic,
both in goods and passengers, expedited over the railways of
different  companies  without being  rebooked,  repacked,  or
-anshiped.
The point was practically conceded, and the traffic of all descriptions carried without interruption from the lines of one
company to those of another.
But this immediately produced grave inconveniences and difficulties among the companies. A portion of the receipts which
was paid into the hands of each company at various stations,
had to be paid over to other companies upon whose lines the
traffic, whether in goods or passengers, was carried. But besides this, the vehicles of every sort, belonging to one company
were unavoidably used to carry traffic upon the lines of other
companies.
Hence arose an intolerable chaos of cross accounts, out of
which sprung vexatious disputes and much litigation.
The confusion and difficulty were at length removed, and
this system of complicated debits and credits was reduced to
perfect clearness and order by a happy thought suggested by
the operations of the London bankers. The similarity of the
reciprocal claims of the railway comnpanies arising out of the
operations just explained, to those of the London bankers, arising from the bills and checks drawn upon the others, received
by each of them daily, struck the mind of Mr. K. Morison,
who suggested the plan of establishing a railway clearing-house,
founded on principles identical with those which had been so
successfully brought into operation in the Bankers' clearinghouse.
It is known that a check drawn upon any London banker
may be paid to any other London banker, and placed to the
credit of the customer who presents it; the banker receiving
it undertaking to obtain its liquidation from the banker on whom
it is drawn.
This, however, is effected only in an indirect manner; and,
as we shall see, the liquidation is accomplished without the actual presentation of the check, or its payment in cash.
It is now about three qua:'ters of a century since the banking
CI-IAP. IX.]
1,41 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
operations of London became so extensive and complicated,
that the difficulties arising from the daily settlement of the bills
and checks respectively payable by each London banker to the
others called into existence the establishment now known by
the name of the, Clearing-house," which is located in Lombard-street, in the building formerly occupied by the Post-office.
This establishment is placed under the direction of a commnittee
delegated by bankers, who mutually associate for this purpose.
Two salaried functionaries, called inspectors, have its immediate management, and are there present for the transaction of
business. From time to time during the day, the bankers
severally transmit to this office the checks and bills which they
receive, and which are payable by other bankers. As fast as
they arrive they are sorted, and classed according to the bankers by whom they are payable, so that the checks and bills payable by each banker to the various other bankers are classed
together.
The clerks from the several bankers who bring to the clearing-house the bills and checks receivable by them take at the
same time an account of the bills and checks which have arrived
at the clearing-house, and which are payable by them, and are
thus enabled, toward the close of the day, to make up in their
private books an account, as well of the checks and bills payable
by them, as of those receivable by them.
The reception of bills and checks is continued at the clearinghouse until four o'clock, after which it ceases; and the interval
from that time till about half-past five is devoted to the adjustment of the accounts, which is accomplished in the following
manner:
The clearing-house, by a fiction, makes itself the common
debtor and the common creditor of all the bankers. It debits
each banker with the amount of the checks and bills payable
by him to every other banker, and it credits him with the
amounts of all the checks and bills receivable by him from
every other banker. This operation is facilitated and expedited
by a simple printed form, which occupies a sheet of paper consisting of three columns; the left and right-hand columns being
left blank for the debits and credits, and the centre column being
plrinted with the names of the bankers associated in the clearing-house alphabetically arranged.
One of these accounts is filled up after four o'clock, as between
the clearing-house and each banker. The amounts of the bills
and checks receivable by such banker are writteni on the right
142
[CHAP. IX. 
THE CLEARING-HOUSE.
hand or credit column, opposite to the names respectively of the
bankers by whom such bills or checks are payable, and the
amounts of the bills or checks payable by such banker are writ  ten on the left-hand or debtor column, opposite respectively to the
names of the bankers to whom such bills or checks are payable.
These statements, thus filled up, may be considered as a
debtor and creditor account between the clearing-house, repre  senting all the bankers collectively, and the single banker with
whom such account is formed.
When thus filled up, the statement is examined by the clerk
of the banker in question, and each item is by him verified by
reference to the clerks of the several other bankers. When
thus verified, it is returned to the inspector, who signs it, and
either receives or pays the balance which appears at the foot of
each account, according as the debits exceed the credits, or the
credits exceed the debits.
It is clear that the sum of the balances receivable by the
clearing-house must be precisely equal to the sum of the bal ances payable by it, so that the amount which it receives on the
one hand liquidates the amount which it has to pay on the other;
and, in reality, as must necessarily have been the case, it be comes the mere agent or channel through which the payments
pass from one bank to the other.
In the practical working out of the business, there are numer ous details, such as certain mutual settlements between clerk
and clerk, with the sanction of the inspector, which, being of
no importance to the principle of the institution, need not be
noticed here.
To render clearly intelligible the operations effected by the
railway clearing-house, which has been established upon principles analogous to those of the bankers', it will be necessary,
first, to explain the reciprocal interchange of business which
takes place, creating systems of mutual credits and debits between company and company.
The number of companies who have combined their operations in this manner is at present (Nov. 1849) forty-five, comprising all those whose railways lie north of a line passing from
Bristol through London to Harwich; in fact, all the railways
of the kingdom, except the Great Western, the Southwestern,
the London, Brighton, and South-Coast, the Southeastern, and
their branches and collateral lines.
These railways possess 887 stations, at any one of which
traffic may be booked for any other; the consequence of which
CHAP. IX.]
143 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
is, that there are nearly four hundred thousand different pairs
of places within the circle of operations of the united companies,
between which traffic may be transmitted. In passing from
any one such station to any other, the traffic may pass over part
of any or all of the lines of the combined companies with as
much continuity of progress as if the whole system were under
the government of a single company.
The service of the transport, whether of passengers or goods,
consists, first, in the service of embarkation, which includes all
the formalities observed at the station of departure, consisting
of booking, weighing, loading, packing, &c.; secondly, of the
transport, properly so called, which is represented by a mileage; and, thirdly, of the formalities and services of the stations
of arrival, where the traffic is unloaded, discharged, and delivered, and frequently sent to the domicile of the party to whom
it is addressed.
A certain rate of charge, according to the nature of the traffic,
being agreed upon for each of these parts of the service of
transport, the sum receivable for each object of transport must
be divided among the companies over whose lines it passes,
including those at whose stations the traffic is received and delivered. But the sum payable for such transport is received
either by the company at whose station the traffic is booked, or
by the company at whose station it is delivered, or partly by
one and partly by the other.
Two companies must be therefore debited with the sums
they thus receive, and they, as well as other companies intermediate between them, over whose lines the traffic may have
passed, must be credited in the stipulated proportion according
to the mileage. 
The first object to be attended to by the railway clearinghouse is to adjust these complicated debits and credits, as well
for passengers as for every species of goods, with simplicity,
clearness, and dispatch, and in such a manner as not to give rise
to subsequent disputes.
But besides the interchange of credits for traffic, a most complicated account arises, out of the circumstance already explained, for the use of the rolling stock. The wagons of each
of the numerous companies which enter into the union of the
clearing-house are driven indifferently over the lines of all the
others, carrying traffic for various companies, and sometimes
transporting a load no part of which is to be credited to the
company owning the vehicle in which it is borne.
144
LCIIAP. IX. 
TH E CLEARING-HOUSE.
By mutual agreement, a certain fixed rate is charged for the
use of each class of vehicle, and every company over whose
lines the vehicles of other companies pass, being in the first
instance credited for the traffic carried by these vehicles, is
debited for the use of the vehicles themselves in which such
traffic is carried. A mileage account must therefore be kept
of all the rolling stock of all the combined comnpanies, so that
the course of each vehicle may be traced from day to day and
from hour to hour, so that its mileage may be debited to such
companies as may have shared its use; and in case of undue
delay at the stations of any company, a demurrage may be
charged, according to a stipulated condition, proportional to such
delay.
To adjust in a satisfactory and equitable manner these ac counts for the mutual use of the rolling stock is the second
function of the clearing-house.
The passenger traffic being liable to a government duty pay able on booking to the company at whose station passengers are
embarked, must necessarily pay this duty in advance, and must
pay it for the entire trip for which the passenger is booked.
This duty, however, is chargeable in the proportion of a mileage
to all the companies over whose lines the passenger travels.
Hence an account must be kept in which the booking company
will be credited for the duty thus paid, and the several companies over whose lines the passenger is carried would be debited
in proportion to the mileage for their respective shares of the
amount.
When the claims of one company upon another, arising out
of these transactions, are not liquidated within a stipulated time,
they are subject to interest at a rate agreed upon. An interest
account must therefore be kept between company and company.
Luggage, parcels, and other objects of traffic being liable to
be lost or unduly delayed, claims and complaints arise between
company and comnpany. The settlement of such claims enters
into the class of operations to be transacted by the clearinghouse.
Such are the principal functions which the institution of the
clearing-house is called on to discharge.
Let us now consider the manner in which these operations
are effected.
The central clearing-house is established in London, in a
building situate near the Euston station of the Northwestern
Railway. It is placed under the direction of a body of mana                             G
CIIAP. IX.]
145 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
gers elected by the companies, in which each company is represented.
This central office has agents at all the stations comprised
within the circle of the united companies.
In adjusting the mutual debits and credits of the companies,
no company is regarded either as the debtor or creditor of any
other, but the clearing-house is the common creditor and the
common debtor of all. We shall explain successively the mode
in which each class of claim is arranged, beginning with the
most important.
THE GOODS TRAFFIC AND LIVE STOCK.
From each of the 887 stations goods are, or may be, forwarded
daily to any or all of the other 886 stations. An account of such
goods so forwarded, with the sums paid and received for each
parcel, is kept at each of these stations, and a copy of this account, written in black ink, is forwarded daily to the central
clearing-house in London.
In like manner, at each of the 887 stations a quantity of
goods is, or may be, received daily from any or all of the other stations, an account of which is kept. A copy of this, written in red
ink, is daily forwarded to the central clearing-house in London.
The central clearing-house thus receives, or may receive,
887 black and 887 red accounts daily; the black reporting all
the goods which have been forwarded from all the stations, and
the red reporting all the goods which have been received at all
the stations.
Now, as it is evident that the goods which are received can
neither be more nor less than the goods which are forwarded,
the red accounts must correspond exactly with the black accounts, although the items will occur in a different order. A
parcel of goods dispatched from one station must have arrived
at some other, and a parcel of goods which has arrived at any
station must have been dispatched from some other.  Thus an
entry in the black accounts must have a corresponding entry
in the red accounts, and an entry in the red accounts must
have a corresponding entry in the blak accounts.
This is what ought to take place, supposing no error in the
accounts, and no miscarriage in the transport; but in practice
it is found that this perfect accordance is never realized, and
that there is, upon an average, somewhere about thirty per
cent. daily of entries in the one which have no corrpe,tcoding
146
[CHALI.'IX. 
THE CLEARING-HOUSE.
entries in the other. This discrepancy arises from one of three
causes, first, fiom an entry being made of an object dispatched,
which object has been accidentally, or, through error, mislaid;
secondly, from an entry being omnitted of an object received,
although that object may have been received; and, thirdly, from
a miscarriage en route.
At the central clearing-house, where the two statements of
accounts, black and red, are compared, and their discrepancies
detected, letters are written to such of the stations where the
errors have been committed, giving notice of the omrnission, and
demanding explanation. Rectifications and explanations ensue,
and the accounts are finally adjusted.
The central clearing-house having opened an account with
each of the companies, credits each with the sums which
appear to be receivable by it from the system of accounts ex plained above, and debits it for the sums with which it appears
to be chargeable.
At the close of each month, these several accounts between
the clearing-house and the companies respectively are balanced.
In some of these the balances are in favor of the clearing-house,
in others in favor of the company; but from the nature of the
transactions, these sets of balances must be precisely equal;
the sum due to the clearing-house by the debtor companies
must be equal to the sum owing by the clearing-house to the
creditor companies. The debtor companies having liquidated
their balances, the clearing-house distributes the sum it receives
between the creditor companies, in the proportion of their
respective balances.
But if the debtor companies, or any of them fail to liquidate
their balances within a specified time, then the clearing-house
debits such companies with interest on such balance at the rate
of five per cent.; and it credits those creditor companies
whose balances it fails to liquidate, in consequence of such
delay, with interest at the same rate. Thus the interest credits will be exactly equal to the interest debits.
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
When passengers are booked at any railway station for any
other station, they pay their full fare, and receive a stamnped
ticket, on which is indicated the place, day, and hour of their
departure, and the place of their destination.
On arriving at their destination they deliver up this ticket
CHAP. IX.)
147 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
to the agents of the station of arrival. Carriages and horses
booked are represented in like manner by tickets or checks,
which are delivered up on their arrival. Parcels and baggage
are entered on a way-bill, in which are indicated the places
of their destination, and the sums paid, or to be paid, for them.
Each station sends daily to the central clearing-house a statement of the number of passengers of each class which it has
booked, with their places of destination, and the sums received.
It sends, also, a statement of the horses, carriages, and parcels
booked, with like particulars.
Each station likewise sends to the central clearing-house all
the tickets which have been delivered by passengers who have
arrived there daily, as well as the checks for carriages and
horses, and likewise a statement of the parcels and luggage
which it has received.
At the central clearing-house the tickets are examined and
classed, and their number in the gross of each class compared
with the number in the gross of the passengers who have been
booked. These two ought to correspond, and any discrepancies are notified, and ultimately explained and adjusted. This
operation is facilitated by a course observed in all the bookingoffices, in consequence of which the passenger tickets of each
class are issued in numerical order, each ticket being stamped
with a separate number, and the numbers following each other
consecutively for each class daily from 1 to 10,000.
The account for parcels is dealt with in a manner precisely
similar to that which has been already explained in the case of
merchandise.
The clearing-house debits the companies respectively for the
sums they have received for all these objects, and it credits
them according to the stipulated rate for the mileage, embarkation, or delivery of such as have passed over their lines, for
such as they have booked and embarked, and such as they have
discharged and delivered.
These accounts are balanced monthly, and dealt with in the
same manner, exactly, as has been already explained in the
case of goods.
The passenger tickets, after having been duly examined and
classed, so as to regulate the clearing-house accounts, are returned to the companies respectively.
A separate account is kept of the government duty payable
for passengers, and which, as has been observed, is exacted
from the company with whom the passenger is booked, though
148
[CIIAP. IX. 
THE CLEARING-HOUSE.
chargeable to all the companies over whose lines the passenger
is carried, in proportion to their respective mileage. The
clearing-house credits the company which books for the entire
amount of the duty it has paid, and then debits all the companies
over whose lines the passengers are carried, including the booking company itself, with their respective proportions of the duty
according to the portion of the lines over which the passengers
have been carried.
Although the clearing-house accounts are only furnished
monthly to the several companies, yet a weekly abstract of the
account for the traffic in passengers and goods is sent to them
respectively, to enable them to make up, as is customary, their
weekly returns of traffic.
CARRYING STOCK.
The clearing-house has agents posted at all the points of
junction of the lines of different companies at which traffic is
liable to pass from one to another. The duty of these agents
is to register the number and quality of each vehicle, which
passes from one line to another, indicating its owner. They
also register the number of the tarpaulins by which wagons
are covered, and which do not necessarily constitute a part of
the wagon, nor always belong to the same owners.
The clearing-house agents at all the stations keep a similar
register. A comparison of all these registers, copies of which
are sent up to the central clearing-house, enables the authorities there to trace the course of every wagon over the network
of lines, and to ascertain its daily mileage on each line, and the
time it has been detained at the stations respectively. The
clearing-house by these means is enabled to debit the companies
respectively at a stipulated rate of mileage for the use of the
wagons or of the tarpaulins, as the case may be, and to credit
the companies who own the same for like sums. A statement
of accounts representing the use of the rolling stock is thus
opened between the clearing-house and the companies respectively. In each of these accounts there appears on the credit
side the sums due to the company for the use of its wagons
and tenders by other companies, and on the debit side the
sums due by it for the use of the wagons and tenders of other
companies upon its lines. The balances of these accounts are
settled monthly, and are subject to precisely the same observations as the balance of the traffic.
CHAP. IX.]
149 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Finally, all questions and claims respecting lost luggage or
parcels are made and arranged through the agency of the clearing-house. When any parcel or other object has failed to
arrive at its destination, or when any passenger misses a portion
of his luggage, notice is sent to the Lost Luggage Office and
the clearing-house, with an indication of the route over which
the passenger traveled, or the station at which the lost object
was booked. A communication is immediately sent to all the
statid6ns along the line indicated, with a description of the object lost, and answers are duly received. In general the object
is recovered if lost upon the road.
The enormous extent of the transactions in the settlement
of which the agency of the clearing-house is employed may be
imagined from the following circumstances:
The number of communications made daily from the central
clearing house to the provincial stations respecting errors and
omissions in the reports of traffic are estimated at two hundred
and fifty. The number of distinct accounts settled and balanced
monthly for the goods traffic alone is estimated at about five
thousand.
The monthly account furnished to each of the companies who
are united in the establishment of the clearing-house contains
for each station of each company a statement of the weights of
each object of traffic, the distances on the respective lines over
which it is carried, the expenses of its embarkation and disembarkation, and the balance on the total traffic at each station.
These monthly accounts are considered final so far as respects
their settlement, and in case the companies fail to liquidate
them they are chargeable with interest; but any errors or
omissions which may be detected in them are corrected and
allowed for in the accounts of the subsequent month.
As an example of the complexity of the accounts settled by
this establishment, it may be mentioned that in the parcel department alone the majority of parcels booked are under twelve
pounds weight, and the total charge for their embarkation,
transmission, and delivery, firequently does not exceed four
shillings. Thus, from any part of Birmingham to any part of
London the charge, including cartage and delivery, is only one
shilling, and the charge between London and the remotest part
of Scotland is only four shillings.  These charges have to be
debited among all the companies over whose lines and in whose
wagons the objects may have been conveyed.  In this way one
shilling has sometimes to be credited to three companies.
150
[CHAP. IX. 
THE CLEARING-HOUSE.
I am indebted to Mr. K. MIorison, the manager of the clearing-house, for the following return of the present statistics of
the establishment:
Clearing-house Statisticsfor Year ending June 30, 1849.
Number of railway companies associated in
the clearing system...................
Length of associated lines...............
Average length...........................
Number of stations supplying returns.....
Amount of accounts passed through clearing  house..............................
Tons of goods included in these accounts...
Number of passengers, do...............
Their total mileage....................
Average mileage per passenger..........
Number of wagons on which the clearing  house charged mileage...............
Number of passenger-coaches, do.........
Average number of junctions crossed per
passenger...........................            1
The principle which has been brought into successful operation in the clearing-house admits of still more extensive application, which doubtless it will receive.
The practical effect of the arrangement, even so far as it is
hitherto developed, is to facilitate such an interchange of the use
of the rolling-stock, and the service of the stations between company and company, as to render their benefits in a great degrec
common to all. Each company by this expedient maintains a
stock not only for its own traffic, but to some extent for the
traffic of other companies, and in exchange receives the benefit
of the stock and the stations of other companies.
The perfection to which this system tends would be, that at
common rolling stock should be kept for all the companies, in
the support of which they should as it were club, each contributing a share to its maintenance, in proportion to the quantity
of traffic transported by it.
At present the interchange is limited to the vehicles of transport, the engines of each company being confined in their movements to the lines of the company to which they belong; but
there is nothing which should prevent, under propelr arrangements, the same interchange of locomotive power as now takes
place with so much advantage in the carrying stock.
In fine, the clearing-house may ultimately grow into an estab
CIIAP. IX.]
151
45
3,633 miles.
803
II
887
1,691.,7201. 12s.
2,215,407
696,407
103,240,304
148
487,304
79,260
1-85 
I RAILWVAY ECONOMY.
lishment for the maintenance of a general locomotive and carrying stock for the use of all the railways, to be supported by the
railways in common, and charged to them in the proportion in
which they use it.
So far as regards the managemnent of the traffic, there is
nothing which should limit the operation of the clearing-house
to the railways of the United Kingdom.
By proper arrangements, the same reciprocal conveniences
now obtained by the railway companies in reference to the traffic
booked through, as it is technically called, might be extended to
the entire continent of Europe, so that passengers or goods might
be booked at any station on any English railway for any station
on any continental railway. The fare might be received on
booking either wholly or partially, and might be distributed between the various lines over which the traffic should pass, in the
same manner as it at present is among the railways which are
united under the clearing system.
CHAPTER X.
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
THE movement of the passenger traffic, like that of the drawing and carrying stock, is expressed by its mileage.
If the distance in miles over which the passengers are individually transported be added together, the aggregate will be
their total mileage, and will express the number of passengers,
each of whom being carried one mile would give a mileage equal
to the actual traffic.
The mileage of the different classes of passengers is a matter
of easy calculation from the records of the booking office. The
ticket delivered to each passenger expresses the stations of departure and arrival, from which the distance traveled can be at
once ascertained. In the following table is exhibited the total
number of passengers of each class carried on the English railways during a period of 621 years, ending the 31st Dec. 1848,
together with the total mileage of each class.
[CHAP. X.
152 
P ASSENGER TRAFFIC.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Movement of Passengers on the Railways of
the United Kingdom during the Six Years and a Half terminating Dec.
31, 1848.
Number
booked.
4,576,540
11,998,512
6,891,844
23,466,896
5,393,332
13,269,68'6
9,100,584
27,763,602
5,644,163
14,665,825
13,481,266
33,791,254
6,525,876
17,905,788
19,359,320
43,790,984
7,110,940
20,313,966
23,927,256
51,352,162
7,190,779
21,690,510
29,083,782
57,965,071
3,743,602
12,191,549
15,695,141
31,630,292
Total Mileage.
118,990,040
172,778,573
86,148,050
377,916,663
140,226,632
191,083,478
113,757,300
445,067,410
146,748,238
211,187,880
168,515,812
526,451,930
192,513,342
328,272,780
277,483,586
798,269,708
173,702,839
310,974,797
320,327,929
805,005,565
180,380,695
348,467,044
378,167,196
907,014,935
100,982,787
201,550,815
220,636,080
523,169,682
For twelve months ending June 30, 1843.
1st class.... —------------------------—.
2d class...... —------------------—... —-—.. —
3d class..... —-------------—........................
Totals.......
For twelve months ending June 30, 1844.
1st class......... —--------------------------
2d class...... —---------------—... —--------
3d class.... ---------—.........................
Totals.......
For twelve months ending June 30, 1845.
1st class..... —--------------------------
2d class..      --—........................... —------
3d class.............................
Totals.......
For twelve months ending June 30, 1846.
1st class............... —--------------------------
2d class...... —---------------------------
3d class............... —-------------.
Totals.. ----.,.
For twelve months ending June 30, 1847.
] st class............................
2d class..... —--------------------—.. —---
3d class, &c......................... —---
Totals.......
For twelve months ending June 30, 1848.
1st class..... —--------------------------
2d class... —---------------------------
3d class, &c........... —---— 20 7               7 7
Totals. —-----
For six months ending December 31, 1848.
1st class............................ —
2d class..............................
3d class.............................
Totals —----— 31,630,292   523,169,682
I
CHAP. X.]
153
Totals -------
qlt 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
From the data supplied firom this table we are enabled to collect the average daily amount of transport in passengers executed by the railways.
To do this it is only necessary to divide the mileage in each
of the above periods by the number of days. In like manner, to
ascertain the average distance traveled by each passenger booked
in the successive periods, it is necessary to divide the numbers
given in the second column by the corresponding numbers in
the first column.
Finally, to determine the average number of passengers
booked per day, it is only necessary to divide the numbers in
the first column respectively by the number of days.
The following will be the results:
TABULAR ANALYSIS Of the daily Mileage, average Distance traveled by
Passengers, and average Numbers booked on the Railways of the
United Kingdom.
Average
Number of
Passengers
booked
daily.
12,538
32,873
18,882
64,293
- 14,776
36,355
24,933
76,064
15,464
40,180
36,935
92,5,79
17,879
49,057
53,039
119,975
Average
Distance
traveled
by each
Passen  ger.
26'00
14'40
12'50
16-10
26'00
14'40
12-50
16-03
...
26'00
14-40
12'50
15-57
29'50
18'33
14-33
18-22
For twelve months ending June 30,1843.
1stclass —-......... —      2
2d class.........................
3d class ------------------------
Totals and averages......
For twelve months ending June 3.0, 1844.
1st class...... —----------------------
2d class. —----------------------
3d class. —----------------------
Totals and averages......
For twelve months ending June 30, 1845.
1st class —----------------------        
2d class.... —----------------------
3d class......... —----------------------
Totals and averages......
For twelve months ending June 30, 1846.
1st class.. —----------------------
2d class............ —----------------------
3d class...... —----------------------
Totals and averages.......       
154
[CHAP. X.
Average
daily
Mileage
326,.O.00
473,.366
236,022
1,035,388
384,182
523,.516
311,664
1,219,362
402,050
578,597
461,687
1,442,334
527,434
896,637,
760,229
2,184,300 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
Average
Distance
traveled
by each
Passen- 
ger.
24-40
14-70
14-16
15-74
25-00
16-00
13-00
15-65
27-00
16-50
14-00
16'54
Average
Number of
Passengers
bookedi
daily.
19,504
57,958
61,978
139,440
19,767
59,669
79,698
159,134
20,493
66,932
86,354
173,779
For twelve months ending June 30,1847.
1st class. —----------------------
2d class —----------------------
3d class -------------------------
Totals and averages,        -  -3944
For twelve months ending June 30,1848.
1st class ------------------------
2d class ------------------------
3d class ------------------------
Totals and averages.. —.- 2
For six months ending Dec. 31, 1848.
1st class ------------------------
2d class. —-----------------------
3d class —-----------------------
Totals and averages —----           
The results of this table are remarkable, and with many will
be unexpected.  The average distances traveled by the different
classes of passengers which are exhibited in the second column
are much smaller than might have been supposed.  Thus  the
first-class passengers booked, taken one with another, traveled
only 27 miles even in the last half-year, when the distance was
increased comparatively with previous results.
The average distance traveled by second and third-class passengers are 16 and 14 miles respectively.
It may be objected to the average distances obtained in this
way, that although they are correct for any system of railways
conducted under single management, yet that as passengers who
start from a station on one railway, pass successively during the
same trip over the lines of one or more other companies, they
will figure in the returns as so many different passengers booked;
that they will therefore unduly augment the divisor by which
the mean distances are calculated, and therefore give average
distances under the truth.
To ascertain to what extent this objection prevails, we shall
take advantage of some returns of the traffic which passes friom
railway to railway, given by Mr. Morison, the manager of the
railway clearing-house.
CHAP. X.]
155
Average
da.ily
1%lileage.
475,898
851,985 -
877,611
2,205,494
494,166
954,704 -
1,036,074
553,330
1,104,388
1,208,964
2,866,682 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
According to these returns, the total number of passengers
who went from one railway to another in the year 1845
was 517,888, and the total mileage of these passengers was
75,783,149. The average distance traveled per passenger was
therefore 146 miles. The average length of the railways severally was 41 miles, therefore the average number of junctions
crossed by each passenger was in that year 3.61. It follows,
therefore, that each of these passengers counted in the total
booked as 3.61 passengers, and we shall obtain the true number
booked by subtracting from the total the above number of through
passengers multiplied by 2.61. Thus we have,
Total number booked in 1845,6..............43,790,984
Deduct for passengers booked more than once,
517,888 X 2-61.......................... 1,351,688
42,439,296
Dividing then the total mileage, 798,269,708, in 1805,6, by
this, we find for the average distance actually traveled by each
passenger booked 18.8 miles instead of 18.2.
Since 1845, owing to the amalgamations, the average length
of the independent lines is less, and therefore the correction
would produce still less effect on the computed average
distance.
The number of the passengers recorded in the clearinghouse for the twelve months ending June 30, 1849, was (see
p. 151)
696,407,
and their total mileage was
103,240,160.
Taking the halves of these numbers as approximately representing the through passenger traffic for the half-year ending
December 31, 1848, we have the number of through passengers
for that half-year,
348,203,
and their mileage
51,620,080.
The average distance traveled by each through passenger was
therefore
148.2,
[CHAP. X.
156 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
But the total length of the associated railways was
3633,
and their number was 45. Their average length was therefore
80.7 miles.
Dividing 148.2 by 80.7, we obtain 1.83 as the average number
of junctions crossed by each through passenger.
To find, therefore, the true number of through passengers
booked, we must subtract
348,203 X 0.83 = 289,008,
from the total number of passengers for the half-year:
From        31,630,292
Subtract       289,008
Remains    31,341,284,
which is therefore the actual number of passengers booked.
Dividing the total mileage,
523,169,682,
by this, we obtain
16.7,
instead of 16.5, as the average distance traveled by each passenger.
It is evident, therefore, that the through traffic produces no
effect worthy of attention on the average distances.
I find that similar results are obtained on foreign railways;
so that it may be assumed as a principle of high generality in
the commercial phenomena of railways, that the great mass of
the passengers consists of those who travel short distances.
The second and third columns of the preceding table taken
together, exhibit in the most complete manner the actual daily
traffic in passengers on the railways. In the third column we
have the actual average number of passengers of each class
which were booked, and in the second column we give the
average distances which they traveled.
It may be observed that the results above obtained for the
year 1846 are exceptional, that year appearing to have been one
in which the movement of the population was characterized
by extraordinary activity as compared with preceding years.
While the total mileage of 1845, as compared with 1844, was
CHAP. X.]
157 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
only increased about 20 per cent., the total mileage of 1846, as
compared with 1845, was increased 50 per cent. We find that
the average distance traveled by all classes was augmented firom
26 to 29 miles for the first class, from 14 to 18 for the second,
and from 12 to 14 for the third, after having been stationary for
the three preceding years, and that they returned to their
former amount in the following years.
As might be expected, however, on different lines and in different localities, the average distances traveled by the different
classes vary within considerably wide limits. In order to exhibit this interesting statistical fact, I have computed separately
the average distance traveled by the several classes of passengers
on eleven of the principal systems of railways in England, and
also upon all the remaining lines collectively, and give the results
of this calculation in the following table: 
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the average Distances traveled by Passengers on
the ander-mentioned Railways during the Twelve Months which term inated on June 30, 1847.
Average Distance traveled General average
by each Passenger.     Distance trav     Names of Railways.                                   eled per Passen                                                        ger, of all
1st Class. 2d Class.  3d Class.    Classes.
Miles.   Miles.   JMiles.      Miles.
London and Northwestern.-   50-50    32-00    25-00           40-19
Great Western. —----------- 44-33    23-00    44-00           29-66
Midland.. —------------------ 33-00    21-00    13-00  16-85
London, Brighton, and South
Coast ------------------—.26-60    22-00    12-00           17-00
London and Cambridge...39-00    32-00    18-00             26-22
London and Colchester...... 32-50    25-00    21-00           23-68
Bristol and Birmingham... 33-60    29-00    3500             29-18
London and Southwestern.        28-20    20-00    29-00        23-92,
York and Newcastle --------  26'50    10-00    16-00           15-60
York and North Midland....     27-00    23-00    18-00        21-04
Lancashire and Yorkshire        20-00    16-00    11-00        12-75
All the remaining lines... 10-60        7-10      9-20         8-55
General averages.. -      24-40    14-70    14-16        15-74
To ascertain the proportion in which each class of passengers
contributed to the business of the railways, it will be necessary
to compare, 1st, the numbers booked of the respective classes
with the total number; and, 2d, the quantity of mileage they
respectively employed, with the total amount of mileage executed. I have accordingly made such a calculation, and the
following are the results.
[CHAP. X.
153 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Proportion of Business supplied to the Rail  ways of the United Kingdom by the several Classes of Passengers
respectively, during the Seven Years ending June 30, 1849.
Share of each
Class in every
100 Miles trav    eled.
31-5
45-7
22-8
100-0
31-5
42-9
25-6
100.0
27-9
40-1
32'0
100-0
24-1
41-1
34-8
100-0
21-5
38-6
39'9
100-0
19-8
38'4
41-8
100.0
11.8
38-6
49-6
100'0
Number of
each Class
in every 100
booked.
19-5
51 1
29-4
100-0
19-4
47-7
32-9
100'0
16-7
43-4
39'9
100-0
14-9
40'9
44-2
100'0
13-8
39'5
46-7
100-0
37-4
50-2
100-0
19-3
38-5
42-2
100-0
For twelve months ending June 30, 1843.
1st class        ----------------------------
2d class —-------------------------...               4.
3d class.......................... —--------
Totals.......
For twelve months ending June 30, 1844.
1st class —---------------------------
2d class --------------------.  ---------—.
3d class -----------------    ---—...........
For twelve months ending June 30, 1845.
1st class —---------------------------
2d class. —---------------------------. 
3d class......................... ---
Totals.......
For twelve months ending June 30, 1846.
1st class... —----------- ---------------  
2d class ----—........ —----------------------
3d class... —---------------------------  
Totals —-----         
For twelve months ending June 30, 1847.
1st class............................
2d class....... —-----------------------------
3d class -----------------------------.
Totals.......
For twelve months ending June 30, 1848.
1st class —--------------------------      
2d class... —-------------------—. —----
3d class.......... —-------------------------—.
For six months ending Dec. 31, 1848.
1st class............ —---------------------------
2d class ---------------------------          
3d class.............................
Totals —------— 100-0        100-0
CI-IAP. X.]
159
Totals.......
Totals -------
Totals ------- 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Hence it appears that in every point of view in which the
business of a railway can be considered, the two inferior class
passengers form its chief source.
The business consists conjointly, as has been already shown,
in that of the stations and that of the road: in the reception,
registration, and embarkation, and in the discharge and disem barkation, which constitute the business of the stations; and in
the transport, properly so called, which constitutes the business
of the road. The former is in the ratio of the number of pas sengers booked, irrespective of the distances they are carried;
the latter, on the contrary, is in the direct ratio of their average
mileage, or the distance they are carried, irrespective of their
number. Accordingly, it follows that the numbers in the first
column of the above table, are the moduli of the business trans acted in the stations, and those in the second column the moduli
of the business transacted on the road.
Taking the average of all the results, it may be stated that
the business supplied to the stations by the three classes of
passengers, first, second, and third, is in the ratio of the num bers, 1, 3, and 4; and, consequently, that the second and third class passengers collectively supply seven-eighths of the entire
business.
It appears also from the second column, that the same predominance prevails with the inferior classes in supplying the
business of the road. The mileage employed by the second
class is double that of the first, and the mileage employed by
the third class is two and a quarter times that of the first; the
relative proportion of transport among the three classes being
as the numbers 4, 8, and 9, very nearly. The second and third
classes collectively, therefore, employ more than four-fifths of
the mileage.
It will be observed that the relative proportion of third-class
passengers to the other classes underwent a considerable augmentation from 1845 to 1847. The causes of this are easily
explained. Previously to 1846, the carriages provided for thirdclass passengers were frequently without roofs or windows.
The third-class trains were started at inconvenient hours, and
were transported at a comparatively slow rate. In fact, the
companies appeared to study the means which were most likely
to discourage the use of these cheap trains, prompted apparently
by the apprehension that, the more affluent classes resorting to
them, the revenue and the profits from the other trains would be
diminished.  By these means the laboring classes were in a
160
[CHAP. X. 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
great measure deprived of the benefits of this mode of
transport.
The attention of the legislature was called to this in 1845,
when an act was passed with a view to secure to the poorer
classes the means of traveling by railway at moderate fares, and
in carriages in which they might be protected from the weather
It is incumbent upon all railway companies to whom the act
extends, to provide, by one train, at the least, on every weekday, and also on Sundays (if they work on that day), a conveyance for third-class passengers to and from the terminal, and
other ordinary passenger stations of the railway.
The hour at which this train starts is regulated by the com missioners.
The train must travel at an average rate of speed not less
than twelve miles an hour for the whole distance traveled, including stoppages. It must take up and set down passengers at
every passenger station.
The carriages must be provided with seats, and protected
from the weather in a manner satisfactory to the commissioners.
The charge is not to exceed a penny a mile.
There are provisions as to luggage, and children under three
years of age are to be taken without charge, and above three
years and under twelve, at half the charge for an adult passenger.
The carriages that have been approved of by the commissioners for the conveyance of third-class passengers are generally
commodious, protected from the weather, lighted and ventilated,
and in many instances provided with lights at night, although
this is not required by the act.
The fares in no case have been allowed to exceed ld. per
mile (and some companies are in the habit of charging less).
The regulations of the act in reference to the weight of luggage
allowed to passengers, and the fares to be charged for children,
have been enforced, and are, in most cases, in conformity with
the suggestions of the commissioners, stated in the printed
time-tables of the railway companies.
These regulations were immediately followed by the great
increase of the relative proportion of third-class passengers,
exhibited in the above table.
It would be highly interesting and instructive to investigate
the proportion in which the business of the railways is supplied
by passengers, classified according to the distances they travel.
To accomplish this, it would be necessary to possess returns of
the average mileage of the passengers, classed according to
CIIAP. X.]
161 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
certain given limits of the distances for which they are booked.
I have not obtained such a return for the English railways, nor
am I aware whether such data have been recorded; but I have
procured some from foreign railways, which will elucidate this
point, and which will be found in subsequent chapters.
On comparing together the results of successive years, there
appears a tendency to augmentation in the relative numbers
of the lower classes booked, as well as of the mileage they
employ.
It appears from the table, p. 154, 5, that the daily passenger
service of the railways has gradually augmented for the last two
years, but in a different ratio for different classes of passengers.
In the following table (see page 163) I have exhibited the
rate at which the average daily passenger traffic has increased
since 1843.
We perceive in these results the same tendency which is
uniformly manifested in the progress of the traffic, to vastly
greater increase in the inferior than in the superior class of
passenger traffic,
It will not be without interest to compare the prodigious extent of locomotive service rendered by steam power on railways, with the amount of horse power by which the same
service would be executed.  The experience of stage-coach
proprietors, in business conducted on a large scale, establishes
the general fact that a fast coach, traveling between any two
distant places both ways daily, requires to work it as many
horses as there are miles. The average load of such a coach is
found to be about two-thirds of what it is capable of carrying.
Thus, supposing it to be capable of carrying 15 persons inside
and out, its average load would be 10.
These ten passengers would be carried both ways one mile
per day per horse. The daily locomotive service of a horse
thus working is therefore represented by twenty passengers
carried one mile.
If we would then ascertain the number of horses which
would be necessary to execute the service of the railways, it is
only necessary to divide their daily mileage by 20; the quotient
will be the number of horses required.
Let us take, for example, the six months ending Dec. 31,
1848. The daily mileage of the passengers generally during
these six months was 2,866,682. This, divided by 20, gives
143,334, which would therefore be the number of horses work
162
[CHAP. X. 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
TABLE showing the Rate at which the average Daily Passenger Traffic
has augmented on the Railways of the United Kingdom, during the
Six Years and a Half ending December 31, 1848.
Total increase        Increase per cent. on
on the average Traffic      the average daily
of 1842,3.            Traffic of 1842,3.
Increased
Total In-   Total In-   Increased    Percent crease of   crease of    Percent-    age of
Mileage     Number       age of     Number
booked.    Mileage.     booked
58,182      2,238       11-8        11-8
50,150      3,482       11-1        11.1
75,642      6,051       13-2        13-2
183,974     11,771       11-8         11'8
76,050      2,936       12-3        12-3
].05,231     7,307       12'3        12'2
225,665     18,043       19-6        19'6
406,946     27,286       14-0        14'4
201,434      5,341       16-2        14-3
423,271     16,184       19-0        14'9
524,207     34,157       32-3         28-0
1,148,912    55,682        21-1        18-7
149,898      6,966       14-6        15-6
378,619     25,085       18'0        17'7
641,589     43,096       37-2        32-8
1,170,106    75,147        21-3        21-7
168,166      7,229       15'2         15'8
481,338     26,796       20-2        18-2
800,052     60,816       43-8        42-2
1,449,556    94,841        24-0        24'8
Twelve months ending
June 30, 1844.
1st class...........
2d class............
3d class.-. —-------
Twelve months ending
June 30, 1845.
1st class.........
2d class.-.-. —--—.
3d class..........
Twelve months ending
June 30,1846.
1st class...........
2d class............
3d class............
Twelve months ending
June 30,1847.
1st class -----------
2d class ------------
3d class............
Twelve months ending
June 30, 1848.
1st class -----------
2d class
3d class...........
Six months ending De  cember 31, 1848.
1st class............        
2d class............,
3d class...........
Toal  adaeae..   1,3,9    10,8                    772.
I
CHAP. X.]
163
Totals and averages ---
Totals and averages. —
Totals and -4erAges.,,
Totals and averages - - -
Totals and averages —
227,330
631,022
972,942
1,831,294
7,955
34,059
67,472
109,486
16-9
23-3
51.0
27-7
16-3
20-4
45-6
27-0
Totals and averages --- 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
ing daily in stage-coaches, which would execute the passenger
traffic of the railways which took place during this half year.
It is worth while to compare the cost at which this amount
of public service has been performed, with that at which it
would have been effected by stage-coaches. In making such a
comparison, it must be observed, that railway transport presents
three sources of relative economy; 1st, the saving of fare; 2dly,
the saving of time; and 3dly, the saving of tavern expenses on
the road.
Before the establishment of railways on their present scale,
the average fares of mail and stage-coaches, including the allowance to guards and coachmen, which are not chargeable to railway passengers, were as follows
Per 100 Miles.
s. d.
Mail (inside).............................. 52  0
"  (outside)............................. 30 0
Fast coach (inside)......................... 48 0
"    (outside)........................ 26 0
The average railway fares for the same distance at present
would be as follows:
Per 100 Miles.
$. d.
Per mail. express, and first-class trains, corre-S.
sponding with inside coach places..........       20  0
For second and third class...................11  0
Hence it follows, that for every 100 miles traveled by firstclass passengers there is a saving in the fare amounting to 30s.,
and for every passenger of the inferior classes there is a saving
amounting to 17s.
The fast stage-coaches would travel, stoppages included, at
71 miles an hour, and consequently would require 13 hours and
2
twenty minutes to travel 100 miles. This distance would be
traveled on the railway, by slow passenger trains, in less than
5 hours, by the faster trains in 3 hours, and by express trains
in a still less time. But let us take it at 4 hours. Then there
will be 9 hours and 20 minutes time saved to each passenger on
a 100 miles trip. Now, if we take the value of the time of the
class who travel at the average value of 6s. per working day of
12 hours, this will be 6d. an hour. which will make a saving of
4s. 8d. for every 100 miles traveled.
Finally, every traveler who is detained long upon the road.
must resort to taverns for refreshment.  If he is 13 hours OD
[CHAP. X.
164 
'PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
the road, he will at least take one meal; many will take two.
A traveler, however, who is detained only 3 or 4 hours on the
road, will take none. Let us put down the cost thus incurred
at 6d. per 100 miles for each passenger-a very low estimate,
we shall then have the following account of the amount saved
to the public, in the two years ending June 30, 1848, by the
railways in passenger traffic, as compared with stage-coaches,
supposing that'such an amount of traffic by such means were
practicable:
Fares saved by 354,083,534 first-class passengers        X.
carried one mile at 3-d. per head.............. 5,163,718
Do. by 1,357,936,966 second and third-class passen  gers carried one mile at 2d. per head.......... 11,316,141
Value of time saved by 1,712,020 passengers travel  ing 100 miles, at 4s. 8d. per head..............    399,417
Tavern expenses on 1,712,020 passengers traveling
100 miles, at 6d. a head......................  42,800
Total saving in the two years ending June 30, 1848 16;922,076
It will be shown in a subsequent chapter, that the total sum
expended by the public upon the passenger traffic on the railways, in the two years ending June 30, 1848, was ~10,868,385.
It appears, from the above estimate, that the same amount of
traffic, if executed by stage-coaches, including all the additional
expense incidental to that mode of conveyance, would have cost
X27,890,461. The saving, therefore, by the new mode of
transport, as compared with the old, is about sixty per cent. of
the latter: or, in other words, about seventy per cent. more
than the total sum at present expended.
During the seven years terminating on the 30th June, 1849,
the railways were in a state of rapid development; each year
added largely to the total length of railway open for traffic.
The augmentation of the amount of traffic, exhibited annually
in the preceding tables, was therefore to be ascribed partly to
the increased length of the railway, and partly to the increased
demand of the public for railway transport.
Let us, then, compare the progress of the traffic with the
progress of the development of railways.
To accomplish this, we must obtain an estimate of the average
amount of railways which were under traffic during each successive year. This may be obtained by taking the length of
railways open on the last day of each year as equal to the aver
CHAP. X.]
165 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
age length under traffic during each twelve months terminating
on the 30th June.
In the following table I have given, in the second column,
therefore, the length of railway which was in operation on the
1st January in each of the years specified in the first column;
and in the third column I have given the average number of
passengers per day which would have been carried over each
nmile of the entire system of railways under operation, if the
actual passenger traffic were uniformly diffused over the whole.
This calculation is made by dividing the total average daily
mileage of every class of passengers carried within the year, as
given in the table, p. 154,5, by the numbers given in the second
column of the following table.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the progressive Development of the Railways of
the United Kingdom, and of the Movement of Passengers upon them
during the Seven Years ending June 30, 1849.
Miles Number of Pas                                               open. sengers carried
per Mile.
Twelve months ending June 30, 1843. —--------- 1857           558
~,,,   a,       1844  _...__.. _   1952       625
~~,,,,        1845 ------------ 2148         672
~,,,,     ~1846 ----------— 2441            895
~,,,,    ~1847. —- -------— 3036         726
,~,,,    ~1848........... 3816              654
~,,,,    ~1849 ------------ 5007.
The numbers given in the above table, while they present an
astonishing example of the movement of the population, indicate
nevertheless the fact, that the increase of the passenger traffic
has not kept pace since 1846 with the increase of the railways.
While the absolute quantity of passenger traffic increased, as
appears from the table, p. 163, in a rapid proportion, the daily
numbers transported per mile of railway open has undergone a
regular diminution.
The last column of the above table shows the number of passengers which would have been carried over each mile of the
railways open, if the entire passenger business had been uniformly distributed over the whole extent of railways under
traffic. Independently of this average result, it would have
been desirable to exhibit the manner in which the actual traffic
is distributed, and how it varies from section to section of the
several lines. No data, however, by which this can be ascertained, are extant among the records of the English railways
166
[CKIAP. X. 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
In succeeding chapters will be found some interesting results of
this kind, obtained on foreign lines. Meanwhile, in the absence
of more detailed and satisfactory information, I have calculated
the following table of the comparative traffic per mile on certain
lines during the year 1846,7.
TABULAR ANALYSIS showing the average Number of Passengers carried
daily on each Mile of the under-mentioned Railways of the United
Kingdom during the Twelve Months ending June 30, 1847.
Average Number of Passengers
Number     carried daily per Mile.
Of Miles
open.
l1t   2d   3d  Tota
Class. Class. Class.
London and Northwestern.................   428   360   478   345   1183
Great Western...........................   245   228   518   206    952
Midland................................... 283   103   192   305    600
London, Brighton, and South Coast........    135   230   313   358    901
London and Coambridge t Eastern Counties.. 182   161   330   305    79
London and Colchester
Bristol and Birmingham...................85   133   310   176    619
London and Southwe     stern.................190   152   326   190   678
York and Newcastle...................... 229    48   114   126    288
York and North Midland..................175    69   114   213   396
Lancashire and Yorkshire................108    93   198   535    836
All the remaining Lines...................976   104   212   321    637
Total and averages...... 3036   157   281   289    727
In the following table I have given the rates at which the total
passenger traffic, estimated by its mileage, has augmented froni
year to year; the rate at which the total length of the railways
in operation has augmented; and the rate at which the average
passenger traffic upon them petr mile has varied.
TABULAR COMPARISON of the Annutal Rates of Increase of the Railways
in operation, the total Traffic in Passengers, and the corresponding
Variation of the average Traffic per mile of Railway.
Increased  Increased   Increa'sed   Decreased
Length of  Passenger              Traffic  per Traffic per
Railway  Traffic per    Mile per    Mile per
per Cent.    Cent.      Cent.       Cent.
Year ending June 1844 compared with
year ending June 1843..............        5'12       18-00       12'00..
Year ending June 1845 compared with
year ending June 1844.............10-05               18-28        7-52..
Year ending Jtune 1846 compared with
year ending June 1845..............       13-64      5144        33-20..
Year ending June 1847 compared with
year ending June 1846..............       24-33        0:97..       19'00
Year ending June 1848 compaled with
year ending June 1847..............       25-69       1270..       10'00
Year ending June 1849 compared with
year ending June 1848..............       33-10
CHAP. X.]
167 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
These results are curious and interesting. The total passenger
traffic, increasing at the uniform rate of 18 per cent. per annum
until 1845,6, underwent in that year a sudden and enormous
increase of above 50 per cent.; it then stopped short and suffered no change for 12 months, after which it again began to
increase, but at a slower rate than that at which it progressed
previously to 1845,6; notwithstanding the length of railway in
operation in 1847,8 increased about 100 per cent., compared
with its length previously to 1845,6.
It further appears that, in 1845,6, notwithstanding the length
of railway in operation was increased nearly 14 per cent., the
average traffic per mile was increased upward of 33 per cent.;
but in the succeeding year the length of railway in operation
being increased 24 per cent., the average traffic per mile was
diminished 19 per cent.
The reason of the decreased traffic per mile is evident. The
first railways constructed were naturally those which were conducted through the districts of most active traffic; the latest
were subsidiary lines of comparatively less importance, and
having considerably less traffic. While, therefore, during the
two years 1846,8 the total amount of daily passenger traffic
was augmented 13 per cent., the traffic per mile of railway was
diminished 30 per cent.
Meanwhile, however, the average daily traffic per mile on
railways, during the twelve months ending 30th June, 1848,
was 654 passengers; the meaning of which is, that if the total
number of passengers daily carried on the railways of the United
Kingdom were uniformly diffused over the whole extent of these
railways, 654 passengers would be carried over every mile of
their entire length per day.
By comparing the mileage of the passengers with the
mileage of the carriages by which they are transported, we may
ascertain the average number of passengers borne by each carriage.
It happens, however, as has been already stated, that no direct
mileage account is kept for the carriages on the English railways.
Captain Huish, who has had under his superintendence the
traffic of between 600 and 700 miles of railway, being nearly
one-seventh part of all the railways of the United Kingdom,
gives the following estimate of the average load carried by each
class of passenger carriage:
168
[CHAP. X. 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
Full   Average Load  Proportion of average
Load.   AveragieLod  Load to full Load
Load. carried.peCet
per Cent.
First class..,............ 18                  7                39
Second class................ 25               13                 52
Third class.. —---------------  32            21                66
On the foreign railways, where the mileage account of the
carriages is generally kept, we find the results to correspond
very nearly with this. Thus, on the North of France Railway,
the number of passengers borne by first-class carriages in 1848
was 7: they are built to accommodate 24.  The proportion in
this case is even less than that which obtains in England, being
under 29 per cent. In the second-class carriages, on the same
railway, the average number of passengers was 10-, and in the
third-class carriages 19, the proportion in all cases being less
than that which prevails on the English railways.
On the Belgian railways the average number of passengers
carried by the first-class carriages is 8~, by the second-class 12,
and by the third-class 16-2.
On the Orleans Railway, similar computations show that the
number of passengers in each first-class carriage is 7i-, and in
the second and third-class carriages 2143.
We may therefore take generally, as a good practical estimate,
not only for England but for foreign traffic, the loads given by
Captain Huish, and assume that, in the practical working of
railways, 39 per cent. of the capacity of the first-class carriages,
52 per cent. of the second-class, and 66 per cent. of the third class, constitute the average profitable load.
Having determined the average loads of the respective classes
of carriages, and their average mileage, we can compute the
number of carriages employed daily in executing the traffic of
the English railways.
It has been shown (p. 98) that, on an average, each first-class
carriage travels 59 miles a day, and carries 7 passengers; it
therefore executes a portion of the average daily mileage of the
first-class passengers, expressed by the number 7 X 59 = 413.
In like manner, it appears that every second-class carriage
carries, on the average, 13 passengers, and travels on an average
45 miles; it therefore executes a portion of the average daily
mileage of the second-class passengers, expressed by the number 13 X 45 = 585.
It further appears, that the third-class carriages carry an avelrage
load of 21 passengers, and travel an average distance of 38 miles;
H
CHAP. X.]
1 619 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
they execute, therefore, a portion of the average daily mileage
of the third-class passengers, expressed by 38 X 21 = 798.
WVe shall find, therefore, approximately, the number of the
several classes of carriages employed in working the traffic of
the English railways by dividing the average daily mileage of
the several classes of passengers, as already given, by the numbers here calculated.
To obtain the number of the first-class carriages, divide 553,330
(table, p. 155), the average daily mileage of the first-class passengers, by 413, and we find 1340. In the same way, to find
the number of second-class carriages, divide  1,104,388, the
daily mileage of the second-class passengers, by 585, and the
quotient is 1888, the number of second-class carriages; and, to
find the number of the third-class, divide 1,208,964, their average
daily mileage, by 798, and the quotient, 1515, gives the number
of third-class carriages.
These approximate results, compared with those already obtained by a different process (p. 111), will show that they can
not be far from the truth.
By present      By former
Process.       Process.
_..       1340            1488
—.      1888             2080
---       1515            1488
i Passenger coaches, 1st class —---------—.
I,,            2d class -------------
I,,           3d class -------------
In general, if the passenger traffic of a railway be given or
estimated, and it be required to determine the necessary carriage
stock to work it, supposing the capacity of the carriages and the
nature of the traffic the same as those which prevail on the
English lines, the requisite number may be found as follows:
To determine the requisite number of first-class carriages,
divide the estimated daily mileage of the first-class passengers
by 413, that of the second-class passengers by 585, and that of
the third-class passengers by 798; the quotients will respectively
give the necessary number of carriages of each class.
In this calculation I have assumed that the carriages are
similar to those which prevail generally on the English railways;
the first class being built to accommodate 18, the second class
25, and the third class 32. On railways constructed with a wide
gauge this calculation will not be applicable. I have not been
able to ascertain the average loads carried on these latter roads,
which would require a separate computation.
By comparing the mileage of the passenger traffic with that
of the passenger engines, the number of passengers of each class
drawn by each engine or carried by each train can be ascertained.
LCHAP. X.
170 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
As an example of this computation, I give the following results
of computations derived from the official reports of the railways
therein mnentioned.  The number of passengers carried is in each
case ascertained by dividing the total mileage of the passengers
by the total mileage of the engines.
TABLE showing the average Number of Passengers of each Class carried
by each Passenger Train on the under-mentioned Railways.
Average daily   Average daily      Nomber of
Mileage of Pas-    Mileage of    Passengers per
senger Engines.    Passengers         Train.
Belgian railways, 1844.
Ist class..........
2d class ----------
3d class ----------
2843            39,079           13-78   -
2cs.....     68,274           24-00
..     116,493           41-00
223,846          78-78
2575            38,583           15-00
.68,167                26-50
..     100,666           39-00
207,416           80-50
Belgian lines, 1845.
Ist class..........
2d class. —-------
3d class.-. —-----
North of France, 1848.
1st class.........
2d class.....
3d class..........
29,566
66,643
114,139
210,348
The results which appear above for the North of France in
1848 afford a curious illustration of the local effect of the political
convulsions of that year in France, the number of passengers
carried being considerably below its normal am'ount.
The reports published by the directors of the English railways, and by the Government Commissioners, supply no data
from which general conclusions of this kind can be deduced.
In a few instances, the half-yearly reports presented to tilhe
shareholders have given the mileage of the engines, and that of
the passengers can be approximately obtained from a comparison of the receipts with the average tariff. I have by these
means calculated the following table, exhibiting the relation of
the movement of the passenger traffic to that of the engines on
the railways worked by the Northwestern, Great Western, and
Brighton companies. The mileage of the engines of the Northwestern Company during the twelve months ending the 30th
June, 1849, was 4,649,556, according to a return I have obtained
C14AP. X.]
171
8.51
19-18
32-86
60-55
3473 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
from Captain Huish. Not having any distinct return for the
half-year ending 31st December, 1848, I have taken half this
number as representing the mileage, which can not vary much
from the truth.
TABULAR ANALYSIS showing the Relation between the Movement of the I
Engines and the Movement of the Passengers on the under-mentioned 
Railways.
Tetal M~~~~s- ~Average No Aerg
Total Mileage    ofgas- No
Passegers.g"o Per
of  sengset pee raldb
Engines.           ~~Passengers.    Egn.          ec
Engin..
Total  Mil e age of      Number of
Passen ger   Passengers.
Engines.
Northwestern, including
the Chester and Holy head, Lancaster and
Carlisle, Kendal and
Windemere, and North
Union lines.
For half-year ending De cember 31, 1848......
Passengers, 1st class..
2d class..
3d class 
33,840,267
44,827,743
33,941,960
112,619,970
Totals and averages
Great Western, includ illg Bristol and Exeter,
and South Devon.
For twelve months end ing June 30, 1847.....
Passengers, 1st class..
,, 2d class..
,,     3d class..
21,339,187
48,939,269
19,713,692
89,992,148
2,229,958
2....9    567,878    20,931,842        9-4         37-0
..  2,490,246    50,324,011       22-5         20-2
.cs..  649,777    22,952,910       10-3        35-3
..      3,707,901    94,208,763       42-2         25-5
1,263,956
1.        5..  267,583    10,750,878    8-5         40-2
.       1,253,060    27,301,727      21-6         21-8
. c s.. 422,763    14,733,120     11-7         34-9
..      1,943,406    52,785,725      41-8         27-2
For twelve months end ing June 30, 1848.....
Passengers, fIst class..
,, 2d class..
-,      3d class..
For half-year ending De cember 31,1848......
Passengers, 1st class..
,,     9d class..
,,     3d class..
London, Brighton, and
South Coast.
For half-year ending
June 30, 1849........
Passengers, 1st class..
a      2d class..
,,     3d class..
Totals and averages
5,632,488
8,494,080
7,334,160 
21,460,728
i
172
[CHAP. X.
A,,- g,,
b,
I..h
P...g",.
2,324,778
586,332
1,437,833
1,477,411
3,501,576
14-5
1913
14-6
48-4
57-6
3113
23-0
32-2
2,004,814
546,862
2,224,721
530,569
.3,302,152
10-7
514-5
9.8
45-0
39.0
2-0
37-2
27-3
Totals and averages
Totals and averages
Totals and averages
398,139
232,807
483,502
417,189
1,133,498
14-2
21-4
18-4
54-0
24-1
17-6
18.8
19.0 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
On comparing the average distances traveled with those found
in the table (p. 158), it will be observed that some slight discordance prevails. This may be explained partly by the circumstance of the two tables referring to different epochs, and partly
by their including different lines of railway.*
If the average number of passengers carried by each class of
passenger coaches were taken, the average composition of the
triains, so far as relates to the passenger coaches, could be determined from the above results.  Captain Iluish, in his return
already quoted, estimates, that on the Northwestern Railway,
the number of first-class passengers carried by each coach is 7;
the number of second-class passengers, 13; and the number of
third-class passengers, 21.  If the same estimate be taken as
applicable to the Brighton Railway, in which the carriages are
of the same magnitude, we shall obtain the following as the
numbers of each class of carriages composing an average train:
Northwestern  Brighton Rail- 
Railway.       way.
Average number of passenger coaches
contained in each train.
1st class........................'207     2-00
2(d class........................   1'46            1-61
3d class........................ 0'70         0'88
It must be observed that the actual composition of the trains,
both as regards passengers and passenger coaches, differs from
this average, inasmuch as third-class passengers and third-class
coaches are excluded from first-class trains; so that the actual
rnumber of first-class passengers taken in first-class trains, and
of third-class passengers taken in third-class trains, will be
greater than the above average estimates; and the same will be
true of the coaches.
It must be further observed, that these conclusions rest upon
the estimate of the average loads of the passenger coaches made
by Captain Huish.  This estimate has been made, I believe,
from general observation, and not from any exact statistical
record of the mileage: but it is, nevertheless, supposed to be
tolerably correct.
It has been already observed, that horses and carriages are
usually carried by passenger trains.
* The Great Western, as given in the table, p. 158, does not include the South Devon.
UIZAP. X. ]
173 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
To complete the analysis, therefore, of the passenger traffic,
we ought to show how the proportion of these objects of transport respectively is estimated and compared with the movement
of the carrying and drawing-stock.
The mileage of the horses and carriages transported is recorded in the booking-office in the same manner as that of the
passengers. By comparing the mileage of the horses with the
mileage of the horse-boxes, we are enabled to calculate the
average load transported by each horse-box; and, in the same
way, by comparing the mileage of the carriage-trucks with the
mileage of the carriages, we are enabled to determine the average load taken by each carriage-truck.
I have given, as an example of this, the transport of horses
and carriages on the Belgian railways in 1844:
ANALYSIS of Transport of Horses on the Belgian Railways in 1844.
Number of horses........................    1,434
Mileage of horses........................  156,079
Mileage of horse-boxes................... 93,208
Average number carried per horse-box...... 1-67
Average distance traveled per horse........ 109'00
ANALYSIS of Transport of Carriages on the same Railways in 1844.
Number of carriages.....................     2,546
Mileage of carriages..................... 229,161
Mileage of carriage-trucks................  310,700
Number of carriages per truck................  0'22
Average distance traveled per carriage......  90'00
To estimate justly the degree of accommodation afforded to
the public by the railways, it is necessary to consider the frequency of departures, and the speed of transit. How often per
day a mnan of business has an opportunity of starting for a given
place, and within what time he can be taken there, are the first
questions which every one will ask whose time is of value. The
traveler for pleasure can choose his hour of departure; the man
of business must depart at those times which are most compatible with his engagements; and in reference to that class the
fiequency of departure is, perhaps, even more important than
the speed of transport.
The railways, accordingly, afford greater advantages, as compared with the former means of transport by stage-coaches, by
firequency of departure, than even by their increased speed.
If we take the common table of arrivals and departures on any
of the great lines of railway, we shall easily obtain proof of this.
[CHA.P. X.
174 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
We find that from the London stations of the principal railways
there are departures daily as follows:  Great Western,  15;
Southwestern, 17; Brighton, 8; Southeastern, 7; and Northwestern, 20.
The actual time requisite to travel between any two points of
a line of railway, does not depend so much on the speed of the
train when in motion as is generally supposed; nor is there so
much difference between the velocity of the first-class trains and
that of the slowest, when in full speed, as may be imagined.
The comparative celerity with which the traveling is executed
depends more upon the number of stations at which the train
stops, than on its actual speed when in motion.
A railway passenger train having a gross weight of 70 tons,
when in full speed at 40 miles an hour, can not be stopped as
may easily be understood, very suddenly. It must be deprived
of its enormous momentum by slow degrees. In proportion as
it is suddenly stopped will there be damage done both to the
rolling stock and the permanent way.
From the moment that the steam is cut off, and that the speed
begins to be slackened, either by the ordinary friction and resistance of the air, or by the aid of brakes, the momentum which is
lost is spent upon the permanent way; and the shorter the space
over which it is expended, the more severe will be the action
upon the rails. It is therefore a matter of economy, with regard to the wear of the permanent way, not to attempt to stop
the trains within too short a distance. In all cases, stoppage
produces a considerable wear and tear of the rails; and hence it
arises, that the rails which are adjacent to stations, and especially to chief stations where trains of all classes stop, are subject to much more rapid wear than are the rails elsewhere upon
the road.
The distance within which a train can be conveniently stopped
without acting injuriously on the rails will depend on the velocity
of the train and its weight. In any case, its average velocity
over that part of the line along which it passes, after cutting off
the steam until it comes to rest, will be only half its full speed.
Thus, if a train moving at 40 miles an hour cut off its steam at
half a mile from a station, that half mile will be run over at the
rate of only 20 miles an hour; and the same will be true of the
space run by every train after its steam is cut off, whatever may
have been its speed.
It is calculated that, in this manner, a train loses upon an
average about 14 minutes in coming to rest at each stoppage;
CIIAP. X.]
175 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
and since an equal time is lost in getting up the speed at starting, it may be stated generally that there is a loss of 2- minutes
in stopping and starting; and, if an equal time be allowed for
standing, we shall have an average of five minutes' delay for each
station at which a train stops.
The celerity of the fastest trains on the railways is accordingly obtained by causing them to stop only at a few principal
stations; and other trains of varying speed are accordingly so
regulated, that the slower trains alone stop at all the stations.
In respect to their average speed, the railway trains may be
resolved into four classes:
1st. The express trains.
2d. The mail trains.
3d. The first and second-class trains.
4th. The third-class trains.
As an example of the progress of these different classes of
trains, we have exhibited, in the following table (see page 177),
the distances they travel on some of the principal main lines of
railway diverging from London; the total time they take to complete the trip; the number of their stoppages; their average
speed, stoppages included; and their average speed when in
motion.
The subject of passenger traffic ought not to be dismissed
without some notice of the extraordinary speed at which it is
conducted, and the consequences of this expedition. The public has become so familiar with the announcement of such or
such a trip being performed with a speed of 50 or 60 miles an
hour, that people have ceased to reflect upon what the locomotive phenomenon really is, which they so flippantly advert to.
The average speeds from station to station, given in the above
table, are taken from the published time-tables of the companies,
and are estimated on certain average conditions; but the actual
speed which is frequently attained by the express trains in
motion, often greatly exceeds even the highest given in these
tables. Thus, a speed of 60 miles an hour is far from being
uncommon when in full motion, and I have myself not unfrequently been carried, in experimental trips, at the rate of above
70 miles an hour.
Let us endeavor to convey to the unpracticed reader some
definite idea of this enormous speed of locomotion.
Seventy miles an hour is, in round numbers, 105 feet per
second; that is to say, a motion in virtue of which the passen
[CHAP. X.
176 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Movement of the Passenger Traffic on the
principal Lines of Railway diverging from London, showing the aver  age Speed, Stoppages, &c. of each Class of Trains.-N. B. An average
Loss of Five Minutes is allowed for each Stoppage, except in particu lar Cases, where a greater Delay is fixed by the Programme.  This is
intended to include the Time lost in coming to Rest and getting up
Speed.
Actual
No. of   Aerae      Speed ia   Name of Railway.        Tr.           a     Time.   Stop-          S     p' el d[ig
Stopp    stppages.
Miles.    h. m.            esp
London to Liverpool  Express..... 201           5 45     5      35-00      37-75
,  Express Mail.   201       6 45    15       29-75      3660
, Mail........ 201          7 57    15       25-25 31-00
~,,,,      1st and 2d cl.   201      8  0   20        25-10      31-70
3d class.....  201    14 45    45        13-65       1825
London to Exeter.. Express.....   193i    4 30          7      43-00       51 60
,.. Mail........  1932[    7 10   21         27-00 36-80
",,',.. 1st and 2d cl.  193~          7 15    25       26-65      38'60
. t..... 3d class.....  1]93~   13  5    37  14-75      19-32
London  to  Soutl  ampton..........  Express.....    80        2 15     6      35-60      45-80
Mail........   80       3  0    11       26-65       38'25
1st and 2d cl.    80     3 20    13       24-10      35-50
3d class.....    80    4 45    18       16-85       24'65
London to Dover...  Express.....    88        2 30     8      3520        4850
........ Mail........  88       2 30     5      35-20       42-10
,,...  1st and   2d cl.       88     3 45    15       23-45      29-35
... 3d class..... 88       4  0    17      22-00       30-40
LondonandBrighton  Express..... 501    1 30               1     33-80       35-85
,,,, Mail.......   501                 1 30     3      33-80       40-50
~,,,, 1st and 2d cl.   50A    2  0               3      25-25       2890
,;,,       3d class.....    50~    2 25   ]1       2065       33-80
Totals and averages............ 2652   108 42   301             24-45       32-00
ger is carried over 35 yards between two beats of a common
clock.  Two objects near him, a yard asunder, pass by his eye
in the thirty-fifth part of a second; and, if 35 stakes were erected at the side of the road, a yard asunder, these 35 would pass
his eye between two beats of a common clock, and it is scarcely
necessary to say that they would not be distinguishable, the
retina not being capable of receiving distinct successive impressions in so minute a fraction of time. If the stakes had any
strong color, such as red, they would have the appearance of a
continuous flash of red color. At such a speed, therefore, the
objects on the side of the road are undistinguishable.
When two trains having this speed pass each other, the relative velocity will be double that, or 70 yards per second; and
if one of the trains were 70 yards long, it would flash by in a
single second.
II*
CHAP. X.]
177 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
It will be somewhat curious to investigate the movement of
the mechanism of the engine, which produces this extraordinary
speed.
Let us suppose that the driving-wheels of the engine are
about 7 feet in diameter, and, consequently, that they measure
a little more than 21 feet, or 7 yards, in circumference. These
wheels would revolve five times in passing over 35 yards of the
rails; and as this space is, on the supposition we have made,
passed over in one second, these driving-wheels must, necessarily, at such a speed, revolve five times per second. Now, to
produce one revolution of the driving-wheels, each piston must
once pass backward and forward in the cylinder, and its motion,
therefore, must divide a second into ten equal parts. On arriving at each end of the cylinder, at the moment it is about to
change the direction of its motion, and to return, a valve must
be shifted by which steam may be admitted on one side of the
piston and withdrawn from the other side. This valve must
therefore also be moved ten times per second, and must coinplete its motion so rapidly as to form but a small fraction of the
entire stroke of the piston, and therefore its motion must be
comnputed by a small fraction of the tenth part of a second, and
this must be done with the utmost punctuality and uniformity,
otherwise the action of the piston could not be continued. The
cylinder discharges its contents through the escape valve every
time that the piston changes its direction, and consequently this
discharge must take place, under the circumstances here supposed, ten times per second.
But there are two cylinders, and the mechanism is so regulated that the discharge from the one is intermediate between
two successive discharges from the other. There are therefore
20 discharges of steam per second, at equal intervals; and thus
these 20 puffs divide a second into 20 equal parts, each puff
having the twentieth of a second between it and that which
precedes or follows it. The steam which thus puffs from the
cylinders is conveyed by a pipe to the chimney, where it escapes
upward in a succession of blasts, by which the draft through the
fire-place is maintained. It is these blasts of steam in the chimney which produce the coughing noise heard when a locomtnotive engine is moving slowly. As the rapidity augments, these
coughs become more rapid, and when the speed attains the
amount which we have supposed above, there will be 20 coughs
per second. The ear, like the eye, is limited in the rapidity of
the sensations of which it is susceptible, and, active and sensi
173
[CHAP. X. 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
tive as that organ is, it is not capable of distinguishing sounds
which succeed each other at intervals of the twentieth part of a
second; therefore, when the engine moves at such a rate, the
puffing in the chimney ceases to be appreciated  by the  ear,
although, as a mechanical effect, it continues to be produced as
accurately and regularly as when the engine is moving slowly.
According to the experiments of Dr. Hutton, it appeared that
the time of flight of a cannon-ball, having a range of 6,700 feet,
is one quarter of a minute.
The velocity was therefore 26,800 feet per minute, which is
equal to 5 miles per minute, or 300 miles per hour.
It follows, therefore, that a railway train, moving at 75 miles
an hour, not an uncommon speed for express trains to attain,
would have a velocity only 4 times less than a cannon-ball.
The momentum of such a mass, moving at such a speed, is
difficult to conceive. It would amount to a force equivalent to
the aggregate force of a number of cannon-balls equal to one
fourth of its own weight.
The consideration of the great damage done to the railway,
as well as to the rolling stock, by these extreme speeds, is a
serious drawback to the gratification which such wondrous l)erformances naturally excite. The fracture and wear of rails is
augmented in a very high ratio with the speed; so likewise is
the wear of all parts of the vehicles most affected, such as
wheels, axles, &c.
I have shown that, at the speed we have here considered, a
driving-wheel, 7 feet in diameter, revolves 5 times per second;
but the bearing-wheels of carriages, wagons, and vans are in
general only 3 feet in diameter, and sometimes even less.
Now, if a wheel of 7 feet in diameter revolve 5 times per second, a wheel 3 feet in diameter, proceeding at the same speed,
must revolve very nearly 12 miles per second.
This, therefore, is the action which must take place upon all
the wheels of the vehicles composing each express train.
The expense attending such extreme speed is not, however,
limited to the cost which attends the trains themselves to which
this motion is imparted. The whole traffic of the road is more
or less affected by it. All other trains must be hurried forward
to get out of the way of the express train, or detained in sidings
to wait for its passage.
From these causes goods trains, which need not and ought
not to move at a speed of more than 16 or 18, are frequently
compelled  to be driven at 30  miles an hour and upwardd.
CI-TAP. X.].
179 
RPAILWAY ECONOMY.
Their average speed is made up by undue speed when in motion, for the time lost waiting ill sidings for the progress of
express trains.
The damage done to the road by these causes is not merely
that which arises from the undue speed which must occasionally
be given to heavy goods trains; great damage is also done by
the frequent stoppages of such trains. When they are stopped,
their momentum must be spent upon the rails; and when they
are put in motion afterward, and momentum imparted to them,
the reaction produced by their driving-wheels on the rails is
another cause of most injurious wear and tear.
Railway directors and managers are deeply sensible of the
great damage sustained by the property under their care in consequence of these circumstances, and frequent murmurs and
remonstrances are heard upon the subject. The public, however, appear to be too exigent to be successfully resisted. I
have no doubt, from long and careful practical investigations into
the effects produced by the action of engines and carriages on
railways, that the damage sustained directly and indirectly by
railway proprietors in consequence of express trains moving at
this extraordinary speed, is far greater than any profits derivable from such trains can cover; and I have no hesitation in
saying, that, considered in a commercial point of view, railway
proprietors would be fully justified, either in laying a much
higher rate of fare upon express trains, or, which would be
much more advisable and more consistent with their own interests, suppressing them altogether.
The injurious effects proceeding from these causes would
have been considerably less, if in the original construction of
railways sufficient width had been left in the bridges, tunnels,
and other works of art, for an additional line of rails. If this
additional line of rails had been reserved for the exclusive use
of the merchandise traffic, and the third-class passenger trains,
with proper sidings, the main line, which now performs the
entire work of the railway, being reserved for the fast passenger traffic, less inconvenience and injury would have arisen to
the railway property, and much more expedition, punctuality,
and safety have been insured to the traveling public.
We must not dismiss the subject of express trains without
noticing the danger of which they are productive. In railway
traffic the entire stream of transport ought to proceed as much
as possible with an uniform speed, so that one part should be
not liable to overtake another. The greater the difference of
180
(CIIAP. X. 
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
velocity of the different objects of transport, moving in the same
direction, and-on the same rails, the greater is the danger of
collision; and the consequences of collision are dangerous in the
exact proportion of the difference of velocities of the bodies
which strike each other. These causes of danger and injury
are augmented to the highest conceivable degree by the express
trains. These trains move with an enormous and exceptional
speed. Collision becomes inevitable unless a warning be sent
along the line to clear the way. Nor is it always practicable,
even with the warning, to avert it.
An engine attached to a goods train, for example, becomes
lamed between two stations. It is necessary to send on to the
adjacent station for help, and notice must be sent back to stop
the following train. This notice may in general be rendered
effectual to trains moving at ordinary speeds, but an express
train, moving at the usual rate of such trains, can not safely
pull up except within a considerable distance. The chances,
therefore, of an express train running into a disabled train upon
the road are very considerable.
The use of the electric telegraph diminishes this danger;
but to give notice by the telegraph a message must be sent to
the nearest station, which may be at a considerable distance.
It is not without regret that one would discourage the ardor
for improvement produced by wholesome competition; but it is
indispensably necessary to regulate our progress with discretion,
and it must not be forgotten that the safety of the public is not
less to be considered than expedition of traveling.
The public, in general, concerns itself very little with the
question of safety. The traveler who desires to reach a distant point with speed, is seldom so well informed as to be
enabled to appreciate the degree of danger which must attend
the attainment of his object; and it is necessary that those
who have the control and management of railways, and who
alone are competent to appreciate the danger, should resist
this tendency in the public, which would impel the conductors
of railways into a course attended with serious damage and
loss to railway proprietors, and with no small danger to the
traveling public.
CHAP. X.]
181 
CHAPTER XI.
GOODS TRAFFIC.
THE transport of merchandise is the branch of railway busi ness on the due improvement and cultivation of which the
ultimate and durable success of these vast enterprises, and the
extent of their public utility, will mainly depend: yet it is a
branch which has been hitherto comparatively neglected. The
brilliant and unexpected results of the business in passenger
traffic have not unnaturally dazzled the public, and engrossed
the attention of proprietors, directors, and managers. Nothing
has been neglected which could contribute to the extension of
this branch of transport, and it may even be questioned whether
the great expenses which have been entailed on railway establishments in affording the unexampled accommodation of extreme speed and frequency of departure have been or can be
adequately repaid by any practicable extension of the traffic.
The transport of goods, though presenting less striking phenomena, is attended with not less benefit to the country, and
may soon, if duly cultivated, become the source of even more
permanent and extensive profits to the railway establishments.
But to realize these, it will be necessary that this branch of the
business should receive a more profound study on the part of
railway managers than has hitherto been bestowed upon it.
The transport of goods is subject to more various and difficult
conditions than that of passengers. If frequency of departure
and extreme speed are not so imperatively demanded for it,
the accommodation of the tariff, so as to render the transport
compatible with the commercial conditions of the local markets,
is a subject out of which arise numerous and difficult questions
for solution; and on the solution of these questions, and on the
due regulation and graduation of the goods tariff, will depend
altogether the extent and the success of this important branch
of railway business.
The official reports of the railway commissioners and directors, meagre and unsatisfactory as they are with reference to
the passenger traffic, are much more so relative to the traffic in
merchandise. If we have not all the necessary details of the 
GOODS TRAFFIC.
passenger traffic, we are at least informed of the number of
each class booked, the gross receipts, and the average tariff,
supplying data by which we have been enabled to approximate
to those statistical details relating to the transport which ought
to have been supplied by direct and accurate records. We are
not able, however, to do even this with reference to the goods
traffic. The reports in general supply no information relative
to this branch of railway business, except the receipts, and even
these are given in a lumped sum, in which is included the
revenue which proceeds from a variety of objects not properly
included under the head of merchandise, such as mails, parcels,
private carriages, &c.
To supply a complete analysis of the goods business, it would
be necessary to possess the following data.
1st. The quantity of each class of goods booked, T.
2dly. Their mileage, t.
3dly. The number and description of vehicles employed in
their transport, W.
4th. The mileage of these vehicles, w.
By comparing the first and second, we should obtain the
average distance which each unit of each class of traffic is
carried. This would be done by dividing the number expressed by t, or the mileage, by the number expressed by
T:~(T )
By comparing the second with the fourth we should obtain
the average load carried by each vehicle. This would be done
by dividing the number expressed by t by the number expressed
by w: 
By comparing the third'and fourth, we should obtain the
average  distance run by each vehicle of transport.  This
would be done by dividing the number expressed by w by the
number expressed by W: -(W)
In this way, all the circumstances attending the movement
of each class of goods traffic could be inferred from simple and
clear data, which might be easily recorded.
It would be necessary to classify the merchandise, first, according to the description of vehicle in which it is transported;
and, secondly, according to its tariff.
Special vehicles are appropriated to different descriptions of
goods, as has been already explained; and, in order to ascertain
the cost of the transport of each class of goods, it would be
CHAP. XI.]
183 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
necessary to keep a second mileage account not only of each
class of traffic, but of each class of vehicle appropriated to its
transport. The average load carried by each vehicle would be
determined by a comparison of these mileages; and upon this
average load would depend, as will be explained hereafter, the
cost of the transport.
No general data of this kind, or any other data from which
they can be inferred, are supplied in the railway reports.
Reports somewhat more detailed, however, appeared in the
returns published by the railway commissioners for the two
years ending June 30, 1846, and June 30, 1847; but, owing
to the discrepancies which appear in the returns of different
companies, and to the different senses in which they use the
same terms, it is extremely difficult to deduce any general
inferences from them. I have, however, computed from these
returns the quantity of goods and live stock, and their total
mileage, for the twelve months ending June 30, 1847, which
are exhibited in the follwing table:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Quantity of Goods and Live Stock Traffic on
the Railways of the United Kingdom for Twelve Months ending June
30, 1847.
Denomination.  Quantity or Number.   Mileage.
Merchandise.............. Tons.          16,460,599      370,138,271
Cattle................  Number.             584,287       17,692,210
Sheep....... —--------------  Do.         2,509,529       82,096,451
Pigs and Calves       -      —. Do.         615,214       34,242,281
From this we can infer the average daily mileage, the average distance over which each unit of transport was carried,
and the average number of such units daily booked. These
are exhibited in the following table:
TABULAR AINALYSIS of the daily Traffic in Goods, and of the Distance
carried on the Railways of the United Kingdom for Twelve Months
ending June 30, 1847.
Average Number   Average   Average Distance
of Units booked      daily      traveled per Unit
daily.        Mileage.         booked.
Miles.
1,014,077        22-5
48,471        30'3
224,922        32'7
93,813        55'7
Merchandise....... tons
Cattle. —-------- number
Sheep. —-------—,,
Pigs and calves.,,
I
[CIIAP. XI.
184
45,097
1,600
6,875
1,685 
GOODS TRAFFIC.
The result of this table will be as unexpected as were those
obtained by analogous calculations with respect to the passenger traffic. The average distance through which merchandise
was transported, 221- miles, is much less than might have been
expected, or than would have taken place under the operation
of a properly graduated tariff. It is evident from this, that the
tariff is prohibitory for a greater average distance than about
20 miles. It would be interesting, if we possessed the requisite
data, to apply a like investigation to the various classes of
merchandise, so as to ascertain what classes are transported to
the greatest distances; but the reports supply us with no data
for this purpose.
It is curious, also, that the pigs and calves are transported to
an average distance so much greater than the cattle and sheep.
As we have already observed with respect to the traffic in passengers, the average distances which the goods were transported is found to vary, within very wide limits, on different lines
of railway. I give, in the following table, the results of a calculation made upon the returns for eleven different railways,
for the twelve months ending June 30, 1847, showing the average
distances which each ton of goods was transported on the several
lines therein mentioned in that year.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the average Distances which each Ton of Goods
was transported on the under-mentioned Railways, during the Twelve
Months ending June 30, 1847.
Average
Name of Railway.                 Tons of  Total Mileage. Distance
Goods.                   carried
per Ton.
London and Northwestern...........
Great Western.. —-------------------
Midland —-------------------------— 1
London, Brighton, and South Coast. —
London and Cambridge..............
London and Colchester..............
Bristol and Birmingham —-----------         
London and Southwestern —---------.
York and Newcastle.. —--------------
York and North Midland —---------— 4
Lancashire and Yorkshire...........
All the remaining lines —.- -------- 
Totals and averages.. —
Although we possess no data by which we can ascertain the
quantity of goods booked for any period of long duration, nor
even any direct record of the mileage of the goods traffic, we
CIIAP. XI.]
185
1,411,080
371,327
1,195,177
156,930
236,463
83,364
254,038
148,415
1,847,689
446,181
597,262
9,712,673
16,460,599
98,428,462
19,007,395
37,626,074
3,354,325
12,493,632
3,172,898
8,809,052
7,023,005
29,436,800
12,134,231
17,974,432
120,687,96a
370,138,271
69-75
51-18
31-48
21-37
5Q-9
38-10
34-69
47-39
1 5-97
27-19
30-09
12-32
22-50 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
can nevertheless approximate to the latter by combining an approximate estimate of the receipts with the average tariff per
ton per mile. By subducting the estimated revenue proceeding
from mails, parcels, carriages, and horses, from the gross totals
given in the official returns for them and the goods, we obtain
approximate estimates of the revenue proceeding from goods.
It appears also that, the average tariff being taken at 1.67d. per
ton per mile, the annual and average daily mileage of the goods
for the six years and a half ending Dec., 1848, was as follows:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Goods Traffic on the Railways of the United
Kingdom during the Six Years and a Half ending Dec. 31, 1848.
Average daily
Mvileage.
443,466
507,477
719,452
927,876
1,121,623
1,454,749
1,693,798
Total Mileage.
Twelve months ending June 30, 1843 —----- 
i s,,n         1844. - -.-.
,,,,          1845.-. —--
,,,,          1846 -------
,,,,          1847 -------
1848. —----
Six months ending'Dece'mber 30,1848 -------
161,865,276
185,239,340
262,600,039
338,674,622
409,392,412
530,983,310
309,118,238
Not possessing any return of the quantity of. goods booked,
we are unable to ascertain the average distances over which
each ton was transported in each successive year.
The comparative rates of increase of the passenger and goods
traffic for the last six years and a half are exhibited in the following table:
TABLE showing the comparative Rates at which the average daily
Traffic in Passengers and Goods has augmented on the Railways of
the United Kingdom during the Six Years and a Half ending Decem ber 31, 1848.
Total Increase on the
average daily Mileage
of 1842,3.
Passengers.,Goods.
Twelve months ending June 30, 1844              183,974       64,011
~~,,,,            1845    406,946        275,986
~,,,,       ~    1846   1,148,912    484,410
~~,,,,            1847   1,170,106    678,057
,,x monh,s e1848   1,449,556   1,011,283
Six months ending December 31, 1848   1,831,294   1,250,332
Increased Percentage
on the average daily
Mileage of 184',3.
G-,,
I~asseng'er~.    of*
11'8          14X4
14-0 62-3
21-1        109-1
21'3        153a0
24'0         2'28'0
27-7         282'0
The results of this table are perhaps more striking than any
of the various calculations which we have hitherto deduced
from the statistical data of railways. It appears firom these,
I
[CHAP. XI.
186 
GOODS TRAFFIC.
that while the passenger traffic, during the period of six years and
a half previous to Dec. 31, 1848, increased scarcely 28 per cent.,
the goods traffic was augmented 282 per cent., the increase in
the traffic of merchandise being thus tenfold that of passengers.
It will be also observed, that in the year 1847, compared with
1846, while no increase took place on the passenger traffic, there
was an increase of 44 per cent. on the goods traffic.
If a proper record had been kept of the mileage of the various
classes of the goods-carrying stock, we should have been able,
by a comparison of this with the mileage of the goods themselves,
to infer with accuracy the average amount of useful load carried
by each class of vehicle; but no such mileage having been observed or recorded, we are forced to accept the best estimates,
rough and approximate as they are, which can be obtained.
It has been already observed that Capt. Huish, by extensive
observations made on the goods traffic of the Northwestern
Railway, has found that the average loads of the goods wagons
which arrive at and depart from the chief station of that railway
is 241 tons. If, in the absence of more accurate returns, we
adopt this as the general estimate of the average loads of the
goods wagons, we can deduce their average mileage by dividing
the mileage of the goods themselves by 24.
It appears also, as we have shown in Chap. VI., from the
report of Capt. Huish, that the average number of wagons
forming a goods train on the Northwestern lines of railway is
26.  But it is probable, from the very active traffic of these
lines, that this is above the general average. We shall therefore
take the average number of wagons composing a goods train,
upon the average of all the English railways, at 22.
In the following table I have exhibited the mileage of the
goods-carrying stock and that of the goods engines, calculating
each approximately in this manner:
TABULAR ANALYSIS showing the Total daily Mileage of the Goods
Wagons and of the Goods Engines on the Fniglish Railways for Six
Years and a Half ending December 31, 1848.
Total daily    Total daily
Mileage of   Mileiage of
Goods Wagons. Goods Engintes.
Twelve months ending The 30, 1843 -     197,096        8.959
~,,, i,     1844.. —    255,544        11,615
I~,,,,   ~1845... -     319,756        14,535
~,,,,   ~1846....    412,388          18,745
{~,,,,   ~1847-.-   498,500           22,659
1848....    646,556    29,389
Six months'ending December 31,1848....    752,796      34,218
CHAP. XI.]
187 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Thus it appears that the distances traveled daily by the goods
trains on the English railways during the last six months of 1848,
amounted to nearly once and a half the circumference of the
globe.
It will be interesting to compare this enormous amount of
transport of merchandise, as executed by steam on railways,
with the amount of horse power which would be necessary to
perform the same service, were it practicable, by wagons and
common roads.
The experience of carriers shows that in wagon transport, a
horse must be allowed for each ton of goods transported, and
that with this power a wagon may travel about 20 miles a day.
The number of horses, therefore, requisite to execute a given
traffic, will be found by dividing the daily mileage of the tons
of goods by 20. Taking, therefore, the daily mileage of the
goods for the six months ending 31st December, 1848, we find
that to execute it by horse power in wagons, with a speed of
about 3 miles an hour, would require the employment of 84,689
horses.
Let us now compare the progressive increase of the goods
traffic with the progressive development of the railways during
the last seven years, in the same manner as we have done with
relation to the passenger traffic in the last chapter.
In the following table I have given, in the second column, as
before, the length of railway which was under traffic in each
successive year; and, in the third column, the average number
of tons of goods per mile transported upon it, the numbers in
this column being obtained by dividing the total mileage of the
goods by the number of miles of railway open.
TABULAR COMIPARISON of the progressive Development of the Railways
of the United Kingdom and of the Movement of Goods upon them
during the Six Years and a Half ending December 31, 1848.
Nuniber
of Tons
carried
per Mile.
23 8
260
335
381
370
382
338
Twelve months ending June 30, 1843 - - -
, n,,      1844           0         3.
,,,,        1845.._
,,,,       1846...
,,,,                    1847...
1848 ---
Six months ending December 31, 1848 ---
I
I
188
[CHAP. XI.
I
2-90
11-50
z
9' 25
28-80
13-75
3.25
.. I
Miles
open.
1857
1952
2148
2441
3036
3816
,5007 
GOODS TRAFFIC.
The goods traffic, therefore, in common with the passenger
traffic, has failed to keep pace with the development of the
railways. It appears by table p. 167, that the passenger
traffic per mile continued to increase until June, 1846, but a
decrease was manifested in the year ending June, 1847.  The
same result is obtained on the goods.  In the case of the goods,
however, there was again a relative increase in the twelve
months ending June, 1848, while there was a considerable
decrease in the same year in the relative amount of passenger
traffic.
On the whole, then, it follows that neither the traffic in
passengers nor goods has kept pace with the development of
the railways, but that the relative falling off in the passenger
business has been greater than that of the goods; while the
absolute increase of the amount of goods business, without reference to the length of railway open, has been tenfold that of
passenger business.
To give a complete analysis of the traffic, whether in passengers or in goods, on any system of railways, it is not enough,
however useful it may be in itself, to give general averages,
either in reference to a given period of time, as a year, or in
reference to the entire extent of the line or lines.  The traffic
is not only distributed unequally with relation to time, but also
with relation to space.   The quantity executed in different
months is different, and the quantity carried on different sections of the line still more so. Complete returns would supply
us with data by which we could exhibit the variation in the
quantity of traffic at different epochs, and on different sections
of the line; but none of the returns published by the English
railways, which are accessible to us, supply the means of doing
this. As I have often had occasion to observe, the reports of
foreign railways are much more ample and explicit; and illustrations of the variation to which the traffic is subject, in passengers and goods, in the different months of the year, and upon
the different sections of the lines on some foreign railways, will
be.found in succeeding chapters.
The statistical reports of the railway commissioners for 1847
are, however, sufficiently ample to enable us to deduce from
them the average daily mileage of the goods traffic on several
of the principal railways, so as to afford some degree of comparison of the relative prevalence of the traffic in merchandise
on different parts of the network of railways which overspread
the country. In the following table I have given, in the first
CHAP. XI.]
189 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
column, the length of the railways open, therein named; in the
second, the average daily mileage of the tons of goods carried
upon them; and in the third, the average quantity per mile on
each line of railway.
TABULAR ANALYSIS showing the average daily Mileage of Tons of Goods,
and the average Nnmber of Tons carried daily per Mile, on the under mentioned Railways during the Twelve Months ending June 30, 1847.
Average
Number Average Number of
of Miles  daily   Tons car                                        open.  Mileage. ried daily
per Mile.
London and Northwestern.. —-------------  428   269,639    631
Great Western. —----------------------- 245    52,075    212
Midland.. —----------------------------- 283   103,085    364
London, Brighton, and South Coast......    135    9,187    68
London and Cambridge } Eastern Counties   182    42,919    235
London and Colehllester 
Bristol and Birmingham. —---------------  85   24,132    283
London and Southwestern —----—........ 190    19,241    101
York and Newcastle.- ------------------— 229    80,651    352
York and North Midland. —--------------- 175    33,244    190
Lancashire and Yorkshire ----------------  108    49,240    456
All the remaining lines ------------------ 976   330,650    338
From this table it follows, as might have been expected, that
the proportion of traffic in goods to the length of the lines open
is extremely variable; on the London and Brighton the traffic
being at the rate of only 68 tons per mile, while on the London
and Northwestern it is 631.
The immense activity of the traffic on the English railways,
and the extent to which it affords employment to industry, may
be in some degree calculated from the following statement of
the number and class of persons in the employment of one company alone, the Northwestern:
Secretaries................................ 2
General manager.......................... 1
Superintendents........................... 3
Resident engineers.........................          2
Clerks...................................    966
Police constables..........................       701
Engineers and stokers........................    738
Porters..................................    3,054
Artificers................................     3,347
Laborers................................ 1,452
10,266
190
[CHAP. XI. 
THE EXPENSES.
The number of horses employed in the local delivery of goods
is 612, and the number of vans 256.
This, however, is independent of the goods establishments of
Messrs. Pickford and Chaplin, the formier of whom employed
nearly 800 clerks and porters, 400 horses, and upward of 150
vehicles.
This company possesses 438 miles of railway, and supplies
the locomotive power for about 200 miles more. It therefore
employs about 23 persons per mile of its own lines,
CHAPTER XII.
THE EXPENSES.
THE tendency of the progress of the arts is to render the cost
of production more and more independent of the quantity of the
article produced. In the infancy of industry the application of
labor is simple, and the quantity of production is always in the
exact ratio of the labor itself. The knitter who produces in
ten hours a pair of stockings, with the consumption of a certain
weight of thread, will produce two pair of stockings in twenty
hours, with the consumption of double the quantity of thread;
three pair in thirty hours, with the consumption of three times
the quantity of thread, and so on; and the cost of the stockings
produced, representing the wages of the labor and the cost of
the raw material, will be in the exact proportion of these, and
will, consequently, be in the direct ratio of the number of pairs
which have been made. Thus three pairs will cost precisely
three times, ten pairs ten times, and one hundred pairs one
hundred times as much as one pair, and so on.
But as the art improves, and the demand for stockings becomes
more extensive, invention is stimulated, and a machine is contrived and constructed, by which the labor of the knitter is exchanged for that of the weaver, and the number of pairs of
stockings which can be produced by the same expenditure of
labor is largely multiplied. Their cost, therefore, so far as depends on the consumption of labor, is proportionally diminished.
But this advantage is purchased by a large expenditure, preparatory to the fabrication, in the construction and purchase of the
stocking-loom.  By this loom many hundreds of thousands of pairs
of stockings will be fabricated; and the cost of the loomrn, being
CHAP. XII.]
191 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
divided among so enormous a number of articles, almost vanishes
fiotm the price of any single one.
Another step in the progress of invention supersedes the weaver
himnself. A power-loom is invented, by which the process of
weaving is completed, independently of manual labor, by an
engine deriving its motion directly ifrom some physical agent,
such as steam or water.
As another striking example of this principle, we may refer
to the book now in the hand of the reader.
In the infancy of literature books were multiplied by copyists,
and their cost was in the exact proportion of their number.  One
hundred copies of a book like this would have cost precisely one
hundred times the price at which a single copy could be procured.
Movable types were invented, and now a larger amount of preparatory labor and machinery is employed, before the production
of even a single copy can take place; but when the types are
set and the printing-press ready to work, five hundred or one
thousand copies can be produced at a less expense than would
previously have been incurred in the production of a single copy.
The ultimate point of perfection to which this progress tends,
is to render the cost of production of each individual article
precisely in the inverse proportion of the quantity produced.
This is, however, a limit to which it is probable improvement
can never actually attain; and the cost of production of the
objects of industry, at present, may always be regarded as consisting of two parts, one of which is quite independent of the
number of articles produced, and being, therefore, equally divided
among them, will render one element of their price precisely in
the inverse ratio of the number; but still there will be another
component, which, depending on the direct application of manual
or other labor, and on the immediate consumption of raw material,
will be in the direct ratio of the number of articles produced.
The greater the perfection to which art attains, the greater
will be the former and the less the latter part of the cost.  In
the case of the power-loom above mentioned, the second element
of price is reduced to the cost of the raw material, labor being
very nearly if not altogether superseded.
These principles are illustrated in a striking manner by the
improvements which have taken place in transport within the
last century.
Before the construction of roads, the transport of persons and
goods on p)ack-horses was a simple application of labor, and the
cost of transport was in the direct ratio of the quantity. Roads
192
[01-IAP. XII. 
THE EXPENSES.
were then constructed, and wheel-carriages employed.  By the
preparatory cost thus incurred, transport was so facilitated, that
the same labor was enabled to accomplish a multiplied quantity
of it. The cost of the roads and the improved carriages being
divided among the increased quantity of transport, gave an ele  ment of its cost, which was inversely as its quantity; but still
the labor of traction remained simple, and was in the direct
ratio of the quantity of locomotion effected.
A further improvement produced the railway and the loco  motive engine.  Here an expense of an immense amount is in  curred before a single object can be transported. Extensive
lines of road, attended by works of art of prodigious magnitude
and cost, are formed. Large buildings are provided for stations,
and, in fine, a stock of engines and carriages is fabricated. All
these expenses are incurred preparatory to locomotion, and
must be divided among the quantity of transport executed. In deed, the mere labor or expenditure of mechanical power nec essary to transport the objects of traffic from point to point along
the road formis the most insignificant item of the entire cost;
and this item alone is in the direct proportion of the quantity of
transport.
We should not, therefore, be far from the truth, if we stated
that this great improvement in the art has reduced the cost of
transport in a ratio which is very nearly the inverse of the quantity of transport executed.
When the question was agitated which led to the establishment of the uniform system of postage, the public was startled
by the paradox that the transmission of a letter or dispatch
was attended with the same cost, whether it were expedited
ten miles or five hundred.
Nevertheless it was demonstrated, by the plainest principles
of arithmetic, that the difference of expense was a sum so utterly evanescent in amount, as to conferpractical truth on the principle on which the establishment of a uniform rate of postage
was claimed. In a word, it was made manifest that the cost of
transmission of letters was practically independent of the distance to which they were conveyed.
If any one should maintain that the same principle equally prevails in railway transport, he would certainly commit an error;
but any one who should affirm that such a principle had no application at all in this case, would commit a scarcely less grave one.
The transmission of letters and dispatches differs from the
transmission of persons and goods only in the weight of the
I
OIJAP. XII.]
193 
RAILW\VAY ECONOMY.
objects carried. In the one case and in the other there is a
part of the cost attending the transmission, which is quite independent of the expenses of transport properly so called, limiting
the term transport to the mere locomotion or translation of the
person or object from place to place.
Now, in the case of letters, the part of the expense which is independent ofthe mere cost of conveyance, bears so immense a proportion to the whole, that the latter may be wholly disregarded.
In the case of the transport of persons and goods this is not
so, but nevertheless, even in this case, there is an item of the
expenses which has no reference to the cost of locomotion,
and which is therefore the same whether the person or thing
transported be carried ten miles or five hundred miles. This
item of expense, to whatever it may be related, is therefore
independent of the distance, and is chargeable equally on objects
transmitted to great or small distances.
An analysis of the past expenses of a railway may have two
objects-retrospective and prospective.
Considered retrospectively, its purpose can only be the adjustment of accounts, an object which has no relation to our present
purpose.
Considered prospectively, such an analysis has the most im portant purposes.
1st. It supplies the grounds of an estimate of future expenses.
2d. It supplies the basis of a future tariff.
To obtain an estimate of the future expenses of a railway is
easy, provided the expenses of past years, properly classified, be
known. If the circumstances of the traffic remtain the same,
the expenses must necessarily also remain unaltered; and the
actual amount expended in the past year may be transferred un changed into the estimate of the coming year.
But if the circumstances of the traffic, or the extent of line
to be worked, be changed, then modifications must be made in
the estimates for each branch of the service, in accordance with
the anticipated change in the traffic.
But the analysis required for the second purpose above men tioned, to supply the basis of a tariff, must be one of a much
more elaborate and a very different sort. For this purpose it
will not be sufficient to be informed of the gross sums expended
under the usual heads of expenditure, such as direction and
management, way and works, locomotive power, &c.  It will
be necessary to ascertain, with somendegree of precision, the
expense which has attended in past years the transport of each
194
[CIIAP, XII, 
TIHE EXPENSES.
class of traffic, such expenses being obviously the first condition
upon which a tariff can be based.
It is easy to understand that a tariff may be constructed so as
to produce a gross amount of receipts greater than the gross
amount of expenses, and thus on the whole to yield an annual
profit to the enterprise; and yet that such tariff may be one
most unjust toward those who employ the railway, and most
disadvantageous to those who own it.  It is not enough that the
tariff produce, on the whole, an annual balance in favor of the
railway. It is indispensable that such a balance should be pro duced independently on each class of objects transported.  Thus
it is quite conceivable that the total receipts may exceed the
expenses, while the receipts arising from any one or two classes
of objects of transport may fall considerably short of the expenses
attending these branches. In such a case the profit realized by
the railway would result from a balance of profit and loss, of the
profit on one class of transport more than obliterating the loss
on another.
Such a result would arise either firom the exaction of a tariff,
in which some objects would be overtaxed, while others would
be underrated, or by the railway undertaking to transport objects
incapable of bearing the expenses of carriage.
It is clear, therefore, that, to obtain from the investigation of
the past expenses the conditions which ought to determine a
future tariff, it is necessary, not only to classify the expenses
under the usual heads already mentioned, but to dissect each
branch of expenditure, so as to ascertain the share which each
class of traffic has had in producing it.
Although it may be true that, in the formation of a tariff, it
may not be expedient in all cases to exact from the various objects of traffic the same proportion of profit, yet it may be affirmed, that it never can be right, as a permanent measure, to
transport any object of traffic at a loss. Now, how can it be
known whether a railway transport this or that class of traffic
at a loss, or not, unless the proportion of expenses caused by
such class of traffic is known?
Again, the gross profits of a railway, like all other commercial enterprises, being made up of a large aggregate of small
profits, it will happen that the amount of the gross profits may
be increased by the diminution of the small profits. Thus, for
example, the total profits derivable from passengers may be
greatly augmented by diminishing the profit derivable on each
single passenger. There is a certain point at which the profit
CHAP. Xll.]
195 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
per passenger may be fixed, so as to afford a maximum of
aggregate profit.  Above that point, though the profit per passenger will be augmented, the aggregate profit will be diminished, because the number of passengers carried will be dimninished in a greater ratio than the profit per passenger is augmented. Below that point, on the other hand, the profit per
passenger will be diminished in a greater ratio than the number of passengers carried is augmented, and there will be
again a diminution of the aggregate profits. The skill of the
administration is evinced by so adjusting the tariff as to hit this
nice point; but how can such an adjustment be effected, unless it
be previously known what the transport of each passenger costs?
Like observations will be applicable to every other class of
objects transported; and it is evidently indispensable to the
good management of a railway establishment that those who
direct it should be in possession of a clear knowledge of the
actual cost of the transport of each class of traffic.
But it may be objected, that this knowledge can only be possessed for past years, and that for these it is a matter of difficult and intricate calculation. It may be further objected, that,
even when obtained, it does not follow that the cost of such transport for coming years will be the same as for past years, since
the change in the quantity and proportion of the various classes
of traffic may change the cost of their respective transport.
This is true; but it is also certain that the knowledge derived from an accurate analysis of the past experience of railway traffic supplies means of approximation more or less close
to the cost of the future transport. In short, such data enable
the managers of a railway to make an estimate of the cost of the
traffic for each successive year sufficiently accurate for practical
guidance, and certainly accurate enough to prevent the establishment of a tariff which would produce the irregularities and
inequalities above referred to.
But these, important as they are, form but a small part of the
advantages resulting from an accurate analysis of the expenses.
Such an analysis alone will supply the data necessary for all
ameliorations in the organization of the management of the
traffic. For example, if it be desired to ascertain whether it
be advantageous to attract increased traffic to the railway, by
multiplying the departures or increasingf the number of trains,
a question of a delicate and difficult nature arises. By multiplying the departures, though the traffic will be augmented,
the load drawn by each engine will diminish as well as the
196
[CHAP. XII. 
THE EXPENSES.
load borne by each vehicle.  The proportion of the profitable
to the dead weight will be diminished, not only as regards the
engine, but also as regards the vehicles of transport.
By diminishing, on the other hand, the number of departures,
the quantity of traffic carried will be diminished; but the quantity drawn by each engine, and borne by each vehicle of transport, will be augmented. On the one side, a gain is obtained
by the increased amount of traffic; on the other, a gain is obtained by the increased ratio of the profitable load to the dead
weight. Between these two a balance must be ascertained.
The point must be established at which the multiplication or
the diminution of the trains ought to stop. Now this can not
be accomplished unless those who have the control of the railway are in a condition to say what the cost of each object of
traffic is when the trains are multiplied, and what the reduced
cost is when they are diminished. In one case, the gain will
be found by subducting the increased cost of the diminished
loads of the more numerous trains from the augmented results
of the increased traffic. In the oter case, the profit will be
estimated by subducting the diminished cost of the increased
loads of the less multiplied trains from the diminished results
of the lesser traffic.
Such instances might be multiplied without end.
The reader who has not been intimately conversant with railway affairs, will probably be startled at being told that, important as such an investigation is, it has never been attempted
by the managers of English railways. We are indebted, however, to some foreign engineers and economists for inquiries on
this subject.
The Belgian railways, more especially, being organized and
worked by the government of that country, and the most minute
details of their expenditure being made public, have supplied
valuable data for such inquiry. M. Belpaire, one of the engineers connected with the department of public works, has
made an investigation of this kind, based upon the detailed accounts of the Belgian railways for 1844. This inquiry, which
is full of valuable suggestions, has been published by order of
the Belgian government.
M.. Jullien, of the Paris and Orleans Railway, has also published a series of papers on the distribution of the expenses of
a railway in the, Annales des Ponts et Chaussees," and other
periodicals.
M. Teisserenc, central commissary of government in the
CIIAP. XII.]
197 
RAILWVAY ECONOMY,
French railway department; M. Prestat, railway commissary
of the French governmnent; and M. Legoyt, of the statistical
bureau of the Minister of the Interior of France, have severally
contributed, in various essays, to this investigation; but, so far
as I am informed, nothing has been done or written in England
on this subject.
I have therefore thought it would be useful to devote a large
space to the present analysis.
The problem which I propose, then, for solution, is to ascertain the connection between the expenses incurred by a railway establishment and the services which such railway establishment performs for the public; in other words, how much of
such sum expended by the company ought to be debited to this
or that object of traffic.
The remoteness of several of the expenses from the services
to which they are ultimately conducive, renders such an inquiry
difficult, and the distribution of the expenses may be in some
cases more or less arbitrary; but still the problem admits of a
solution sufficiently definite for practical purposes.
If only one sort of objects were transported upon a railway,
and all the units of that sort were transported over the same
distance, and carried with the same speed, then the distribution
of the expenses among the traffic would have no difficulty, however complicated these expenses might be; for we should only
have to take them  in the gross, and to divide their aggregate
by the number of units of traffic transported. Such a division
would be strictly and evidently applicable, inasmuchl as precisely the same service would have been performed toward each
unit transported.
But suppose that the objects transported, though all of the
same kind, are carried over different distances, some being carried only one mile, and some a hundred, we have immediately
a serious cause of difference of cost. It will presently appear
that the cost of transporting an object a hundred miles is by no
means one hundred times the cost of transporting an object one
mile. In apportioning the expenses, therefore, it would be
necessary to classify the objects according to the distances to
which they are transported, and to charge the expenses upon
them in a ratio to be determined by the influence which difference of distance produces in the expenses of executing the
transport.
But let us next suppose that the objects transported, though
of the same kind, require to be carried with different sp)eeds.
[CHAP. XII.
193 
THE EXPENSES.
In this case they must be again divided into classes, inasmuch
as the cost of transport for the same distance augments with
the speed.
Let us further suppose that the objects transported are not
of the same kind, and, consequently, that they require different
sorts of vehicles. Thus, suppose they consist of passengers and
merchandise, all the merchandise, however, being still of the
same kind, and all the passengers demanding the same accommnodation. It will then be necessary to provide two separate
descriptions of carriage; one adapted to the passengers, the
other to the goods. The loads transported by these carriages
will necessarily be different, and their transport will be attended
with different expenses.
In fine, let us imagine that the passengers to be transported
consist of different classes, requiring different accommodation:
some demanding a luxurious carriage and a superabundance of
room, a few only being carried in each vehicle; another class requiring less accommodation and less luxury, and being content
to be stowed in greater number in each carriage; and a third
class being contented to be crowded together in a sort of covered
van; and even a fourth class demanding still less accommodation.
Add to this, that these various classes may demand different
speeds, and require to be transported to very different average
distances, and it will become apparent how very different will
be the expense which their transport will necessarily occasion
to the enterprise of the railway.
The same observations are applicable to the merchandise,
some species of goods requiring to be carefully arranged in covered vans, others promiscuously packed together while others
again, such as minerals and the like, may be thrown into open
wagons; different species of merchandise requiring very different vehicles, different care of transport, and producing
different expenses.
Live stock presents another variety of transport, requiring
another form of vehicle, and attended with another class and
degree of expense.
The problem, then, which is presented for solution, is to determine the proportion according to which the complicated
expenses of a railway establishment, many of which are so
remote from these several services, that it is extremely difficult
to institute any relation or connection between them, can be
charged respectively upon the various objects of transport.
The first step toward the solution of this problem will obvi
CliAP. Xil..]
199 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
ously be to make a classification of the expenses. The basis
of such a classification is supplied by the analysis of railway
business which has been developed in the preceding chapters.
The expenses may then be classed as follows:
1st. The general direction and managelment of the establish          ment.
2d. The maintenance of the ways and works.
3d. The maintenance of the locomotive power.
4th. The carrying expenses.
5th. The station expenses.
Let us then consider successively how these several classes
of expenses are related to the service of transport.
But first, it may be observed in general, that the most immediate relation between the operation of transport and the
machinery of a railway, is that which exists between the object transported and the vehicle which carries it. For each
class of traffic there is a special vehicle. Thus there is a special class of vehicle appropriated to the first-class passengers,
another to the second-class passengers, a third to the thirdclass passengers. Again, there is a special vehicle appropriated
to the transport of horses; another to the transport of private
carriages. Vans are built, and internally constructed in a manner to be suitable for the transport of passengers' baggage;
others are appropriated to the transport of parcels.
In the goods department, in like manner, there are also vehicles
of various forms, adapted to different kinds of goods, and to live
stock.
The relation, then, between the object transported and the
vehicle which carries it, being obvious and fixed, the connection
of the expenses with the objects transported, may, in the first
instance, be determined by investigating the share of the general
expenses which is produced by the transport of these different
classes of vehicles; and when the cost of transporting any of
such vehicles per mile is ascertained, this cost can be easily
distributed, by a simple arithmetical proportion, between the
average amount of the load it carries.
Thus, if we know the cost of transporting a first-class carriage
a mile, and if we also know the average number of passengers
carried by such carriage, then the charge per passenger per
mile is the result of an operation of common arithmetic.
We shall therefore consider, in the first instance, how and in
what proportion each class of expenses is chargeable upon the
different classes of vehicles.
[CHAP. XII.
too 
THE EXPENSES.
DIRECTION AND MANAGEMENT.
The department of the direction and management in the organization of a railway is the executive government of the enterprise, and has a common relation with all the branches of the
service. Its special expenses, therefore, might very properly
be charged primarily upon those several branches in proportion
to the gross amounts of their respective expenses; but it will
be a more simple process, and in its ultimate effects not less
equitable, to distribute these general expenses  immediately
among the traffic, by the means already explained, of the
vehicles in which the traffic is transported. If, then, we express
the general expenses of direction by D, and the total mileage of
all the vehicles of transport of every kind by m, then
D
7~
will express the share of the expenses of direction and management which will fall per mile on each vehicle.
This share, as has already been explained, must be subsequently divided among the average load of profitable traffic
which each vehicle carries.
The details of the expenses, which are understood to be included under the direction and management, and expressed by
D, are as follow:
Maintenance and repair of the offices and furniture of the
general direction.
Salaries of directors, managers, secretaries, clerks, and superintendents, and wages of all inferior agents and servants employed in the office of the general direction.
Printing and advertising, stationery, and subscription to journals for the use of the offices.
Warming and lighting.
Traveling expenses of directors, managers, secretaries, and,
in general, of all the agents of the general direction.
In the year 1844 these expenses, on the Belgian railways,
were X30,477,* and the total mileage of all the vehicles of
transport upon them was 17,193,658 miles.
* It may be necessary to state here that the share of the expenses
assigned to the several heads will not be found to correspond precisely
with those given in the report of the Minister of Public Works, the
items being appropriated, in the present analysis, according to a different principle.
CHAP. XII.]
201
I* 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The charge per mile upon each vehicle for direction and
management is, therefore
D    d.
-= 0'426.
It is desirable, but very difficult, to derive practical illustrations
of this calculation firom the reports of the English railways, the
meagre character of such documents never supplying, with any
degree of accuracy, the necessary data.
By the published report of the Northwestern Railway, it
appears that the annual expenses for direction and management
have been about X32,000. No account of the mileage of the
carrying stock having been published, we can only estimate it
by combining the mileage of the traffic, as given in Chapters X.
and XI., with the estimated average loads of the several classes
of vehicles.
Captain I-Iuish estimates the average loads of the passengercoaches at 7 passengers for each first-class carriage, 13 for each
second-class carriage, 21 for each third-class carriage, and 24
tons of goods per wagon. Assuming these estimates, and comparing them with the total mileage of these several classes of
traffic, we obtain the following as the mileage of the carrying
stock on the Northwestern Railway for the twelve months ending 30th June, 1847:
1st class passenger coaches.................     8,033,049
2d class passenger coaches.................      5,725,411
3d class passenger coaches.................      2,568,925
Goods-wagons........................... 43,745,983
Total mileage of all the vehicles of transport. 60,073,368
If the expenses of direction and inanagement be taken at
~32,000, we shall have
D =637.                 d.
D      32,000
--. — 60,0730,3- 0.000,533 -- 0.128.
m 60,073,369
By comparing this result with that obtained firom the Belgian
railways, we have a striking example of the effects of a great
amount of traffic on the cost of transport. In the case of the
Belgian railways, the mileage of the vehicles of transport was
only a little more than 17 millions; while on the Northwestern
Railway this mileage was 60 millions.
While the proportion of the mileage of the vehicles of trans
202
[CHAP. XII. 
TIlE EXPENSIS.
port was, tlerefore, greater on the Northwestern Railway, in
the ratio of 60 to 17, the expenses of direction and management
were greater only in the proportion of 32 to 30; and we find,
accordingly, that while the share of these expenses chargeable
per mile on each vehicle on the Belgian lines was nearly -ed.,
the share chargeable on vehicles petr mile on the Northwestern
lines was less than Id.
In order to be enabled to form an estimate of the cost of direction and management of a projected railway, it would be necessary to determine some relation between this class of expenses
and some determinate element of the railway establishment. It
has been proposed to express the expenses of direction and
management by reference to the length of the line worked, by
stating it at so much per mile. Such a mode of estimation inmplies
that every augmentation made in the length of the line worked
would cause a proportionate increase in the expenses of direction
and management. Thus, if the annual expenses of.,,nagemrnent
of a railway 150 miles in length be X30,000, it would be implied
that the same railway, having doubled its length, would require
twice the number of superintending functionaries, with equal
salaries, increasing the annual expense to -460,000.
This is evidently a fallacy. The increased length will add
but little to the expense of management, certainly infinitely less
than the proportion of the increase.
It would be desirable, by comparing the expenses of management of the various railways in operation with their respective
lengths, the mileage upon them, and other elements of their expenses, to ascertain with which of these the expenses of direction
have a determinate relation; but, unfortunately, the discrepancy
which prevails in the manner in which the published accounts
of the different railways are made up, precludes the possibility
of such a comparison.  The same general terms, used in different accounts, have different meanings, and as no details are
given it is impossible to discover what items are understood to
be included under the same nominal heads.
Thus direction and management, in the accounts of one railway, will include certain items of expense which, in the accounts
of other railways, are transferred to other heads.
This is one of the many reasons for introducing uniformity
into railway accounts.  Without such uniformity it will be inpossible to compare, with any degree of precision, the woirking
of anyone railway with the working of any other raivlway, or
to draw general conclusions entitled to any degree of confidence.
CHAP. XII.1
O 03 
RAILWAY E(CONOM.Y.
I find that not only the different statements of different railways vary fiom each other in the signification attached to the
same terms, but even in successive half-yearly reports of the
samie railway, the same heads of expense do not include the
same items.
For all purposes of a general nature, such reports are utterly
useless.
The expenses of direction and management are probably determined by the total amount of traffic, rather than by any other
element in the working of a railway.   They vary with the
prosperity of the enterprise. When large dividends are declared, proprietors are disposed to be liberal to the superior
class of functionaries; the higher officers are more munificently
paid, and their number less restricted. However, this branch
of the expenses depends so much on local circumstances, and on
conditions so peculiar to each individual enterprise, that no general or constant relation between it and the other elements of
their organization probably exists.
THE WAY AND WORKS.
The expenses of the maintenance of the way and works consist of two parts, distinct firom each other, and depending on
different causes.
1st. Those which are appropriated to the repair of the wear
and damage produced by time and the vicissitudes of
weather, independently of all action of the traffic or use
of the road, properly speaking.
2dly. Those which are appropriated to the repairs of the
wear and damage produced by the action of the rolling
stock and the traffic upon the road, independently of any
effects of time or the vicissitudes of weather.
In railway accounts generally, the stations, the d6p6ts for
carriages and engines, as well as workshops for the repair of
the rolling stock, are included under this head of the maintenance
of the way. It must, however, be clearly understood that they
are here excluded, being assigned to other heads. The maintenance of the stations, properly so called, is carried to the
account of the expenses of the stations; the maintenance of
workshops for the repair of the vehicles of transport is brought
to the account of the carrying department; and the maintenance
of the engine stables and shops is brought to the account of the
locomotive department,
!04
[CIIAII. XII. 
THE EXPENSES.
The maintenance of the way, therefore, must be here understood to be limited to the repairs of the road, and the works of
art upon it and accessory to it exclusively.
That portion of the expenses which is appropriated to the
repairs of the class of damage and wear produced by time and
weather, independently of the action of the traffic, includes the
repairs of the slopes, of cuttings and embankments, of the substructure of the road, consisting of ballasting and drains, of the
renewal of the sleepers, which perish only by time and weather,
and are not affected by the rolling stock; also the repairs of
bridges, tunnels, and viaducts; the repairs of gates and fences,
and, in a word, of all the appendages and accessories of the
road.
The second head of expenses of the maintenance of the way,
which is altogether independent of time and weather, and depending exclusively on the traffic, includes the iron work of the
road, comprising the rails, chairs, and fastenings. These owe
their wear and deterioration entirely to the mechanical effect
of the rolling stock upon them.
The first class of these expenses consists of the following
particulars:
I st. Repairs of the substructure of the road, and works of
art.
2dly. Salaries and wages of superintendents and the police
of the road.
3dly. Materials consumed in such repairs and superintend  ence.
These expenses being independent of the traffic, are, like
those of the direction and management, related in common to
all branches of the business of a railway, and may be, for the
same reasons, primarily distributed among the vehicles of transport, in proportion to their mileage, and subsequently among
the traffic which they carry.
Let the total amount of these expenses be expressed by W;
we shall then have, in the same manner as in the case of the
expenses of direction and management, the share chargeable
per mile on each vehicle of transport, which will be expressed
by
W
w.
m
On the Belgian railways the expenses designated by W
C14AP. XII.)
.205 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
amounted in 1844 to X68,348.  The share of these charges
per mile on each vehicle was therefore
6e   I.           d.
W        68,348
-      17,193368  = 0.003975 = 0.954
m  -  17,193,658
being very nearly ld. per mile on each vehicle.
An examination of the annual expenses for the maintenance
of the way on some of the railways, might create an impression
that the expenses which we have here affirmed to be independent of the traffic, have nevertheless some dependence upon it;
inasmuch as it would be found, by comparing these expenses
for several years after a railway has been opened, that they go
on augmenting while the traffic also increases. We should,
however, in this case be wrong in ascribing the one increase to
the other, as will be made manifest by comparing the expenses
of maintenance with the traffic, after the road has been a sufficient length of time in operation. It has been already explained, in Chap. III., that for a certain time after any railway
has commenced work, the embankments are in a state of progressive consolidation, which is accelerated under the pressure
of the rolling stock. This produces a constant source of expense
from the readjustment of the rails, and ballasting which it occasions. The slopes, also, until they are carpeted with vegetation, are more apt to slip, and all accidental defects in the road
and works are developed.
These expenses, however, which are naturally enough brought
to the current account of the maintenance of the road, must,
strictly speaking, be regarded as a part of the expenses of constructing the road.
A correct estimate of the current expenses of maintenance
can only be obtained after the road has been a sufficient length
of time in operation to have become permanently consolidated.
From a comparison of half-yearly accounts of the Northwestern Railway, the annual expenses of the maintenance of the way
appear to have been in round numbers ~75,000.
Taking the mileage of the vehicles of transport as already
given, we have-then
c~.
.t    6.        d.
W        75,000      Ai.
607,073,368 =- 0.00125 = 0.3.
m     60,073,368
We find here again an example of the diminished charge pro
[CHAP. XII.
206 
THE EXPENSES.
duced by the circumstance of the traffic being increased in a
much larger ratio than the expenses.
While the expenses of maintenance on the Northwestern
Railway exceed those of the Belgian in the ratio of 75 to 68, the
traffic estimated by the mileage of the vehicles on the Northwestern is greater than on the Belgian lines, in the ratio of 60
to 17. We accordingly find that while a charge of ld. per mile
nmust be exacted fiom each vehicle, to pay the expenses of
maintenance on the Belgian lines, ~-d. are sufficient on the
Northwestern lines.
Let us now consider the second class of expenses of main
tenance above mentioned, which depend on the action of the
traffic.
These consist of the wear of the rails, chairs, and sleepers,
and may again be subdivided into two classes, in reference to the
periods at which the necessity for expenditure arises.
The action of the traffic produces from time to time fracture
and displacement of the rails, chairs, and fastenings.
These repairs are made from year to year; but besides these,
as has been already explained, in Chap. III., the action of the
traffic produces a gradual abrasion of the rails, by which they lose
weight slowly from year to year, and in consequence of which,
at certain distant intervals, the entire iron-work of the road must
be reconstructed. The expenses of this reconstruction are provided for, as has been already explained, by an annual reserve
fund, which constitutes, therefore, a part of the current expenses of the maintenance of the way.
The total expenses arising from the wear of the iron-work
of the road by the rolling stock may be ascribed to the operation
of three distinct agents:
1st. The engines and tenders.
2dly. The vehicles of transport.
3dly. The load carried by each vehicle.
An elaborate investigation, based upon an extensive series of
experiments, has been made on the Belgian railways, with a
view to ascertain the share which each of these agents has in
producing the wear of the road. The result of this inquiry,
which has been already referred to, in Chap. IV., is, that for
every mnyriametre of distance run by the rolling stock, a wear
was produced, occasioning expenses at the following rates:
931 centimes for each engine and tender.
1- centime for each vehicle of transport.
centime for each ton of load.
CHAP. XII.]
207 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
It seems to have escaped the notice of the Belgian engineers
that these figures are almost exactly proportional to the weights
of the objects which produced the wear.
Thus, an engine and tender, with its complement of fuel and
water, would weigh nearly 30 tons, and the average weight of
a vehicle of transport would be about 3 tons. The above figures
are in the ratio of 30, 3, and 1. If, then, a ton weight, placed
in a vehicle of transport, produce a certain expense for wear and
tear of rails, the vehicle itself weighing 3 tons will produce three
times such expense, and the engine and tender, weighing about
30 tons, will produce thirty times the same expense.
The distribution, therefore, of these expenses, which has occasioned so elaborate an investigation, is, as might naturally have
been expected, determined by the proportionate weights of the
objects producing the wear.
It was found by the result of the Belgian experiments, that
about one-sixth of the total annual expense for the maintenance
and repair of the road represented that portion which was due
to the fiacture of rails, chairs, and pins.
Let the share of the expenses of the maintenance of the ironwork'of the road due to the operation of the engine and tender,
taken collectively, be expressed by W'.
Let the share of these expenses due to the vehicles of transport, taken collectively, be expressed by WI.
Let the remainder of these expenses, which is due to the
operation of the loads carried by the vehicles of transport, taken
collectively, be expressed by W"'.
Let the average weight of the engine and tender, with their
water and fuel, be expressed by a.
Let the average weight of a vehicle of transport, without its
load, be expressed by a'.
Let the expenses of repairing the wear and tear of the rails
produced by one ton weight rolled upon them be expressed by x.
It will follow then, fiom what has been stated, that if we mrnultiply the average weight of an engine and tender, a, by the total
mileage of the engines, which has been already expressed by e
for the passenger engines, and e for the goods engines. we shall
obtain the number of tons carried one mile, which are equivalent
to the weight and mileage of the engine taken together. If this.
then, be multiplied by x, the expense of the repairs of the wear
produced by one ton rolled one mile, we shall have
W' = x a (e + e');
that is to say, the total expenses of the repairs due to the action,
203
[CHAP. XII. 
THE EXPENSES.
of the engines and tenders will be equivalent to the cost of the
wear of one ton rolled one mile, multiplied by the product of the
average weight of the engine and tender by their mileage.
In the same manner, and for the same reasons, if the product
of the average weight a' of a vehicle of transport, and the total
mileage m of such vehicle, be multiplied by x, we shall obtain
a product which will be equal to WI;  so                                                                                                                                                                      that
WI/= x X a' X m.
Finally, if t express the total mileage of the tons of load carried by the vehicles of transport, we shall have
W" = x X t:
in other words, the expenses of repairing the wear produced by
one ton carried one mile, multiplied by the total mileage of the load,
will be equal to the total share of the expenses due to the loads.
By adding together the formula obtained above for the three
parts of the expense of the repairs of rails due to the engines,
carriages, and loads, we obtain the following:
W'+W"+W"'=x  a X (e+e') +x X a' X m+x X t.
Now, by this formula it appears that if the total cost of the
repairs be known, and also the weights and mileage of the
engines, vehicles of transport, and load, we can, by a simple
arithmetical calculation, obtain the expense, x, representing the
wear produced by one ton passing over one mile of the road.
This is obtained by dividing the sum of the expenses, WI, W",
and W", by the three products obtained above, which are combined with x as a common multiplier.
This process gives the following formula:
x  W'+W-+W,"',
a x (e+e')+a'X m+t'
As a practical illustration of such a calculation we will take, as
before, the reports of the Belgian railways for 1844. In that year
the total estimated wear of the rails was X3966; so that we have
WI + WI, + W" =- 3966.
It has been already shown that
e + e' = 1,584,532,
m       =  17,193,658,
t     = 33,105,141,
a      = 30,
a'     =3.
CHAI'. XII.]
209 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
By substituting these numbers for the corresponding letters,
we obtain
ah = 0    00 d.
x = 0.00003 = 0.0072.
This is therefore the expense of repair per mile produced by
a ton weight of load.
The expense per mile produced by an empty vehicle of transport will therefore be
.     d.
a' = 3 x 0.0000  = 0.00009 =  0.0216.
In like manner, the expenses per mile, representing the wear
produced by an engine and tender will be
A.         At.       d.
a = 30 X 0.00003 = 0.0009 =  0.216.
By substituting the above values of x, a, a', e, e', m, and t, in the
above formulae, we find
-t 
W  = 68,348
W' = 1,426
W" = 1,547
W"' =  993
W + W' + W" + W"' = 72,314
Thus we see that the entire expenses of the maintenance of
the road under the regular operation of the transport is resolved into four items, expressed respectively by
W, W', W", W"';
the first, W, being that which includes the expenses of the
entire staff of engineers, artisans, and laborers employed in
maintaining the way and works, in repairing the slopes, embankments, and cuttings, and the wear produced by time and
the vicissitudes of weather, on the works of art and on the substructure of the road; the second, W', being that portion of the
expenses produced by the locomotive engines and their tenders
alone, not including that part of the action of these machines
which is caused by the load which they draw; the third, W",
that which is produced by the vehicles of transport, including
the increased wear of the locomotive engine, which is the con
210
[CHAP. XII. 
THE EXPENSES.
sequence of drawing them; and, finally, W"', being the increased expense due to the wear of the rails produced by the
weight of the traflic itself, added to that of the carriages, augmenting also the action of the engine on the road.
The first of these, W, is obviously common to all the traffic,
and equally chargeable upon all the vehicles in which it is borne,
according to their mileage.  Expressing, therefore, the total
mileage of all the vehicles of transport by m, the charge per
mile on each vehicle for this part of the maintenance of the
w
way and works, will be W
m
The second, W', must be brought to the account of the locomotive power, and charged in common with it upon the traffic.
The third, W", must be brought to the account of carrying
stock, and distributed with the expenses of these upon the
traffic.
The fourth, W"', is a direct charge upon the traffic in the
ratio of its weight and mileage.
We shall revert to these severally hereafter.
THE LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
The expenses of the locomotive power may be classed as
follows:
1. The repairs of the locomotive engines and tenders.
2. Salaries and wages of engine-drivers, stokers, and other
agents, employed in cleaning and tending the locomotive
engines and tenders.
3. Materials consumed, such as grease, oil, coke, water.
4. That part of the maintenance of the way which has been
expressed by W'.
Let us suppose that all the engines and tenders used in the
service of the railway are moved over the road through the
same distance as that through which they are moved in actually
working the traffic, but that they are so moved unaccompanied
b)y any vehicle or object of transport; and let the expense of
this movement be estimated. Let this expense, with all the
other charges of the locomotive stock enumerated above, be expressed by L.
Let us now suppose that the various vehicles in which the
transport is carried are attached to the locomotives, but that
they are empty; and let the locomotives be imagined to draw
these empty vehicles over the same length of the line as that
CHAP. XII.]
211 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
over which they are drawn in actually conveying the traflic.
An increased expense of locomotive power will thus be produced, arising fiom the increased power exerted by the locomotives in consequence of the resistance of the vehicles which
they draw. This increased power will be represented by the
augmented consumption of fuel, oil, and grease, and the augmented wear and tear of those parts of the engines which are
immediately affected by the resistance. Let this addition to
the expense of the locomotive power be expressed by L'.
Finally, let us suppose that the various objects of transport
carried upon the road are placed in their respective vehicles and
drawn by the engines. A further expenditure of locomotive
power will now take place, caused by the increased resistance
to the tractive power produced by the increased weight drawn,
and this increased resistance will cause an increased consumption of fuel, grease, and oil, and an increased wear and tear of
those parts of the engine which react against the resistance.
Let this increase of the expenditure of the locomotive power
be expressed by L".
Thus we see that the total amount of the expenses of the
locomotive power consists of three items, which we have expressed by
L, L', and L".
The part of the expenses expressed by L' is to be brought to
the account of the carrying expenses.
The part expressed by L"' is to be charged directly on the
objects of transport.
The expenses expressed by L are primarily chargeable on
the mileage of all the engines. Let, therefore, the total mileage of the engines be found. We have expressed this in former
chapters by e for the passenger engines, and e' for the goods
engines. Thus e + e' will express this total mileage; and if
the expenses, L, be divided by this total mileage, we shall
have
L
e_+ e"l
expressing the share of the expenses chargeable per mile upon
each engine.
This charge is now to be transferred to and distributed among
the vehicles drawn by such engine; and here a further classification becomes necessary, inasmuch as the average number of
212
[Cl-TAP. XII. 
THiE EXI'ENSES.
vehicles drawn by the passenger engines is different firom the
average number of vehicles drawn by the goods engines.
We must then find first the portion of the expenses expressed
by L, which is chargeable to each class of engines, and then we
must distribute these charges respectively among the mileage
of the vehicles which these engines draw.
Since +Le,  is the expense per mile of each engine, we shall
find the total expense of the passenger engines by multiplying
this by their mileage e, and the total expense of the goods engines by multiplying the same by the mileage of the latter, e'.
The total charge, therefore, upon the passenger engines will
be expressed by
L Xe
c + e';
and the total expenses chargeable upon the goods engines will
be expressed by
L Xe'
e +  e'
Let us now express the total mileage of all the vehicles drawn
by passenger engines by m', and the total mileage of all the vehicles drawn by goods engines by m". We shall find the charge
per mile on each vehicle drawn by passenger engines by dividing
the total expense of the passenger engines by m', and the total
expense chargeable per mile on each vehicle drawn by the goods
engines by dividing the total expenses of these latter engines
by m".
It thlerefore follows that the expenses chargeable per mile on
the vehicles drawn by passenger engines is
I e
n' (e + e')'
and that the expenses per mile chargeable upon each vehicle
drawn by goods engines is
L e'
m" (e + e')
This charge mnust be divided among the traffic carried by these
vehicles respectively, in a manner and proportion which will be
explained hereafter.
Thiere is another mode by which the cost of the locomotive
C.HAP. XII.]
213 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
power may be distributed among the vehicles oi transport, which
will, in some cases, be more conveniently applicable than that
which has just been explained.
Let us suppose that the average number of vehicles which is
drawn by each class of engine is ascertained, and let the average
number drawn by passenger engines be expressed by n', and the
average number drawn by goods engines be expressed by n".
Now it is evident that we shall distribute the expenses of the
passenger engines among the vehicles they draw simply by
dividing the expense of the engines per mile by the number of
vehicles they draw. Thus it follows that the charge per mile
for locomotive oower on each vehicle composing a passenger
train would be.
L
s' (e + e')
And, in the same manner, the charge for locomotive power on
each vehicle drawn by the goods engine,
L
n', (e + e')'
It is necessary, however, to observe here, that in general the
number of vehicles drawn by the engines respectively, here
expressed by n' and nl, can only be obtained with accuracy by
first taking the mileage of the engines. and then the mileage
of the vehicles they draw, and dividing the latter by the former.
In estimating the performance of a projected railway, however,
it sometimes happens that the probable average number of carriages to be drawn by each engine may be obtained without
previously estimating the mileage of the vehicles of transport.
In such case the latter method of calculation may be used, and
will be the most simple.
The expenses expressed by L consist of three items, which
it is important to consider separately.
1st. The actual cost of working the engines, when moving on
the road; which cost is in the direct proportion of their
mileage.
2d. The expenses of cleaning, lighting, and raising the steam
of the engine preparatory to its work.
3d. The cost of keeping the engine standing with its steam
up, either waiting for its work, or being maintained in
reserve to meet the contingencies of the road.
214
[CliAP. XII 
THE EXPENSES.
Let us call the expense of working an engine per mile 1. Then
the total expenses of working the engines will be found by multiplying this expense, 1, by the total mileage of the engines. The
total expense of the engines while actually working will therefore
be expressed by
I (e + e').
Let us express the expense of cleaning, lighting, and raising
the steam of an engine preparatory to work by 1', and let the
number of engines cleaned and lighted be expressed by E", as
in Chap. V.
The total expense of cleaning, lighting, and steaming will then
be expressed by
1' E'.
Finally, let the cost per hour of keeping an engine standing
with its steam up without work be expressed by 1", and let the
number of hours which engines have been kept standing be expressed by S. The total expenses of the engines while standing will therefore be expressed by
I"/ S.
Hence it follows that the total expenses, expressed in the
preceding paragraph by L, will be equal to the aggregate of the
three expenses which have been just explained. In other
words, we shall have
L =   (e + e')+l' E"+l" S.
The expenses chargeable per mile for each engine will then
be found by dividing the above total by the mileage, e + e', which
will give
L    I' E"   l" S
=1-e+ e          e+e'
e -~e' --  e -e'  e.r-e'
It appears from this that the cost per mile for driving a train
consists of three parts, two of which are in the inverse proportion of the total mileage of the engines, and, consequently, that
the greater the proportion which this total mileage shall bear to
the cost of cleaning, lighting, and steaming the engines, and to
the cost of keeping them standing, the less will be these two
parts of the expense.
As an example of the practical application of this, we shall
take the Belgian railways for 1844.  In that year thie expenses
CHA.P. XII.]
215 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
of the locomotive power, which we have expressed by L,
amounted to X63,454, and consisted of the following items:
~.
Cost of working locomotive engines.................. 50,044
Cost of lighting, raising steam, and putting them in train 9,688
Cost while standing with steam up................... 3,722
63,454
Hence we have l X (e + e') = 50,0441.; and since e + e'
=  1,584,532, we shall obtain the cost per mile of working each
engine: thus,
X. d
=   50,044  =  758.
l-     84   =  7.58.
1,584,532
In like manner we have 1' X E" = 9,6881.
By dividing this, therefore, by the number of engines which
were lighted and steamed, and which was 23,021, we shall obtain the cost of lighting, steaming, and putting in train each engine. This gives
'X'    s. d.
-,  9,688 s=  8 5.
23,021 
In the samne way we have 1" X S = 3722. By dividing this
third item by the number of hours which the engines were
kept standing, and which was 178,637, we shall find the cost
per hour for each engine standing. This gives
, X7. d.
I//_= 3,722 -= 5'00.
178,637
To find the share of the expenses expressed by L, which falls
on each engine, we have to divide the expenses, L, by the total
mileage of the engines. This gives
X.6.          d.
L         63,454   0            d.
-'  -,5           004      9.6.
c +~ e' 1,584,532
The average number of vehicles drawn in that year by passenger engines was, as we have already shown, 8.26. Hence
the charge per mile upon each vehicle will be
d.
L         9.6    d.
n' (e +    =)   26   116.
[CHAP. XII.
216 
THE EXPENSES.
The average number of vehicles drawn by each goods engine
was 15.74. Hence we find the charge per mile on each vehicle
as follows:
d.       d.
L           9'-6
"            - 1  = 0.61.
an' (e +  el)    15.74
Thus, it appears that the charge per mile on each vehicle
forming the passenger trains was 1.16d.; and upon each vehicle
composing the goods trains, was only  ocd.
The share of the expenses of the locomotive power, chargeable upon the vehicles of transport in the same year, and which
we have expressed by L', was X11,348.
This being divided by the total mileage of all the vehicles,
will give the charge per mile on each vehicle. Thus we
have
LcIt.       d.
-  = 0.00066 =  0.158.
m
In like manner the share of the expenses of the locomotive
power which we have expressed by L", produced by the weight
of the traffic, was X4,453; and the proportion of this chargeable per mile on each ton of load carried, will be found by
dividing this sum by the total mileage of the tons of load which
gives
L"        4,453      X.             ci.
L _3.101   =_ 0.0001345 = 0.032o.
t     33,105,141
Thus it appears that the respective amounts of the parts of the
locomotive expenses which we have expressed by L, LI, and
Lr", were
L = 63,454,
LI = 11,348,
L" =   4,453,          A.
L + L' + L" = 72,255.
The published reports of the expenditure of the English raiIways do not afford the data necessary to enable us to subdivide
the total expense of the locomotive power in the manner and
proportions here explained; but it will be observed that the
K
CHAP. XII.]
217 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
parts expressed by LI and LI are only about 20 per cent. of
the total amount. We shall therefore not commit any considerable error, if, in taking a practical example from the English
railway reports, we divide the entire amount of the locomotive
expenses among the vehicles of transport, according to their
mileage, as we have done with the general expenses of direction
and maintenance of the way.
More strict accuracy could certainly be obtained if we possessed accounts as clear and full as those of the Belgian railways; but in the absence of these we must approximate to the
truth as nearly as the data will permit us.
On the London and Brighton raivlways, during the twelve
months ending 31st December, 1848, the expenses for locomnotive power amounted to e56,381, and the total mileage of
the engines to 1,360,168. Hence we have
L = 56,3811.,
e +  e  -=  1,360,168,
L    d.
-L     9'96.
e+ e'
Thus the working cost of each engine was o10d. a mile. To
compare the results obtained upon the Belgian railways with
this, it is necessary to observe that the expense expressed here
by L is the whole expense of the locomotive power, and includes, therefore, all the expenses expressed by L, L', and L'
in the case of the Belgian lines. It will therefore be necessary
to divide the expense L + L'+ L" for the Belgian lines, by
e + e', for the same lines, in order to compare the two results.
This gives,
d.
L + L' + L"         79,255              1.
--  — 010584312.
e +{ e'    -1,584,532
It appears, therefore, that the working expense of the engines on the London and Brighiton Railway, was 166o per cent.
less than on the Belgian lines.
The reports do not supply us with the data necessary to
ascertain the average number of vehicles of each kind drawn
by each engine on the Brighton line, and we can not, therefore,
subdivide this among the vehicles.
On the Great Western Railway, during the twelve months
ending 30th June, 1849, the expenses for locomotive power,
213
LCHAP. XII. 
THE EXPENSES.
according to the published reports, were  X96,462; and the
total mileage was 2,737,928. Hence we have,
L   96,4621.,
e + e'= 2,737,928,
L         d.
e  r  e' = 8'45,
which was the working cost of each engine per mile.
It is necessary to observe, that the reported mileage of the
engines in the case of the Great Western Railway includes,
as indeed it ought to do, the mileage of the assisting engines
on inclined planes, of empty engines, and of the engines used
in forming the train at the stations.  In the case of the Lon don and Brighton, these do not appear to be included. On
the Great Western, the mileage of the engines while actually
drawing trains amounted to 2,603,934.
If the expenses be divided by this mileage, the quotient
would be 8.88d., or very nearly 9d. a mile, corresponding with
the results already obtained on the Brighton Railway.
But still it would appear that a greater economy is obtained
on the Great Western Railway, when the superior magnitude
and power of its engines are considered; unless, indeed, the
average loads they draw are proportionally less.
We are unable to ascertain the amount of the loads drawn
by the engines from the data supplied by the published reports
of this railway.
Documents which I have obtained from the manager of the
Northwestern Railway enable me to give another striking example of this item of expense.
The Northwestern Railway Company, besides working the
traffic of its own lines and branches, consisting of 438 miles,
also supplies locomotive power for working the Chester and
Holyhead, Lancashire and Carlisle, Kendal and Windermere,
Shropshire Union,* an( North Union railways, making a total
of 670 miles; being about the eighth part of the entire railways
of the United Kingdom in operation.
The traffic of this extensive system of railways was worked,
during the twelve months ending the 30th June, 1849, by
457 locomotive engines, which performed a total mileage, in
* The Shropshire Union (30 miles), connecting Shrewsbury with
Stafford, was not opened for traffic till June, ] 849.
CIIAP. XII.]
219 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
working such traffic, amounting to 7,532,230. The total cost
of this power was t306,668. We have therefore,
L = 306,6681.,
e +  e' =  7,532,230,
d.
L +
e+ e' -- 9'8.
This example is entitled to the more weight, because of the
extensive system of lines from which it is deduced; and we
may, therefore, safely assume that the average cost for locomotive power in working the trains on the English railways,
taken one with another, including both goods and passenger
trains, is, in round numbers, 10d. a mile.
If the average number of vehicles drawn by passenger engines
be eight, as it would appear to be from the estimate of Captain
Huish, already referred to, then it will follow that the average
cost for locomotive power, for each vehicle, is 14d. per mile.
THE CARRYING EXPENSES.
Under this head are comprised all the expenses, direct and
indirect, which arise from the maintenance of the vehicles of
transport of every class.
These expenses may be classed under the following heads:
1st. The repairs of that portion of the wear of the rails pro      duced by the action of the weight of the vehicles of
transport, independently of the load they carry. This
we have already explained and designated by W".
2dly. That part of the wear of the locomotive engines and
the additional expense of fuel consumed in conse      quence of the exertion of the tractive force in drawing
the vehicles of transport, independently of the load
they carry. This has been already designated by L'.
3dly. The maintenance and repairs of the carrying-stock
itself, including the necessary renewals, and the gen      eral expenses of the coach-houses, or de6p6ts.
These expenses might be taken in the aggregate, and shared
among the vehicles of transport according to their mileage, in
the same manner as we have proceeded with the expenses of
direction and the maintenance of the way.
By such a distribution, however, the expenses would not
be shared among the carrying stock, in accordance with the
220
[CHAP. XII. 
THE EXPENSES.
causes which produced them. For example, the expenses
produced by the passenger carriages are greater in proportion
than those produced by the goods-wagons, horse-boxes, carriage-trucks, &c.; and among the goods-wagons themselves the
expenses will obviously differ to some extent according to their
magnitude and weight. In the analysis of the expenses already
referred to on the Belgian railways, M. Belpaire divides the
vehicles of transport into three classes, the passenger carriages;
the covered wagons, including horse-boxes, baggage-vans, &c.;
and the flat, uncovered goods-wagons. The expenses of the
coaching department are distributed among the passenger carriages; and the expenses of the wagon department distributed
between the two classes of wagons, according to their weights.
The result of this calculation, however, gives differences so
extremely small, between the expenses of the passenger carriages and the heavier class of goods-wagons, that it is scarcely
necessary to complicate the calculation by distinguishing them.
Thus the share of the expenses per 1000 miles run, which falls
on passenger carriages and covered goods-wagons, is in the
proportion of 40 to 39. A somewhat greater difference prevails
between the expenses of passenger-carriages, and those of the
flat and uncovered wagons, being in the ratio of 40 to 33.
It will nevertheless be more simple, and productive of scarcely
any sensible error in the distribution of the expenses, to take
the entire expenses, direct and indirect, of the carrying stock,
and divide it among the vehicles of transport, as we have
already done with the expenses of direction and the maintenance of the way, according to their mileage.
If the coaching expenses be kept sufficiently independent of,
and distinct from the wagon expenses, then it will be easy,
and more strictly equitable, to divide each by their mileages
respectively, and thus obtain the charges on each vehicle of
the passenger trains distinct firom the goods trains.
As a practical example of such calculation, we will take, as
before, the Belgian railways. Let V express the total expenises of all the vehicles of transport, independent of the loads
they carry; and let V' express the additional expense produced
by the load. We find that,
V = 24,900
VI = 5,084
V +  VI =  29,984;
m  =  17,193,658;
CH-AP. XII.]
22:1 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
V    d.
- = 035
m
V,
-  - 0'072
m
V + V'
m    0.42.
m
th
in
h~
at
w
ac
be
ly
1st. The increased wear and tear of the rails produced
by the weight of the traffic, and which has been
expressed by W"/.
2dly. The increased wear and tear of the locomotive engines,
and the increased consumption of fuel in them pro      duced by the weight of the traffic, and which has
been expressed by L".
3dly. The increased wear and tear of the vehicles of trans      port produced by the increased weight of the traffic.
Now, in fact, these charges constitute the entire share of
the expenses of transport, properly so called, which is directly
chargeable upon the traffic. They are the difference between
what the expenses of the railway would be if the trains were
carried upon it empty, and the expenses which are actually
incurred in conducting the trains loaded as they are.
It may be contended, that the process would be more simple,
and equally effectual for all practical purposes, if the expenses
which have been just enumerated were at once included under
the several heads of maintenance of the way, locomotive power,
and carrying expenses, already indicated.
To this it may be replied, that if the sole end of such an
analysis as the present is to ascertain the actual expenses produced by each object of traffic, such purpose will be defeated if
the expenses occasioned by certain objects be charged upon
222
[CHAP. XH. 
THE EXPENSES.
others, even though the aggregate result of such account should
be correct; since such correctness would only be produced l)y
a compensation of errors. In analyzing the expenses of an enterprise so complicated as a railway establishment, some conmpensation of errors is inevitable.  It is (quite impracticable to
assign precisely to each article of transport the share of the expenses which it produces.  The weight, therefore, of tihe objection will altogether depend on the extent to which the principle of compensation of errors in such a case is carried.  We
are enabled to ascertain this extent by the reports and accounts
of the Belgian railways, and the consequences which we have
deduced from them.
By taking the special expenses chargeable upon each object
of traffic. independently of the general expense, which we have
designated in the preceding analysis by D, W, L, and V, and
by combining such special expenses with the average load which
each class of vehicles carries, we can ascertain the increased
expenses per mile produced on each vehicle by the addition of
its load.  We have done this with respect to the Belgian railways in the following table, in the first column of which appear
the expenses per mile produced by each object of traffic; in the
second column the average number of such objects of traffic car-ied by each vehicle respectively; and in the third column the
product of.these two numbers, representing the expenses per
mile on each vehicle, produced by its load.
Average    |
Npember Veicle.
per Vehlicle. 
Object of Traffic.
d.
0-042
0-006
0'07
0'07
0'05
0'07
0'07
0'03
0'007
1st class passenger —----------—.
2d and 3d class passengers...
A ton of ba,ggage —--------------          
A ton of parcels ---------------—.
A lhose —--—. —--------------—..
A private carriage —-------------          
A ton of goods —--------------—..
A hieadl of cattle —---------------        
A head of small cattle —-------—.
To ascertain to what extent this differs firom the charges
wlhicl would fall on the objects of traffic respectively by dividing
the total amount of the special expenses among the vehicles of
transport indifferently, in the ratio of their mileage, we divide
the total amount of the special expenses,  10,849, by the total
mileage, 17,193,658, of the vehicles, and the quotient, 0.15l4l.,
is the share per miile which faills on each vehicle.   Dvid lig this
CI-IAP. XII.]
223
Expense
per Vehicle
per Mile.
Expense
per Mile.
0-357
0-0864
0-0:392
0.1 1915
0-08:3.,
0 - 0 52 ,
0-17;50
0-1257
0-2443
8-5
14-4
0-56
1.85
1-67
0-75
2-5
4-19
34-9 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
by the average quantity of the objects of transport which each
vehicle carries, and comparing these with the actual share of
the expenses chargeable to each object, we obtain the following
results:
Share by       Difference.
Actual  equal Division
Share of  of Expenses
Expenses.     among       Over-   Under                                           Vehicles.    charge.  charge.
d.          d.         d.       d.
Passenger, 1st class. --------    0-042       00178                0 0242
2d and 3d class.. 0.006         0.0105      0 0045
A ton of baggage ---------—.   0070          0.2704     0.2004
I parcels.           0 —---------- 0070  0'0818    0'0118
A horse....................      0'050       0.0907  0'0407
A private carriage —------—.  0'070          0'2018     01318
A ton of goods —----------—.  0'070          0.0605       0' 0095
A head of cattle —--------—.  0.030          0-0361     0 0061
,,    small cattle -----—.   0007    0.0043        0       0037
...,
Such, then, is the compensation of errors by overcharge and
undercharge which would be produced if the expenses properly
chargeable in various proportions on the traffic were distributed
uniformly among the mileage of the vehicles of transport. But
to estimate the importance of this departure from strict accuracy, it will be necessary to compare these deviations from the
truth with the total amount of expenses chargeable upon each
object of traffic. I have accordingly done this in the following
table, in the first column of which is exhibited the actual share
of the total expenses per mile which was produced by each
object of traffic; and, in the second and third columns, the
amount per cent. of the overcharge or undercharge, which
would be committed by the adoption of the principle of uniform
distribution among the vehicles.
Percentage of Total Expenses.
Total
Expense of
Transport
per Mile.
per Mile.    Overcharge.    Undercharge.
d.
0'37
0'25
0-20,
7'05
20,50
1.'70
3-80
1-11
0'66
0'09
Passengers, 1st class...
,,  2d class —-----—.
3d class   ---------
Baggage per ton —-----—..
Parcels per ton --------------
Horses per head.. —----------
Private carriage —-----------          
Goods per ton -----------—...
Cattle per head —-—.. —. —-.                        --
Small cattle per head                            —.
I
24
[CHAP. XII.
Overcharge.
Undereliarge.
6.50
o'o
3.00
1-80
2-20
2-80
0.50
2-40
3-40
0-93 
THE EXPENSES.
It appears that these errors form but a small percentage of
the whole-expenses, and would form a much smaller percentage
of the fares which would be charged upon the several articles.
We may therefore conclude, that the simplicity of calculation
gained by dividing the entire expenses among the mileage of the
vehicles, and then among the objects they carry, more than
compensates for the minute errors which would be produced by
the distribution of this part of the expenses.
We may, then, recapitulate the various heads of expenses
explained above, including, however, under them respectively,
the entire expenses of the maintenance of the way and works,
the locomotive power, and the carrying expenses produced by
the traffic, as follows:
Total expenses of direction and management........ I)
Total mileage of carrying stock.................. m
Share of expenses of direction chargeable per mile on D
each vehicle of carrying stock................._
~n
Expenses of maintenance of way and works....... W
Share of these expenses chargeable per mile on each 
vehicle of carrying stock.......................
Expenses of locomotive power................... L
Total mileage of passenger engines...............  e
Total mileage of goods engines.................. e'
Share of expenses L chargeable per mile on each  L
engine.....................................   + e'
e +-e'
Share of expenses L chargeable upon the passenger  Le
Le
engines collectively..........................
e + e'
Share of expenses L chargeable upon the goods en-  L e'
gines collectively.................
e + e'
Total mileage of the vehicles composing the passen  ger trains................................. m
Total mileage of the vehicles composing the goods
trains...................................... n
Share of the expenses of passenger engines charge  able per mile on each vehicle drawn by them....... Le 
m' (e + e')
Share of expenses of goods engines chargeable per    L e'
mile on each vehicle drawn by them............m...    e
m" (e + e')
Share of expenses of carrying stock chargeable on
the vehicles composing the passenger trains.....V
Share of expenses of passenger stock per mile chargea- V
ble upon each vehicle composing the passenger trains -
I m
K*
CHAP. XII.]
225 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Share of expenses of carrying stock chargeable to the
vehicles composing the goods trains............ VI
Share of expenses of goods stock per mile chargea- V,
ble upon each vehicle composing the goods trains 
Hence it appears that the total amount of the expense chargeable per mile upon each vehicle composing a passenger train is
as follows:
D  W      L X e    v
m -    m' X (e + e') + M'
And the total amount of the expenses chargeable upon each
vehicle composing a goods train is
D  W      LXe    V'
m+  + in'" (e I e') r'
THE STATIONS.
In what precedes, I have explained the manner of distributing among the traffic all those expenses which are chargeable
upon it in the form of a mileage.
It now remnains to notice a class of expenses which, being independent of locomotion, are chargeable upon the traffic in a
proportion depending conjointly on its quantity and quality,
without any reference whatever to the distance to which it may
be transported.
The expenses of the stations consist principally of the following items:
1st. The maintenance and repair of the buildings and furni         ture of the various stations for the reception and em         barkation and disembarkation and discharge of passen         gers and goods.
2d. The salaries of all classes of agents, from the' superin         tendents down to the lowest porter employed in the
service of the embarkation, booking, disembarkation,
discharging, and delivery of the objects of transport,
including those agents who accompany the trains for
the purpose of delivering the various articles of trans         port at the stations, and of receiving and discharging
the passengers.
3d. The cost of all articles consumed in the stations, includ         ing all the machinery and stock requisite for the em         barkation, disembarkation, and delivery of goods.
[CIIAP. XII.
226 
THE EXPENSES.
Under these heads are, of course, included a multitude of
miscellaneous expenses connected with the ordinary business
of the stations, such as lighting and warming them], attendance
in the waiting-rooms on the passsengers, all the details of the
booking offices, the necessary attendance in the offices for the
reception of passengers' baggage and parcels, and the labor and
materials consumed in loading the same, the necessary attend ance for the embarkation of carriages and horses, of live stock,
and of every species of goods; and, in some cases, the means
for delivering the goods, as they arrive, at the domicile of the
party to whom they are addressed, and of collecting the goods
which are about to be dispatched.
From the nature of this service it will be evident that the
expenses attendant upon it have no reference to the distance to
which the traffic is transported. Two bales of goods delivered
at a railway station are received, weighed, booked, entered on
the way-bill, labeled, and loaded. On arriving at their respective destination they are unloaded, discharged, delivered, and the
charge upon them, if any, collected.
All these various services will be precisely the same for these
two bales of goods, if one be carried 500 miles, and the other
only 5 miles.
Such expenses must therefore be debited to the traffic, without any reference to its mileage.
But these expenses will evidently vary within  very wide
limits, according to the nature of the objects which are embarked and delivered.
Passengers, on arriving, must be provided with proper booking-offices, a staff of clerks, a waiting-room properly illuminated,
warmed, and furnished; and a convenient wharf for embarkation, with suitable attendants for their guidance, and for the
disposition of their baggage.   On arriving at their destination,
similar services are required.
Live stock require particular attendance and labor for their
safe embarkation and discharge. Goods of various qualities require various degrees of care and labor for their secure embarkation and discharge.
Now it will be evident that the distribution of the total expenses of the establishment of the stations between these various
objects must be a process attended with much difficulty, and, to
some extent, arbitrary.  If only one species of traffic were embarked and delivered, then it would be sufficient to divide the
total expenses of the stations between this quantity, expressed
CGAP. XI!.]
227 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
in weight or number, as the case might be; but the traffic consisting of a great variety of different classes of objects, the distribution of the expenses among them requires that some common measure be selected, by which the proportional expenses
of each class of traffic may be determined. Estimates of this
kind have been made in different foreign railway establishments.
M. Teisserenc, who has devoted much attention to the statistics of railways, and has been practically connected with the
French lines, proposes that the average expenses of the embarkation and delivery of a ton of merchandise, which he estimnates, on the French lines, at about Is. 6d., should be taken as
the unit or common measure for the expenses of the embarkation and delivery of the traffic in general, and that the expenses
of the stations shall be divided among the traffic in the following
proportions relatively to the cost of a ton of goods.
Let A express the cost of the embarkation and delivery of a
ton of goods. Then we may adopt, according to M. Teisserenc, the following scale for other objects of transport:
A ton of parcels.........................   3   A
,, of baggage........................ 10   A
A carriage..............................  2   A
A horse................................. 1 A
Ahead of cattle..........................       A
A pig..................................          A
A calf..................................  A
A sheep...............................     A
The same authority gives the following scale as applicable to
the Belgian railways, where he estimates the cost of the embarkation and delivery of a ton of goods at the same amount as
.above:
A ton of parcels........................ 32 A
,,  of baggage....................... 10   A
A carriage.............................  11 A
9~~~~~~~ 2
A horse.................................       A
Ahead of cattle...........................2 A
A pig...................................       A
A calf..................................  A
A sheep................................        A
A passenger.............................       A
According to M. Belpaire, who has given a very elaborate
distribution of the expenses of the Belgian railways among the
traftic, the following are, or were (in 1844), the proportional
expenses of embarkation and discharge, the unit being, as before,
228
[CHAP. XII. 
THE EXPENSES.
the average cost of embarkation and discharge of a ton of mer
chandise:
A ton of baggage......................... 8  A
,,  of parcels.......................... 3   A
A carriage...............................      A
A horse................................ A
A passenger......................... A
M. Belpaire gives no estimate of the embarkation of live
stock, as this process was then conducted at the charge of the
expeditor.
The difference between the amount of the expenses assigned
to the embarkation and discharge of these different classes of
objects, admits of easy explanation.
The embarkation of a ton of merchandise, consisting of a
bale dispatched by one individual and consigned to another,
is limited to a single entry in the books and way-bill, the labeling and loading, unloading and delivery, of a single bale.
But a ton of parcels, consisting of a great multitude of detached packets of different weights, dispatched by a great number of different persons, requiring as many different entries
on the books and way-bills, and followed by as many different
operations for their discharge and delivery, obviously involves
a vastly increased expense.
It will not, therefore, be surprising, that the average expenses for a ton of such objects is much greater than for a ton
of goods.
The expenses of embarkation and delivery of passengers'
baggage is still greater than that of parcels, because the baggage arrives at the last moment, is weighed, booked, and loaded
with precipitation, and requires the attention of numerous
agents. The parcels, on the other hand, are received, booked,
weighed, and loaded with more deliberation and order, and
therefore employ a less number of agents in proportion to their
number and weight.
The distribution of the expenses of the service of the stations
among the traffic depends on circumstances, which vary so
much, not only in one railway compared with another, but
with the changes incidental to the traffic itself and its management, that it is impossible to state any general principles relative
to it, and each case must be arranged according to the peculiar
circumstances attending it. The expenses of a ton of merchandise, which is taken as the commnon modulus or unit, vary
within very wide limits. Iron in bars, cast iron, or lead in
CHAP.XIL]
229 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
pigs, coals, and minerals, do not cost half the expense per
ton which attends merchandise which requires more careful
loading.
The following are the estimated expenses of the stations on
the Belgian railways:
s. d.
A passenger............................ 0 -0-8
A ton of baggage........................ 10  0
,,  parcels......................... 4  3
A private carriage........................1 5
A ton of merchandise (average)............  1 5
We shall conclude this analysis of the expenses by a general
practical example of its application in the case of the Belgian
railways, showing the proportion chargeable to each object of
traffic.
It has been already shown (p. 97), that the average number
of vehicles composing a passenger train was 8.26, and the
average number composing a goods train was 15.74.
Total          Per Vehicle per Mile.
Expenses.
Passenger Trains. Goods Trains.
X.           d.               d.
Direction and management    30,477             0-426            0-426
Maintenance of way -------   72,314            0'954            0'954
Locomotive power ---------   79,255             1-453           0'762
Carrying service. ——. ----    29,984         0-422            0-422
Totals...   212,030         3'255            2'564
The comparative expenses per mile of the passenger and
goods trains arise, as will be seen, fiom the charge for the
locomotive power per vehicle in the one being double the other;
and this proceeds from the circumstance of the goods trains consisting of fuller loads, or a greater number of vehicles.  The
charge for the locomotive power, therefore, has a greater divisor, and the share falling on each vehicle of transport is proportionally less. Although it be true that the increased magnitude of the trains produces some increased expense in the
locomotive power, this expense is comparatively trifling, consisting only of the small cost of the traction of each additional
vehicle.
This will illustrate the economy to be derived fiom working
in general with full trains. An additional vehicle drawn by
230
[Cr-IAP. XII. 
THE EXPENSES.
the engine, produces an increase of the divisor, by which the
expenses of the moving power is distributed among the traffic.
These expenses, chargeable respectively on the vehicles composing the trains, are now to be distributed between the units
composing the average loads of these vehicles. It has been
shown that, on the Belgian railways, the average loads of the
several denominations of vehicles were as follows:
Description of Vehicle.         Average LIoad.
Passenger carriage, 1st class, number of passengers    8-54
,,        2d class,,            12'38
..3d class                      16i'41
Baggage-        van,      tons.............................
Parcel-van, t o ns.................................
Horse-box, number of horses.....................
Carriage-truck, number of carriages..............
Goods-wagons, tons............................
Large cattle-wagons, head of cattle...............
Small cattle-wagons,......................
By dividing the expenses chargeable per mile on each vehicle
by the number of units of load as here given, we shall find
the share of the expenses per mile chargeable to each unit.
If this be multiplied by the average distance over which each
unit of load was carried, we shall obtain the average total mileage expenses of each unit; and if to this be added the share of
the expenses of the stations chargeable to the objects of traffic,
irrespective of distance, we shall obtain the entire average expenses of each object. These results are given in the following table:
I.              it.            5,1.            iv.               v.
IV.
Total Expe nse    of
Transport.
I.
Expense of
Stations.
-~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~n  ttos
Passengers, 1st class           -
2d class           3d class.
Ton of baggage....
,,  parcels 
A horse                         -0        -9      10-0      17 —
A carriage              -       -        -           -0           -0      4 -
Ton of goods                    -0       -           -           --
A head of cattle           0  9.0 
,,    small cattle
s. d.
1 4-41
0  7-41
0  4-30
25 2-18
8 0-29
17 8-55
33 0'00
3 10'60
2 10-77
0 3'00
smalleattle    0  1-00    0-07        42-70    0  3-00    0  4-00
The arithmetical process by which the above table has been
CHAP. XII.]
231
II.
E"pense
of Transport per
Mile.
III.
Average
Dislance
carried.
V'
Total E. pense of
Transport
aind Stations.
d.
0-38
0-26
0.20
5.80
1-77
1.95
4-40
1-04
0-61
0-07
Miles'
43-20
28-50
21-50
52-10
54-40
109-00
90-00
44-80
57-00
42'70
S.
1
0
0
35
12
19
34
5
3
0
d.
,5-23
8'23
5-12
2,-IS
3-29
1.55
5100
3-60
7-77
4- 00
3.
0
0
0
10
4
1
1
1
0
0
d
0.82
0.82
0.82
0.00
3-00
5.00
5.00
5-00
9.00
1.00 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
computed will easily suggest means whereby the economy of
transport may  be promoted.  The  numbers  in the second
column, expressing the cost per mile for the transport properly
so called, of each unit of traffic, have been found by dividing
the cost per mile by the number of units in the average load
of each vehicle. Now it has been shown that the increased
expense arising from any increase of the load of each vehicle,
produces an insignificant effect on the total expense of transport; and it therefore follows that the share of the expenses
of transporting such vehicles which falls on each unit of its load,
will be in the inverse proportion of the magnitude of such load.
It may, therefore, be inferred that the cost of transport, properly so called, of each unit of load will be inversely as the magnitude of the load transported by each vehicle.
It would be desirable, if sufficiently precise data could be obtained for the purpose, to ascertain the average proportion in
which the working expenses of the English railways are distributed under the different heads. The want of uniformity,
however, in the published accounts of the different companies,
where we find different expenses frequently classed under the
same denominations, and the same expenses under different denominations, and where, from the want of clearness, it is often
difficult, and sometimes impossible, to determine the head to
which certain disbursements should be assigned, renders it impracticable to obtain any general and exact estimate of this kind.
I have, however, extracted from the mass of published reports
thirteen half-yearly statements of five of the principal companies, from which I have formed the following tabular analysis.
I repeat, however, that it must be received only as the best
that can be obtained, in the absence of more precise and satisfactory data.
The numbers which appear in the columns of the following
table (see page 233) express the proportion of every  100O of
the total working expenses, which were appropriated to the
different heads specified in the table.
From all that has been explained in the present and preceding chapters, it may be inferred, that, among the principal
measures tending toward an increased economy of expenses
in the working of railways, the following are the most prominent:
1st. So to manage the traffic, that the various classes of
vehicles of transport should carry more complete loads;
because the share of the expenses falling on each unit of
232
[CHAP. XII. 
THE EXPENSES.
ANALYSIS of the approximate Proportion in which the working  Ex penses of the under-mentioned Railways were distributed under the
several specified Heads.
Office
Carrying   and
Depart-  Sun ment.   dries.
I
Direc-t
tion and
Manage ment.
Northwestern.
Half-year ending
Dec. 31, 1847.
June 30, 1848 -. 
Dec. 31, 1848..
June 30, 1849..
Great Western.
Half-year ending
Dec. 31,1848.
June 30, 1849.. 
Brighton.
Half-year ending
June 30, 1848..
Dec. 31,1848..
June 30,1849..
Southeastern.
Half-year ending
June 30, 1848.. 
Dec. 31,1848..
Southwestern.
Half-year ending
June 30,1848..
Dec. 31, 1848 -.
Dec.31, 1848. -    7.97    23-01    2801    30-71   10-30  100-00
3-69  100'00
load, diminishes very nearly in the same ratio as the load
of such vehicles increases.
2dly. So to manage the traffic as to encourage transport to
increased distances, because those expenses which are in  dependent of distance will thereby be spread over a greater
mileage; that part of the cost per mile of each object of
transport diminishing in the same ratio as the distance
transported increases.
3dly. So to mnanage the traffic, that the number of vehicles
drawn by each engine shall be increased, because the cost
of traction will thus be divided among a greater number of
vehicles. This cost is but slightly increased by the increase
of the number of vehicles drawn by each engine; while
I
I
I
I
I
CHAP. XII.]
Way
and
Works.
Locomotive
Power.
Total.
4-34
4-17
3-80
4-32
11-68
11-31
11-40
11-06
32-86
34-03
33-39
32-73
49-12
48-53
47-79
48-64
2-00
1-96
3-62
3-25
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
i
11-10
12-90
22-80
26-16
29-60
26-35
34-50
32-4
2.00 100-00
2-14 100-00
5-62
7-30
5-31
15-90
18-20
16,90
45?-Ol
39-41
33-50
34-80
34-11
41-89
1-67 100-00
0.98 100-00
— 40 100-00
4-85
5-40
8-31
8-94
53-71
43-00
32'71
41-80
0-42 100-00
0.86   100-00
11-70
7'97
19-30
23-01
28-30
28-01
25-30
30-71
15-40 100-00
10-30 100-00
6-83
15-76
Mean —
35-15
38-64 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
the expenses falling on each vehicle are diminished in a
much larger proportion.
4thly. So to manage the business of transport, that the dis   tance run by each engine lighted shall be increased; because,
in this case, those charges on the engine pOwer which are
independent of distance are divided among a greater extent
of mileage; and the share of those charges falling on each
vehicle drawn will be diminished, czeerisparibus, in the same
proportion as the engine mileage is increased.
5th]y. In cases where the traffic prevails chiefly in one direc  tion, and, consequently, where, empties" are drawn in
great quantities in the other direction, to study the local
products, and modify the tariff so as to attract loads for the
empty vehicles at a tariff which may be productive under
such circumstances, though unproductive under ordinary
conditions. By these means, the average load of the vehicles
of transport will be augmented.
6thly. Not to multiply the trains beyond that point which the
reasonable acconmmodation of the public renders indispens  able. The more the trains are multiplied, the less complete
will be the loads of every description of traffic, and the
greater will be the share of the expenses which will fall on
each unit carried.
7thly. To sort the loads of each description of traffic as far as
possible, according to its destination; and for the passenger
traffic to provide mixed carriages, which may take up in the
same vehicle the complements of load composed of different
classes. By this expedient, a single carriage in a passenger
train may perform the office of three.
8thly. To diminish, as far as possible, the number of express
trains, if it be not practicable to abolish them altogether.
Express trains are a source of vast expense, directly and
indirectly, whichl can never be repaid by any practicable
tariff to be levied upon them. They are a source of expense
directly by their extreme speed, which produces a rapid
deterioration of the rails, and shakes to pieces the engine
and the vehicles of transport. They are a still greater
source of expense indirectly, by the effect they produce on
the ordinary traffic of the line. Regular trains are either
urged forward at undue speed to get out of their way, and
thereby the wear of the line, the engines, and the carrying
stock, is increased, or they are compelled, as in the case
of goods trains, to stop in sidings to let the express pass.
[CHAP. XII.
234 
CHAP. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
By multiplying the stoppages of heavy goods trains, the
wear of the rails, engines, and vehicles of transport themselves is seriously increased by the effects of the absorption
of the momentum of so great a mass in stopping, and the
action of the engines in producing the momentum in starting; both of which, by the common laws of motion, must
be expended on the rails, the axles, and other parts of the
mechanism upon which the strain is thrown.
CHAPTER XIII.
RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
NONE of the difficulties which have been encountered in the
investigation of the services of railways are presented in the
analysis of their receipts. The relation of the expenses to the
services ultimately rendered, is most uncertain and arbitrary.
The relation of the receipts to these services is immediate and
obvious. The reports of the railway commissioners, moreover,
although scanty and obscure so far as relates to the expenses, are
sufficiently ample as respects the receipts. It is only when we
come to compare the receipts with the expenses, for the purpose
of investigating and dissecting the profits, that we encounter difficulties, and these difficulties arise exclusively from the uncertainty and obscurity of the accounts of expenses.
In the following table is exhibited the receipts proceeding
from the transport of passengers on the English railways during
the six years and a half ending Dec. 31, 1848; showing also
the average receipts per day, the average sum contributed by
each person booked, and the sum paid per passenger per mile.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Revenue arising from the Passenger Traffic
on the Railways of the United Kingdom during the Six Years and a
Half ending December 31, 1848.
Average     Avrg
Average
Receipts
pe r
Passenger
booked.
s. d.
6   0-75
2   2'25
1   2;50
2  8'00
Average
Receipts
per
Passenger
per Mile.
d.
2'51
1-80
1.17
1-98
Twelve months ending
June 30, 1843.
1st class.. —---------
2d class ----------—.
3d class —--------— 4
Totals and averages.-8
I
I
I
235
Average
Receipts
per Day.
X.
3,799
3,564
1,158
8,521
Total
Receipts.
X.
1,386,942
1,300,758
422,557
3,110,257 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Average
Receipts
pe r
Passenger
booked.
. S.         d.        d.
4,108     5  7'00        2'56
3,936    2  2-00        1-80
1,378     1  1-75        1'05
9,422    2  5.75        1'85
1
4,413    5  7'50        2'63
4,613     2  3.75       1'92
1,868     1  0'75        0'97
Twelve months ending
June 30, 1844.
1st class............
2d class............
3d class............
Twelve months ending
June 30,1845.
1st class.-. —-------
2d class...
3d class............
Totals and averages..   3,976,341
Twelve months ending
June 30,1846.
1st class —---------.
2d class... ——. —-.172
3d class. —---------- 
Totals and averages. -
Twelve months ending
June 30, 1847.
lst class...... —-------—.
2d class —---------- 
3d class............
Totals and averages.10
Twelve months ending
June 30, 1848.
1st class....        1        3.
2d class.........
3d class...... —---------
I3d class —--— 156,9...........1q0
Totals and averages..
Six months ending De  cember 31, 1848.
1st class... —----------
2d class......-75     3d class....... —----------
Totals and averages --                                      -
I
t
I
I
236
[CHAP. XIII.
Aver,-ige
Receipts
per
Passengeiper Mile.
Average
Receipts
per day.
Total
Receipts.
Totals and averages...
10,894
2 4-25
1.82
1,691,724
1,967,773
1,065,719
4,725,216
4,635
5,391
2,919
12,945
5 2-75
2 2-25
1 1-75
2 2-00,
2,11
1-44
0'92
1-44
1,75,759
2,098.080
1,324,163
5,148,002
4,79
5,748
3,628
14,105
4 10-50
2 0,75
1 1-75
2 0.00
2.38
1-62
0.99
],,54
1,796,033
2,355,653
1,568,696
5,720,382
4,920
6,454
4,297
15,671
4 11-00
2 I.-75
1 1.75
1 11-75
5!-39
1-63
1.00
1-51
1,003,516
1,360,468
919,317
3,283,301
5,498
7,454
5,028
17,980
5 5.00
,) 2-75
1 2.50
2 0-75
2-38
1-62
1.00
1.51 
CAp. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
In the following table is exhibited the proportion per cent.
of these receipts contributed by each of the three classes of
passengers:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Proportions in which each class of Passengers
contributed to every ~100 of Gross Revenue in the Six Years and a
Half ending December 31, 1848.
1st Class. 2d Class. 3d Class
For Twelve months ending June 30, 1843 -   44'58           41-83    13'59
,,,7         1844 -   43'60        41'77    14'63
,,,,         1845 -   40'51        42'34    17'15
,,,,          1846 -   35'80       41'65    22'55
,,,,         1847.   33'52        40'76    25'72
1,,,1         1848 -   31'39       41.18    27'43
For Half-Year ending December 31, 1848 -   30'57           41'45    27'98
This table exhibits in a remarkable manner the progressively
increased use of the railway made by the inferior classes of
passengers. It will be observed that the proportion of the entire
revenue contributed by the second-class passengers was sensibly
the same during the entire period included in the above table.
being about 411 per cent.; but while the proportion contributed
by the first-class passengers fell from 44- to 301 per cent., the
proportion contributed by the third and inferior classes rose from
1321 to 28 per cent.
It must be observed that the actual amount contributed by all
classes of passengers gradually augmented throughout the period
referred to; the daily receipts in 1843 being X8500, while in
the last six months of 1848 they were nearly X18,000. The
general receipts were therefore more than doubled in this interval.
It is also worthy of observation, that while the average receipts proceeding from each first-class passenger booked gradually diminished firom 6s. to 5s. 5d., the receipts proceeding from
those of the other classes ofpassengers remained nearly stationary.
The relative diminution of the receipts proceeding from the
first-class passengers is to be attributed, therefore, not merely
to the comparatively smaller number of these, but. also to the
prevalence of their traveling shorter distances.
In order to exhibit the operation of the causes of local variation in the railway revenues, I have exhibited in the following
table an analysis of the receipts from the passenger traffic for
eleven of the principal lines of railway.
I
237 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Revenue proceeding from the Passenger Traffic
of the Railways of the United Kingdom during the Twelve Months
ending June 30, 1847.
Average  Average
Receip Receip    ts  R eceipts
per Day. e aspe     r           Pay senger
senger.
~.     s. d.
1,407   9   2'75
638   10  1'50
364    8  3'25
340    5 10
181   6  4
67    7  3
124   7  4'70
263    4  9'60
123    5 11
120    5  4'40
94   3  8'25
1,004    2  1'25
4,725   4 10'20
1,233   3 10'30
998   3  7'80
452   3  6'50
290   3  0'25
229   3  6'70
123   3  3'70
192   4   2'75
364    2  5'16
164    1  3'80
154  3  7'30
146   2  1'50
],403    0 11'50
5,74-8   2   0o80
584    1 11'40
211   3   8'00
359    1  1'30
231   1  1'60
114    1 3'75
89    1  8'00
60    2  1'90
152   2  4'70
116   l  3'60
179    1 9'50
229    0 10'75
1,303   0  9'10
3,627    1  2'00
4,725   4 10"20
5,748    2  0'80
3,627   1  2'00
14,100    2  0'06
-~~~~egr pe Mie
FIRST CLASS.
London and Northwestern.......
Great WVestern —---------------          
Midiand —----------------------          
London, Brighton, and South Coast
London and Cambridge —-------            
London and Colchester —--------          
Bristol and Birmingham ---------
London and Southwestern —----— 9
York and Newcastle —----------           
York and North Midland —-------          
Lancashire and Yorkshire.......                        -
All the remaining lines ----------
Totals and averages-..1
SECOND CLASS.
London and Northwestern —---— 4
Great Western —-------------—.
Midland —-----------                         42 365
London, Brighton, and South Coast
London and Cambridge —--------           
London and Colchester —--------          
Bristol and Birmingbam —-------          
London and Southwestern —.           -               -    -.
York and Newcastle —----------           
York and North Midland —------    5
Lancashire and Yorkshire -------
All the remaining lines ---------—.
Totals and averuges-. —        THIRD CLASS, &C.
London and Northwestern —-----     3
Great Western -----------------
Midland —----------------------          
London, Brighton, and South Coast
London and Cambridge —-----—.
London and Colchester —-------- 3
Bristol and Birmingham —-----—.
London and Southwestern.                            -.   -0York and Newcastle —----------           
York and North Mid]and --                                    -----
Lancashire and Yorkshire —-----          
All the remaining lines —--------        
Totals and averages, —-           
RECAPITULATION.
First Class -------------------—.
Second Class —-----------------          
Third Class, &c. —---------------.
Grand totals and averages....                      -
r
[CHAP. XIM
238
Average
Receipts
per
Passenger
per Mile.
Receipts.
d-2-193
2-744
3-000
2-630
1-944
2-328
2-625
2-029
2-484
2-399
2220
2-385
2-385
1-450
1-878
2-000
1-645
1-339
1-505
1-750
1-413
1-495
1-838
1-630
1-620
1-620
0-948
1.000
1.000
1-130
0-844
0-963
0-750
1-012
0.959
1.150
0-954
0-992
0-992
2-385
1-620
0.99-2
1.535
IC.
513,796
232,855
133,388
124,2'20
66,109
24,622
45,237
95,822
45,040
44,011
34,239
366,4-,O
1,725,729
450,113
364,257
165,168
105,883
83,620
45,133
69,978
133,084
59,956
55,916
53,186
511,786
2,098,080
213,133
77,130
131,235
84,390
41,598
32,638
22,120
55,499
4 2,2 "7
65,407
83,704
475,052
1,324,163
1,725,759
2,098,.OSO
1,324,163
5,148,002 
CHAP. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS
The sums contributed per passenger would be subject to a
correction, owing to the circumstance of passengers traveling
from one railway to another without interruption.  Such a passenger figures twice in the estimated number booked, once in
the return of each railway over which he passes.
It has been already observed, however, in reference to the
average distances traveled per passenger, that this correction
would have so slight an effect on the results, that it may be
neglected without sensible error. The returns of the clearinghouse, in which the through passenger traffic is given, demlonstrate this.
In the following table I have exhibited an analysis of the receipts
proceeding firom the traffic in goods during the six years and a
half ending December 31, 1848. The returns do not supply
the quantity of goods booked, or their mileage, and I have therefore been compelled to limit the present analysis to the statement
of the gross receipts:
STATEMENT of the Gross Receipts proceeding from Merchandise, Cattle,
Carriages, Parcels, Mails, &c., on the Railways of the United Kingdom
during the Six Years and a Half ending Dec. 31, 1848.
Total     Average daily
Receipts.     Receipts.
~.            ~.
Twelve months ending June 30, 1843 -------    1,424,932               3,903
,~,,,                ~ ~1844. —------  1,635,380     4,481
,~~,,, ~    1845 --------  2,233,373                   6,120
,,~,,           ~1846. —------  2,840,354            7,781
~,,,,        ~1847 --------  3,362,884           9,213
,,   1848 —- -----  4,213,170          11,543
Half-year ending December 31, 1848 —----—.   2,461,663              13,488
In order to exhibit the local variation in the merchandise
traffic, I have given in the following table (see page 240) an
analysis of the receipts on eleven of the principal railways for
the twelve months ending June 30, 1847:
I have already observed that the first projectors of the modern
railways contemplated chiefly, if not exclusively, a traffic in
merchandise. The event proved to be the reverse. The traffic
in merchandise was comparatively little, nearly the whole revenue
proceeding from the traffic in passengers. As the railways, however, have become more extensively developed, and improvements have been made in the machinery of locomotion, the goods
traffic has been more and more extended, so as to bear a con
239 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Receipts produced from the Traffic in Mer  chandise on the Railways of the United Kingdom during the Twelve
Months ending June 30, 1847.
Average ~Receit
Total    Average  Receiipts    pt per Ton per Mile.
daily   per Too
Receipts.  Receipla.  boaked.  Average.' Highest. Lowes
~.        a.    a. d.       d.       d.      d.
London and Northwestern..    595,957    1632    8  5-28  1-533          2-451  0-783
Great Western............ 201,320           551  10 10-08  2-542....
Midland.................. 262,630           719    4  4-68   1-675....
London, Brighton, and South
Coast................... 49,216          135    6 3-84  3-560    10-000  2-000
London and Cambridge....    100,415         275    8  5-88  1-903      3-700   1-000
Bristol and Colchester....    31,760         87    7  7-44  1-903     4-750   1-708
Bristol and Birmingham....       67,726     186    5 4-00  1-845..    1-140
London and Southwestern.          68,635     188   9  3-00   2-344      7-260  1-520
York and Newcastle.......   152,874    418    1 7-80  1-240             3-250  1-250
York and North Midland...        58,971      164    2  7-68   1-166     3-000  0.750
Lancashire and Yorkshire.    174,087        479    5  9'96   2-325    12-090   1-000
All the remaining Lines....    842,402   2308    1 6-36  1-675....
Total and averages...   2,606,393   7142   3  2-20  1-675
tinually increasing proportion to the traffic in passengers. In
order to demonstrate this, I have exhibited in the following table
an analysis of the relative amounts of revenue proceeding from
passengers and goods for the six years and a half ending December 31, 1848.
TABLE showing the Total Receipts for Passengers and Goods on the
British Railways during Six Years and a Half ending Dec. 31, 1848.
Received for                Per Cent. of Total Re                  RTosal    Goods, Cattle,    T I         ceipts contributed by
Year ending.     Rcepts        Carriages,       oa
from Pas-  Parcels,  Receipts.    Passen-      Goods,
sengers.    Mails, &c.                    gets.         &c.
~.            ~.           ~.
June 30, 1843   3,110,257    1,424,932    4,535,189          68-5          31-5
,,  1844   3,439,294    1,635,380    5,074,674        67-5         32-5
,,  1845  3,976,341    2,233,373    6,209,714         64-0         36-0
,,  1846   4,725,216    2,840,354    7,565,569        62-4         37-6
,,  1847   5,148,002    3,362,884    8,510,886        60-4         39-6
1848   5,702,382    4,213,170    9,933,552         57-3         42-7
Dec. 31, 1848   3,283,302    2,461,663    5,744,965          57.4         42-6
It appears from this, that while, in 1843, thirteen years after
the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the goods
contributed only 30 per cent. of the gross revenue of the railways,
they contributed, in the eighteen months terminating December
30, 1848, more than 42i per cent.
t
.1
240
[CIIAP. XIII. 
CHAP. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
It would be interesting to ascertain the proportion of the gross
revenue of railways which proceeds from the different classes
of traffic. The more recent railway returns, however, supply
no data for such a computation.
Until 1847 the railway commissioners published annually reports of the traffic, containing some useful details, but since that
year nothing appears in the reports except a general summary
of the traffic, which for statistical purposes is almost useless.
I have taken from the returns for 1847 data which have enabled
me to calculate approximately the proportion of the receipts
arising firom certain objects of traffic. This is exhibited in the
following table:
TABULAR ANALYSIS showing the Proportion in which the Gross Revenue
proceeding from the Railways of the United Kingdom arose fromi cer tain Classes of Traffic during the Twelve Monlths ending June 30, 1847.
Per Cent.
Receipts.   of Total
Receipts.
~.
Passengers, 1st class............ —----------------------- 1,725,759    20-3
,, 2d class.. —-------—........ —------------ 2,098,080  24-6
,,    3d class............ 1,324,163      15-5
Merchandise. —------------------------------ 2,606,393  30-8
Cattle --------------------------------------  71,482     0'8
Sheep. —---------------—. —-----------------  53,091    0-6
Pigs... —-------------------------------------- 23,718  0-3
Horses -------------------------------------- 78,549      0'9
Private carriages. —--------------------------   52,521  0-6
Baggage, parcels, and mails. —----------------- 377,290  4-4
Sundries    not   classed................... —---------------------—..  99,840  1 2
Grand total......... 8,510,886    100-0
~~~~~~~0.0
It appears from this table, that in the year referred to, the
passenger traffic constituted 60 per cent. of the gross revenue,
the goods traffic nearly 31 per cent., the remainder arising firor
baggage, parcels, &c. It also appears that the live stock and
carriages constitute but an insignificant fraction of the revenue,
not exceeding 3 per cent.
A most instructive and interesting light might be thrown on
the circumstances which determine the phenomena of railway
traffic, by exhibiting the relations developed firom year to year
between the receipts, expenses, and profits, and the length of
the railways, the movement upon them, and the capital involved
in them.  iut, utnfortunately, I have  not been able to obtain
I
I
i
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i
241
I', 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
any authentic or exact data of a general nature for this purpose.
The receipts alone are ascertainable with precision; the expenses and profits are left to conjecture. The movement on
the railways might be exhibited by the mileage of the trains:
but we have these only for particular periods and particular
railways.  It happens, however, that, in all the cases where
this mileage is given, there is a remarkable accordance in its
ratio to the receipts. By dividing the one by the other, we find
an almost invariable quotient; the conclusion from which is, that
the average receipts per mile run on the railways for which
authentic returns are given of the running of the trains are
uniform.  In the absence, therefore, of exact data, we  may
assume, as a means of approximation which can not widely err,
that on the railways, taken collectively, the receipts bear this
proportion to the mileage of the trains.  On this hypothesis I
shall therefore calculate the receipts per mile run by the trains
on all the railways.
To find the proportion of the receipts to the capital expended,
I shall assume that the average cost of the railways open at each
successive period was at the rate of X40,000 per mile. (See
page 69.)
I have therefore calculated the following table (see page 243)
on these hypotheses, in the successive columns of which are
given the average receipts per day, per mile of the lines open,
per mile of the trains run, and per cent. of the capital expended.
It appears, fromn the result of this computation, that the daily
receipts per mile were X6 14s. in 1843; that they augmented
until 1846, when they amounted to X8 10s.; and that since that
date they have regularly diminished, having fallen to X6 2s. in
the last six months of 1848.
It also appears, that the gross receipts on all the railways
collectively have never amounted to eight per cent. of the
capital expended. In 1846, when they bore the highest proportion to the capital, they amounted only to X7 14s. 7d. per
cent. Until that year the proportion had increased, having been
X6 ls. 9d. in 1843. Since that epoch the proportion has con stantly diminished, being only Z5 12s. 9d. per cent. in the last
six months of 1848.
In a former chapter I have shown that tile increase of the
transport has not kept pace with the extension of the railways.
This conclusion may  Ie further illustrated by comparing the
receipts from the different classes of traffic with the extent of
242
[CHAP. XIIT. 
CHAP. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
TABLE showing the Proportion of the Receipts on the Itailways of the
United Kingdom to their Lpngth, to the Movement of the Traffic upon
them, and to the Capital expended on them.
Average
Receipts
per M%ile of
Railway.
Average
Receipts
per Cent.
of Capital.
Year ending.
per Day.    Railway.      Trains.    of Capital.
S.
7'0
7'0
7'0
June 30, 1843.
Passengers --------
Goods —--  ---------
9,422        4'8          7'0         4.39
4,481        2'3 7'0 2.09
13,903        7'1'     0    6'48
10,894        5'1          7'0         4'60
6,120        2'8          7'0         2'59
17,014        7'9          7'0         7'19
12,945        5'3          7'0         4'83
7,781        3'2         7'0          2'90
20,726        8'5          7'0         7.73
14,105        4'6          7'0         4'25
9,213        3.0         7'0          2.77
T 23,318      7'6          7'0         7'02
.15,671.       4'1         7'0         3.74
11,543        3-0         7'0          2.75
27,'214       7-1          7'0         6'49
June 30, 1844.
Passengers ---------
Goods -------------
June 30, 1845.
Passen~gers,....
Goods -------------
June 30, 1846.
Passengers ---------
Goods -------------
June 30, 1847.
Passengers --------
Goods -------------
June 30,1849.
Passengers --------
Goods -------------
Six mni8onths ending Dec. 31,
i1848.
Passengers ------—.
Goods -------------
17,980
13,488
31,468
I
I
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I
i
I
I
243
Average
Receil)ts
per Mile
run by
Trains.
Total
average
Receipts
per Day.
JC.
8,521
3,903
12,424
X.
4-6
2.1
6-7
- 4-18
1.91
6-09
Total ---
Total ---
Total- - - -
Total ---
Total ---
Total- - -
7-0
7-0
7-0
i
3-23
2-41
5-64
3-5
2-6
6-1
Total — 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
the railways on which this traffic was carried. I have done this
in the following table:
TABULAR ANALYSIS showing the Proportion which the Increase of Re  ceipts has borne to the Increase of Railways open during the Six Years
and a Half ending December 31, 1848.
Daily
Receipts
per Mile.
.
2'04
1-92
0-62
4-58
2'13
6-67
2-11
2'01
0'71
4'83
2'30
7'13
2'05
2'14
0'86
5'05
2'85
7'90
1-90
2'20
1-20
5'30
3-18
8'48
1-56
1'89
1'20
4'65
3'04
7-69
Twelve months ending June 30, 1843.
Passengers, 1st class            -------
2d class. —----
3d class...........
Total........
Goods.. —----------------------
Grand Total..
Twelve months ending June 30,1844.
Passengers, 1st class                             -          -50 —                     2d class.-                          -75 —                     3d class.-                          -75 —
Total.48                   5
Goods ----------------------—.
Grand Total. -
Twelve months ending June 30, 1845.
Passengers, 1st class.-                               -------
2d class                          2-1         -50 —                     3d class.-                                   -00 —
Total......
Goods... —----------------------
Grand Total.
Twelve months ending June 30, 1846
Passengers, 1st class                          -         ---—..- -
2d class.-.. —----
3d class........... 
Total.50                                 -
Goods.....................
Grand Total..
Twelve months ending June 30,1847.
Passengers, 1st class                          -5        --------
2d class                          -...       -2.5 —
3d class                          -         --------
Total........
Goods........................
Grand Total..
244
[CHAP. XIII.
P,ailway
open
Miles.
Increase
per
Cent.
ecrease
per
Cent.
r 1857
3-50
4-75
14-75
5-30
8.00
6-60
I
1952
3-00
---
6-50
21-00
4-50
24-00
10-70
214
8.00
3-00
39-50
5.00
11-75
7-20
22-00
16-25
0.00
14-00
4-70
11-20
30 6
--- 
CHAP. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
Railway   Daily   Increase Decrease
open   Receipts      per      per
Miles.   per Mile.   Cent.    Cent.
Twelve months ending June 30,1848.
Passengers, 1st class.......
2d class —-------        --
3d class..........
Total........
Goods       - ---   T —.-....      ---------
71.   7
months ending Dec. 31, 1848.
Passengers, 1st class...........                     --
2d class.. —----—.            3d class..       -       -       - - - --
Goods.......... —----------------------.
Grand Total. -              629                1350
It appears from this table that after 1846, when 2600 miles
of railway were brought into operation, every species of traffic
began to decrease in proportion to the length of the railway
worked. The receipts per mile from first-class passengers commenced first to decrease in 1845, as compared with 1844, and
the decrease of revenue from this class per mile of railway rapidly augmented from year to year, being in 1846 8 per cent.,
and in 1847 and 1848 22 per cent. It is observable also that
the proportionate increase of receipts firom third-class passengers was considerably more rapid than the other classes until
1846, when it was nearly 40 per cent. more than in the preceding year; and in accordance with this, the decrease of revenue
per mile from this class was less than the decrease upon the
other classes in the succeeding years.
The revenue proceeding from goods per mile of railway
underwent considerable change, increasing until 1846, and decreasing afterward.  Its augmentation was more rapid, and its
decrease slower, than the revenue from passengers.
Thus it appears that goods and third-class passengers supply
a more steady revenue in general, in proportion to the length
of the lines worked, than the other classes.
It would be highly important, if we possessed the necessary
data for the purpose, to exhibit a classified analysis of the receipts, expenses, and profits on the English railways, showing
the amounts of these respectively for each class of tratfic and for
I
I
245
X.
1-29
1-70
1-13
4-1
3-02
7-14
1.10
1-49
1100
3-59
2-70
6-29
21-00
11-00
6-00
12-80
0-66
7-75
17-00
14-00
13-00
14-75
11-75
13-50
---
3816
---
Grand Total-.
Six
1
.5007
1
---
Grand Total - -
--- 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
every distance; but, as we have more than once observed, the
scanty and insufficient reports issued by the directors of English
railways supply no means of forming such an analysis.
As an example, however, of this I have obtained from the
official reports of the Belgian railways the necessary data for
this purpose. I have therefore given in the following tables the
receipts, expenses, and profits, total and per mile, on the Belgian railways for the year 1844.
TABULAR CLASSIFICATION of the Receipts, Expenlses, and Profits of the
Belgian Railways during the Year 1844.
Receipts
per Unit
per Mile
carried.
d.
1'12
0'90
0O55
8-3i5
4-82
2'70
9'00
1'57
1'10
0-11
0'38
0'25
0'19
7'10
2'50
1'70
3'75
1-10
0'65
0'09
0'74
0'65
0'36
1'25
2'32
1-00
5'25
0'47
0'45
0'02
Receipts per
Unit booked.
s. d.
4 0'00
2 1'25)
0 11'75
36  7'00
21  8'00
24  5'00
67   6'00
5 1000
5  2'00
0 4'75
Classified Traffic.
RECEIPTS.
Passengers, 1st class                          3           4
,,  2d class                        8    2
3d class..
Baggage.         -----------------     
Parcels..
Pres —----------------—,                 756        2    -0        48
Horses... —-----------------
Carriages.. —------------—. —--  
Goods............ —------------------
Cattle (large) —-----------               
,,   (small).-                     -     -.75.. —--
Total Receipts ---
EXPENSES.
Passengers, 1st class                  2          1
,,    2d class                29
3d class                   33
Baggage... —---------------
Parcels —--------------—.
Horses —-----------------           
Carriages —--------------
Goods.. —------------------
Cattle (large).... —------------
,,  (small) -------------
Total Expenses —-.
PROFITS.
Passengers, 1st class —---- Number
,,    2d class  -         -   -,,              3d class          -,,      5-                     -
Baggage -----------------  Tons
Parcels... —-----------------  
Horses ------------------- Number
Carriages.. —---------------, 
Goods -------------------- Tons
Cattle (large) —----------- Number
,,  (small). —-----------, 
Total Profits  --.... —---------
I
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246
[CHArl. XIII.
Denonii,ation.
Total
Receipts.
X. 
63,645
88,742
92,85:3
15,789
37,526
1,680
8,253
130,641-1
2,557
737
442,427
Number
11
T,;,.,
Naber
T.,
Number
11
----------
Nuinber
11
T',s
Nuiber
T,,s
Nuniber
11
----------
22,534
25,898
36,938
13,862
20,015
1,106
3,576
95,723
1,609
627
221,888
1 4-50
0 7-10
0 4-50
30 9-00
11  1.00
15  5-00
28 1.00
4 1-00
3 2-20
0 0-40
2 7'50
1 6.15
0 7-25
5 10-00
10 7-00
9 0.00
39 5-00
1 9.00
1 9.80
0 3-35
41,111
62,844
55,915
i 1,927
. 17,511
574
4,677
34,922
948
110
220,539 
CHAP. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
It must be observed, however, that in estimating the expenses
per head, or per ton per mile. expenses which are chargeable
upon the traffic independent of distance, such as the expenses
of the stations, are shared among the traffic according to the
average distance traveled by each class.
The chief financial object to which the vigilance and skill of
those who direct the affairs of the railways ought to be directed,
must be to render the render the ratio of the gross receipts to
the gross expenses as great as possible; and this economicai
problem is of a complex and difficult character, involving all the
points of'railway management which require the greatest sagacity
and experience.
Let us consider the elements upon which the amount of the
gross receipts depends, and the circumstances which govern its
variation.
The gross receipts depend on,
1. The average tariff of transport per mile imposed on each
unit carried.
2. The average number of miles over which such unit is
transported.
3. The total number of such units which are carried.
It is evident that the gross receipts may be augmented by the
increase of any one or more of these quantities, the others remaining unchanged.
But over the second and third the managers of the railway
have no direct control.  They can not compel the traffic to
come, nor when it does come  can they prescribe the distance
which it may require to be transported.  These two elements,
then, can only be indirectly influenced by that element of the
traffic over which the managers have the most direct and absolute control, viz., the average tariff per mile exacted for the
tI)a,sport.
The problem, therefore, which presents itself for solution, is
to investigate the mnanner in which the quantity of traffic offered
to the railway, and the average distance to which it is transported, can be influenced by the charge per unit per mile, or
the tariff to which it is subjected.   Let us consider the effects
and limits of this influence.
It is evident that, by lowering the tariff, the quantity of traffic,
as well as the average distances, will be augmented, and this
increase will go on even if we were to carry the diminution of
the tariff to the extreme length of extinguishing it altogether,
247 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
and transporting tile traffic gratuitously. But at this imaginary
limit the receipts would be nothing.
On the contrary, if the tariff be augmented continually, the
quantity of traffic, as well as the average distance it is to be car ried, will be continually diminished; the magnitude of the
charge being such as a less and less quantity of traffic is capable
of bearing. A limit will at length be attained, at which the
traffic will altogether vanish, the tariff becoming so great, that no
objects can bear it. Here, again, the receipts become nothing.
Thus it appears that, at the two limits of a vanishing tariff
and a prohibitory tariff, the receipts are nothing.  Between
these, the gross receipts vary, augmenting as the tariff is dimin ished from its prohibitory amount to a certain point, and, after
passing that point, diminishing until they vanish altogether with
the tariff.
With a vanishing tariff, the traffic is a maximum, but the re ceipts altogether vanish; with a prohibitory tariff, both the
traffic and receipts vanish.
The relation between the variations of the tariff, and that of
the receipts, may be illustrated by a simple diagram.
Let distances be taken along the horizontal line OX, representing the successive values of the tariff, and let perpendiculars, corresponding to these distances, be taken representing the
corresponding amounts of the gross receipts. These perpendiculars will terminate in a curve, which will indicate the variation of the amount of the gross receipts.
Let us take OX to represent the prohibitory tariff, which
would cause the traffic and receipts to vanish together. Let
Om be any other value assigned to the tariff, and let mp represent the corresponding amount of the gross receipts.
If we assign to the tariff any value, such as Om"', less than
the prohibitory value, there will be a certain amount of traffic
and a certain amount of receipts. Let the amount of receipts
be expressed by the perpendicular, m"'p"'.
Now, if a less value still be assigned to the tariff, such as
Om", the receipts will be augmented, because the influence of
the increased number of objects booked, and the increased distances to which they are carried, owing to the diminution of the
tariff, will have a greater effect in increasing the gross receipts
than the reduction of the tariff has in diminishing them. By
thus gradually diminishing the tariff, the traffic will increase
both in quantity and distance, and the gross receipts will be
placed under the operation of two contrary causes, one tending
'. 43
[CHAP. XIII. 
CHAPr. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
to increase, and the other to diminish them. So long as the influence of the former predominates, the gross receipts will increase; but when the effect of the reduction of the tariff counterpoises exactly the effect of the increase of traffic in quantity
and distance, then the increase of the gross receipts will cease.
After that, the influence of the reduction of the tariff in diminishing the receipts will predominate over the influence of the increased traffic in augmenting them, and the consequence will be
their diminution.
This effect is illustrated by the diagram.
Y!
t'
C        m       a    mr  Mm tme!                   X
While the distances Omt", Omi", &c., are gradually diminished, the perpendiculars m"t'p   and m" 21 &c. gradually increase, and the curve rises; but when the distance fiom O,
representing the tariff, is reduced to OM, then the perpendicular ceases to increase, and has attained its maximum, which is
M P. At this point the curve ceases to rise, and when the distance representing the tariff is further diminished, as at Om',
then the perpendicular mnp2 is diminished, and the curve descends, for in this case the influence of the diminished tariff
predominates over that of the increased traffic and produces
diminished receipts. This goes on as the tariff is further dimnin                             I?
\
I
249
,\
!l
,os
Ips
/
if/'s
\g tJ,
tes.
an,_
/ 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
ished, and the curve descends toward 0. The perpendiculars
representing the receipts continually diminish, and when the
tariff vanishes, that is, when m arrives at 0, the perpendicular
itself vanishes, the receipts disappear, and the curve descends
to 0.
Thus it appears that, while the tariff is gradually augmented
from its vanishing to its prohibitory point, the gross receipts
gradually increase, arrive at a maximum, and then gradually
diminish, and finally vanish.
The problem which the railway manager has to solve, for each
description of traffic, is the discovery of the point at which the
gross receipts are a maximum. It is to adjust the tariff so
nicely, that the influence of its gradual increase in diminishing
the receipts shall be precisely balanced by the influence of the
traffic in augmenting them.
But it is not enough to consider the influence of these circumstances on the receipts.  It is necessary, also, to have regard to
the expenses; for it is on the excess of the receipts above the
expenses that the commercial prosperity of the enterprise will
depend.
The gross expenses may be considered as consisting of two
parts:
1. The expenses which are independent of the distances to
which the objects of traffic are carried. These are, the expenses
of direction and management, the maintenance of the way and
works (except the small part of this expense which relates to
the wear of the iron-work of the road), and the expenses of the
stations.
2. The expenses which are in the direct ratio of the distances
to which the objects of traffic are transported. These are the
expenses of the locomotive power and the carrying stock.
The former being independent of the transport, properly so
called, will be the same, however the average distance to which
the objects of traffic are transported may vary; and even though
that distance were reduced to nothing, as would be the case
with a prohibitory tariff, this class of expenses would still remain
unaltered. Every increase of traffic produced by a diminishing
tariff will produce an increased expense; and this will continue
until we attain the imaginary limit of a vanishing tariff, when
the expense will become a maximum because the traffic becomes
a maximum.
To illustrate further, by the aid of the diagram, the relation
of the receipts and expenses, let us take the imaginary limit of
[CHAI'. XIII.
250 
CIlIAr. Xl LT.]  PRECCEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
a vanishing tariff, and suppose that the traffic is carried gratui tously. Even in this case, however, the amount of the traffic
will not be unlimited.
A railway which should offer transport for nothing, would
still find only a limited number of passengers and a limited
amount of goods demanding the change of place which it offers.
Let us suppose that the expense of this gratuitous traffic is
represented by the perpendicular O Y.
Even when the traffic altogether vanishes by reason of the
prohibitory tariff represented by OX, there is still an amount
of expense.  Let that amount of expense be represented in the
diagram by Xy. Thus we have represented the two extreme
limits of the expenses, O Y representing the expenses which
would correspond to gratuitous transport, and Xy representing
the expenses which would correspond to a prohibitory tariff.
The curve, representing the expenses in a manner analogous to
that which has been already explained in reference to the re ceipts, is here represented by a dotted line extending from
Y to y.  The expense attending the traffic, which would correspond to the tariff represented by Om, will thus be represented
by m q; the expenses of the traffic corresponding to the tariff
O0ml will be represented by ml ql, &c.
Now, so long as the dotted curve lies above the continuous
curve, mq will be greater than mnp; or, what is the same, the
expenses will be greater than the receipts, and the railway will
be worked at a loss; but wherever the dotted curve lies below
the continuous curve, then the perpendiculars representing the
receipts will be greater than those representing the expenses,
and there will be a profit.
The curve of expenses intersects the curve of receipts at two
points, s and s', which lie on opposite sides of the point P of
maximnum receipts, and which correspond to the tariffs represented by On  and On'.  At these points of intersection the
same perpendicular which represents the receipts also represents the expenses, and the expenses are therefore equal to the
receipts; so that there is neither profit nor loss.
Fromn O to s, that is, from a. vanishing tariff to a tariff On
which renders the receipts and expenses equal, the curve of
expenses is above the curve of receipts, the expenses are greater than the receipts, and the railway is worked at a loss. From
s to P, the curve of receipts lies above the curve of expenses,
and the perpendicular representing the receipts is continually
increasing, while the perpendicular representing the expenses
251 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
is continually diminishing; consequently the difference of the
two, which represents the profits, is continually increasing.
In passing from P toward s', the perpendicular representing
the receipts diminishes, but the perpendicular representing the
expenses also diminishes. A question therefore arises, as to
whether the profit, represented by the difference of these perpendiculars, both diminishing, will increase, diminish, or remain
stationary.  It may be easily shown that in starting from  P,
the perpendicular representing the expenses will diminish more
rapidly than that which represents the receipts; and, therefore,
the difference of the two perpendiculars which represents the
profits will increase. It consequently follows, that the point
of maximum receipts is not the point of maximum profit, but
that this latter point will be found somewhere between P and s',
at a point to be determined by tile condition that the two perpendiculars, one representing the receipts and the other representing the expenses, shall decrease at the same rate.
This may be geometrically expressed by stating it to be the
point at which the two curves become parallel to each other.
After passing this point, the perpendicular representing the
receipts will diminish faster than that which represents the
expenses, and the profits will diminislh.
It is therefore demonstrable that the point of maximum
receipts is not the point of maxinmum profits; but that this latter
point lies between the point of maximum receipts and a prohibitory tarifi
To determine this point of maximum profits rigorously, it
would be necessary to express the strict arithmetical relation
between the tariff and the traffic.   Now this relation will be
different for every different railway, and for every different
class of traffic on the same railway; and therefore it admits of
no general expression. It is a point which only can be determined by tentative means; and in adjusting the tariff so as to correspond to it, the highest managerial skill will be shown.
Although the strict arithmetical connection between the tariff
and the traffic does not admit of any general expression, we
may nevertheless trace some particular relations which will
supply practical illustrations of the principles we have adverted
to. We shall take as an example the goods traffic.
Let r express the tariff imposed per mile on each ton of goods
carried.
Let D express in miles the average distance to which each
ton of goods is carried.
-2 5,2
[CHAP. XIII. 
CT-AP. XIII.] RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
Let N express the number of tons of goods booked.
Let R express the gross receipts proceeding from the transport of goods.
The average receipts produced by each ton of goods carried
will then be expressed by
D X r,
and the total receipts will be
R = N x D X r.
In like manner, let the actual cost of transport for goods,
properly so called, per ton per mile be expressed by e, this
being understood to include locomotive power and the expenses
of the carrying stock.
The cost of carrying each ton booked will then be
D X e,
and the cost of carrying all the merchandise booked will b)e
N X DX e.
Let the expenses which are independent of the movenment
of the traffic, and which consist of the share of direction and
management, the way and works, and the stations, chargeable
to the goods traffic, be expressed by E', and let the total expenses chargeable to the same traffic be E. We have then
E = E' + N x D X e.
The expense chargeable to each ton of goods booked will be
E  E'
N=N +-D Xe.
If the profit be expressed by P, we shall have
P =R-E = ND(r e) -E',
and the profits on each ton booked will be
p          E!(rC)
S= D (r — e) --
This is equivalent to stating that the profit realized on each
ton booked is found by multiplying the difference between the
tariff and the expenses of transport per mile by the average distance to which the ton is carried, and subtracting from the product the expenses which are independent of the distance.
O -) 3 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The several quantities which enter the preceding formula
reciprocally influence each other in a manner which it is important to notice.
Any diminution of r (the tariff) must produce an increase
either of D (the distance to which the traffic is carried), or of N
(the quantity of traffic), or of both of these.
The increase of D will produce a decrease of e, the average
expense of transport per mile; for, in general, the greater the
quantity of locomotion, the less will be the rate per mile at
which it can be executed.
The increase of N will produce a proportionate decrease of
E' and a corresponding increase of the profits per ton booked.
,-, and a corresponding increase of the profits per ton booked.
If the decrease of (r -e) be in a less ratio than the consequent increase of D, then an increase of D (r - e) must take
E'
place; and since the same cause produces a decrease of ~, an
increase of the profits per ton booked must ensue.
But even though the increase of D should not be in a ratio
greater than the decrease of (r - e), an increase of the profits
per ton must ensue in consequence of the decrease of E
In each of these cases, therefore, a diminution of the tariff
would be productive of augmented profits.
To illustrate this, let us take the case of the Belgian railways,
on which each ton of goods was carried the average distance of
45 miles, and produced an average receipt of 70d.
The expenses chargeable upon it were 51d., of which 34d.
were independent of the distance, and 17cd. dependent on it.
R
Hence we have in this case D = 45 and   - = 70d.
Henceit fllow tha
Hence it follows that
d.
R    70
r.= N        4. = 1.55.
N -45
We  have also D  X  e =  17d., and therefore
ci.      c
ild.
17
e  = -  = 0.377;
45
and since N= 34.,  e have
and since N -- 34d., we have
25.1
[CIIAP. XIII.
d. 
GCHAP. XItI.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
P                                 d.
N   45 X (1.55- 0.377) - 34 =  18.65.
d.
The net profit per ton booked was therefore 18.65.
The manner in which any proposed reduction in the tariff
would augment the traffic, either as to quantity or distance,
can not be determined in a definite manner by the preceding
formula; nor could it be by any formula whatever, inasmuch
as the solution of the question would depend on conditions peculiar to each railway and each class of traffic.
If we assume, however, that it be required to reduce the
tariff (r) so that, producing the same net profits(P) per ton
carried, the average distance (D) to which each ton is transported be augmented in any assigned proportion, we may
approximate to the required tariff by taking the expenses per
ton (N ), which are independent of the distance, at the same
amount as at present. This will not be strictly true, because
the reduction of the tariff would necessarily augment the amount
of the traffic, unless counteracted by some other condition, and
therefore the tariffs which we shall obtain will be a little higher
than those which would give the same profits per ton.
Let us suppose that the average distance to which each ton
is carried is augmented from D to D', and that the tariff is reduced from r to r', the profits remaining unchanged; we shall
then have
P         El
N= D (r-e)-N,
P                E'
--- D' (r' - e) —,
N —~
and therefore
D (r-e) = D' (r'- e).
From what has been stated, we have on the Belgian railways
D = 45,
r = 1.55,
e = 0.377.
Hence we have
52.78 = D' (r'- 0.377);
255 
RAILWAY ECONOMY,
and therefore
52-78
r-D'  + 0.377.
By this formula we can compute the value of the tariffs, r',
which correspond to any increased distances, D'.
In the following table such a computation is exhibited. In
the fourth column a series of increasing distances are given.
In the third column are exhibited the corresponding values of
the tariff. In the fifth column is given the total receipts which
would be obtained for each ton booked; and in the sixth column
the total expenses. In the seventh column are given the expenses per ton per mile.
By this last column is rendered apparent the increased saving
per mile on the expenses of transport produced by the augment
ed average distance.
Expenses
Cost of    per Ton
I Transport  booked inI per Mile.   dependent
of Distance.
I~ ~           ~E'                                 R           E
i1                                   N                       N      N
I~~~~~
'    1-55          45       69-7        50.9          1-13
1-43         50       71-5        52-8          1-05
1-33         55       73-2        54.7          0'99
1-25         60       75-0        56-6          0-94
1-19         65       77'5         58-5         0-90
1-13         70       79-1         60-4         0-86
0-377 <      34-0  g      1'08         75        81'0        62'3 0'83
1'04         80       83'2        64-2          0'80
1'00         85       85'0        66'1         0'78
0'96        90        86-4        68'9          0-76
0'93         95        88'3       69'8          0'74
~                 0'92         100       92-0        71-7         0'71
From this table it appears that if the average distance to which
each ton of goods is transported were doubled, a tariff 50 per
cent. less than the present would yield the satne amount of
profit per ton carried as is now obtained; and if a less reduction
of the tariff would produce this augmented distance, an increased
profit would arise both from the increased quantity of goods carried, and from the increased average distance.
It may be useful here to repeat that it is assumed in the second column that the constant expenses remain the same, notwithstanding the gradual reduction of the tariff.
It is evident, however, that these expenses must be diminished,
t
I
I
I
t
e.
I
[CHAP. XIII.
256
T(tal
Receipts
per Ton
booked.
Total
.Expenses
per Ton
booked.
Total
Expe-ses
per To,i
per Mile.
Tariff- per Average
Ton per Distance
mile. carried. 
CHAr. XIII.1  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
inasmuch as the divisor by which they are obtained, being the
number of tons booked, must be augmented by the reduced
tariff.
We have used in the preceding investigation the letter r, to
express the average tariff, implying thereby that the rate of
charge per mile upon the same class of traffic is liable to variation. This variation forms a question of capital importance in
railway economy, and one which is too often overlooked.
It has been more than once demonstrated in the preceding
chapters, that the cost of railway transport, of any class of traffic,
is not in the ratio of the distance to which it is transported. A
portion of the expenses is independent of the distance, and, consequently, it follows that the expenses chargeable per mile upon
any object of transport will be less as the distance to which it is
transported increases. It is evident, therefore, that, consistently
with realizing the same proportion of profits upon the business
executed, a railway company can always afford to reduce the
charge per mile in a greater or less proportion as the distance
increases.
The distance to which any class of merchandise admits of
being transported, will depend on the charge which such object
will bear in the market, in addition to its cost of production.
This is a limit which can not be surpassed, and this limit, combined with the rate per mile charged for the transport, will
determine the radius which limits the market of the producer.
Thus, if we suppose that a certain description of merchandise
will bear, in addition to the cost of production, a charge of 10s.
per ton, then such article will bear to be transported from the
place of production a number of miles, determined by dividing
10s. by the tariff per mile. If the tariff, for example, be Id. per
mile, such an object would bear to be carried 120 miles, without
surpassing the limit of price which would become prohibitory in
the market.
It is clear, therefore, that every reduction which can be made
on the tariff, affecting the larger class of distances, will have the
effect of increasing the area over which the producer can carry
on a profitable business, and will proportionally increase the
available traffic of the railway.  For lesser distances, the reduction of the tariff will only have the effect of augmenting the
quantity of the articles transmitted, and this can only be effected
in the proportion which the reduction of the tariff can effect a
diminution of price in the market.
A due consideration of these circumstances will easily demon
257 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
strate the advantage which must result to the railways from
such a graduated tariff as would favor transport to greater distances. Let us suppose an article transported to a distance of
20 miles, at the rate of 2d. per ton per mile. The total cost of
transport of this article would be 40d. Let us suppose its price
in the market to be 100s. The cost of transport would then
amount to 331 per cent. of the market price. Now let us suppose
that on the transport of such an article a reduction of 10 per.
cent. were made.  This would reduce the cost of transport to
36d., or 3 per cent. of the market price. The difference to the
consumer would, therefore, be only I per cent., while the difference to the carrier would be 10 per cent. The loss, theiefore, to the railway, would be thirty times the amount of the
gain to the consumer. It is clear that such a reduction would
be inexpedient.
But suppose the same article to be transported 120 miles, the
cost of its transport would then be 240d., or 20s.; and suppose
that it is sold in the market for 120s., paying the producer 100s.
and the carrier 20s.; and suppose this 20s. to be the utmost
increase of price which the article will bear: a radius of 120
miles would therefore be the limit of the market which the
railway can supply to the producer.
Let us again suppose that a reduction of 10 per cent. be made
on the transport, and that the rate per mile be reduced from
2d. to 1.8d.  An addition of 20 per cent., or 20s., to the cost of
production, will now carry the article to a distance of 132 miles
instead of 120 miles, because the radius which determines the
market of the producer will thereby be increased by 12 additional
miles, or in the ratio of 10 per cent.
Although, therefore, a reduction of 10 per cent. on the market
price, which in this case would amount to only 2s. upon an article costing 120s., would have an inappreciable effect on the
quantity consumed, yet the extension of the market by the
additional distance to which the object can be conveyed would
have a very important effect, especially if within such increased
radius there existed centres of population where a demand might
exist.
But if we suppose these circumstances to prevail in a country,
such as certain districts of England, closely reticulated by railways, the increase of the market would be not in the simple
ratio of the increased radius of transport, but in the ratio of its
square, as has been explained generally in the first chapter of
this volume. 
'' 5 3
[CHAP. XIII. 
CHAP. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
The effect which the increase of the average distance to which
the traffic is transported has in reducing the cost of transport
per mile, is strikingly illustrated in the fourth and seventh columns of the preceding table. By comparing numbers in these
columns, we find that the following are the rates at which the
expenses of transport per mile are decreased, corresponding to
the rates of increase of the distances, upon the actual average
distance of 45 miles on the Belgian railways:
Corresponding Decrease
per Cent. of the present
Cost of Transport per
Mile.
7'0
12-4
16-8
20-4
23-9
26-6
29-2
31-0
32-7
34-5
37-2
Increased Percentage
of the present average
Distance.
11-1
22-2
33-3
44-4
55-5
66-7
77-8
88-.9
100-0
111-1
122-2
It follows, therefore, that for traffic generally, but more especially for every description of mnerchandise and of live stock,
a tariff graduated upon the principle of diminishing as the distance transported increases, must be the source of largely augmented profits, and by these means the gross receipts of a railway may be increased, while the average amount of the tariff
may remain unaltered.
Recurring to the arithmetical symbols which we have adopted
to express the gross receipts,
R -r X D X N,
it will be apparent that the tariff may be so regulated that the
average value of r shall remain the same, while the tariff imposed
on objects carried to considerable distances is diminished, that
which is imposed on objects carried to lesser distances being
proportionally increased.  By such means the number expressed
by D, which is the average distance to which the objects of
traffic are carried, will be augmented; and if this modification
of the tariff be managed with such skill that the multiplier N,
expressing the total number of objects booked, shall not be
diminished, then the gross receipts, R, will be augmented in the
259 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
same ratio as tile average distance, D, although no change has
taken place in the average amount of the tariff, r.
It may be contended that the increase which must, in this
case, take place in the tariff imposed on short distances, will
have the effect of diminishing the number of objects booked for
such distances, and that the diminution of tariff which favors
objects carried to great distances will not altogether counteract
this effect. This may be admitted to be true in some cases, or
even generally; but with skillful management the diminution
of the multiplier N will not be so great as the increase of the
multiplier D, so that the effect of the latter will prevail over
the forme-, and therefore there will still be on the whole an
increase.
But even in this case, in which the diminution produced on
the multiplier N, or the number of objects booked, will balance
the effect of the augmented distance, and therefore the gross
receipts will not be increased, the gross profits nevertheless will
be augmented; for it has been demonstrated that greater profit
is made, other things being the same, on long than on short
traffic.
It is not alone by reference to distance, however, that the
regulation of the tariff may be rendered conducive to the in crease of the gross receipts and profits. A field for the exercise
of managerial skill is presented by the prevalence on the rail ways of a large amount of empty transport and incomplete loads.
It is well known that traffic has a tendency to prevail more in
certain directions than in others; the consequence of which is,
that vehicles of transport which travel with complete or con siderable loads in one direction, return either empty or with
very imperfect loads in the other.  In this case it is clear that
any objects of transport which might be attached to the empty
or incompletely loaded vehicles thus returning, would yield a
profit equal to nearly their entire receipts, for in this case the
cost of their transport would not exceed the additional fuel, oil,
and grease which their weight would cause to be consumed in
the engine, and the additional wear and tear which it would
produce in the engine, the carriages, and the rails. It has been
already shown how infinitely minute and insignificant this expense would be, and therefore any tariff, however trivial, which
could be obtained from traffic attached to such vehicles, would be
profitable.
The same observations will be applicable, more or less, to the
traffic which may form the complement of the incomplete loads.
[CHAP. XIII.
2GO
Er 
CHAP. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROF[TS.
It has been already explained that, in the case of mtnerchand ise-wagons capable of carrying five tons, the actual average load
carried by themn is only two tons and a quarter.
Now the cost which would attend the remaining two tons and
three quarters necessary to complete their load would be quite
insignificant. A modification of the tariff, therefore, which
would have a tendency to accomplish this, must produce a favorable effect in augmenting the gross receipts.
On the Belgian railways great encouragement has, for this
reason, been offered to secure complete loads of the goods trains.
A liberal reduction of the tariff is offered to all expeditors who
will engage wagons for full loads; and this has been attended
with most favorable results.
In the case of passenger traffic, great difficulties exist in the
solution of the problem to obtain complete loads.
It has been shown that first-class carriages, built to accommnodate eighteen passengers, carry on the average only seven;
that second-class carriages, capable of accommodating twentyfour passengers, carry only thirteen; and that third-class carriages, having capacity for thirty-two, carry only twenty-one passengers.
The great expense entailed on the railways by this large proportion of empty or imperfectly loaded vehicles, demands serious attention. Although it is evidently impracticable to avoid
the evil, its magnitude may be diminished by judicious management.
Something may be accomplished in mitigation of it by a careful classification of the passengers in carriages according to the
distances they have to travel; passengers having the same destination being as far as possible placed in the same vehicle. This,
combined with a proper distribution of the carrying stock among
the stations, and facilities for attaching and detaching the carriages there, without objectionable delay, may do much toward
its mitigation.
A part of this evil arises from the passenger coaches of different classes being always independent of each other.  Thus, if a
single first-class passenger presents himself, no room being available in a first-class carriage composing the train, it will be necessary to attach a first-class carriage, having accommodation for
eighteen passengers, and weighing four tons or upward, for his
individual accommodation.
Nor is this an extreme or imaginary case, but one which I have
firequently witnessed. This evil has been mitigated on some of
the continental railways by providing mnixed carriages, composed
261 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
of divisions appropriated to different classes of passengers, one
of these being placed in each train for the purpose of receiving
the surplus passengers of each class, without the necessity of
attaching complete vehicles of the several classes.
Another means of augmenting the receipts, and diminishing
the expenses, consists in contriving measures to secure for the
engines full loads and long trips. An engine loaded under its
power, or working for a less portion of time than is consistent
with its capability, wasting fuel and wages, by standing with steam
up without work, and in lighting and cleaning more firequently
than is indispensable, is another source of expense needlessly
increased.
A good system of management will direct its affairs so as to
diminish such sources of wasteful expense.
In relation to this, it may be useful here to investigate, so far
as there are available data for the purpose, the relation between
the mileage of the engines and the receipts, so as to exhibit the
average amount of receipts obtained for each mile run. I have
exhibited this in the following table, for all the cases of the English railways in which I have been able to obtain the engine
mileage; to which I have added some of the foreign railways,
to show the comparative results:
Average  Re ceipts  Ier
Mile run by
Engines.
-.
Gross
Receipts.
~.
Total.
M ileage
of Engines.
Miles.
Northwestern Railway, including the Chester
and Holyhead, Lancashire and Carlisle, Ken dal and Windermere, and North Union.
For six months ending December 31, 1848..
London, Brighton, and South Coast.
For twelve months ending June 30, 1848...
For six months ending December 31, 1848..
,,,,   June 30, 1849.......
Great Western, including Bristol and Exeter, and
South Devoe.
For twelve months ending June 30,1847...
,,       June 30,1848...
For six months ending December 31, 1848..
Belgian Railways.
For twelve months, 1844..................
,,,,    1845..................
8,,     846..................
1847..................
North of France Railway.
For twelve months, 1847..................
,,,,    1848..................
* This is one-half the engine mileage fior the twelve months ending June 30,
1849, which I have assumed here, as in frn'mer instances, is the nearest approximaltion I can obtain to the mileage for the half-year ending December 31, 1848.
I
262
[CHAP. XIII.
3,766,115
1,189,95
691,383
593,844
1,324,227
426,512
255,303
214,062
7-0
7-2
7-3
7-2
!2,664,539
2,876,108
1,582,672
1,584,532
1,694,203
2,027,014
2,366,885
l,789,152
1,917,855
979.754
1,05:1),399
571,799
442,427
496,128
546,236
593,444
606,428
592,68-2
7-4
7-3
7-2
5-6
5.9
5-4
5.0
6-8
6-2 
CHAP. XIII.]  RECEIPTS.-TARIFFS.-PROFITS.
The accordance which prevails in the receipts exhibited in
the third column of the above table, is most striking and satisfactory.  It appears that the average receipts per mile for the
distance run by the engines on the English railways is a little
more than 7s. per mile.
It will also be observed, that, notwithstanding the increased
gauge, and consequently augmented power, of the engines, and
capacity of the carriages used upon the Great Western Railway,
the receipts per mile are not greater on that line than on the
London and Brighton.
The inferior amounts obtained per mile on the Belgian and
French railways, may be ascribed partly to the inferior tariff,
and partly to the less active traffic.
In the case of an active traffic in goods, these causes of increased expense may be, to a great extent, mitigated. More
frequent departures from the chief termini, than are consistent
with securing full loads, are not necessary; but the full loads
which are thus dispatched consist of wagons having various destinations along the line, at which they are severally detached,
and where other wagons are not prepared to be substituted for
them.  Although, therefore, the goods-wains may start full,
they will arrive, and perform a great portion of their trip, very
incomplete.
In the case of passenger trains, frequent departures are indispensable for the public accommnodation; and it becomes a problem
of much difficulty to fix such quantity of departures as, on the
whole, will produce thile greatest amount of profit to the railway,
with all reasonable accommodation to the public. It is clear that
the more frequent the departures are, the less complete will be
the load, not only of the engines, but of the carriages.  But, on
the other hand, if the departures were so few as to secure nearly
complete loads, then a considerable amount of the traffic would
be lost to the railway.
We can not advance a step in investigations of this kind, without being rendered sensible of the disadvantage under which we
labor in regard to the English railways. We are left absolutely
destitute of all statistical data which could afford the slightest aid
in such inquiries.
On foreign railways, however, observations have been made,
which indicate some of the laws which govern the circulation
both of passengers and goods.
Thus it is found, generally, that the stream of passenger traffic
sets in toward all great centres of population, from a certain dis
263 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
tance around them, in the early part of the day, and prevails in
the contrary direction in the latter part; produced by the ne cessity of the surrounding population visiting such centres during
the day for the purposes of business, and returning to their
homes in the afternoon.
This effect is frequently augmented at certain seasons of the
year.   In great cities, where  a considerable portion of the
population who are in a condition to use the railway reside,
during the summer, in the environs, places of residence are
selected adjacent to the different lines of railway; and such
persons, being generally engaged in business, arrive by the railway in the cities in the morning, and leave in the afternoon.
It would be desirable to compare the receipts and profits obtained from year to year by the railway traffic, with the capital
absorbed by the establishments and stock.  We possess no returns by which we are enabled with precision to assign the
amount of capital expended on the railways in operation fromn
year to year, as distinguished fromn those which were merely
in progress but unopened. A general average estimate of the
cost per mile, however, of the entire length of railway under
traffic has been already obtained.
In the following table I have in this manner exhibited the
proportion which the receipts have borne to the capital during
the six years and a half ending December 31, 1848.
Assuming the working expenses not to be less than 40 per
cent. of the receipts, the major limits of the profits from year
to year are given in the last column.
Per Cent. on Capital.
ain eraI Eajor
Ret                 L imi t  of Liitf
En8-:penaen.  Profits.
eit. xese_lLmto
6'1      2'4         37
65 -'26            3'9
7'2      2'9        4.3
7'8      3-1'l     4'7
7'0      2'8        4'2
6'S5     2'6       3'9
5'6       2'2      3'4
Capital
Expended.
~.
74,280,000
78,080,000
85,920,000
97,640,000
121,440,000
152,640,000
205,160,000
Twelve miontlis ending
June 30, 1843.......
,,   1844.......
,, 1845.......
.      1846......
,, 1847.......
1848.
Six months~ending Dec.
31,1848............
These figures show, that, whatever may be the advantages
of particular railways as investments, the aggregate of the whole
presents no signal advantages over other enterprises; and that
they have been, since 1846, not much more productive to tile
[CHAP. XIII.
264
L,,.gth
,,f
,,,,,il".y
1857
1952
2148
2441
3036
3816
5079
rT.tl
receipts.
4,535,189
5,074,674
6,209,714
7,565,569
8,510,886
9,933,552
5,744,965 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
capitalist thaa the public funds. It is probable, however, that
the depression shown in the results of the last two years may
be only temporary; nevertheless, it is evident that the railways,
taken in the aggregate, have never yet produced a net profit of
5 per cent.
CHAPTER XIV.
AC,UlDENT!5 O.N RALLWAYS
THE advantages of increased expedition, economy, certainty,
and regularity of traveling presented by railways have been regarded by a large part of the'public as subject to a serious drawback, in consequence of the terrible character of the accidents
which from time to time occur. These disasters have been
occasionally attended by circumstances which must naturally
operate in a very forcible degree on the imagination of all
persons, and powerfully excite the alarm of the timid. To
reduce these fears within reasonable limits, it will be only
necessary to investigate the actual amount of the risk in railway
traveling; and to diminish as much as practicable the amount of
that risk it will be necessary to investigate the causes of accidents,
and to deduce from these causes such rules for avoiding them as
the circumstances of the case shall suggest.
I shall therefore in the present chapter investigate successively,
1. The chances of accident attended with loss of life or bodily
injury.
2. The prevailing causes of such accidents.
3. And shall state some plain rules for the greater security of
the traveler.
SECT. 1I.-The Chances of Accident.
The accidents which are incidental to railway traveling may
be reduced to two classes:
1. Those which arise from causes beyond the control of the
sufferel
M
265
io, 
2. Those which arise from his own imprudence or want of
ordinary caution
The chances of the former admit of calculation as accurate as
those by which the average duration of life is ascertained, and
which form the basis of the operations of life insurance.
The chances of the latter vary in each individual case, depending on the vigilance, the personal temperament and character, and often on the degree of sobriety and state of mind of
the persons exposed to them. Although the occurrence of even
these, when considered in the mass, admits of calculation on the
general principles of the doctrine of chances,* our present object
will be attained by indicating the manner in which individual
imprudence and neglect of per-pr tins contribute to them,
so as to suggest to the unwary traveler what he should do and
abstain from doing to avoid accidents which depend solely on
himself, and to lessen the chances and degree of suffering from
those which are beyond his control.
The frequency, as well as the gravity of each of these classes
of accident, depends also on the individuals who suffer. The
agents and servants of the railway, who are employed directly
and indirectly in the conduct and management of the trains,
including those whose duties detain them on the road, as well
as those who travel on the trains, are more exposed to danger
than the traveler, and it is found that the proportion of fatal
accidents is larger with respect to this class than in the case of
passengers.
It will therefore, in classifying the accidents, be necessary t(
distinguish not only those which arise from causes beyond thu
control of the sufferer from those produced by want of prudence,
but also those from which the passenger suffers from those which
occur to the agents and servants of the railway.
In the following table (see page 267) the accidents which
occurred on the English railways in the years 1847, 8 are thus
classified.
Hence it appears that in this period of two years 243 passengers suffered more or less from railway accidents from which
* Some curious investigations and calculations on this subject have
been made by M. Quetelet of Brussels, who has even shown that the
frequency of murders admits of being reduced to a numerical law, and
that the ratio of the number of murders committed with particular
weapons is constant. Thus the proportion of homicides by the pistol
to homicides by the sword is invariable.
26(i
RAILWAY ECO.NOiNlY.
[CIIAP. XIV. 
CHAr. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
they had no power of protecting themselves, and that of this
number 28 were either immediately killed, or died soon afterward in consequence of their wounds.
It further appears, that in the same period 87 agents of the
railway were more or less injured by accidents from which it
was not in their power to protect themselves, of whom 30 were
killed.
The proportion of deaths to the total number injured is therefore much greater among the servants of the company than
among the passengers.
While only 111 per cent. of the passengers injured lost their
lives, 341 per cent. of the servants injured were killed. The
cause of this difference of proportion is signally obvious from
the fact of the greater exposure of the railway agents, more
specially of the engineers and firemen, to the more dangerous
effects of accidents.
ANALYSIS of the Railway Accidents for the Two Years ending De                      ceniber 31, 1848.
Injured.
215
13
57
85
22
1
393
Passengers suffering from causes beyond their own
control. —----------------------------------------
Passengers suffering from causes which they might
have prevented —------------------------------ -
Railway servants suffering from causes beyond their
own control ------------------------------------ 
Railway servants suffering from causes which they
might have prevented —-----------------------— 2
Trespassers and strangers suffering from crossing or
standing on the railway --------------------------
Persons suffering from misconduct of railway servants
Suicides.. —-------------------------------------- -.
413      393
But to estimate duly the actual degree of danger incurred in
this mode of traveling, the mere numerical amount of the killed
and injured is not sufficient.
To estimate the risk of suffering from accident, it will be
necessary to compare the number of sufferers with the total
amount of railway traveling. In the official reports, the number
of accidents has hitherto been compared with the total number
of passengers booked; but it is easy to show that such a comparison does not afford a true measure of the risk. By adopting
such a measure we should assume that there is the same risk
267
Killed.
28
23
30
232
96
2
2
413 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
of accident to the passenger who travels ten miles, as to him
who travels five hundred miles, which would be an obvious
error. The risk of accident to any passenger is, cceteris paribus,
in the exact proportion of the distance he travels, or, to use a
term already adopted, of his mileage.
To calculate the risk, therefore, the number of accidents must
be compared, not with the total number of passengers booked,
but with the total mileage of the passengers.
If we find, for example, that in a given time the distance
traveled by passengers was equivalent to 500,000 passengers
traveling one mile, and that in such period there occurred only
one accident attended with loss of life, it will follow that, when
a passenger travels one mile, the chances are 500,000 to 1
against encountering a fatal accident.  If he travel ten miles,
the chances are 50,000 to one against such an accident; and,
in general, the probability of such an accident will be augmented
in the exact ratio in which the distance traveled is increased.*
In the two years ending the 31st of December, 1848, the
total mileage of the passengers on the railways of the United
Kingdom, was
1,830,184,617 miles.
The number of accidents to passengers attended with loss of
life, arising from causes beyond their own control, in the same
period, was 28. Dividing the mileage, therefore by 28, we obtain the quotient,
65,363,736.
Hence it appears that if a passenger travel one mile, the chances
against his suffering an accident fatal to life are
65,363,735 to 1.
* More strictly, the chances in these cases would be 499,999 and
49,999 to 1. Of 500,000 balls contained in an urn, 1 is black. Supposing balls to be successively drawn, and returned to the urn after
each drawing, the chance of no black ball in ten drawings would be
499,999 l~
5009000!.  The chance of one or more black balls is,
500,000
/ (4~99,9~99~) \o_10        I           _       10          1
1.-\500,0001       - -       -      0 1-1 —5 00,00 -  0 00       50,000'
very nearly.
I have, in this and like cases, taken the round numbers, as practically
exact and more convenient.
268
[CIIAP. XIV. 
CHAP XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
In the same period the number of accidents attended with
bodily injury to passengers, arising from causes beyond their
own control, was 215.  Dividing this in the same manner into
the total mileage, we find that the chances against such an accident in traveling one mile are
8,512,486 to 1.
In each case we find the chances for greater distances by
dividing these numbers by the distances respectively.
In the subjoined table I have given in the second and third
columns the chances against such accidents for all distances
under 10,000 miles.
It must be here observed that in this calculation every accident productive of the slightest bodily injury, even the smallest
bruise or scratch, is included.
While the numbers registered in these columns will reassure
the timnid, the solicitude of the humane passenger will be extended to the agents and servants who are employed in conducting the train and in guarding and watching the railway, on
whose vigilance and skill depends in a great degree the extremely small amount of risk of the passenger, and to whom, in
fact, is transferred a part of that danger to which the passenger
himself would otherwise be exposed.  It will therefore be satisfactory to calculate the amount of the risk to which each railway
passenger exposes the aguets by Whoti the business of transport
is conducted.
It appears, by the results given in table, p. 267, that in the
two years ending 31st Dec. 1848, the number of accidents fatal
to life occurring to railway servants, from causes beyond their
own control, was 30, and the number resulting in personal
injury was 57. These accidents occurred in conducting both
the passenger and the goods business, and ought, therefore, to
be shared between them in the ratio of the mileage of the passenger and goods trains.
I have no general data by which this can be ascertained, and
it varies very much on different railways. If, however, we take
as a mean the business done on the extensive lines of railway
worked by the Northwestern Company, I find that the mileage
of the passenger engines bears to that of the goods engines the
ratio of 5 to 3.
From this it would follow that three-eighths of the accidents
ought to be assigned to the goods business. But as the relative
269 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
frequency of accidents is greater with passenger than with
goods trains, we shall assume that five-sixths of all the accidents
to railway servants are produced, directly or indirectly, by passenger trains.
It follows, then, that in the two years above mentioned, 25
fatal accidents, and 50 accidents resulting in personal injuries,
occurred to railway servants from passenger trains.
During that period, as has been shown, the total passenger
transport was equivalent to 1,830,184,617 passengers carried a
mile. If we divide this total mileage of the passengers by 25,
we obtain the quotient,
732,073,847,
which is the number of passengers who must travel one mile to
cause the death of a railway servant; and if we divide the same
mileage by 50, we obtain
366,036,923,
which is the number who must travel one mile o cause the
injury of a railway servant.
But whenever one passenger travels a mile, as many others
also travel a mile as make up the average load of a passenger
train. There are no general data recorded from which this
average load can be accurately deduced, but it may be estimated
at about 50 for all the raiiways, taken one with another.
Hence, wherever one individual travels a mile by railway, 50
passengers travel a mile, and the mileage 50 is performed. To
calculate the corresponding number of accidents to railway servants we must, therefore, divide the preceding numbers respectively by 50.
Hence it appears that when a passenger travels a mile, the
chances against such a fatal accident are
14,641,477 to 1;
and the chances against an accident producing personal injury
are
7,320,738 to 1.
The chances corresponding to greater distances are found by
dividing these numbers by the distance traveled.
70
[CHAP. XIV. 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
TABLE showing the Number of Chances to One againits A
ducing Loss of Life or bodily Injury to a Railway Passen
ing Distances from 10 Miles to 10,000 Miles; and also
against his being the Cause of Loss of Life or bodily Inj
way Servant in such a Journey.'
Distance        Passenger.                    Railway 
Distance
traveled.    Loss of Life.   Bodily Injury.   Loss of Life.
Miles.
10      6,536,374         851,249        1,464,148
20      3,268,187         525,624          732,074
30      2,178,791         283,749          488,049
40      1,634,093         212,812         366,037
50      1,307,275         170,250          292,829
60      1,089,396         141,875          244,024
70       933,768          121,607          209,164
80       817,047          106,406          183,018
90       726,264           94,582          162,683
100       653,637           85,125          146,415
120       544,698           70,937          122,012
140       466,884           60,303          104,582
160       408,523           53,203           91,509
180       363,132           47,291           81,341
200       326,819           42,562           73,207
250       261,455           35,050           58,566
300       217,879           28,375           48,805
350       186,754           24,321           41,833
400       163,409           21,281           36.604
450       145,253           18,916           32,536
500        130,727          17,025           29,283
550       118,843           15,477           26,621.
600       108,939           14,187           24,402
650       100,559           13,096           22,525
700         93,377          12,161           20,916
750         87,152          11,350           19,522
800         81,705          10,641           18,302
850        76,898           10,015           17,225
900        72,626            9,458           16,268
950         68,804            8,961          15,412
1,000        65,363            8,513          14,641
1,500        43,575            5,675            9,761
2,000        32,682            4,256            7,321
2,500         26,145           3,405            5,856
3,000        21,788            2,837            4,880
3,500        18,675            2,432            4,183
4,000        16,340            2,128            3,660
4,500        14,525            1,892            3,254
5,000        13,073            1,702            2,928
5,500        11,884            1,548            2,662
6,000        10,894            1,419            2,440
6,500        10,056            1,310            2,252
7,000          9,338           1,216            2,092
7,500         8,715            1,135            1,952
8,000         8,170            1,064            1,830
8,500         7,689            1,002            1,722
9,000         7,262              946            1,627
9,500          6,880             896            1,541
10,000          6,536             851            1,464
* The numbers given in this table are only approximative, but sufi
all practical purposes.
7,i 320g -p    1
.ger in travel the Chances
iury-to a Rail
Servant.
Bodily Injury.
732,074
366,0'37
244,024
183,018
146,415
122,012
104,582
91,509
81,341
73,207
61-,006
52,291
45,754
40,670
36,604
29,283
24,402
20,916
18,302
16,268
14,641
1.3,310
12,201
11,263
10,458
9,761
9,151
8,613
8,134
7,706
7,320
4,880
3,660
2,928
2,440
2,092
1,830
1,627
1,464
1,331
220
126
045
976
915
861
813
771
732
~iciently exact for
271 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
To illustrate the application of this table, let us suppose it
to be required to ascertain the risk of life or bodily injury to
a passenger, and also the chances against his being the cause
of death or injury to a railway servant in traveling 250 miles.
On finding 250 in the first column, we find that the chances
against loss of life are
For passenger,
For railway servants,
and against any bodily injury not resulting in death,
For passenger,
For railway servant,
On the foreign railways, the ratio of accidents to the quantity
of traffic is still less, owing to the less crowded state of the
lines. On the Belgian railways, during the three years ending
1st Dec., 1846, there were but three fatal accidents to passengers arising from causes beyond their own control, and the
total passenger mileage in these three years was,
239,629,541 miles.
The  chances  against loss of life in traveling a mile were,
therefore,
79,876,383 to 1.
On the railwavs of the United Kingdom the chances are,
65,363,735 to 1.
The Belgian railways are, therefore, subject to less risk than
the English, in the ratio of 65 to 79.
On the French railways accidents have been still more rare.
One fatal accident occurred many years ago on the Paris and
Versailles Railway, on which occasion a train took fire, and
appalling consequences followed.   Another  serious  accident
occurred on the Famnpoux embankment of the Northern Railway, in 1846. These, however, stand almost alone.
In the two years ending 31st Dec., 1848, there was not a
single fatal accident to a passenger reported on any French
railway.
It may not be uninteresting to put in juxtaposition with this
the returns of accidents produced by ordinary horse-coaches,
travelingr in Paris aldi its er,virc.ci'
2 7''
[CHAP. XIV.
261,455 to 1;
58,56G to I;
1114,050 to I;
29,283 to I. 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
Year.                   Killed
1834.......................             4
1835..................... 12
1836..................... 5.....
1837..................... 11
1838..................... 19
1839....................... 9
1840..................... 14
Total......... 74
SECT. II.- The Causes of Accidents.
However insignificant may be the proportion of the number
of persons injured to the total amount of passenger traffic, it
may not be without interest or utility to inquire into the causes
which produced these accidents.
The causes which are not dependent on the imprudence of
the sufferers are, generally, either collision of the passenger
train with some other carriages or wagons, or the escape of
the train, or some part of it, fromt the rails.
The English railways are in general constructed with double
lines, the train observing the common rule of the road, and
keeping always on the left-hand line. The consequence of
this is, that, in regular work, all trains upon the same line move
in the same direction.  The collision of one train with another,
therefore, can only take place by a faster train overtaking a
slower, or a train running into one which is at rest.
It is evident, therefore, that, if all trains moved with the
same speed, and all stopped at the same stations, no collisions
could ever happen, except when a train should be retarded or
stopped by accident, or in the case of avehicle being improperly
left standing on the line.
The probabilities of collision will therefore depend on the
differences between the speed with which the several trains
travel, and the differences between the number of stations at
which they stop.
But, on railways as worked at present, it is impracticable to
maintain uniformity of speed.  Passenger and goods traffic
being necessarily worked on the same line of rails, and the
latter being carried at less speed than the former, a source of
danger is produced. If the present enormous amount of transport had been foreseen when railways were in an early stage
of their progress, it might have been a question for considera
273
Wounded.
134
214
220
361
366
384
394
2073 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
tion whether it would not have been advantageous to construct
the trunk railways with three lines of rails, reserving one line
exclusively for the goods traffic. This would have been infinitely more politic than augmenting the capacity of the railway by
increasing the width of the rails, and, consequently, the magnitude and weight of the engines and vehicles of transport. But
the railways being constructed, it is now too late, and nothing
remains to be done but to adopt the most efficient precautions
against those collisions, the probability of which is augmented
with the frequency of the trains, and the differences of their
average speed.
The accommodation of the public requires frequent departures, great expedition, and means of arriving at numerous intermediate points of the lines. These demands can not be
satisfied without calling into existence all the conditions which
are productive of the danger of collision.
To satisfy the urgent call for great expedition, express trains
are dispatched at extraordinary speed, stopping only at chief
stations. To satisfy the want of intercommunication with the
intermediate stations, trains are dispatched which stop at all
the stations; and as the stations, in the average, are not four
miles asunder, these trains must be in a state either of retarded
or accelerated motion. They scarcely get up their speed after
starting from one station, before they are obliged to slacken
their pace, in order to stop at the next. The average speed
of such trains is therefore comparatively small.
Between these and the express trains, which present the
extremes of speed, there are several which move at intermediate average rates, stopping less frequently than the one, and
more so than the other, and, when at full speed, proceeding
with a less velocity than the express trains.
When all these circumstances are taken into account, and
when it is also considered that, on some of the great trunk
lines, such as the Northwestern, as many as fifty trains pass
over the same rails every twenty-four hours, more than the
half of which are worked during the day, and therefore succeed
each other at very short intervals, the wonder is, not that collisions occasionally occur, but that a movement so crowded and
complicated can be conducted at all, without most imminent
danger.
The most frequent source of accidents from collision, arises
from single wagons or trucks being left standing upon the
rails.
274
[CHAP. XIV. 
CHrAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
When express trains have to be stopped, the steam must
be cut off, and the brakes applied at a considerable distance
from  the place where  they come  to rest.   Hence  arises
the greater liability of accidents by collision with those trains
If an obstacle is observed upon the railway by the engine-driver, it must be noticed at a distance so great as to
render it possible to stop the train, otherwise collision must
take place.
Next in frequency to accidents from collision, are those which
arise from the engine or the vehicles escaping from the rails.
The causes which produce this class of accidents are very
various.
The most frequent are impediments left on the rails, such
as blocks of wood, bars of iron, spare sleepers or rails. The
engine encountering obstacles of this kind is generally thrown
off, dragging with it one or more of the carriages.
Cattle from adjacent fields, through deficient fences, have
sometimes got upon the road, and the engine encountering
them has run over them and been thrown off.
A wheel or axle of the engine, tender, or any of the carriages breaking, is sometimes the cause of escape from the
rails. A defect in the rails themselves is not unfrequently the
cause of this class of accidents. This is especially liable to occur
at a joint chair, that is to say, a chair where the ends of two
successive rails are united. It frequently happens that one of
these rails is considerably above or below the other, or that the
rails are not sufficiently fastened in the chair. The impact of
the wheel of the engine on such a defective joint, may either
immediately break the rail, or so weaken it that one of the
succeeding carriage-wheels will break it, and the carriages thus
escape from the rails.
Another not unfrequent cause of accidents is the neglect of
the points and switches, a name given to a part of the mechanism
by which trains are enabled to pass from one line of rails to
another, or from either line into the sidings.
When such passage is intended, a certain change is made in
the position of the points and switches by a person employed
for this purpose on the line, and after the train passes firom the
line the switches are restored to their usual position. If any
neglect take place in this operation, considerable danger will
ensue to the trains which next pass.
In order to ascertain the proportion in which these causes of
accident respectively operate, I have taken indiscriminately,
275 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
from the returns of accidents, 100 cases of which the following
is the analysis:
Accidents from collision...................... 
,,   broken wheel or axle..............
defective rail.....................
by switches.......................
impediments lying on the road.....
offrails by cattle on line...........
,,   bursting boiler....................
.. 56
.. 18
.. 14
..    5
..    3
..    3
..     1
100
Hence it appears that 56 per cent. of these accidents arise
from collision. Next to these comes the escape from the rails
by the breaking of a wheel or axle, or by defective rails, which
together make up 32 per cent., the remaining causes operating
in small proportions.
Since more than half the total number of fatal accidents
which occur upon railways arise from collision, it is important
that the attention of railway companies be more specially directed to precautions against this source of danger.
Before a collision takes place, the engine-driver and others
in management of the following train, have, or ought to have,
the means of observing the object in advance of them, with
which the collision is about to take place. If it be possible to
bring the train to rest before it can pass over the length of
road between the point where the obstacle has been observed,
and the point where such obstacle would be overtaken, the
collision will be prevented.   This possibility will depend upon
the proportion which the number of brakes and  brakesmen
upon the train bears to its weight and speed. It is clear,
therefore, that in all cases the number of brakes provided
should have reference to the magnitude and speed of the
train.
It is found by experience that the distance within which a
train of given weight can be brought to rest by a given number
of brakes, will be in proportion to the square of its speed, that
is to say, with a double speed it will require four times the
number of brakes; with a treble speed, nine times the number
of brakes; and so on.
In the case of an accident which occurred near Wolverton,
on the 5th of June, 1847, it was found impossible to bring a
train of 19 carriages to rest within a distance of 540-yards, the
speed of the train being about 25 mniles an hour.  In this case
[C'HAP. XIV.
276 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
a collision took place, by which seven persons were killed. on
an inquiry it was found that this train was provided with three
brakes, one upon the tender and two upon the carriages.
Inquiries suggested by this and other similar accidents, induced the Board of Trade to propose a rule to be observed by
railway companies, that a brake should be attached to every
fourth carriage.
A similar rule was imposed by the French government, in
February, 1848, on the trains working on the railways of that
country.
Since, however, the brake power necessary to stop a train is
increased in so large a ratio with the speed, a still greater
number of brakes would be necessary with a fast train, such as
the express trains, each carriage of which ought to be provided with an independent brake and brakesman. This would
certainly cause a considerable increase in the working expenses
of the faster class of trains, but the public safety is a matter of
too great importance to be postponed to considerations of this
kind.
In attempting to avoid one source of danger another is often
produced. When an obstacle is seen on the rails before a
train moving with great speed, all means must of course be
used to bring the train suddenly to rest.  But if this be not
done with great caution and skill, danger may be produced
even more serious than that from which it is attempted to
escape. The means of stopping a train are, the brake on the
the tender, the brakes on the vehicles composing it, and, in fine,
reversing the action of the engine.  This process consists in so
changing the motion of the slides, that the steam shall obstruct
instead of accelerating the pistons.  In this way the whole
force of the steam is suddenly made to resist the progressive
motion of the engine.
This is a dangerous process.  The progress of the engine is
arrested by an agent which does not act on the vehicles which
follow it. They are consequently urged against the engine and
against each other with all the force of which the engine is deprived by the back action of the steam. The effect is nearly
the same as if an engine acting behind the train suddenly pushed the train against the engine in front. The effect of this is
an obvious tendency to drive the intermediate carriages off the
rails by doubling up the train.
Before reversing the engine, or even applying the brake to
the tender, it is therefore always advisable to warn the brakes
277 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
men to apply the brakes to the vehicles composing the train.
This being done, and the brake being then applied to the tender,
there is less danger in reversing the steam on the engine.
But it unfortunately happens that in the emergencies in
which these extreme measures are demanded, there is rarely
time to observe these precautions. The prudence of providing
a signal on the tender which shall be within view of the brakesmen, and seats for the latter from which they can always see
such signal, is so obvious that it need not here be enlarged on.
We must not dismiss this subject without noticing the ingenious application of detonating substances, now called fogsignals.
These are detonating balls, which on being crushed explode
with the report of a pistol. When a train is stopped on the
line by an accident, or in general when an obstacle is found
upon the railway from any unexpected cause, and which can
not be immediately removed, if there be a fog at the time, or
any other cause which may prevent the driver of a following
train from seeing the obstacle, the guard or policeman runs
back along the line and places these balls on the rails at certain
distances, so that when a train approaches it causes them successively to explode in rolling over them, and the driver thus
receives warning to stop.
The evil consequences resulting from collision are frequently
aggravated by the manner in which the carriages or wagons
composing the trains are connected with or adapted to each
other. The mode of connecting the successive carriages forming a train is as follows. From the end of the frame supporting each carriage project two strong iron rods, which rest
against spiral springs, and which are terminated by circular
cushions about a foot in diameter, called buffers. When two
successive coaches are brought into contact, these buffers ought
to meet each other so that their centres should coincide. This
requires that the buffers of all the carriages should have the
same gauge, that is to say, that there should be the same distance between their centres; and, secondly, that they should
be at the same height above the rails. If this be not the case,
a collision would have the effect of causing one carriage to push
the other either aside or upward, as the case might be; aside
if the centre of the buffer deviated horizontally, and upward if
it deviated vertically.
In any case there would be a tendency of the coaches to
throw each other off the rails.
278
[CHAP.XIV. 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
The successive coaches forming a train were originally held
together by a chain, which was necessarily always a little slack,
so that when the power of the engine was driving the train,
the buffers were not in close contact, and whenever the train
stopped, or even slackened its speed, the hinder carriages ran
against the foremost one with a collision, the force of which
was proportional to the difference of their speeds.
This mode of connection was replaced by a coupling screw,
by means of which the carriages are drawn together, so that
the buffers are pressed into close contact, and their springs a
little compressed.
In this manner the train is formed into one complete column,
and the change of speed to which it is subject does not produce
the partial collision just mentioned.
One of the means, therefore, of diminishing the chances of
injuries resulting from collision is to provide against the occurrence of eccentric buffers, and to insure the proper coupling
of the trains.
Although, in most cases of derailment,* it is the engine which
escapes from the rails, yet it occasionally happens that, while
the engine maintains its position, one or more of the carriages
forming the train escape.
This happens frequently when an axle or wheel breaks, but
it sometimes happens that a defect of the rail throws a carriage off after the engine and preceding carriages have passed
over it.
On the 16th September, 1847, on the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, the last carriage of the express train, having two
passengers in it, was derailed, the other carriages being undisturbed, and was dragged a considerable distance before the
engine-driver was made aware of the accident. The two passengers it contained were killed.
This accident was ascribed to a defect in the fails. It was
supposed that the weight of the engine being too great for the
strength of the road, it had deranged the rails in passing over
them, and that the succeeding carriages increasing the injury
the displacement only became great enough to derail the wheels
on the arrival of the last coach at the point.
* I have adopted this word from the French: it expresses an effect
which is so often necessary to mention, but for which we have not yet
had any term in our railway nomenclature. By deraillernent is meant the
escape of the wheels of the engine or carriage from the rails  and the
verb to derail or to be derailed may be used in a corresponding sense
9.7 9 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
This and some other accidents have suggested to the railway
authorities the expediency of adopting some method by which
a communication can be made between the several carriages
forming the train and the engine-driver. If, in the above instance, the engine-driver had been made aware of the accident
at the moment of the derailment, it is probable that such fatal
results might not have occurred.
A case will be mentioned hereafter, in which a private carriage caught fire by a cinder projected from the funnel of the
engine falling on its roof. The carriage continued to burn until
the arrival of the train at the next station, the engine-driver and
conductor being ignorant of the accident. 
Previously to this, the necessity of some means of watching
a train, and of notifying promptly to the engine-driver the
occurrence of any accident, had attracted the attention of the
government commissioners, and they consulted some of the
principal railway companies on the most desirable means of
remedying the evil.
The Great Western Company proposed to fix at the back of
the tender a seat for a conductor, in a sufficiently high position
to see along the roofs of the carriages, so as to have a perfect
view of the entire side length of the train, and a means of passing from side to side of the tender, so as to get a view of each
side of the train. Such a conductor, from his proximity to the
engine, could immediately communicate with the driver, and
each guard upon the coaches of the train could communicate
with such conductor by signals.
The Northwestern Company proposed that the under guard
should always stand in his van next to the engine, with his
face to the train, so as to observe any signal of distress, irregularity, or derangement among the carriages which the chief guard,
stationed at the rear of the train, might make. A communication between the under guard and the engineman was only
necessary to complete this arrangement, and the company
accordingly ordered that means should be provided by which
the under guard should be enabled at pleasure to open the
whistle of the engine.
The late Colonel Brandreth had interviews with some of the
most eminent railway engineers, with a view to obtain some
additional protection for the traveling public, by contriving a
method, not only for securing the constant watching of the
trains while on their journey, but also to provide the passengers with means, in case of accident or sudden illness, of corn
[CHAP. XIV.
280 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
municating with a guard, and of enabling the guard to communicate with the engineman, for the purpose, when necessary,
of stopping the train.
There could be no difficulty in providing means by which any
passenger could at his pleasure sound the whistle of the engine,
so as to give the engine-driver notice to stop; but the government commissioners considered that it would be objectionable
to give a passenger a power to stop the train at will, though it
was admitted that it would be extremely desirable to establish
a practicable and sure communication between the passengers in
each coach with a guard, and to provide the latter with means
of communicating with the engine-driver. This subject is still
under consideration of the commissioners and the companies.
While noticing the subject of railway accidents arising from
causes beyond the control of the passengers, or those who have
the management of the trains, it would be an injustice to a most
meritorious and generally intelligent class of persons not to acknowledge the zeal, courage, skill, and good conduct of the engine-drivers, conductors, and stokers, as a body. All who have
had opportunities of experience in railway transport will feel the
justice of such a tribute in the exact proportion of the extent of
their experience. Innumerable instances mightbe offered of
admirable judgment and presence of mind exhibited by this class
of men in the emergencies which arise in railway traveling.
An incident which occurred on the Chester and Holyhead
Railway may be mentioned as one among numbers in attestation
of this, and in which, although the promptness and presence of
mind of the engineer were not successful in effecting the safety
of the passengers, they were not the less admirable.
On the 24th of May, 1847, a fatal accident occurred to a train
in crossing the bridge over the river Dee. The train consisted
of the engine and tender, weighing 30 tons, followed by three
passenger carriages, a luggage van, and another passenger carriage, containing in all 25 passengers, the gross weight of the
train being 60 tons.
The train proceeded safely over the first and second arches,
and the engine reached the middle of the third arch to a point
about 50 feet from the abutments of the bridge.  At that point
the engine-driver felt the railway sinking under him. With
admirable promptitude he instantly opened the steam valve to
the fullest extent of its power, giving to the train a sudden pull,
so as to endeavor to clear the bridge before the catastrophe, of
the imminence of which he was instantly conscious, should occur.
His purpose was hut paiqtinlly su1ccess~tll.  The engine cleared
291 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
the bridge as the railway sunk under it, and dragged the tender
with it. The fireman, who was upon the tender, was thrown
off upon the side of the railway beyond the end of the bridge,
and killed. The passenger coaches had not cleared the bridge
when it sunk under them, and their connection with the tender
was broken. The carriages which had the passengers were
precipitated into the river from a height of 36 feet above the
surface of the water, the depth of which was 10 feet.
It appeared afterward that the tender in following the engine
had been derailed, and was dragged along, rubbing hard against
the parapet wall at the end of the bridge.  It was left standing
apart at 50 feet from the water's edge and 3 feet off the rails,
the engine having broken away from it, and proceeded with the
driver, the only individual who escaped, to the adjacent station.
Having investigated the circumstances which produce that class
of accidents against which the sufferer can not effectually protect
himself by measures of precaution, it remains now to notice those
which arise from imprudence, or from the want of that vigilance
and care on the part of the traveler, which the very nature of
railway transport renders necessary.
The railway commissioners publish periodically reports of all
accidents attended with personal injury which take place on
railways.  The most certain method of ascertaining the manner
in which imprudence or negligence operates in the production
of these disasters, will be to take from the reports those accidents
which have occurred to passengers, and to classify them according to their causes. I have accordingly taken indiscriminately
a hundred such occurrences, and have classified them in the
following table:
ANALYSIS of 100 Accidents produced by Imprudence of Passengers.
Results.
^!lilCAC!Klld.                           Ijued         otl
Sitting or standing in improper place, attitude,
or position.. —----------------------------
Getting out of carriage while train in motion
Getting into carriage while train in motion.
Jumping out to recover hat blown off, or
parcel dropped... —------------------------
Crossing the railway incautiously —---------     
Getting out on wrong side... —---------------
Handing an article into a train in motion....
11
7
6
5
1
3
0
33
I
282
[CHAP. XIV.
17
17
10
8
11
3
1
67
28
24
16
13
2
6
1
100 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
SECT. III.-Precautions against Accidents.
From what has been stated and explained it will be evident
that of all the means of locomotion which human invention has
as yet devised, railway traveling is the safest in an almost infinite
degree. Indeed, the risk to life and limb, when reduced to a
numerical statement, seems to be evanescent.   Nevertheless
the apprehension of danger in this mode of traveling entertained
by timid persons, and even by some who scarcely merit that
appellation, is not inconsiderable.
This may arise partly from the circumstance of the public not
being generally aware of the smallness of the amount of the
danger which has been here described, but in a greater degree
from the terrific results of some of the rare accidents which
have occurred.
In the modes of traveling used before the prevalence of rail ways, accidents to life and limb were frequent, but in general
they were individually so unimportant as not to attract notice,
or to find a place in the public journals. In the case of railways,
however, where large numbers are carried in the same train,
and simultaneously exposed to danger, accidents, though more
rare, are sometimes attended with appalling results.  Much
notice is therefore drawn to them. They are commented on
in the journals, and public alarm is excited.
Notwithstanding the smallness of the amount of risk, yet, as
in many cases the danger of accident beyond the control of the
passenger may be diminished by the adoption of proper precau tions, and in all cases the causes of danger arising from his own
ignorance or neglect may be wholly removed, it may be beneficial
to give in a succinct form short rules, by the observance of which
the traveler will render still less the amount of that risk already
so small.
With this view I have put together the following series of
* plain, intelligible rules, founded partly upon rather a large per sonal experience in railway traveling in every quarter of the
globe where this species of locomotion has been adopted; and
in order to render these rules the less arbitrary, and illustrate
the utility of their observance, I have annexed to each of them
examples of the injurious consequences resulting from their
neglect, such examples being accompanied by the date, time,
and place of their occurrence.
283 
PLAIN RULES
FOR
RAILWAY TRAVELERS
RULE I.
NEVER ATTEMPT TO GET OUT OF A RAILWAY CARRIM6E WHILE
IT IS MOVING, NO MATTER HOW SLOWLY.
Illustration.
IT is a peculiarity of railway locomotion that the speed, when
not very rapid, always appears to the unpracticed passenger
much less than it is. A railway train moving at the rate of a
fast stage-coach seems to go scarcely as fast as a person might
walk. To this circumstance (which is explained by the extreme
smoothness of the motion) is to be ascribed the great frequency
of accidents arising from passengers attempting to descend
from trains while still in motion. This is the most common
cause of that class of accidents on railways, which are owing to
want of due caution on the part of the passenger. I have witnessed many accidents of this class, and the reports of the
Railway Board abound with them.
Examples.
Dublin and Drogheda........
t before the train stopped,
his hand on the rail, over   *
e carriage-wheels passed.
t while in motion, broke
before train had stopped.
Grand Junction..............
Liverpool and Manchester....
Ditto, injured.
Ditto, broke his leg.
Ditto, killed.
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, ditto.
Manchester and Birmingham. Sept. 9, 1844.
Manchester and Leeds....... Oct. 10, 1844.
Glasgow, Garnkirk, and Coat Bridge.................... Oct. 30, 1844.
North Union................ Aug. 23, 1846.
Grand Junction.............. August 7, 1846.
Great Western.............. Aug. 17, 1846.
Midland.................... Oct. 31, 1846.
Sheffield, Ashton, and Man chester................... Jail. 21, 1846. 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
Dundee and Arbroath........ July 22, 1846.
Edinburgh and Glasgow.....   Feb. 16, 1846.
Northwestern............... June, 1847.
London and Southwestern... Jan. 9, 1847.
East Lancaster.............. April 14, 1847.
Ditto....................... May 29, 1847.
Northwestern............... Feb. 19, 1848.
Newcastle and Carlisle......  April 5, 1847.
Northwestern............... Feb. 1, 1847.
Great North of England...... Feb. 17, 1845.
Manchester and Birmingham Feb. 18, 1845.
Midland.................... Oct. 27, 1845.
Ditto....................... Oct. 31, 1845.
Stockton and Darlington.....  Feb. 18, 1845.
Northwestern............... Feb. 1, 1847.
Dublin and Kingstown.......  Nov. 6, 1847.
RULE II.
NEVER ATTEMPT TO GET INTO A RAILWAY CARRIAGE WHEN IT
IS IN MOTION, NO MATTER HOW SLOW THE MOTION MAY SEEM
TO BE.
Examples
London and Blackwall......    Jutly 13,1846.
Attempting to get upon a train after
it had started. Killed.
Ditto, ditto.
London and Birmingham... April 17,1846.
Newcastle and Berwick (in    cluding Newcastle and
North Shields).......... Feb. 14, 1847.
London and Brighton........ Sept. 17, 1848.
Newcastle and Carlisle......  June 23,1846.
London and Blackwall....... July 18, 1846.
Manchester and Leeds....... Feb. 8, 1847.
Dublin and Kingstown....... March 4, 1846.
London and Birmingham... August 3, 1844.
Southwestern............... Nov. 3, 1848.
Bolton atnd Preston........... April 23, 1844.
Midland.................... Feb. 5, 1848.
North Union................ Aug. 23, 1846.
Dublin and Kingstown....... Dec. 26, 1845.
Edinburgh and Glasgow...... May 16, 1845.
London and Brighton........ July 15, 1845.
Midland.................... July 15, 1845.
Manchester and Leeds....... Feb. 8, 1847.
Lancashire and Yorkshire.... Nov. 20, 1847.
RULE III.
NEVER SIT IN ANY UNUSUAL PLACE OR POSTURE.
Illustration.
On some lines of railway seats are provided on the roofs of
the carriages. These are to be avoided. Those who occupy
them sometimes inadvertently stand up, and when the train
passes under a bridge they are struck by the arch. Guards
and brakesmen, whose duty brings them to these positions, and
who are disciplined to exercise caution, are nevertheless frequent sufierers frotn this
285
Ditto, severely injured.
Ditto, killed.
Ditto, ai-m crushed by wheels.
Ditto, killed.
Ditto, both legs broken.
Ditto, killed.
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, leg crushed.
Ditto, killed.
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, iDj ured.
Ditto, killed.
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, ditto
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, arm broken.
Ditto, foot crushed.
Ditto, killed.
Ditto, broke his leg.
Ditto, leg fractured.
Ditto, killed.
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, broke his leg.
Ditto, killed.
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, injured.
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, killed.
Ditto, ditto.
Ditto, leg fractured.
Ditto, killed. 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Examples.
Newcastle and Carlisle......  Sept. 2, 1846.    Sitting on top, stood up as the train
was approaching an archway, was
struck by it. Killed.
Manchester and Sheffield.... March 5, 1847.  Struck by a bridge.  Killed.
North Union................ Jan.  6, 1847.   Ditto, ditto.
Southeastern............... Jan. 30, 1846.   Ditto, ditto.
Bristol and Birinigham..... July 11, 1846.   Ditto, ditto.
Glasgow and Ayr.......... May 16, 1844.   Ditto, ditto.
Manchester and Birminghan. May 31, 1844.   Ditto, injured.
Illustration.
Passengers should beware of leaning out of the carriage window, or of putting out their arm, or if a second-class carriage,
as sometimes happens, has no door, they should take care not
to put out their leg.
Examples.
Preston and Wyre........... April 18, 1844.
Manchester, Bolton, and Bury July 26, 1846.
Leaning out of carriage, struck by
signal board. Wounded.
Leaning out of second-class carriage,
struck by iron column supporting a
bridge. Killed.
Sitting improperly upon the side rail,
fell off. Killed.
Fell off, while reaching over to get
his coat. Arm broken.
Climbing from one compartment of a
carriage to another, fell. Killed.
Attempting to get over the side of the
carriage, instead of by the doorway.
Leg broken.
Jumping from one carriage to an  other, fell between. Killed.
Two passengers, imprudently stand  ing on the seat, thrown off. Both
killed.
Fell, attempting to pass from one car  riage to another. Injured.
Fell off the buffer of a wagon. In  jured.
Improperly sitting on the side of a
carriage, fell off. Killed.
Fell from the foot-board of a carriage
in motion. Killed.
Over-reaching herself, fell from a
train in motion. Injured.
Struck head against a signal post
while leaning over. Killed.
Leaning over, struck a wagon. In  jured.
Struck by a bridge, on the roof. Killed.
Upon step of tender, after the train
gotinto motion,jumping off. Killed.
Got upon step of carriage, before train
stopped, fell. Injured.
Riding on top, contrary to orders, came
in contact with a bridge. Killed.
Sitting on the bar of window, fell out,
fracturing leg and head.
Seated on the edge of an open car riage, lost his balance, and fell be tween the carriages. Arm broken
Grand Junction.............. July 20, 1846.
Hutll and Selby.............. April 17, 1846.
Edinburgh and Glasgow.....  June 9, 1847.
Manchester and Leeds......Sept. 1, 1846.
Bodmin and Wadebridge..... Aug. 3, 1844.
Midland................... July 15, 1846.
Liverpool and Manchester... June 15,1845.
Grand Junction............. August 8, 1845.
Preston and Wyre........... Aug. 8, 1845.
York and North Midland.... Nov. 2, 1845.
Dublin and Kingstown...... Nov. 25,1845.
Eastern Counties............ March 1, 1845.
Stockton and Darlington...... April 14, 1845.
Dundee and Perth........... July 24, 1847.
Northwestern............... Dec. 26, 1847.
Newcastle and Carlisle...... Aug. 22, 1847.
Lancashire and Yorkshire.... June 19, 1848.
South Staffordshire.......... July 8, 1848.
York and North Midland.... Aug. 28, 1848.
286
[CHAP. XIV. 
CHAP. XIV.    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
RULE IV.
IT IS AN EXCELLENT GENERAL MAXIM IN RAILWAY TRAVELING
TO REMAIN IN YOUR PLACE WITHOUT GOING OUT AT ALL
UNTIL YOU ARRIVE AT YOUR DESTINATION. WHEN THIS CAN
NOT BE DONE, GO OUT AS SELDOM AS POSSIBLE.
RULE V.
NEVER GET OUT AT THE WRONG SIDE OF A RAILWAY CARRIAGE.
Illustration.
All who are accustotned to railway traveling know that the
English railways in general consist of two lines of rails, one
commonly called the up line, and the other the down line. The
rule of the road is the same as on common roads. The trains
always keep the line of rails on the left of the engine-driver as
he looks forward.  The consequence of this is, that trains moving in opposite directions are never on the same line, and between these there can never be a collision.
The doors of the carriages which are on your right as you
look toward the engine open upon the space in the middle of
the railway between the two lines of rails. The passenger
should never attempt to leave the carriage by these doors; if
he do, he -is liable to be struck down or run over by trains passing on the adjacent line of rails. If he leave the carriage by
the left-hand door, he descends on the side of the railway out
of danger.
On quitting a train under such circumstances, immediately
retire to the distance of several feet from the edge of the line,
so as to avoid being struck by the steps or other projecting parts
of carriages passing.
Example.
Northwestern............... Jan. 12, 1847.   Got out of the train on the wrong
side, was run over by another train
which was passing at the time.
Killed.
Southeastern............... June 6, 1848.   Ditto, leg broken.
Manchester and Leeds....... Jan. 23, 1845.   Ditto, injured.
Southeastern................ June 6, 1848.   Ditto, leg broken.
Ditto....................... Dec. 25, 1848.   Ditto, killed.
RULE VI.
NEVER PASS FROM ONE SIDE OF THE RAILWAY TO THE OTHER,
EXCEPT WHEN IT IS INDISPENSABLY NECESSARY TO DO SO,
AND THEN NOT WITHOUT THE UTMOST PRECAUTION.
287 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Illustration.
Care should be taken before crossing the line to look both
ways, to see that no train is approaching.   The risk is not
merely that of a train coming upon you before you can pass to
the other side. You slip or trip, or otherwise accidentally fall,
and a train mnay be upon you before you can raise yourself and
get out of its way.
Precaution in this case is especially necessary at a point where
the line is curved, and where you can not command a view to
any considerable distance. It is true that the noise of the train
generally gives notice of its approach, but this can not always be
depended on, as the wind sometimes renders it inaudible.
In crossing a railway at a place where there are sidings and
numerous points (which is always the case at and near stations),
the feet are liable to be caught between the rails and points,
and in such cases it has happened very frequently that the person thus impeded is run over by a train before he is able to disengage himself.
Passengers waiting at stations for the arrival of a train, or
having descended from a train which has stopped and waiting
to remount, stand in need of the greatest caution.  The refreshment-room is sometimes on the side of the road opposite to that
on which the train stops, in which case it can only be arrived
at by crossing the line.
Examples.
Northwestern............... Jan. 6, 1848.    Standing on the line at a station, was
run over, and killed.
Manchester and Leeds....... Feb. 27, 1847.   Attempted to cross in front of an
approaching engine, and was run
over; he had been previously warn                                         ed not to mnake the attempt. Killed.
Midland..................... Jan. 26, 1847.   While incautiously crossing the line,
knocked down by an engine. Leg
broken.
Ulster...................... March 31, 1847. Standing on the line at a station, run
over by a passing train. One leg
had to be amputated, and other                                          wise severely injured.
London and Brighton........ June 29, 1846.   Waiting for a train, was crossing the
railway, and fell, it is supposed
with fright, on seeing the train
approaching. The station- clerk, on
perceiving her situation, hurried to
her assistance, and while endeav                                          oring to remove her, the train went
over and killed both.
Manchester and Birmingham.  Oct. 31, 1846.   Waiting at station, was  run  over
while crossing the rails. Killed.
Newcastle and Darlington....  June 15, 1846.  Waiting at a station for a train, fell
asleep on the edge of the platform,
and was struck by a passing goods
train. Killed.
288
[CH&P. XIV. 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
York and Newcastle......... March 26, 1847. Foot caught in the points, which
held  him  fast until the engine
went over him. Killed.
Eastern Counties........... May 8, 1846.    Attempting to cross the line, in order
to prevent one of her children get                                        ting upon it from the opposite side
was run over and killed.
Illustration.
It frequently happens that while the attention of a person
crossing a line is directed to a train approaching from one
direction, which he thinks there is time to avoid, he is run over
by a train, from which his attention has been withdrawn, coming
from the opposite direction.
Exaiples.
Caledonian  (Glasgow,  Garn- March 15, 1847. Run over by a train while his atten kirk, and Coatbridge line)                        tion was directed to another train
coming from the opposite direction.
Killed.
North Union................ Oct. 2, 1846.         Ditto, ditto.
Leeds and Thirsk............ Feb. 14, 1848.   Ditto, ditto.
Manchester and Leeds....... Oct. 29, 1846.    Two, ditto, ditto.
East Lancaster.............. Oct. 19, 1846.   Ditto, ditto.
Midland................... Dec 30, 1847.   Having left the train, attempted to
cross the line, and was crushed by
the step of the break-van against
the platform. Killed.
Northwestern............... Sept.11, 1845.  Attempting to cross the line in front
of an approaching train, although
warned not to do so, was killed.
.RULE VII.
EXPRESS TRAINS ARE ATTENDED WITH MORE DANGER THAN
ORDINARY TRAINS. - THOSE WHO  DESIRE THE GREATEST
DEGREE OF SECURITY SHOULD USE THEM ONLY WHEN
GREAT SPEED IS REQUIRED.
Illustration.
The principal source of danger from express trains arises not
so much from their extreme speed as from their rate of progress
being different from that of the general traffic of the line. If all
trains, without exception, moved with exactly the satne speed, no
collision by one overtaking another could occur. The more they
depart from this uniformity the more likely are collisions. Now
the speed of express trains is both exceptional and extreme.
Inastnuch as it is exceptional, they are likely to overtake the
slower and regular trains, if these be retarded even in the least
degree by any accidental cause; and inasmuch as it is extreme,
they are more difficult to be stopped in time to prevent a collision
in such a contingency. If a collision occur, the effects are disastrous, in the direct ratio of the relative speed of the trains,
one of which overtakes the other. The momentum of the shock,
N
289 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
other things being the same, will be proportional to the excess
of the speed of the faster over that of the slower train.
The probability of a collision will also be increased in the
same ratio.
To work express trains with safety, an additional line of rails
should be laid down and appropriated to them.
Their number per day being necessarily small, and the duration of their trips short, the same line of rails might, without inconvenience or danger, serve for the traffic in both directions as
on single lines of railway.
Examples
Northwestern.............. Jan. 22, 1847.
Passenger had his leg broken. Ex press train ran into a siding, and
camie in contact with a wagon.
Engine-driver, stoker, and guard kill ed, and two passengers slightly in jured, in consequence of the train
getting off the line.
Six passengers killed, and thirteen
injured, inr consequence of a train
coming in collision with a horse  box at the Shrivenham station.
One passenger killed, and two serious  ly injured, in consequence of a col  lision at the Bay Horse station be  tween a Lancaster and Carlisle
Company's express train, and a
local train belonging to Lancaster
and Preston Company.
Guard injured. Several carriages of
an express train thrown off the
rails, in consequence of the tire of
one of the engine-wheels breaking.
Express train ran off the rails near
the Newton Road station, causing
severe injury to two passengers,
Mr. Sliuard and Colonel Baird,
both of whom died afterward.
The engine and five carriages of the
express train to Edinburgh ran off
the rails near Weedon, causing in  jury to one passenger and to the
driver.
Express train ran into a ballast-en  gine on the Richmond line, causing
death to one servant of the com  pany and injury to four others, all
of whom were riding on the engine;
also injury to eight passengers in
the express train.
Bristol and Birmingham....... May 23, 1848.
Great Western.............. May 10, 1848.
Lancaster and Preston.......  Aug. 21, 1848.
London and Brighlton........   Sept. 22, 1848.
Northwestern............... Sept. 2, 1848.
Ditto....................... Oct. 31, 1848.
Southwestern............... Nov. 17, 1848.
RULE VIII.
SPECIAL TRAINS, EXCURSION TRAINS, AND ALL OTHER EXCEP  TIONAL TRAINS ON RAILWAYS ARE TO BE AVOIDED, BEING
MORE UNSAFE THAN THE ORDINARY AND REGULAR TRAINS.
Illustration.
There is always more or less danger of collision when any
290
[CHAII. XIV.
ol 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
object on a railway is out of its customary place. The enginedrivers of the regular trains are always informed of the course
of other regular trains, and except in cases of accidental stoppage or delay, they know where they are liable to be encountered. Special trains are supplied on sudden and unforeseen
occasions, and although their drivers are informed of the movement of the regular trains, and may therefore provide against
collision, this information is not reciprocal.
Excursion trains are exceptional but not unforeseen, and are
not, therefore, as unsafe as special trains. They are, nevertheless, to be avoided by those who scrupulously consult their safety.
An examination of the statistics of accidents would conclusively
prove the prudence of such a course.
Examntple.
Maryport and Carlisle....... Nov. 10, 1846.   Collision between a special train and
a coal train, in consequence of neg                                       lect on the part of the signal man
at the Wigton station, and of the
agent and superintendent of loco                                       motives at Carlisle, in not inform                                       ing the driver of the coal-train that
a special train was expected, and
that he was not to start until it
arrived.   Engine-driver and  sole
passenger injured.
Illustration.
The danger of collision with special trains mnay be diminished
by the use of the electric telegraph.
Example.
Edinburgh and Glasgow...... May 19, 1845.   Special train from Glasgow, contain                                       ing only one passenger, lost speed
by the way, and was overtaken
and run into by a passenger train
that started an hour and a half
after it, the engine of which crush                                       ed the carriage of the special train,
and killed the occupant.
RULE IX.
IF THE TRAIN IN WHICH YOU TRAVEL MEET WITH AN ACCI  DENT, BY WHICH IT IS STOPPED AT A PART OF THE LINE,
OR AT A TIME WHERE SUCH STOPPAGE IS NOT REGULAR, IT
IS MORE ADVISABLE TO QUIT THE CARRIAGE THAN TO STAY
IN IT, BUT IN QUITTING IT REMEMBER RULES I., V., AND VI.
Illustration.
It may be affirmed generally, that there is always more or
less danger on a railway when carriages or wagons are found
at a place where, in the regular working of the line, they ought
291
I 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
not to be. In such cases, a train following them, not expecting
to find them there, is likely to run upon them, and produce a
collision. I have personally witnessed more than one example
of this, and the reports of the railway commissioners supply
several. I should therefore recommend the above rule for
general observance; but in leaving the train passengers should
beware of crossing the line, or standing on it, or of getting out
of the carriages at the wrong side.
Examples.
Southwestern............... Jan. 14, 1848.
The engine of a passenger train hav ing been partially disabled, the en gine-driver got under it to repair
the damage. While thus employed,
a goods train overtook and ran into
the passenger train, causing the in stant death of the driver, and injury
to the fireman and eleven passen gers; also injury to one of the
guards of the goods train.
Passenger train stopped by broken
axle; another train belonging to the
Manchester and Leeds Railway
Company, notwithstanding signals
were made, ran into and injured
the two hindmost carriages.
Pilot engine, sent after a disabled pas senger train to assist it, overtook
and ran into it. Two passengers
killed.
Manchester and Leeds....... March 9, 1847.
Midland.................... Oct. 20, 1845.
RULE X.
BEWARE OF YIELDING TO THE SUDDEN IMPULSE TO SPRING
FROM THE CARRIAGE TO RECOVER YOUR HAT WHICH HAS
BLOWN OFF, OR A PARCEL DROPPED.
Illustration.
It would appear that there is an instinctive impulse, which
in some individuals is almost irresistible, to leap from a train
to recover their hats when blown off or accidentally dropped.
The reports of railway accidents supply numerous examples
of this.
Examples.
April 1, 1844.   Passenger jumped out after his hat.
Arm broken by fall.
July 23, 1844.   Passenger jumped out of a carriage
after his hat while the train was
in motion. Killed.
Dec. 2, 1846.    Falling between carriages in motion,
while attempting to recover his cap,
which had been blown off into the
next carriage. Killed.
March 4, 1846.  Jumping out after hat, hip dislocated.
92
[CHAP.XIV.
North Midland...............
Great Western..............
Edinburgh and Glasgow - - - - -
Eastern Counties............ 
CHAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
Northwestern............... June 26, 1847.
Ditto........................ May 10, 1847.
Manchester and Birmingham. Oct. 16,1845.
Jumping out after hat, injured.
Ditto, killed.
Struck by a bridge while getting on
the roof of one of the carriages to
recover his hat which had been
blown off. Killed.
Jumping out after his hat. Injured.
Jumped from a train after a parcel
which had fallen. Injured.
Attempting to recover his hat, fell
off the train. Killed.
Jumping after his hat from a train in
motion. Killed.
Jumping after his hat from a train in
motion, fell upon a block of stone,
and was killed on the spot.
Trespasser run over while seeking to
recover his hat, which had been
blown across the line. Killed.
Edinburgh and Glasgow......Feb. 22, 1845.
Dublin and Kingstown....... Dec. 10. 1845.
Manchester and Leeds....... Jan. 23, 1845.
Northwestern............... June 26, 1847.
Ditto....................... May 10, 1847.
Barham Union.............. April 12, 1848.
RULE XI.
WHEN YOU START ON YOUR JOURNEY, SELECT, IF YOU CAN, A
CARRIAGE AT OR AS NEAR AS POSSIBLE TO THE CENTRE OF
THE TRAIN.
Illustration.
In case of collision, the first and the last carriages of a train
are the most liable to damage. If the train run into another,
the foremost carriages suffer.   If it be run into by a train
overtaking it, the hindmost carriages suffer.  Almost  every
case of collision affords all example illustrating this rule.
In case of the engine running off the rails, the carriages most
likely to suffer are the foremost.
Examples.
Eastern Counties............ July 25, 1845.
Pilot engine, which was to assist a
passenger and goods train up the
Brentwood incline, ran into it too
rapidly, through want of care on
the part of the engineman. Two
passengers injured.
A passenger train having left the
Tonbridge station at 6'30, P.M.,
without tail lamps, a pilot engine
was sent after it with lamps. Ow ing to the reckless conduct of the
driver, the pilot engine ran into
the train at tihe Penhurst station.
Tweuty-two passengers injured.
An engine having been sent to assist
a passenger train up an incline, ran
into it, injuring four passengers.
Sioutleastern................ July 28, 1845.
London and Brighton....... June 14,1847.
RULE XII.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO HAND AN ARTICLE INTO A TRAIN IN
MOTION.
293 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Examnple.
London and Brighton........ Feb. 15, 1847.   While handing a basket to the guard
of a passing train, had his coat
caught by one of the carriages,
and was dragged under the wheels.
Killed.
RULE XIII.
IF YOU TRAVEL WITH YOUR PRIVATE CARRIAGE, DO NOT SIT IN
IT ON THE RAILWAY.  TAKE YOUR PLACE BY PREFERENCE
IN ONE OF THE REGULAR RAILWAY CARRIAGES.
Illustration.
The regular railway carriages are safer in case of accident
than a private carriage placed on a truck. They are stronger
and heavier. They are less liable to be thrown off the rails,
or to be crushed or overthrown in case of a collision. The
cinders ejected from the smoke funnel of the engine are generally in a state of vivid ignition, and if they happen to fall on
any combustible object, are liable to set fire to it. The railway
carriages are constructed so as to be secured from such an
accident, but private carriages are not so, and, moreover, from
their greater elevation when placed on a truck, are more exposed. Serious accidents have sometimes occurred from this
cause
The trucks which carry private carriages are also often
placed at the end of the train, the least safe position. (See
RULE XI.)
Example.
On the 8th Dec., 1847, an accident happened to the Countess of Zetland, while
traveling in her private carriage, on the Midland Railway, of which Lady Zetland
herself gave the following narrative. The accident occurred about 5 o'clock in the
afternoon, as the train was approaching Rugby from Derby, en route to London, and
at about six miles from Rugby.
"Aske, Richmond, Yorkshire.
"On the 8th of December, I left Darlington by the 9h. 25m. train for London.  I
traveled in my chariot with my maid.  The carriage was strapped on to a truck, and
placed with its back to the engine, about the centre of the train, which was a long one.
Soon after leaving Leicester, I thought I smelt something burning, and told my maid
to look out of the window on her side to see if any thing was on fire. She let down
the window, and so many lumps of red-hot coal or coke were showering down that
she put it up again immediately. I still thought I smelt something burning; she put
down the window again, and exclaimed that the carriage was on fire.  We then put
down the side-willdows, and waved our handkerchiefs, screaming'fire' as loud as
we could. No one took any notice of us. I then pulled up the windows, lest the
current of air through the carriage should cause the fire to burn more rapidly into the
carriage, and determined to sit in it as long as possible. After some time seeing that
no assistance was likely to be afforded us, my maid became terrified, and, without
telling me her intention, opened the door, let down the step, and scrambled out on to
the truck. I followed her, but having unluckily let myself down toward the back
part of the carriage, which was on fire, was obliged to put up the step and close thl
[CHAP. XIV.
294 
CGAP. XIV.]    ACCIDENTS ON RAILWAYS.
door as well as I could to enable me to pass to the front part of the carriage, furthest
from the fire, and where my maid was standing. We clung on by the front springs of
the carriage, screaming' fire incessantly, and waving our handkerchiefs. We passed
several policemen on the road, none of whom took any notice of us. No guard
appeared. A gentleman in the carriage behind mine saw us, but could render no
assistance.  My maid seemed in an agony of terror, and I saw her sit down on the
side of the truck and gather her cloak tightly about her. I think I told her to hold
fast to the carriage. I turned away for a moment to wave my handkerchief, and
when I looked round again my poor maid was gone.  The train went on, the fire of
course increasing, and the wind blowing it toward me.  A man (a passenger) crept
along the ledge of the railway carriages, and came as near as possible to the truck on
which I stood, but it was itmpossible for him to help me. At last the train stopped at
the Rugby station. An engine was sent back to find my maid. She was found on
the road and taken to the Leicester Hospital, where she now lies in an almost hopeless state: her skull fractured; three of her fingers have been amputated. I am told
the train was going at the rate of 50 miles an hour.
(Signed)         "S. Y. ZETLAND."
The train, consisting of seven passenger carriages, two brake-vans, and four private
carriages on trucks-altogether thirteen separate carriages-was drawn by an engine
with driver and fireman, and was under the charge of one guard, who was placed in
the rear of the entire train, and within a luggage-van, from which it was impossible
for him to see the burning carriage, which was the eighth from the engine.
RULE XIV.
BEWARE OF PROCEEDING ON A COACH ROAD ACROSS A RAILWAY
AT A LEVEL CROSSING.  NEVER DO SO WITHOUT THE EXPRESS
SANCTION OF THE GATEKEEPER.
Illustration.
On the English railways, common roads are usually carried
over or under the railway, which is crossed by or crosses them,
by bridges. This, however, is not invariable, and the greatest
caution should be observed in passing such level crossings.
A restive horse has frequently produced injurious or fatal
accidents in such cases.
RULE XV.
WHEN YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR TIME, TRAVEL BY DAY RATHER
THAN BY NIGHT; AND IF NOT URGENTLY PRESSED, DO NOT
TRAVEL IN FOGGY WEATHER.
Accidents from collision and from encountering impediments
accidentally placed on the road happen more frequently at night
and in foggy weather, than by day and in clear weather.
Persons on or near railways appear to be seized with a
delirium or fascination which determines their will by an irresistible impulse to throw themselves under an approaching
train. Cases of this kind occur so frequently, and under such
circumstances as can not be adequately explained by predisposition to suicide.
1)95 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Examnples.
Midland.................... June 20,1845.
Plate-layer, jumped suddenly in front
of a train in motion; no cause can
be assigned.
Trespasser, ran from behind a bridge,
and laid himself across the rails in
front of an approaching train.
Trespasser, laid his neck on the rail
in front of all approaching train;
supposed to be insane.
Francis Arney threw himself under
the wheels of train. Killed.
A woman of dissipated habits rushed
from the side of the railway, and
throwing herself in front of an
approaching train, was  run over.
K    ill ed.
Person committed suicide by placing
himself before an approaching train.
Peison committed suicide by laying
himself across the rails in front of
an approaching train
Ditto....................... June 25, 1845.
Ditto....................... Sept. 18, 1845.
Southwestern............... June 9, 1847.
Glasgow and Paisley........ Nov. 19, 1847.
Southwestern............... Feb. 19, 1848.
Sheffield and Manchester.... May 4,1846.
CHAPTER XV.
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
ALTHOUGH the subject of the present volume is limited to the
economy of railways, and therefore a notice of the adaptation of
the electric telegraph to railway purposes might, strictly speaking, be considered as sufficient, yet, probably, from the great
interest attached to this curious application of physical science
to commercial and social objects, some brief exposition of its
origin and the mode of producing its effects may not be unacceptable.
The discovery of electricity as a science dates within a century, and the discovery of those phenomena which have been
rendered subservient to telegraphic purposes dates within a
much more brief period, having been for the most part made
within the last 25 years.
The leading phenomena of electricity had not long engaged
the attention of the scientific world before the idea of conveying
intelligence by them to a distance was suggested, and many ingenious persons employed themselves in contriving telegraphs by
which this might be accomplished.
Several of these had been suggested, tand actually tested by
[CHAP. XV.
296
-ll --- al.                                --    ---- 
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
experiment on a considerable scale, in the early part of the
present century.
It was not, however, until within the last 15 or 16 years that
the invention, which has now been reduced to such extensive
practice, actually assumed a form in which it might be regarded
as practically useful.
The means whereby electricity has become useful as a telegraphic agent are easily explained.
The electric influence admits of being propagated to a distance
firom the place of its production, in virtue of a quality by which
it passes by preference over certain substances rather than
others.
These substances are called for distinction Conductors, while
the other class of substances upon which the influence refuses
to pass are called Non-conductors.
The most conspicuous examples of the one class are the
metals; the most conspicuous examples of the other are the
resins, wax, silk, &c. The rate at which the electric influence
passes along a conducting substance, such as a metallic wire or
rod, is not accurately ascertained, but it appears tolerably certain that it is not less than the speed at which light is propagated,
that is to say, at the rate of about 200,000 miles per second.
The second quality by which electricity subserves to telegraphic purposes is its power of producing sensible or mechanical effects of various kinds after having passed over any length
of a conducting substance.
These effects, which may be used as signals, are very various.
Among them are the production of a visible spark, the decomposition of water, the deflexion of a magnetic needle from its
position of rest, and the power to convert iron suddenly into a
magnet, and as suddenly to divest it of the magnetic virtue.
The first two of these effects were suggested at an early
period in the history of this invention, but the two latter were
ultimately found to be the most available, and are now the only
effects used as signals.
To explain the deflexion, let us suppose a copper wire extended over the magnetic needle of a common compass so that
the direction of the wire shall be parallel to the needle without
touching it. In this state of things the needle will remain undisturbed; but if we send a galvanic current along the wire, which
may be done by connecting the extremities of the wire with a
common galvanic trough, the needle will instantly throw itself
at right angles to the wire, and will remain in that position so
N'
CHAP. XV.]
297 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
long as the galvanic current is maintained; but if that current
be discontinued, by withdrawing either end of the wire fiom
the trough, the needle will instantly resume its position of rest.
It is found, also, that the north pole of the needle will turn,
in this case, in the one direction or in the other, according to
the direction given to the galvanic current. If this current flow
in one direction, the north pole will throw itself to the east, and
the south to the west; if it flow in the contrary direction, the
north pole will be thrown to the west, and the south pole to the
east.
To explain the last-mentioned effect of the sudden conversion
of iron into a magnet, and the sudden destruction of the magnetic virtue thus imparted, let us suppose a copper wire to be
coiled round a piece of soft iron spirally, so that the successive
coils shall not touch each other or touch the iron, which may be
done by coating the wire with silk, or any resinous or non-conducting substance. This being done, let us suppose that an electric
current is transmitted through the wire, so that it shall flow
spirally round the rod of soft iron, which may be effected by
placing, as before, the ends of the wire in a galvanic trough. If
steel filings, a needle, or any light piece of iron, be brought near
the iron thus circumstanced, they will instantly be attracted by
it, showing that it has acquired the magnetic virtue; and this
effect will continue to be produced so long as the galvanic current shall be maintained along the spiral wire; but the instant
the end of the wire is withdrawn from the galvanic trough, the
magnetic virtue deserts the iron, and it will no longer attract.
To render intelligible the means by which these properties
have been made instrumental to the transmission of intelligence
toga distance, let us suppose a quantity of copper wire to be
coated with a substance which is at once a non-conductor of
electricity, which is impenetrable by moisture, and is capable
of withstanding the vicissitudes of weather. The wire thus
inclosed still retains its power of transmitting the electric influence, while the non-conducting coating in which it is enveloped
effectually prevents the escape of the subtle fluid. The electric fluid flowing along such a wire may be regarded as in all
respects similar to water or gas flowing through a tube, being
as effectually confined within the tube of non-conducting substance which surrounds the wire as the-water or gas in the iron
tube provided to conduct it, but being infinitely more free to
move within this tube than is either the water or the gas; indeed, the power of numbers can scarcely express the superior
1293
[CHAP. XV. 
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPflH.
freedom of motion which the one fluid has, compared with the
others. In passing along the wire, in this case, the electric
fluid loses none of its virtue; however extended the wire may
be, on arriving at its extremity, it will be capable of producing
the same sensible or mechanical effects. It will still deflect the
magnetic needle, or impart the attractive power to soft iron.
Now let us imagine the globe of the earth to be surrounded
by such a wire as we have here described, the extremities being
brought to the right and left hand of the operator. The moment the galvanic current is transmitted through it at one end,
a magnetic needle will be deflected at the other end, or a piece
of soft iron, arranged as above described, will receive the attractive power, and this after the electric fluid has made the
circuit of the globe. The interval of time which will elapse
between the moment at which the electric fluid starts on its
trip and the moment when it arrives at and deflects the needle,
or imparts the attractive power to the iron, will not be so much
as the eighth part of the interval between two beats of a common clock; yet in this interval the fluid will have made the
entire circuit of the globe.
It will now be easily understood how, by carrying this wire
coated by non-conductors, as just described, to comparatively
short distances along the sides of roads, and supported on nonconducting rollers, signals may be made instantaneously at distances which, however great, are incomparably less than that
which we have here supposed.
It now only remains to explain in what manner the signals
may be multiplied and varied so as to indicate letters, figures,
and words.
I have explained that a magnetic needle will be deflected
either to the right or to the left, according to the direction given
to the current. Now it is always easy to give the current one
direction or the other by merely changing the ends of the galvanic trough with which the wire is connected.   A  person,
therefore, in London, having command over the end of a wire
which extends to Edinburgh, and is there connected with a
magnetic needle, can deflect this needle to the right or to the
left at will.
Thus a single wire and a magnetic needle are capable of
making at least two signals.
But signals, whatever may be the form of telegraph used,
mnay be multiplied by repetition. Thus the operator at London
may make the needle at Edinburgh move twice successively to
CHAP. XV.]
299
ir 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
the left, and this may be conventionally settled as a sign, independent of that which is produced by a single movement to tihe
left. In like manner, two successive movements to the right
will supply another signal, and thus we have four independent
signals.
But from these four signals we may immediately produce four
more, as we may combine one movement to the right with two
to the left, one to the left with two to the right, or one to the
right with one to the left, or two to the right with two to the
left; and thus we have eight independent signals.
We may carry this method further, and so arrange the system that three successive movements to the right and three
successive movemnents to the left shall have independent significations; and these again may be combined with each of the
eight signals already explained; and, in short, we may carry
this system to an extent which shall be limited only by the inconvenience of the delay which would take place in making the
repetitions necessary for such signals.
Apart from this delay, however, it is clear that with a single
wire and a single needle we may easily obtain expressions for
all the letters of the alphabet and the ten numerals.
But to obviate the inconvenience which would attend multiplied repetitions in the movements of a single needle, we may
provide two independent wires which shall act upon two independent needles.
Each of these needles primarily will afford two independent
signals by their movements right and left. These four signals
may be combined in pairs, so as to afford four other signals producible by a single movement.  Thus, simultaneously with the
right-hand movement of one needle we may produce the righthand movement of the other. In the same way we may simultaneously produce the left-hand movement of both, or the righthand of either combined with the left-hand movement of the
other, which.would give eight independent signals, the production of each of which would occupy no more time than that of
a single movement. We may then adapt the signals by double
movement of each needle, which, combined with each other,
and with the single movements, will afford another set of conmbinaltions; and by combining these systems, we may obviously obtain all the signals requisite to express the letters and numerals.
Such is, in general, the nature of the signals adopted in the
electric telegraphs in ordinary use in England, and in some other
parts of Europe.
300
[GI-.A P. X7; 
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
It may aid the conception of the mode of operation and communication if we assimilate the apparatus to the dial of a clock
with its two hands. Let us suppose that a dial, instead of carrying hands, carried two needles, and that their north poles,
when quiescent, both pointed to 12 o'clock.
When the galvanic current is conducted under either of them,
the north pole will turn either to 3 o'clock or to 9 o'clock, according to the direction given to the current.
Now, it is easy to imagine a person in London governing the
hands of such a clock erected in Edinburgh, where their indications might be interpreted according to a way previously agreed
upon.   Thus, we may suppose that when the needle  No. 1
turns to 9, the letter A is expressed; if it turn to 3, the letter
B is expressed. If the needle No. 2 turn to 9 o'clock, the letter
C is expressed; if it turn to 3, the letter D. If both needles
are turned to 9, the letter E is expressed; if both to 3, the letter F. If No. 1 be turned to 9, and No. 2 to 3, the letter G is
expressed; if No. 2 be turned to 9, and No. 1 to 3, the letter
H, and so forth.
It may be presumed that there can be but little difficulty in
conceiving how, by practice, two persons may communicate
with each other by such means, almost, if not altogether, as rapidly as they could write and read.
But a difficulty will doubtless suggest itself to the intelligent
and inquisitive reader.   It will be asked whether a sentinel
must be kept ever on the watch to observe when a message is
coming; for as the hands of our clock do not speak, notice could
only be received of a coming message by the incessant vigilance
of an observer.
Would it not, however, be admirable if we could attach to this
clock a striking apparatus which should address the ear the moment a message is about to be sent, and which should, as it
were, awaken the attention of the person on duty?
Such an expedient has, in fact, been contrived. The person
in London who desires to communicate a message to the telegraphic agent at Edinburgh can actually make the clock strike
at his will, and thus command attention.
The manner in which this is accomplished is as admirable
by its simplicity and efficiency as that which we have just described.
The quality resorted to in this case is the last of those we
have mentioned above, namely, the power to impart the mnagnetic virtue at will to soft iron.
CHAP. XV.]
301 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
One of the wires conducted from London passes into the chamber of the telegraphic apparatus at Edinburgh, where it is connected with a coil of wire which envelops a rod of soft iron.
The ends of this rod, which has the form of a horse-shoe, are
placed in contiguity, but not in contact, with the detent of a
striking apparatus like an alarm-bell. When a message is about
to be sent from London this bell-wire is put in communication
with the galvanic trough in London. Immediately the subtle
fluid flows along the wire and converts the horse-shoe rod at
Edinburgh into a powerful magnet.
The attractive power which it thus suddenly receives irresistibly draws toward it the detent of the alarum, and lets go the
bell, which continues to ring until the agent of the telegraph at
Edinburgh answers the demand of the messenger from London,
and tells him he is attentive. Then the London communicator
withdraws the galvanic current from the bell-wire, the horseshoe at Edinburgh is instantly deprived of its magnetic virtue,
the detent flies back to its place by the action of a spring, and
silences the bell.
I do not pretend, nor is it necessary here, to go into the practical details of the electric telegraph. My object is merely to
render its principle and mode of communication generally intelligible, which I trust will be effected by the preceding observations.
While the observer stands reading the indications of the dial
plate, the amanuensis sits beside him, committing to paper from
dictation the message, which is speedily transmitted to those to
whom it is addressed.
This is generally the mode in which the electric telegraphs
in Europe are constructed and worked.
In the United States, where the electric telegraph is extensively used, a different, and in some respects a more efficient,
mode of operation has been adopted. There the signal by magnetic needle is not used, and the entire operation of the telegraph is effected in virtue of the power to make and unmake a
magnet by coiling the electric current round soft iron. The
paramount advantage of the American system is that it not only
transmits the message, but writes it.
Incidental to this there is a further advantage, that it is possible to keep the message secret even from the agents of the
telegraph.
The principle of the American telegraph is easily explained.
Let us suppose a small lever formed of steel and balanced on
g2
[CHAP. XV. 
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
a point. At one end of this lever let a point be formed, so as to
constitute a pencil or style. Under the other end let a horseshoe of soft iron be placed, at such a distance that, when the
latter shall receive the magnetic virtue from the electric current,
the lever will be drawn to the horse-shoe; and let it be so
arranged, by means of a spring or otherwise, that, when the
horse-shoe shall lose its magnetic virtue, the lever shall detach
itself from the magnet, and the end bearing the pencil or style
shall fall.
By such an arrangement, whenever the soft iron is rendered magnetic, the pencil will be raised to a certain definite
position, and will be maintained in that position so long as the
horse-shoe continues to be magnetic; but the moment the
horse-shoe loses its magnetic power, then the pencil will fall.
Now, suppose that immediately above the pencil is placed a
small roller or cylinder, under which a band or ribbon of paper
passes, and that this paper receives a slow and regular progressive motion from the cylinder.
Whenever the pencil is raised by the magnet, its point presses
upon the paper, and if it is kept pressed against the paper, which
moves over it, a line will be traced by the pencil. If the pencil
be only momentarily brought into contact with the paper, a dot
will be produced; if it be kept in contact with the paper only
twice the length of time necessary to produce a dot, a line will
be produced, the length of which will be twice the magnitude
of the dot; if it be kept in contact with the paper three times
as long as is necessary to make a dot, a line will be produced of
three times the length, and so on.
It is clear, then, that if we have the power of keeping the
pencil any determinate time in contact with the paper, or of
making it only momentarily touch the paper, the paper being
understood, as before mentioned, to be kept moving uniformly
and progressively over the pencil, we can at pleasure make dots
and lines of various determinate lengths, and also combinations
of dots and lines of different lengths.
We can further,: by leaving the pencil at intervals of more or
less length out of contact with the paper, leave between these
lines and dots spaces of more or less width.
It is easy to imagine that a conventional alphabet may be
formed by these lines and dots, and their combinations, and that
words may be thus formed. The spaces left while the pencil
is not in contact with the paper might indicate the separation of
the letters, words, and sentences.  Small spaces might iudlicate
Cil-AP. XV.]
303 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
the separation of letters, greater spaces the separation of words,
and greater still the separation of sentences.
As the formation of an alphabet by such signs is evidently arbitrary, and as infinitely various alphabets may be formed by the
endless combinations which such a system offers, no particular
signs need be indicated here, it being sufficient for our present
purpose to show the principle.
To explain the operation of this system, let us suppose a person at New York desirous of sending a message to New Orleans.
A wire of the usual kind connects the two places.
The end at New Orleans is coiled round a horse-shoe magnet,
as above described. The end at New York can be put in communication with the galvanic trough at the will of the person
sending the message. The instant the communication is established, the horse-shoe of soft iron at New Orleans becomes magnetic, it attracts the small lever, and presses the pencil against
the paper.
The moment the operator at New York detaches'the wire
from the trough, the horse-shoe at New Orleans loses its magnetic power, and the pencil drops from the paper. It is clear,
then, that the operator at New York, by putting the wire in
contact with the trough, and detaching it, and by maintaining
the contact for longer or shorter intervals, can make the pencil
at New Orleans act upon the paper, as already described, so as
to make upon it dots and lines of determinate length, combined
in any manner he may desire, and separated by any desired
intervals.
In a word, the operator at New York can write a letter with
a pencil and paper which are at New Orleans.
Provisions in such an arrangement are made so that the motion
of the paper does not begin until the message is about to be commenced, and ceases when the message is written. This is
easily accomplished by the same principle as has been already
described in the case of the bell, which gives notice to the attendant in the European telegraph. The cylinders which conduct the band of paper are moved by wheel-work, and a weight
properly regulated.   Their motion is imparted by a detent,
which detent is detached by the action of the magnet, and returns
to its position, and stops the motion when the magnet loses its
virtue.
Without going into detail on this point, it is evident that the
object may be accomplished by various expedients.
Such is the principle of the electric telegraph as used in
[CHAP. XV.
304 
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
the United States. A black-lead pencil was first adopted, and
afterward a sort of fountain-pen, but ultimately it was found
most convenient to use a style consisting of a steel point, which
forms a trace upon the paper, and produces marks in relief like
those with which blind persons are enabled to read.
When the message is completed, the strip of paper on which
it is written is cut off, and inclosed in an envelope addressed to
the person for whom it is intended.
It is possible by this system for two correspondents to have
a language, of which they alone have the key, and even the
operator who communicates the message may be unable to interpret what he himself writes. The address alone, in this case,
is rendered intelligible to the agent of the telegraph.
Another advantage of this system is that it supersedes the
necessity of an amanuensis, and prevents the possibility of error
in taking down a mnessage.
In the needle telegraph one person interprets and reads, and
another writes, and the signals, as fast as they are made, are,
as it were, effaced and obliterated. In the American telegraph
the signals themselves are rendered permanent.
While I am writing these pages, projects are in progress for
electric communication on a scale still more extensive, and having
objects the importance of which it is difficult to estimate. It is
proposed to establish electric wires between London and the
Continent, across the Straits of Dover, by sinking them in the
bottom of the Channel. - If this be realized, intelligence may be
instantaneously transmitted from the English capital to any part
of Europe to which the telegraphic arrangements extend.
But this project, startling as it -is, sinks into insignificance in
comparison with another which has been still more recently
announced.
It is said that at New York a proposition has been made to
establish electric wires between New York and England, by
sinking them to the bottom of the Atlantic. The estimate of
the expenses of realizing this project is said to be about t600,000;
and by the expenditure of this sum thirty-six wires, protectedlby
a coating of gutta percha, and guaranteed to last for ten years,
can be carried through the Atlantic from New York to London.
The projectors are reported to have offered to guarantee the
completion of the arrangements in less than two years. The
total length of the wires to be employed would be about 120,000
miles.
In England the electric telegraphs are in the hands of a private
CHAP. XV.]
305 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
company, which has a practical monopoly of them; and, ias is
invariably the case with all monopolies, complaints and remonstrances, well or ill founded, are constantly brought against the
establishment.
A central station is established in London, in Lothbury, near
the Bank of England. The lower part of the building is appropriated to the reception of orders and messages. A person
desiring to forward a message to any part of England connected
with London by the wires writes his message on a sheet of letterpaper, provided for the purpose, and prepared according to a
printed form, having the names and address of the writer,'and
of the party to whom the message is communicated, in blank
spaces assigned to them, together with the date and hour at
which the message is dispatched. The answer is received,
accompanied by the date and hour at which the message arrived,
and at which the answer was dispatched.
The tariff of charges for transmission of telegraphic messages
differs very much, according to the destination of the message,
and is not strictly regulated by distance.
The charge, for example, from London to Dover is, or was
lately, about 6d. a word; while the charge between Birmingham
and Stafford, a greater distance, was something less than 4d, a
word. The charge between London and York is 5.4d. per
word, between London and Edinburgh 7.8d. per word, and
between London and Glasgow 8.4d. per word.
The room containing the telegraphic instruments is in the upper
part of the building, to which communications by wires are made
from a cellar in the lower part, where the galvanic apparatus is
deposited. This apparatus consists of a collection of galvanic
batteries, having different powers, to be used according to the
distance to which the message is to be transmitted. The wires
which communicate between this establishment and the termini
of the several railways are inclosed in leaden pipes, which are
carried under the streets. There they are connected with the
wires supported on poles, with which every railway traveler is
familiar, and by which the communication is maintained with
different parts of the country.
It is found that by practice the operators of the telegraphic
instruments are able to communicate about 20 words per minute,
being nearly at the same rate as ordinary writing.
In the chief telegraphic stations in different parts of the
country, besides the transmission of private messages, a sort of
subscription intelligence rooms have been opened, where the
306
[CHAP. XV. 
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
subscribers can daily and hourly obtain in common the general
commercial information which is most in request; such as the
state of the stock and share market, and of the money market;
the state of the wind and weather at different ports of the kingdom; shipping and sporting intelligence; the rates of the markets
of every description; and the general political news of most
importance. These subscription-rooms are supplied by the
establishment in London, at which a sort of telegraphic editor
prepares from the morning papers at an early hour a short
abstract of the most important news-the stock market, &c., &c.
This, when prepared and written out, is sent up to the instrument room, fromn whence it is dispatched to the various subscription rooms in different parts of the country. It arrives there by
8 o'clock in the morning, and is immediately accessible to the
subscribers. All news of adequate importance is thus diffused
over the kingdom literally with the speed of lightning. Thus
the public in Edinburgh are informed by 8 o'clock in the morning
of all interesting facts which appear in the London morning
journals, which are not issued in the metropolis until 6 o'clock.
The provincial journals also profit by these means of obtaining
intelligence, and are enabled to supply in their columns all important news as early as it can be supplied by the London journals.
Whatever be the nature of signal used, the wires which convey the electric current over the country may be constructed in
either of two ways, the one by being supported on poles, as is
usual in this country; the other by being sunk under ground like
gas or water-pipes. The latter method has some advantage in
security, being less liable to be disturbed by ill-disposed persons
or by accident. It has been found that the flight of birds has
sometimes accidentally broken the communication, the birds
striking the wire, and breaking or deranging it; violent storms
also have occasionally blown down the posts and broken the wires.
In Prussia, where there are about 1400 miles of electric telegraph in operation, the wire is buried, being protected with a
covering of gutta percha. It is said that in the late political
disturbances a small portion of the electric telegraph, which
was erected above ground on posts in that country, was destroyed
by the populace, while all that portion which was buried remained
undisturbed.
An improvement on the Aimerican method has lately been
projected, though, so far as I am informed, not yet actually
realized. Instead of making arbitrary signs by a style on paper,
consisting of lines and dots, it is proposed to make the magnet
CHAP. XV.]
307 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
actually bring types to act upon the paper, so as to print the
words in the ordinary language.
Whatever be the nature of the sign employed by this method,
it is estimated that 1000 words an hour can be printed by it.
The extent of electric telegraph in operation in England is at
present about 2000 miles. The extent in operation in America
is said to be 10,000 miles. The East India Company have
adopted a project for establishing a line of telegraphic communication through a portion of their territory, which will consist of
10,000 miles in length, and will be laid under ground.
The cost of constructing the electric telegraph varies extremely
in different countries, according to the conditions of the population; and the cost of labor, land, and materials. In England the
electric telegraph is said to have cost at the rate of X150 a mile,
while in America its cost has not exceeded X30. Considerable
sacrifices, however, have been made to facilitate the construction
of the telegraph in that country. The farmers and settlers residing along the line are allowed the use of the telegraph for
their own purposes, as a compensation to them for watching the
wires and repairing them when necessary, for which purpose
they are furnished with the requisite tools and instructions. In
this way an entire population, among whom the telegraph passes,
are interested in its preservation.
CHAPTER XVI.
INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE UNITED STATES.
No quarter of the globe presents a natural apparatus of internal communication so stupendous as that which the European
settlers found at their disposal on the North American continent.
This immense tract, included between the Atlantic and the
Rocky Mountains on the east and west, the great chain of lakes
extending from Lake Superior to Lake Ontario on the north,
and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, is divided into two districts
by the ridge of the Alleghanies, which traverses it in a direction
north and south. The western division consists of the vast valley
drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, a territory greater
in superficial extent than Western Europe. The eastern district
consists of that portion between the Alleghany ridge and the
303
[CI-IAP. XVI. 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES. 309
Atlantic, falling toward the ocean and drained by innumerable
rivers, navigable for vessels of greater or less burden, and
running generally eastward.
Provided with such means of water communication, it might
have been expected that a population thinly scattered over an
area so extensive, and engrossed by the exigencies of incipient
agriculture, would have continued for ages contented with means
of transport afforded them on so vast a scale, without having
recourse to the resources of art.
It is, however, the character of man, and more especially of
Anglo-Saxon man, never to rest satisfied until he renders the
gifts of nature, however munificent, ten times more fruitful by
his industry and skill; and it will be presently seen to what a
prodigious extent the enterprise of the population of the United
States has improved these means of inland transport.
CANAL NAVIGATION.
The spectacle of a machinery of commerce so imposing in
magnitude and power, and so remarkably co-extensive with
the vastness, the fertility, and the mineral wealth of the territory of which this emigrant people found themselves possessors,
only provoked their ambition to rival the enterprise of the
parent country, and to import and naturalize its improvements
and its arts.  Their independence was scarcely established before the same resources of arts and science which ages had not
been more than sufficient to develop in Britain were invoked;
and a system of artificial communication was undertaken, and
finally executed, on the new continent, for which, all thlings
considered, there is no parallel in the history of civilization.
Immediately after the acknowledgment of the independence
of the American colonies by England, in 1783, several companies were formed in the two principal states of the Union,
those of New York and Pennsylvania, for the purpose of constructing a system of canals. These enterprises were accordingly commenced, but on a scale too limited for the attainment
of the ultimate objects; and as the United States advanced in
commercial prosperity, more extensive plans were adopted. In
1807 the senate charged the Secretary of State, Mr. Gallatin,
to prepare a project for a general system of intercommunication
by canals, based upon the geographical character of thle territory
of the Union.
A system of artificial water communication was accordingly 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
projected, which, with some modifications was at a later period
adopted and carried into execution.
These projects, however, suffered an interruption firom the
renewal of the war in 1812; and it Was not until five years later
that the vast works were commenced, the result of which has
been a system of inland navigation which is without a rival in
any country in the world.
On the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, cele brated the 4th July, 1817, the commencement of the great line
of canal connecting the Hudson with Lake Erie was inaugu rated. The river Hudson presented a navigable communication
for vessels of a large class from New York to Albany. The
object of this line of canal was to open a water communication
between Albany and the northern lakes, so as to connect, by
continuous water communication, the Northwestern States
with the Atlantic.
In less than eight years this work was accomplished by the
state of New York, with its exclusive resources.
That state alone executed and brought into operation the
largest canal in the world. As first constructed, the Erie canal,
with its branches, cost X2,600,000 sterling; but its magnitude
and proportions being still found inadequate to the exigencies
of a continually increasing traffic, its enlargement was decided
upon in 1835, and about five years ago it was finally completed,
at a cost of upward of X5,000,000 sterling. The total length
of this canal is 363 miles, and its cost of construction per mile
was therefore about X13,700.
Meanwhile the other states of the Union did not remain inactive. Pennsylvania especially rivaled New York in these
enterprises, and became intersected with canals in all directions. In short, these works were undertaken to a greater or
less extent in most of the Atlantic and some of the Western
States; and the American Union now possesses a sytem of
internal artificial water comunicationr amounting to nearly 4500
miles, executed with a degree of skill and perfection rarely
surpassed by any similar works constructed in the states of
Europe.
According to M. Michel Chevalier, whose work on this subject supplies most voluminous and valuable details,* the extent
* " Histoire et Description des Voies de Communication aux Etats
Ulnis, et des Travaux d'Art qui en dependent," par Michel Chevalier 
Paris, 1840-1843.
[CHAP. XVI.
310 
CHar. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES. 311
of canals which were in operation in the United States on
January 1, 1843, was 4333 miles. There was a further extent projected, but not executed, amounting to 2359 miles.
The total cost of executing the canals which were completed
was, according to M. Chevalier, X27,870,964, being at the
average rate of X6,432 per mile.
If that portion remaining to be constructed could be executed
at the same rate, its cost would be ~15,173,088.
This extent of artificial water communication, compared
with the population, exhibits, in a striking point of view, the
activity and enterprise which characterize the American people.
It appears, from what has been stated, that in the United
States, the population of which, according to the census of
1840, was 17,069,493, there was one mile of canal navigation
for 3,939 inhabitants. Now, in the United Kingdom, there are
only 3000 miles of canal navigation. The population, according
to the census of 1840, was twenty-seven millions. There is,
therefore, only one mile of canal to every 9000 inhabitants.
The extent of canal navigation, therefore, in America, bears a
proportion to the population greater than in the United Kingdom, in the ratio of 9 to 4.
In France, the entire length of canal navigation is 2700 miles,
with a population of thirty-five millions. There is, therefore,
one mile of canal for every 12,962 inhabitants. The canal
navigation, therefore, in France, bears a less proportion to its
population than in the United States, in the ratio of 13 to 4,
very nearly.
RIVER NAVIGATION.
The river navigation of the United States is on a scale commensurate with the extent of their territory. The division of
the country east of the Alleghanies, forming the Atlantic States,
is drained by a vast number of rivers, of the first and second
class, all navigable for vessels of considerable burden, the principal of which are the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Connecticut, the Potomac, the James, the Roanoke,
the Savannah, and, to the southward, the Altamaha and the
Alabama.
The western division is drained by the Mississippi and its
hundred tributaries, navigable for vessels of great tonnage for
several thousands of miles. 
Besides the internal communication supplied by rivers, prop  erly so called, a vast apparatus of water transport is derived
from the geographical character of the extensive coast, stretch
ing for about four thousand miles, from the Gulf of St. Law  rence to the delta of the Mississippi, indented and serrated in
every part with natural harbors and sheltered bays, fringed
with islands, forming sounds, throwing out capes and promon  tories, which inclose arms of the sea, in which the waters are
free from the roll of the ocean, and which, for all the purposes
of internal navigation, have the character of rivers and lakes.
The lines of communication, formed by the vast and numerous
rivers, are completed in the interior by chains of lakes, pre senting the most extensive bodies of fresh water in the known
world.
Whatever may be the dispute maintained among the histo rians of art as to the conflicting claims for the invention of
steam navigation, it is an incontestible fact that the first steam boat practically exhibited for any useful purpose, was placed on
the Hudson, to ply between New York and Albany, in the be ginning of the year 1808. From that time to the present, this
river has been the theatre of the most remarkable series of
experiments on locomotion on water ever recorded in the
history of man.
The Hudson rises near Lake Champlain, the easternmost
of the great chain of lakes or inland seas which extend from
east to west across the northern boundary of the United States.
The river follows nearly a straight course southward for two
hundred and fifty miles, and empties itself into the sea at New
York. The influence of the tide is felt as far as Albany, above
which the stream begins to contract. Although this river, in
magnitude and extent, is by no means equal to several others
which intersect the States, it is nevertheless rendered an object of great interest by reason of the importance and extent
of its trade. The produce of the state of New York, and that
of the banks of the lakes Ontario and Erie, are transported by
it to the city; and one of the most extensive and populous districts of the United States is supplied with the necessary imports by its waters. A large fleet of vessels is constantly engaged in its navigation; nor is the tardy but picturesque sailing
vessel as yet excluded by the more rapid steamer. The current of the Hudson is said to average nearly three miles an
hour; but as the ebb and flow of the tide are felt as far as
Albany, the passage of the steamers between that place and
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
[CIIA,P. XVI.
312 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES. 313
New York may be regarded as equally affected by currents in
both directions. The passage, therefore, whether in ascending
or descending the river, is made in the same time.
This river is navigable by steamers of a large class as far as
Albany, nearly 150 miles above New York.
Attempts have been made, but hitherto without much success,
to push the navigation a few miles higher, as far as the import ant town of Troy. The impediments arising however from the
shallowness of the river appear to be so serious, that Albany
has continued, and probably will continue, to be the limit of
steam navigation in this direction.
The steam navigation of the Hudson is entitled to attention,
not only because of the immense traffic of which it is the
vehicle, but because it forms a sort of model for most of the
the rivers of the Atlantic states. This navigation is conducted,
as will be seen, in a manner and on a principle altogether
different from that which prevails on the Mississippi and its
tributaries.
In the steam-vessels used on these rivers, no other strength
or stability is required than is sufficient to enable them to float
and bear a progressive motion through the water. Not having
to encounter the agitated surface of an open sea, they are
supplied with neither rigging nor sails, and are built exclusively
with a view to speed. Compared with sea-going steamers,
they are slender and weak in their structure, with great
length in proportion to their beam, and a very small draft of
water.
The position and form of the machinery are affected by
these circumstances.  Without the necessity of being protected
from a rough sea, the engines are placed on the deck in a comparatively elevated situation. The cylinders of large diameter
and short-stroke, almost invariably used in sea-going ships, are
rejected in these river boats, and the proportions are reversed
-a comparatively small diameter and a stroke of great length
being adopted.  It is but rarely that two engines are used.  A
single engine, placed in the centre of the deck, drives a crank
placed on the axle of the enormous paddle-wheels. The great
magnitude of these latter, and the velocity imparted to them,
enable them to perform the office of fly-wheels, and to carry
the engine through its dead points with but little perceptible
inequality of motion. The length of stroke adopted in these
engines supplies the means of using the expansive principle
with great effect
~ 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
steamers which navigate the Hudson are vessels of great
tude, splendidly fitted up for the accommniodation of  pasrs; and this magnitude and splendor of accommodation
been continually augmented from year to year to the
at time.
the following table I have given the dimensions of nine
ers which were worked on the Hudson previously to
1838:
as
Ft.    Ft.
28      5-5
27      5'5
27      5'5
30       5
26..
26..
22-5   3-75
25      3-75
21      3-5
27       9
21..
26      5
29'5    8-5
26      6-5
IZ
Io
Gi
Gp
A
.R
Caz
aa
,-4
Ft.
230
180
180
200
148
212
233
200
200
180
207
210
200
210
hi
I I
as I
0._i
I
a
PI -,
'W
5
4>
Ft.
10
10
10
8
10
10
10
10
11
12
8
11
De Wit Clinton
Champlain....
Erie..........
North America
Independence.
Albany.......
Swallow......
Rochester....
Utica.........
Providence....
Lexington.....
Narragansett..
Massachusetts.
Rhode Island..
[_
Within the last ten years considerable changes have been
made in the proportion and dimensions of the vessels navigating
this river; all these changes having a tendency to augment
their magnitude and power, to diminish their draft of water,
and to increase the play of the expansive principle. Increased
length and beam have been resorted to with great success.
Vessels of the largest class now draw only as much water as
the smallest drew a few years ago: 4ft. 6in. is now regarded
as the maximum.   In the following table I have exhibited the
dimensions and other particulars of nine of the most efficient
and most recently built steamers plying on the Hudson and its
collateral streams; and by a comparison of this with the former
table, it will be seen to what an extent the dimensions and efficiency of these vessels have been increased.
314
[CHAII. XVI.
1
5
1
.2
21
A
F,.
21
22
22
21
24-5
24
23-5
22
23
25
22
24
.3
4
11
P.1
-z
4
F,
13:7
15
15
13
i'4
11
10
915
.6
it
10
11
4
11
1
11
4
Ill.
36
34
34
30
i'O
30
24
24
30
30
28
30
I
.s
4
I
I..
, 65
2 44
2 44
2 44'5
1 44
1 65
1 46
1 43
1 39
1 65
1 48
1   60
2 44
1 60
29
27-5
27-5
24
19
27
28
24
2
26
21
A
A
i 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.   315
I 
Dimensions of Vessel.        Engine.        Paddle-wheel.
Name of  tesel.      t      E               et  D,     8~,2~s       i     t; v
ft.  ft. in. ft. inl.        in.  ft.        ft. in. ft. in.  it.
Isaac Newton...... 333  40 4   10 0..    81   12  181   39 0   12 4   32
BayState.......... 300   39 0   13 2..    76   12  21~   38 0   10 3   32
Empire State......   304   39 0   13 6..    76   12  21l   38 0   10 3   32
Oregon.............. 305   35 0....    72   11  18    34 0   11 0   28
Hendrik Hudson...   320  35 0    9 6   1050   72   11  22    33 0   11 0   33
C. Vanderbilt......   300  35 0   11 0   1075   72   12  21    35 0   9 0  33
Connecticut........ 300   37 0   11 0..    72   13  21    35 0   11 6   36
Commodore........ 280   33 0   10 6..    65   11  22    31 6    9 0   33
New VVorld........ 376   35 0   10 0..    76   15  18    44 6   12 0   36
Alida.............. 286   28 0    9 6.     56   12  24o-   32 0   10 0   32
........~4
It is not only in dimensions that these vessels have undergone improvements. The exhibition of the beautifulJy finished
machinery of the English Atlantic steamers did not fail to excite
the emulation of the American engineers and steam-boat proprietors, who ceased to be content with the comparatively rude
though efficient structure of the mechanism of their steam-boats.
All the vessels more recently constructed are accordingly finished and even decorated in the most luxurious manner. In
respect of the accommodations which they afford to passengers,
no water communication in any country in the world can compare with them. Nothing can exceed the splendor and luxury
of the furniture. Silk, velvet, and the most expensive carpeting, mirrors of immense magnitude, gilding and carving, are
used profusely in their decorations. Even the engine-room in
some of them is lined with mirrors. In the Alida, for example,
the end of the room containing the machinery is composed of
one large mirror, in which the movements of the highly-finished
machinery are reflected.
All the new and largest class of steamers, such as the Isaac
Newton, the Hendrik Hudson, the New World, the Oregon,
and the Alida, are capable of running from twenty to twentytwo miles an hour, and make, on an average, eighteen miles an
hour without the least effort. These extraordinary speeds are
obtained usually by rendering the boilers capable of carrying
steam from forty to fifty pounds pressure above the atmosphere,
and by urging the fires with fanners, worked by an independent
engine, by which the furnaces can be forced to any desired extent.
It is right to observe here that this extreme increase of speed 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
is obtained at a disproportionately increased consumption of fuel.
WVhen the speed is increased, the space through which the vessel must be propelled per minute is increased in the same proportion: and, at the same time, the resistance which the moving
power has to overcome is augmented in the ratio of the square
of the speed. Hence, the effect to be produced by the moving
power per minute, is increased by two causes: first, the actual
resistance which it has to overcome is augmented in the ratio
of the square of the speed; and, secondly, the space through
which the moving power has to act against this resistance in
each minute is increased in the ratio of the speed. Thus, the
total expenditure of moving power per minute will be augmented in the proportion of the cube of the speed.
Let us suppose the speed to be increased, for example, from
eighteen to twenty-one miles an hour: the power to be expended per minute to produce this effect must be increased in
the ratio of the cube of 18 to the cube. of 21, or, what is the
same, in the ratio of the cube of 6 to the cube of 7, that is, in
the ratio of 216 to 348, or as 3 to 5 very nearly.
Hence, if the furnaces could be worked with equal economy,
an increased consumption of fuel per hour would be necessary
in the proportion of 3 to 5; but the waste incurred by urging
the blowers so as to produce a sufficiently vivid combustion is so
great, that it is practically found that the consumption of fuel is
increased in a much higher ratio than that which results firom
the increased resistance, and indeed in some cases that the increase of three or four miles an hour on eighteen miles will
cause nearly triple the consumption of fuel.
Much of the efficiency of these engines arises from the application of the expansive principle; but to this there has been
hitherto a limit, owing to the inequality of the action of the piston when urged by expanding steam on the crank. When the
steam is cut off at less than half-stroke, the force of the piston
is diminished before the termination of the stroke to less than
one half its original amount. This inequality is aggravated by
the relative position of the crank and connecting rod, the leverage diminishing in nearly the same proportion as the power of
the piston diminishes. On this account it has not been found
generally practicable to cut off the steam at less than half-stroke.
A recent improvement, invented by Captain Ericsson, is
directed to remove this defect.  The steam is worked successively in two cylinders of different magnitudes, as in the engines
of Woolf and Hornblower, but without allowing the action of the
316
[CHAP. XVI. 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.    317
first piston to impair the effect of the second; and the arrangement of the connection between the piston and the crank-shaft
is such, that, notwithstanding the expansion of the steam to from
twenty to thirty times its original volume, the action on the
crank is more uniform than in the common crank engine, even
when worked without expansion.
The effect of this arrangement is reported to be a saving in
the consumption of fuel of very large amount.  A small trial
engine of ten-horse power is stated to have been worked by the
consumption of 15 lbs. of coal per hour, being at the rate of 1I lb.
per horse per hour.*
It must be observed, in relation to the navigation of these
eastern rivers, that the occurrence of explosions is almost unheard of. During the last ten years, not a single catastrophe
of that kind has occurred on them, although cylindrical boilers
ten feet in diameter, and composed of plating fths of an inch
thick, are commonly used with steam of fifty pounds pressure
above the atmosphere.
It will be seen by the table given above, that the paddlewheels used on these rivers have extraordinary magnitude.
There is nothing particular in their construction.' The split
paddle-board, which was adopted about ten years since, has
been discontinued, and has given way to the simple and continuous paddle-board. These boards, however, are generally placed
alternately at greater and less distances from the centre, somewhat like a break-joint. Wooden spokes, with cast-iron centre
pieces, are generally adopted.
The steam is universally worked with expansion, the valves
for its admission and emission being moved independently of each
other.  A separate engine is generally provided for driving the
blowers, and a cylindrical fan-blower is employed for each boiler.
Some of these blowers are ten feet in diameter, being driven by
a crank placed on their axle, which receives its motion from the
small independent engine.
The great power developed by these river engines is due, not
* I have since received from Captain Ericsson a more exact report
of the performance of the model engine of ten-horse power. It appears that, in long-continued work, its average consumption of fuel is
251bs. per hour, or 2-5lbs. per horse power.  This is considered excessive by the inventor, and ascribed to the small dimensions of the
engine. An engine of larger power is now being constructed at New
York, which, it is expected, will work with much greater economy of
fuel. 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
so much to the magnitude of their cylinders, as the pressure of
steam used in them.  The New World, one of the most recently
constructed boats, has a cylinder seventy-six inches in diameter,
and fifteen feet stroke. The steam has forty pounds pressure
in the boiler, and is cut off at half-stroke. The wheels, which
are forty-five feet in diameter, make sixteen revolutions per
minute. The speed of the circumference of the wheel will,
therefore be twenty-five miles an hour; so that, if the speed of
the boat be twenty miles an hour, we have the difference, five
miles, giving the relative movement of the edge of the paddleboards through the water.
To ascertain the power developed by these engines, let us
suppose the mean effective pressure on the piston, taking into
account the vacuum produced by the condenser, and supposing
the steam to be cut off at half-stroke, to be 40lbs. per square
inch, the area of the piston being 4536 square inches, and the
stroke 15 feet; the piston moves through 30 feet during each
revolution of the wheels; and since 16 revolutions take place
per minute, we shall find the effective force developed by the
piston by multiplying its area, 4536, by twice the length of the
stroke, which is 30, and by 16, which is the number of revolutions per minute. This product multiplied by 40, the number
of pounds effective pressure per square inch, gives 87,091,200 lbs.
raised one foot high per minute as the power developed by the
engine. This is equivalent, according to the ordinary mode of
expressing steam power, to 2640 horse power.
Whatever allowance, therefore, may be made for friction,
&c., it is clear that the effective power thus obtained must be
greater than any thing hitherto executed on water.
The increase of the dimensions of these vessels and their
machinery has been attended with a greatly augmented economy of fuel.
On comparing the Hendrik Hudson, for example, with the
Troy, a vessel formerly well known, plying between New York
and Albany, it has been found that when the speed of the former
is reduced to an equality with that of the latter, the trip between
New York and Albany being performed in the same time, the
former consumed thirteen tons of coal while the latter consumed
twenty; yet the displacement of the Hendrik Hudson, owing
to its increased dimensions, is nearly twice that of the Troy.
The ease with which these vessels of extraordinary length
and beam and small draft move through the water is very remarkable.   The results of their performance show that the
[CHAP. XVI.
318 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES. 319
resistance per square foot of immersed midship section is not
perceptibly increased by the increased length of the vessel, and
the consequently augmented surface and friction. This anomaly
has not been explained, but it is certain that the increased length
does not diminish the effect of the moving power in any perceptible degree.
Practical evidence of the economy arising from this increase
of power and dimensions is supplied by the fact that the proprietors of the Hudson steamboats reduced their tariff for passengers, as well as for freight, as they increased the size of their
vessels.
Previously to 1844, the lowest fare between New York and
Albany, one hundred and forty-five miles, was four shillings and
fourpence (one dollar). At present the fare is two shillings and
twopence, and for an additional sum of the same amount the
passenger can command the luxury of a separate state-room.
When the splendor and magnitude of the accommodation is
considered, the magnificence of the furniture and accessories,
the cheapness and luxuriousness of the table (each meal, supplied on the most liberal scale, costing only two shillings and
twopence), it will be admitted that no similar example of cheap
locomotion can be found in any part of the world. Passengers
may there be transported in a floating palace, surrounded with
all the conveniences and luxuries of the most splendid hotel, at
the rate of twenty miles an hour, for less than one-sixth of a
penny per head per mile!
It is not an uncommon occurrence, during the summer, to
meet individuals on board these boats, who have lodged themselves there permanently during a certain part of the season,
instead of establishing themselves, as is customary, at somie of
the hotels in the towns on the banks of the river. Their daily
expenses in the boat are as follows:
2    2
2 2
6 6
10 10
Fare.......................................
Exclusive use of state-room, &c.................
Breakfast, dinner, and supper..................
Total daily expense for board, lodging, at- -
tendance, and traveling 150 miles at from 
18 to 20 miles an hour...............
Such accommodation is, on the whole, more economical than
an hotel. The state-room is as luxuriously furnished as the
most handsome bed-room, and is more spacious than the room
in packet ships similarly designated. 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
To obtain an adequate notion of the form and structure of one
of the first-class steamboats on the Hudson, let it be supposed
that a boat is constructed similar in form to a Thames wherry,
but above three hundred feet long, and twenty-five or thirty feet
wide. Upon this, let a platform of carpentry be laid, projecting
several feet upon either side of the boat, and at stem and stern.
The appearance to the eye will then be that of an immense
raft, from two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty feet
long, and some thirty or forty feet wide. Upon this flooring let
us imagine an oblong, rectangular wooden erection, two stories
high, to be raised.  In the lower part of the boat, and under the
flooring just mentioned, a long, narrow room is constructed,
having a series of berths at either side, three or four tiers high.
In the centre of this flooring is usually, but not always, inclosed
an oblong, rectangular space, within which the steam machinery
is placed, and this inclosed space is continued upward through
the structure raised on the platform, and is intersected at a certain height above the platform by the shaft or axle of the paddlewheels.
These wheels are propelled, generally, by a single engine,
but occasionally, as in European states, by two. The paddlewheels are usually of great diameter, varying from thirty to
forty feet, according to the magnitude of the boat.  In the
wooden building raised upon the platform already mentioned, is
contained a magnificent saloon devoted to ladies, and to those
gentlemen who accompany them. Over this, in the upper story,
is constructed a row of small bedrooms, each handsomely furnished, which those passengers can have who desire seclusion,
by paying a small additional fare.
The lower apartment is commonly used as a dining or breakfast room.
In somne boats, the wheels are propelled by two engines, which
are placed on the platform which overhangs the boat at either
side, each wheel being propelled by an independent engine; the
wheels, in this case, acting independently of each other, and
without a common shaft or axle.*  This leaves the entire space
in the boat, from stem to stern, free from  machinery.  It is
impossible to describe the magnificent "cotup d'ceil" which is
presented by the immense apparent length when the communication between them is thrown open. Some of these boats,
* The steamboat, Empire, which was recently lost by collision with
another vessel, was thus com_structed.
320
[CI-IAP. XVI 
CiAr. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.   321
as has been already stated, are upward of three hundred feet
long, and the uninterrupted length of the saloons corresponds
with this.
This arrangement of machinery is attended with some practical advantages, one of which is a facility of turning, as the
wheels, acting independently of each other, may be driven in
opposite directions, one propelling forward and the other backward, so that the boat may be made to turn, as it were, on its
centre. Although, from the great width of the Hudson, no
great difficulty is encountered in turning the longest boat, yet
cases occur in which this power of revolution is found extremely
advantageous.
Another advantage of this system is, that when one of the
two engines becomes accidentally disabled, the boat can be propelled by the other.
The general appearance of the Hudson steamers is represented in the annexed engraving of the, Iron Witch."
No spectacle can be more remarkable than that which the
Hudson presents for several miles above New York. The skill
with which these enormous vessels, measuring from three to
four hundred feet in length, are made to thrid their way through
the crowd of shipping, of every description, moving over the
face of these spacious rivers, and the rare occurrence of accidents from collision, are truly admirable. In a dark night these
boats run at the top of their speed through fleets of sailing vessels. The bells through which the steersman speaks to the
engineer scarcely ever cease. Of these bells there are several
of different tones, indicating the different operations which the
engineer is commanded to make, such as stopping, starting, reversing, slackening, accelerating, &c. At the slightest tap of
one of these bells, these enormous engines are stopped, or
started, or reversed by the engineer, as though they were the
plaything of a child. These vessels, proceeding at sixteen or
eighteen miles an hour, are propelled among the crowded shipping with so much skill as almost to graze the sides, bows, or
sterns of the vessels among which they pass.
The difficulty attending these evolutions by a vessel such as
the New World, for example, one hundred and twenty-five yards
long and twelve yards wide, may be easily imagined; and the
promptitude and certainty with which an engine whose pistons
are seventy-six inches in diameter, and whose stroke is five yards
in length, is governed, must be truly surprising.
The navigation of the other rivers of the Atlantic States differs
O* 
322        ~~RAILWAY ECONOMY.       CA.XI
0
WI
H~
'o
Cf
H
11
0
HA
Hl
P4
322
[CHAP. XVI. 
CHAP. XVL] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.  323
in nothing from that of the Hudson and its collateral branches,
except in the extent of their traffic and the magnitude and power
of the steamers. The engines, in all eases, are constructed on
the condensing principle; and although steam of forty or fifty
pounds above the pressure of the atmosphere is frequently used,
it is worked expansively, and a good vacuum is always sustained
behind the piston by means of the condenser.
The steam navigation of the Mississippi is conducted in a
manner entirely different from that of the Hudson and the Eastern rivers.  Every one must be familiar with the lamentable
accidents which happen from time to time, and the loss of life
from explosion which continually takes place in these regions.
These accidents, instead of diminishing with the improvements
of art, appear rather to have increased. Engineers, disregarding
the heart-rending narratives continually published, have done
literally nothing to check the evil; and it may be almost said to
be a disgrace to humanity, that the legislature of the Union has
not ere this interposed its authority to check abuses, which are
productive of such calamities.
In a Mississippi steam-boat the cabins and saloons provided for
the accommodation of the passengers, though less magnificently
furnished, are as spacious as those already described in the boats
on the Hudson. They are, however, erected on a flooring or
platform, six or eight feet above the deck of the vessel. Upon
this deck, and in the space under the cabins and saloons allotted
to the passengers, are placed the engines, which are of the
coarsest structure. They are invariably worked with highpressure steam without condensation; and in order to obtain
that effect which, in the boats on the Hudson, is due to the vacuum, the steam is worked at an extraordinary pressure. I have
myself frequently witnessed boilers of the most inartificial construction worked with steam of the full pressure of 120 lbs. per
square inch; but more recently this pressure has been increased,
the ordinary working pressure being now 1501 lbs., and I am
assured, on good authority, that it is not unfrequently raised to
even 200 lbs. The boilers are cylindrical, of large diameter, and
of the rudest kind. When returning flues are constructed in
them, the space left is so small, that the slightest variation in the
quantity of water they contain, or in the trim of the vessel,
causes the upper flues to be uncovered, and the intense action
of the furnace in this case soon renders them red-hot, when a
frightful collapse is almost inevitable. The red-hot iron, no
longer able to resist the intense pressure, gives way, the boiler
explodes, and the scalding water is scattered in all directions, 
RAILWAY ECOiNOMY.
often producing more terrible effects than even the fragments of
the boiler, which are projected around with destructive force.
Another frequent cause of explosion in these boilers, is the
quantity of mud held in suspension in the waters of the Mississippi below the mouth of the Missouri. As the water in the
boiler is evaporated, the earthy matter which it held in suspension remains behind, and accumulates in the boiler, in the bottom
of which it is at length collected in a thick stratum. This produces effects similar to those which take place in marine boilers,
in consequence of the deposition of salt. This earthy stratum
collected within the boiler being a non-conductor, the heat proceeding from the furnace is interrupted, and, instead of being
absorbed by the water, is accumulated in the boiler-plates, which
it ultimately renders red-hot. Being thus softened, they give
way, and the boiler bursts. The only preventative remedy of
this catastrophe is, to blow the water out of the boiler from time
to time, before a dangerous accumulation of mud takes place, in
the same manner as marine boilers are blown out to prevent the
accumulation of salt. The engine-drivers and captains, however,
rarely attend to this process. They are too intently bent upon
obtaining speed, and, to use their own phrase,,; going ahead."
They do not hesitate to endanger their own lives and those of
the passengers, rather than allow themselves to be outrun by a
rival boat.
Not only the Mississippi, but the Ohio, the Missouri, the
Illinois, the Red River, and, in a word, all the tributaries of the
Father of rivers, are navigated for many thousands of miles by
this description of boats, worked with the same reckless disregard of human life.
The magnitude and splendor of these boats is little if at all
inferior to those of the Hudson. They are, however, constructed
more with a view to the accommodation of freight, as they carry
down the river large quantities of cotton and other produce, as
well as passengers. to the port of New Orleans.. Many of these
vessels are three hundred feet and upward in length, and are
capable of carrying a thousand tons freight, and three or four
hundred deck passengers, besides the cabin passengers. The
traffic in goods and passengers of the entire extent of the immense valley of the Mississippi is carried by these vessels, except
that portion which is floated down by the stream in a species of
raft called flat boats.
This line of steam navigation is continued up the Mississippi,
branching east and,west along its great tributaries.  The Ohio
carries it eastward as far as Pittsbu)rglh in Pennsylvania.  A
[C-HAP. XVI.
324 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES. 325
canal connects the Ohio at Cincinnati with Lake Erie. The
navigation of the Upper Mississippi is continued by the Illinois
river to a port near Lake Michigan, with which it is connected
by a canal extending to Chicago, on the western shore of that
lake. Here commences the great chain of Lake steam navigation, which extends across the northern division of the States,
traversing Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, and being
continued along the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec.
The lakes are connected by canals, and the navigation is effected
by steam-boats having submerged propellers at their stern, constructed almost universally according to the principle of Captain
Ericsson. Upward of fifty vessels propelled by this improved
method are now (1849) working between Chicago and Quebec,
carrying grain and other products. Chicago is by this means
converted into a port of great importance. This transit is further
facilitated by the improvements recently made in the navigation
of the St. Lawrence.
By the Erie canal, connecting the lake of that name with the
head of the Hudson navigation at Albany, the circuit of navigaiton
round the United States is completed.
Notwithstanding the facilities for coast navigation which are
offered along the Atlantic shores from New York southward,
successful efforts have been directed to establish a parallel inland
communication by the Potomac and the Hudson. A line of
inland steamers, also driven by Ericsson's propellers, are established between the Potomac and New York by Chesapeake Bay,
the Delaware, the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, the Delaware and Raritan canal, and the Raritan river, and by these
means the same line of communication is extended to tile shores
of New England and Long Island Sound.
A project is introduced, and likely to be carried into effect,
for enlarging the Great Erie canal, so as to admit of steamers
impelled by the same means. When this shall be effected, the
entire extent of the States, from Washington, by New York,
Albany, the great Northern Lakes, and the Mississippi, to New
Orleans, will be surrounded by a continuous chain of inland steam
navigation. The importance of this internal communication in
the event of a war must be apparent.
Although the limits of the subject of this work would naturally
confine it to inland communication, it will not be without interest
to exhibit here the particulars of some of the steam-vessels
intended for sea navigation.  I have accordingly given, in the
following table, the dimensions of some of those which have been
most recently (consta'ruactecd, or are in process of construction: 
Dimensions of vessel.
Depth
Length.   Beam.        of    Tonnage.
Hold.
Ft.; Ft. in. Ft. in.
PANAMA, Panama and San Francisco................
PACIFIC, New York and Liverpool..................
ANTARCTIC, DO....................................
WASHINGTON, New York, Southampton, and Bremen.
HERMANN, D)o......................................
SOUTHERNER, New York and Charleston............
NORTHERNER, DO...................................
CHEROKEE, New York and Savannah...............
TENNESSEE, DO....................................
OREOON, Panama and Oregon.......................
CALIFORNIA, Do....................................
FRANKLIN, New York and Havre...................
ATLANTIC, New York and Liverpool................
UNITED STATES, New York, New Orleans, and
Chagres.........................................
CRESCENT CITY, DO................................
EMPIRE CITY, DO....................................
GEORGIA, Do.......................................
OHIO, Do..........................................
FALCON, DO., touching at Havanna..................
POWHATAN                          r............24      40 2662..T
SUSQUEHANNA............
SARANAC        Government vessels.............
~~~~~~~~~~~~~I  
SAN JACINTO                       [............
CAROLINIAN, Philadelphia and Charleston...........
PHILADELPHIA, DO...............................  
ISABEL, Charleston and Havannah..................
REPUBLIC, Baltimore and Charleston................
Name and Route of Vessel.
F,.
F?t.~
200
280
280
230
235
196
206
212
212
200
200
260
280
250
220
230
260
260
206
254
252
215
215
175
192
222
200
Ft. In.
33 6
45 6
45 6
39 0
40 0
32 0
33 0
35 0
35 0
34 0
33 0
42 0
46 0
40 0
34 0
38 0
45 0
47 0
32 0
45 0
45 0
38 0
38 0
280
33 0
33 0
30 0
Ft. In.
20  0
24  0
24  0
32  0
32  0
22  0
22  0
22  0
22  0
20  0
20  0
26  0
32  0
34  6
17  0
17  6
34  6
34  6
22  0
26  6
26  6
23  6
23 6
18  0
18 6
21  6
18  6
..o
.o.
..
1850
850
1000
1250
1250
1100
1050
2300
2800
..
.,.
.o.
.o.
..
21932;
2398 2
1459g
~660
1115
8o0 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.   327
RAILWAYS.
The phenomena of transport so unexpectedly developed on
the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and the
miracles of swift locomotion there exhibited, had no sooner been
announced, than the Americans, with their usual ardor, resolved
to import this great improvement; and projects of passenger
railways, on the vast scale which characterizes all their enterprises, were immediately put forth.
Some lines of railway in isolated positions, around coal works
and manufactories, had been, as in England, already for some
years in operation. It was not, however, until after 1830 that
the railway system began to assume in America the character
which it had already taken in England. A few years were sufficient to bring it into practical operation in several parts of New
England and in the State of New York; and once commenced,
its progress was extremely rapid.  A system nearly 9000 miles
in length of railway in different parts of the Union was projected.
A great portion of this, however, has not yet been brought into
operation, and a part not even commenced. The total length
of railways now in actual operation, exclusive of some lines
about the mining districts and private establishments, amounts
to something more than 6000 miles. More than 4000 miles of
these were in operation as early as 1843, before England or any
other country of Europe possessed railway communication at all
approaching to the same extent.
As might naturally have been expected, the chief theatre of
railway enterprise has been the Atlantic States. The Mississippi and its immense tributaries serve the purposes of commerce
and intercommunication for the Western States so efficiently,
and the population is comparatively so thinly spread over them,
that many years will probably pass away before any considerable
extent of railway communication will be established in that vast
territory. Nevertheless, there are detached examples of railways serving local purposes in different parts of the Mississippi
valley. Thus there are in the State of Mississippi five short
railways; in Louisiana ten; a few in Florida, Alabama, Illinois,
Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. These are, however, detached
and single, and form nothing approaching to a system. They
are generally constructed to connect populous towns with the
nearest adjacent navigable rivers.
To the traveler in these wilds, the aspect of such artificial lines
of transport in the midst of a country a great portion of which is 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
still in the state of native forest is most remarkable, and strongly
characteristic of the irrepressible spirit of enterprise of its population. Traveling in the back woods of Mississippi, through native forests where, till within a few years, human foot never trod,
through solitudes the stillness of which was never broken even by
the red man, I have been filled with wonder to find myself drawn
on a railway by an engine driven by an artisan from Liverpool,
and whirled at the rate of twenty miles an hour by the highest
refinements of the art of locomotion.  It is not easy to describe
the impression produced as one sees the frightened deer start
firom its lair at the snorting of the ponderous machine and the
appearance of the snake-like train which follows it, and when
one reflects on all that man has accomplished within half a century in this region.
Of the total length of railways which overspread the territory
of the Union, more than the half are constructed in the States
of Pennsylvania, New York, and those of New England. The
principal centres from which these lines of communication
diverge are Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.
A considerable extent, though of less importance, diverges
from Baltimore; and recently lines of communication of great
length have been constructed, fiom Charleston in South Carolina,
and from Savannah in Georgia.
From Boston three trunk lines issue; the chief of which
passes through the State of Massachusetts to Albany, on the
Hudson. This line of railway is two hundred miles in length,
and appears destined to carry a considerable traffic. Its ramifications southward, through the smaller states of New England,
are numerous, chiefly leading to the ports upon Long Island
Sound, which communicate by steamboats with New York.
The first branch is carried from Worcester, in Massachusetts,
to New London on the Sound, where it meets a short steam
ferry which communicates with Greenport, at the eastern extremity of Long Island, from which another railway, nearly 100
miles long, is carried to Brooklyn, which occupies the shore of
that island immediately opposite New York, and communicates
with the latter city by a steam ferry.
Thus there is a continued railway communication from Boston
to New York, interrupted only by two ferries.
Another branch of the great Massachusetts line is carried
south from Springfield, through Hartford to New Haven; and a
third from Pittsfield to Bridgeport, both the latter places being
[CIIAP. XVI.
323 
Ci-Ar. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN TIIE U. STATES.  9
on the Sound, and communicating with New York by steam boats.
The second trunk line from Boston proceeds southward to
Providence, and thence to Stonington, from which it communi cates by a ferry with the Long Island Railway.  This trunk
line throws off a branch from Foxburgh to New Bedford, where
it communicates by ferries with the group of islands and promontories clustered round Cape Cod.
A third trunk line proceeds firom Boston through the State of
Maine.
Notwithstanding the speed and perfection of the steam navigation of the Hudson, a railway is now being constructed on the
east side of that river to Albany, which which will be opened in
the course of 1850. The section terminating at New York is
already in operation.
From Albany an extensive line of railway communication, 323
miles in length, is carried across the entire State of New York
to Buffalo, at the head of Lake Erie, with branches to some
important places on the one side and on the other. This line
forms the continuation of the western railway, carried from
Boston to Albany, and, combined with this latter, completes the
continuous railway communication from the harbor of Boston to
that of Buffalo on Lake Erie, making an entire length of railway
communication, from Boston to Buffalo, of 523 miles.
The branches constructed firom this trunk line are not numerous. There is one from Schenectady to Troy, on the Hudson,
and another from Schenectady to Saratoga; another from Syracuse to Oswego, on Lake Ontario; and another from Buffalo to
the falls of Niagara, and from thence to Lockport.
Not content with this fine line of communication to the Western Lakes, the commercial interests of New York have projected,
and in part constructed, a more direct route from New York to
Buffalo, independent of the Hudson.
The disadvantage of this river as a sole means of communication is, that, during a certain portion of the winter, all traffic
upon it is suspended by frost. In this case, the line of railway
communicating already from Bridgeport and New Haven to Albany has been resorted to by travelers. However, it may be
regarded as certain, that the intermediate traffic of the State of
New York along the direct line of railway now in progress firom
that city to Buffalo, will very speedily be sufficient for the support of an independent line of railway.
The immediate environs of New York are served by several 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
short railways, as is usual, indeed, in all great capitals where
the railway system of transport prevails.
The line connecting that city with Harlem is analogous in
many respects to the Greenwich and Blackwall lines at London,
and the Versailles and St. Germain lines at Paris. It is supported by a like description of traffic. The New York line, however, has this peculiarity, that it is conducted through the streets
of the capital upon their natural level, without either cutting,
tunnel, or embankment. The carriages, on entering the town,
are drawn by horses, four horses being allowed to each coach;
each coach carrying from sixty to eighty persons, and being constructed like the railway coaches in general in the United States.
The rails along the streets are laid down in a manner similar
to that which is customary at places where lines of railway in
England cross turnpike roads on a level. The surface of the
rail is flush with the pavement, and a cavity is left for the flange
to sink in.
Other short railways, from New York to Patterson, Morristown, and Somerville, require no particular note.
The great line of railway already described, from Boston to
New York, is continued southward from that capital to Philadelphia. There are here two rival lines; one of which, commencing from Jersey city on the Hudson, opposite the southern
part of New York, is carried to Bordentown, on the left bank
of the Delaware, whence the traffic is carried by steamboats a
few miles further to Philadelphia. The rival line commences
from South Amboy in New  Jersey, to which the traffic is
brought from New York by steamers plying on the Raritan
river, which separates New Jersey from Staten Island. From
Amboy, the railway is continued to Camden, on the left bank
of the Delaware opposite Philadelphia.
By far the greater part of the traffic between New York and
Philadelphia is carried by the former line.
Philadelphia is the next great centre from which railways
diverge. One line is carried westward through the State of
Pennsylvania, passing through Reading, and terminating at
Pottsville, in the midst of the great Pennsylvanian coal-field.
There it connects with a network of small railways, serving the
coal and iron mines of this locality. This line of railway is a
descending line toward Philadelphia, and serves the purposes
of the mining districts better than a level. The loaded trains
descend usually with but little effort to the moving power, while
the empty wagons are drawn back.
[CHAP. XVI.
330 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.  331
The passenger traffic is chiefly between Reading and Phila delphia.
Another line of railway is carried westward through the State
of Pennsylvania, passing through Lancaster, Harrisburg, the
seat of the legislature, Carlisle, and Chambersburg, where it
approaches the Baltimore and Ohio Railway.  The length of
this railway fiom Philadelphia to Chambersburg is 154 miles.
The former, to Pottsville and Mount Carbon, is 108 miles, the
section to Reading being 64.
A great line of communication is established, 400 miles in
length, between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, on the left bank of
the Ohio, composed partly of railway and partly of canal. The
section from Philadelphia to Columbia, 82 miles, is railway.
The line is then continued by canal, for 172 miles, to Holidaysburg. It is then carried by railway 37 miles to Johnstown,
from whence it is continued 104 miles further to Pittsburg by
canal.
The traffic on this mixed line of transport is conducted so as
to avoid the expense and inconvenience of transhipment of goods
and passengers at the successive points where the railway and
canals unite. The merchandise is loaded, and the passengers
accommodated in the boats adapted to the canals, at the d6p6t
in Market-street, Philadelphia.   These boats, which are of
considerable magnitude and length, are divided into segments,
by partitions made transversely and at right angles to their
length, so that each boat can be, as it were, broken into three or
more pieces. These several pieces are placed each on two
railway trucks, which support it at its ends, a proper body being
provided for the trucks adapted to the form of the bottom and
keel of the boat. In this manner the boat is carried in pieces,
with its load, along the railways. On arriving at the canal, the
pieces are united so as to form a continuous boat, which, being
launched, the transport is continued on the water.
On arriving again at the railway, the boat is once more resolved into its segments, which, as before, are transferred to the
railway trucks, and transported to the next canal station by locomotive engines.
Between the d6p6t in Market-street and the locomotive station, which is situate in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the segments of the boats are drawn by horses, on railways conducted
through the streets. At the locomotive station the trucks are
formed into a continuous train, and delivered over to the locomotive engine. 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
As the body of the trucks rests upon a pivot, under which
it is supported by the wheels, it is capable of revolving, and no
difficulty is found in turning the shortest curves; and these
enormous vehicles, with their contents of merchandise and pas sengers are seen daily issuing from the gates of the de6p6t in
Market-street, and turning without difficulty the corners at the
entrance of each successive street.
The southern line of railway communication is continued from
Philadelphia to Baltimore, interrupted only by a steam ferry
over the Susquehanna.
The management of these steam ferries is deserving of notice.
It is generally so arranged, that the time of crossing them corresponds with a meal of the passengers. A platform is constructed, level with the line of rails, and carried to the water's
edge. Upon this platform rails are laid, on which the wagons
which bear the passengers' luggage, and other matters of light
and rapid transport, are rolled directly upon the upper deck of
the ferry-boat, the passengers meanwhile passing under a covered way to the lower deck.
The whole operation is accomplished in five minutes. While
the boat is crossing the spacious river, the passengers are supplied with their breakfast, dinner, lunch, or supper, as the case
may be. On arriving at the opposite bank, the upper deck
comes into contact with a like platform, bearing a railway upon
which the luggage wagons are rolled. The passengers ascend
by a covered way, and, resuming their places in the railway
carriages, the train proceeds.
Baltimore is the next centre of railway movement. One line
issues northward to Harrisburg in Pennsylvania, where it unites
with the Philadelphia and Chambersburg line. A great line of
western railway is projected to be carried from Baltimore to
the left bank of the Ohio, to some point near Wheeling. This
line, however, is as yet finished only so far as Cumberland, 153
miles. This place is at the foot of the Alleghany range, which
is crossed by the great national, an excellent Macadamized roadway, which continues the communication 126 miles further, to
Wheeling, on the Ohio. The ascent is gradual, and constructed
on good engineering principles.
The railway, when completed, will cross this ascent by a
series of inclined planes, all of which but one will be worked by
locomotive engines. This will probably be worked by means of
a stationary engine. Nothing, however, is done as yet toward
the realization of this part of the project.
332
[CHAP. XVI 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES. 333
Baltimore is connected with Washington, the seat of the federal legislature, by an excellent line of railway, nearly forty
miles in length. From this point the great southern line of
communication is continued by steam-boats on the Potomac to
the left bank of that river near Fredericksburg, in Virginia, a
distance of about fifty miles. Here the line of railway commnunication is resumed and continued through the State of Virginia, passing through Richmond and Petersburg, being continued southward to Halifax, on the frontiers of North Carolina.
Another line of communication southward is formed by steamboats on the Chesapeake, which ply between Baltimore and
Norfolk, from which place a line of railway is carried to the
frontiers of North Carolina, near Halifax, running into the great
artery just mentioned, at Weldon. From Halifax the great
southern railway is continued through North Carolina to Wilmnington, a seaport near the southern limits of that state.
Thus is completed so far a continuous line of railway communication running north and south through the Atlantic States,
commencing at Portland in the State of Maine, passing successively through Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond, and terminating at Wilmington, the total length of which is nearly 1000 miles. From
Wilmington the communication with Charleston is maintained
by steam-boats, which ply along the coast.
Charleston in South Carolina, and Savannah in Georgia, are
the points from which other great lines of railway communication issue westward. That which proceeds from Charleston is
carried across South Carolina to Augusta, on the confines of
Georgia, throwing off a branch northward to Columbia, the capital of the state.
The length of the main line to Augusta is 134 miles.
From Augusta the line of railway is continued westward
through Georgia, passing through Madison and Decatur to the
left bank of the Tennessee river, throwing off a branch to Athens,
the seat of the university.
From Savannah the line of railway passes through Georgia
and Macon, and unites with the former line at Decatur.
These lines of railway communication are continued westward
to the left bank of the Alabama river, on which the transport is
continued by steam-boats to Mobile, and thence to New Orleans,
and by another line to the Tennessee, by which the navigation
is continued through the Mississippi valley to the left bank of
its great tributary, the Ohio. 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
When the expenditure involved in the construction and maintenance of the railways of the United Kingdom is considered,
the financier, the statistician, and the economist will naturally
ask how, with a population so sparse and a territory so vast, a
system of communication so extensive, could be established and
sustained? If the great mass of the passenger lines in England
have cost at the rate of forty thousand pounds per mile, and the
profits gained even on the most successful among them do not
exceed seven per cent., while the average profits of all do not
much exceed half that rate-how, it may be asked, can this stupendous system of American railways, with a traffic comparatively so insignificant, among a people where profits on capital
are high and the rate of interest from six to ten per cent., be
made to answer.
This difficulty is explained, partly by the general nature of
the country, partly by the mode of constructing the railways,
and partly by the manner of working them.
With certain exceptions, few in number, the tracts of country
over which these railways pass form nearly a dead level. Of
earth-work, therefore, there is but little.  Occasionally, low
embankments and shallow cuttings are all the difficulties the engineer has to surmount. Of works of art, such as viaducts and
tunnels, there are almost none. Where the lines have to be
conducted over streams or rivers, bridges are constructed, in a
rude but substantial and secure manner, of timber, which is supplied from forests at the road-side, subject to no other cost save
that of hewing it. The station-houses, booking-offices, and other
buildings are likewise slightly andScheaply constructed of timber.
Ow some of the best lines the timber bridges are constructed
with stone piers and abutments supporting arches of truss-work.
The cost of such bridges varies from 46s. per foot for 60 feet
span to ~6 10s. per foot for 200 feet span, for a single line, the
cost for a double line being 50 per cent. more. This includes
the road work and rails, but not the masonry of the piers and
abutments.
A bridge of this kind is constructed on the Philadelphia and
Reading Railway, the length of which is 1800 feet, and the cost
of which was X8600.
Where the railways strike the course of rivers of great
breadth, such as the Hudson, the East River, the Delaware,
the Susquehannah, or the Potomac, the transport is continued,
as already explained, by steam ferries.
But, besides the facilities afbforded for the formation of rail
334
[CI-IAP. XVI. 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.  335
ways by the flat and level character of the country, and the
boundless supply of timber at a trifling cost, a further and much
larger economy is effected, as compared with European lines,
by the method of construction.
Formed to supply a very limited amount of traffic in proportion to their length, the American railways are, generally, single
lines. Sidings are of course provided at convenient stations, in
which one train waits until the train in the contrary direction
has passed. Collision is impossible, for the first train which
arrives must, by the rules of the road, move into the siding.
This arrangement would be attended with inconvenience, on
lines where a frequent passage of trains takes place; but on the
principal American lines, the fast trains seldom pass in each
direction more than twice a day, and the time and place of their
meeting is perfectly regulated. In fact, no inconvenience is felt
or complained of from this cause in the practical working of the
lines. In cases where the traffic is so considerable as to require
them, double lines have been constructed.
In the structure of the roads themselves, principles have been
adopted which have been attended with great economy compared with European lines-the application of which was rendered admissible by the lightness of the traffic and the moderate
speed contemplated. In laying out these lines, the engineers
did not, as in England, impose on themselves the difficult and
expensive condition of excluding all curves but those of a large
radius. On the other hand, curves having a radius of one thousand feet are usual; and occasionally curves of five hundred feet,
and even less, are allowed. Nor are the gradients restricted to
the same low limits as with us. Acclivities rising at the rate of
one foot in a hundred and thirty, are considered a moderate
ascent; and there are not less than fifty lines in which the
gradients are laid down at a rate varying from one in a hundred
to one in seventy-five. Nevertheless, these lines are worked
without difficulty by locomotives, without the expedient either
of assistant or stationary engines. The consequences of this
have been to diminish the cost of earth-work, bridges, and viaducts, even in parts of the country where the character of the
surface is least favorable. But the chief source of economy in
the construction of these lines has arisen from the structure of the
road surface. In many cases where there is a light traffic, the
rails consist of flat bars of iron two and a half inches broad, and
from five to seven tenths of an inch thick-nailed or spiked down
to planks of timber laid longitudinally on the road in parallel 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES. 337
scarcely ever heard of in America. With an experience of
nearly twenty thousand miles of railway traveling in the United
States, I have never encountered an accident of any kind, or
heard of a fatal or injurious one. This security may be explained by the moderate speed of the trains, and the absence of
a highly active traffic.
In some cases of lightly constructed roads, where the bars
spiked down on the planks are not kept in good order, an accident, called (from its analogy to a catastrophe common on American rivers) snagging, is said sometimes to have happened. In
this case the iron bar, worn thin and unspiked, gets detached
from the plank, and as the wheels pass upon it, springs up and
pierces the bottom of the carriage, to the great danger of the
passengers. I have, however, never met with a well authenticated case of this kind.
The form and structure of the carriages is a source of considerable economy in the working of the lines. The passenger
carriages are not distinguished, as in Europe, by different modes
of providing for the ease and comfort of the traveler. There
are no first, second, and third classes. All are first class, or
rather all are of the same class. The carriage consists of a long
body like that of a London omnibus, but much wider, and twice
or thrice the length.  The doors of exit and entrance are at
each end; a line of windows being placed at each side, similar
exactly to those of an omnibus. Along the centre of this species
of caravan is an alley or passage, just wide enough to allow one
person to walk from end to end. On either side of this alley
are seats for the passengers, extending crossways. Each seat
accommodates two persons; four sitting in each row, two at
each side of the alley. There are from 15 to 20 of these seats,
so that the carriage accommodates from 60 to 80 passengers.
In cold weather, a small stove is placed near the centre of the
carriage, the smoke-pipe of which passes out through the roof;
and a good lamp is placed at each end for illumination during the
night. The vehicle is perfectly lighted and warmed. The
seats are cushioned; and their backs, consisting of a simple padded board, about six inches broad, are so supported that the passenger may at his pleasure turn them either way, so as to turn
his face or his back to the engine. For the convenience of ladies
who travel unaccompanied by gentlemen, or who otherwise desire to be apart, a small room, appropriately furnished, is sometimes attached at the end of the carriage, admission to which is
forbidden to gentlemen.
P 
CHAP. XVLI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.  337
scarcely ever heard of in America. With an experience of
nearly twenty thousand miles of railway traveling in the United
States, I have never encountered an accident of any kind, or
heard of a fatal or injurious one. This security may be explained by the moderate speed of the trains, and the absence of
a highly active traffic.
In some cases of lightly constructed roads, where the bars
spiked down on the planks are not kept in good order, an accident, called (from its analogy to a catastrophe common on American rivers) snagging, is said sometimes to have happened. In
this case the iron bar, worn thin and unspiked, gets detached
from the plank, and as the wheels pass upon it, springs up and
pierces the bottom of the carriage, to the great danger of the
passengers. I have, however, never met with a well authenticated case of this kind.
The form and structure of the carriages is a source of considerable economy in the working of the lines. The passenger
carriages are not distinguished, as in Europe, by different modes
of providing for the ease and comfort of the traveler. There
are no first, second, and third classes. All are first class, or
rather all are of the same class. The carriage consists of a long
body like that of a London omnibus, but much wider, and twice
or thrice the length. The doors of exit and entrance are at
each end; a line of windows being placed at each side, similar
exactly to those of an omnibus. Along the centre of this species
of caravan is an alley or passage, just wide enough to allow one
person to walk from end to end. On either side of this alley
are seats for the passengers, extending crossways. Each seat
accommodates two persons; four sitting in each row, two at
each side of the alley. There are from 15 to 20 of these seats,
so that the carriage accommodates from 60 to 80 passengers.
In cold weather, a small stove is placed near the centre of the
carriage, the smoke-pipe of which passes out through the roof;
and a good lamp is placed at each end for illumination during the
night. The vehicle is perfectly lighted and warmed. The
seats are cushioned; and their backs, consisting of a simple padded board, about six inches broad, are so supported that the passenger may at his pleasure turn them either way, so as to turn
his face or his back to the engine. For the convenience of ladies
who travel unaccompanied by gentlemen, or who otherwise desire to be apart, a small room, appropriately furnished, is sometimes attached at the end of the carriage, admission to which is
forbidden to gentlemen.
P 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
It will occur at once to the engineer, that vehicles of such
extraordinary length would require a railway absolutely straight;
it would be impossible to move them through any portion of a
line which has sensible curvature. Curves which would be
altogether inadmissible on any European line are nevertheless
admitted in the construction of American railways without difficulty or hesitation, and through these the vehicles just described
move with the utmost facility. This is accomplished by a sirmple and effectual arrangement. Each end of this oblong caravan
is supported on a small four-wheeled railway truck, on which it
rests on a pivot; exactly similar to the expedient by which the
fore-wheels of a carriage sustain the perch. These railway
carriages have in fact two perches, one at each end; but instead
of resting on two wheels, each of them rests on four. The
vehicle has therefore the facility of changing the direction of its
motion at each end; and in moving through a curve, one of the
trucks will be in one part of the curve while the other is at
another-the length of the body of the carriage forming the
cord of the intermediate arc!  For the purposes they are designed to answer, these carriages present many advantages.
The simplicity of the structure renders the expense of their
construction incomparably less than that of any class of carriage
on an European railway. But a still greater source of saving is
apparent in their operation. The proportion of the dead weight
to the profitable load is far less than in the first or second-class
carriages, or even than the third-class on the English railways.
It is quite true that these carriages do not offer to the wealthy
passenger all the luxurious accommodation which he finds in our
best first-class carriages; but they afford every necessary convenience and comfort.
In several of the principal American cities, the railways are
continued to the very centre of the town, following the windings
of the streets, and turning without difficulty the sharpest corners. The locomotive station is, however, always in the suburbs. Having arrived there, the engine is detached from the
train, and horses are yoked to the carriages, by which they
are drawn to the passenger de6p6t, usually established at some
central situation. Four horses are attached to each of these
oblong carriages. The sharp curves at the corners of the
streets are turned, by causing the outer wheels of the trucks
to run upon their flanges, so that they become (while passing
round the curve) virtually larger wheels than the inner ones.
I have seen, by this means, the longest railway carriages enter
398
[CHAP. XVI. 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.   339
the d6p6ts in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York, with as
much precision and facility as was exhibited by the coaches that
used to enter the gateway of the Golden Cross or the Saracen's
Head.
The paucity of official, or other authentic information respecting the American railways, renders it difficult to discover with
precision either the cost of constructing or working them collectively, or even the actual length of railway under traffic. Mf.
Michel Chevalier ascertained from the most authentic sources,
that on the 1st of January, 1843, the total length projected was
9076 miles, of which 4235 miles were completed and under
traffic.
Since that date, a considerable extent of railways has been
completed. The following table, showing the lines completed
in June, 1849, the length to be completed, and the expense of
construction, so far as they could be ascertained, may be considered as presenting the most complete and authentic statement of the actual condition of the railways of the United States
which can be supplied:
TABULAR REPORT of the Railways of the United States, showing the
Extent of the Lines completed and under Traffic in June, 1849; the
Length of Lines projected but not completed; the Cost of Construction
and Plant, where such Particulars can be ascertained; the last Div idends, and the average Prices of Shares.
Cost         of Road
and Equip  mnent.
Name of Company.
Pri ce of
Shares.
Tol        R
t, 
146
55
167
78
26
312
36
38~
]li
25a
74],448
41
12
90
21
22
36
26
-6
.4
36
~.
In Progress.
In progress.
356,932
587,671
250,197
182,514
427,711
447,486
793,740
1,033,421
673,579
1. P.g,.
In progress.
133,333
55,643
.,.
Atlantic and St. Lawrence
Androscoggin and Kenne beck..................
Albany and Schenectady..
Auburn and Rochester....
Auburn and Syracuse....
Attica and Buffalo.......
Alleghany and Portage...
Albany and W. Stockb...
Bangor and Oldtown.....
Boston and Lowell.......
Boston and Maine........
Boston and Worcester....
Boston and Providence...
Bristol Branch...........
Boston, Concord, and Mon  treal..................
Berkshire...............
Buffalo and Niagara......
Baltimore and Susquehan na....................
Beaver Meadow.........
-5
,4 g
.ii
5
2it
6i
Di,id,,.d
i.
1848.
I i-,g
8
2 9-10
4i
8
81
8,
6i2
i'
6 1-3
C..t
I'll
Mill..
S..
78 a 81
70
82
86
80 a 81
Leased to
Western
Railroad.
116i
IV
I,
91
6
16.7
78
26
31136
38i
Ili
271
794
66A
47,
1 2
38
21
2
36
26
2,'i22
7,555
9,622
5,777
ii,'iii
16,'i66
10,000
15,555
14,177
6,'i33
2,555 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
. o,,CostofRoad  Cost
Name of C.ompany.         Ah      s,,    3     and Equip-    per   dends
14     I              ment.      Itile.    1        4in
ot     Od      0:             1848.
~.   X.
2,919,320 1,3,844
Baltimore and Ohio......
Bal timore and Washington
Branch................
Calais and Baring........
Concord.................
Cheshire................
Connecticut and Passump.
Connecticut River........
Cape Cod Branch........
Corning and Blossburghl..
Cayuga and Susquehanna
Camden and Amboy.....
Trenton Branch........
New Brunswick Branch
Columbia................
Camden and Woodbury..
Cumberland Valley......
Carbondale and Honesdale
Chesterfield.............
City Point...............
Central of Georgia.......
Central of New Jersey....
Dorchester and Milton....
Detroit and Pontiac.......
Eastern.................
Essex (Salem to Law.)...                 
Erie and Kalamazoo.....
Fall River...............  
Fitchburg...............
Franklin................
Greensville and Roanoke
Germantown Branch.....
Gaston and Raleigh......
Georgia(Augusta to Attica)
Harrisburgh and Lancaster
Hartford and New Haven
Hotusatonic..............
Hudson and Berkshire...
Hickford and Gaston.....
Hazleton and Lehigh.....
Jackson and Brandon....
Lexington and West Cain   bridge.................
Lowell and Lawrence....
Long Island.............
Lockport and Niagara....
Lewiston................
Lykens Valley...........
Little Schuylkill.........
Louisa..................
Lexington and Frankfort.     
Little Miami.............
Machias Port............
Morris and Essex........
Matich Chunk and R. Run
Mine Hill and Sc. Haven5. 
Motunt Carbon..........
Mount Carbon and Point
Carbon...............                  
Mill Creek..............
Montgomery  and  West
Point.................
1
4
340
(CHAP. XKI
P,i, f
Sh.,,!..
178
31
3
34
54
40
51-1
28
40
28,4
961-T
82
9
52
26
12
94
191
36
3 4
25
731
22 i
33'
42
56
22
21
6
96
171
37
62
74
311
21
10
13
r,-l
12,
9,'
234
31
16
23
50
29
84
8
23
36
25
7
21.
6
67
34
54
115
50
28
4  61
6,
29
82
9
!26
12
9
191
63
3'
25
54
22jL
33
42
494
21
6
96
171
- 37
62
74
315!1
10
13
12-1
!23
3i
16
23
50
29
84
8
23
36
25
7
6
67
2
1914
641
40 a 41
4ii,435
4,644
-352,929
130,470
711,IIJ
,33,333  43,526
2i,283
i,683
25'i,(;62
654,584
63,136
lil,996
56,151
62,944
483,032
49,111
7,483
16i,364
100,000
336,311
7,'446
6,'77
4,644
7,333
3,'600
3,535
7,'900
4,'i55
6,'666
11,622
3,006
8,644
5,033
4,911
2,154
2,288
2,107
3,466
4,000
8
8
i;
8
72
85
97-i   62
130 a 135
86
88 a 90
88 a 90
1.04 a 105
861
23
136 
C.HAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.  341
-.                                  Divi: 4>     X    h.    CostofRoad  Cost   DviName of Company., zb   m   and Eq            per    deod      Price of
r n                   n   qip-  PI r
_               ment.              Mile.  i n        Shares.
P      c a                                   1848.
.                              _.
Madison and Indianapolis
Mad River and Lake Erie
Mansfield and Sandusky..
Michigan Central........
Michigan Southern.......
Macon and Western......
Mississippi..............
Nashliua and Lowell......
Northern (Ogdensburg)...
,, (Concord to Lebanon)
New Bedford and Taunton
Norfolk County..........
New York and New Haven
(14 miles Harlem branch)
New Haven Canal.......
Norwich and Worcester..
New York and Harlem...
New York and Erie......
New Jersey.............
Newcastle and Frenchtown
New Orleans and Carrollton
Old Colony............
Oswego and Syracuse....
Portland, Portsmouth, and
Saco..................
Peterborough and Shirley
Pittsfield and New Adams
Providence and Worcester
Providence and Stonington
Patterson and Hudson River
Philadelphia and Trenton
Philadelphia, Wilmington,
and Baltimore.........
Philadelphia City........
Philadelphia, Germantown,
and Norristown.......
Philadelphia and Reading
Penn Township..........
Petersburg..............
P(irtstaouth and Roanoke
Pontchartrain...........
Point Hudson, Jackson, and
Clinton................
Rensselaer and Saratoga..
Richmond, Fredericksburg,
and Potomac..........
Richmond and Petersburg
Sullivan.................
South Shore.............
Stony Brook.............
Saratoga and Washington
Syracuse and Utica......
Schenectady and Troy...        
Saratoga and Schenectady
Summit.................                 
Sclhuylkill Valley........
Sharnokin...............
Swatara.................
South Carolina Main Stem   1
Columbia Branch 
Camnden Branch 
Sangamon and Morgan..
~c.
24'5',804
..
..
..
116,680
Unfin,islhed.
11'0,903
138,108
486,184
795,458
o..
462,423
300,000
46,291
99,501
416,421
..
..
..
1,371,967
..
..
..
21'0,302
337,586
..
155,962
327,556
] 94,996
56,832
54,813
210,749
437,341
146,591
73,564
. o.
1,320),817
o..
86 
102
56
221
70
101
30
141
12
69
20
26
62
28
66
805
200
29
17
51  45
41
51
12
182
43h
50
16A
28
97
6
17
93
2
59
76,
4h
28
25
75  22
2S8
ii-z
13
40
53
~20
22
2
14
22
4
*242
,. 
I
I
4
I
7
4,'i78
B,'644
5,'55
5,310
7,'55
9,911
10,'i66
5,866
3,844
5,333
9,555
14,666
3,564
4,546
4,324
8,863
4,'33
4,222
5,66
8,235
7,132
3,333
5,444
86
102
59
3ii
51
12
18,
4322'
50
16-1
28
97
6
17
93
2
59
41
28
25
751
22
28
11 ,
13
40
53
201
22
2
14
22
4
136
110
80i
57,
90
37
581
61 a 62
107 a 108
80~.
96
8 jL
li6 a 140
54
714
66 k
371
2
io
6
i
6
i6 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Cost of Road  Cost
and Equip.   per
meLta     Mile.
I
11
43~
6
4;
26
44
78
69
69
46
117~
2i
45
13
20
26
10
24
32
150
1o
100
21
656 5,F 
~.
67,796
216,636
60,806
15,405
702,597
1,772,323
9,226
. o.
11'3,203
.o.
.,.
Tatinton Branch.........
Tonawanda.............
Troy and Greenbt6sh.....
Tuckahoe James River...
Tallahasse and Port L...
Tuscumrbia and Decatur..
Utica and Schenectady...
Vermontand Massachusetts
Versisont Central.........
Vicksburg and Clinton....
Western................
West Stockbridge........
Worcester and Nashua...
Wrightsville, York, and
Gettys.................
Whitehaven and Wil kes...
Williamsport and Elmira
Westchester Branch.....
West Feliciana..........
Westchester and Potomac
Wilmington and Weldon
Westminster Branch.....
Western and Atlantic....
York and Maryland Line
Total length......
* The lengths of lines projected is given in this Table only so far as they have been
ascertained. It will be observed that in numerous cases lengths are given as coinpleted without any corresponding number in the first column.  In such cases it must
be understood that the lengths projected are unascertained.
From this table it appears, that the total length of the railways completed and under traffic in the United States in the
present year (1849) is 6565 miles.
The cost of construction and plant of 2842 miles of these
is known, and amounts in the aggregate to X23,104,909, which
is at the average rate of X8129 per mile.
If we assume that the remainder of the railways under
traffic, amounting to 3723 miles, have cost the same average
sum per mile, then it will follow that the total cost of
the railways completed, amounting to 6565 miles, has been
X53,386,885.
It appears, therefore, on this supposition, that above 6500
miles of railway have been constructed in the United States, at
a cost of 53 millions, while 5000 miles of railway in the United
Kingdom have cost 200 millions.
I have not been able to obtain any reports from  which
i
I
34!2
[CIIAP. XVI.
I
6
..E
14
I
.4 =
-z
I
;q
184
Di-,id -. d.,
i.
1848.
i6
p ic,- f
Sh.,,,,,.
N... f C..Pc,.Y.
X.
6,133
4,977
10,200
3,333
9"600
15,'644
3,333
3,'i38
120 a 121
45A
53i
10, i
52
431   6
4,14
76
69
121
Ili,
2i
45
478914 
C1AP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES.   343
the movement of the traffic on the American railways collectively can be ascertained with precision; but I have obtained the necessary statistical data relating to nearly twelve
hundred miles of railway in the States of New England and
in that of New York, from which I have been enabled to
calculate all the circumstances attending the working of these
lines. I have, accordingly, given these in the following
table:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the average daily Movement of the Traffic on
Twenty-eighlt principal Railways in the States of New England and
in the State of New York during the Year 1847.
Passenger Traffic.
Goods Trafflic.
Me  Rage-  il- Tt       M
Mileage.   cipts.
Mile   Tga ~l ooked
_ri~
Albany and Sche  nectady.........
Utica-Schenectady.
Syracuse-Utica....
Auburn-Rochester.
Tonawanda.......
Attica-Buffatlo.....                          
Saratoga-Schenec  tady............
Troy-Schenectady.
Renssalaer-Saratoga
Troy and Green  bush............
New   York   and
Harlem.........
New York-Erie....
Boston-Worcester.
Western..........
Norwich-Worcester
Connecticut River..
Pittsfield-N. Adam.
Boston-Providence.
Trenton...........
New Bedford......
Stotughton Branch.
Lowell............
Nashua...........
Boston-Maine.....
Fitchburg..........
Eastern...........
Old Colony........
Fall River.........
23914730273801,4    4,5,6,6
* The reports do not supply the tonnage and mileage of these railways separately, and the above numbers are estimated by analogy with the other American railways,
I
i
Milg') f
N.b..ked.
Re,,, ept,5.
X.
65
300
169
197
92
61
22
20
24
21
133
60
180
296
67
42
9
133
20
40
3
120
41
189
98
203
73
46
2,71)3
Mil,eg,e.
630
733
544
518
367
358
146
189
181
545
4,336
321,'
1,640
1,062
434
650
98
1,338
297
268
46
1,3'28
618
1,995
1,342
2,240
1,068
474
23,981
. 9,787
37,600
21,550
24,200
13,000
9,850
5!,068
3,840
2,625
3,090
17,000
12,400
39,672
48,952
8,158
6,454
11,048
19,680 -
3,234
4,460
482
26,050
8,540
34,500
21,920
34,910
13,420
8,860
437,350
136
406
288
400
212
162
54
140
680
131
450
5146
580
648
326
203
45
464
60
173
11
452
81
625
434
557
288
19
8,091
32
ill
38
37
23
19
4
8
12
25
so
102
5!21
471
64
28
6
69
10
13
3
139
49
106
119
30
24
18
1,861
612
360
151
212
40
48
1730* 65,550*
4
9
26
19
170
191
459
1,408
204
64
31
143
19
53
4
194
55
200
192
93
77
72
4,560
775
752
249
122
29
240
83
53
22
770
414
330
670
11.2
117
79
6,547
519,450
76,580
7,858
2,210
469
5,310
91-0
930
238
19,450
6,130
9,880
14,230
3,190
2,048
1,718
248,351 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Miles.
Total length of the above railways in the State of New York......  490
,      7,,,l States of New England..  670
Total.... 1160
X.
Average cost of construction and stock per mile in the State of New York.... 7,010
11,,,, 1States of New England 10,800
General average....  9,200
Total average receipts, expenses, and profits per day in the
State of New York............................. 1654           684      970
,.,1,,         States of New England   3040        1505    1535
Totals...   4694      2189     2505
Per Cent. per
Ann Aum on Capital.
16'1
7'5
8-6
Per Mile run.
by Tran-.s.
8. d.
7 5
3 5A
2 1li
Per Mlile of
Railway per da,y.
Receipts............................. 4-05
Expenses 1...................189.
Profits............................... 2'16
Expense per cent. of receipts...........................    468
Average receipts per passenger booked.....................
Average distance traveled per passenger..................
Average receipts per passenger per mile....................
Average number of passengers per train...................
Total average receipts per passenger train per mile.........
Average receipts per ton of goods booked..................       5?d
Average distance carried per ton........................... mi
Average receipts per ton per mile..........................
Average number of tons per train..........................
Total average receipts per goods train per mile.............
The railways, of the traffic of which I have here given a
synopsis, include the most active and profitable enterprises of
this kind in the United States. We can not, therefore, infer
from the results obtained, the corresponding movement on the
remaining lines. It will appear by the table given in page 403,
of the entire system of American railways, that the dividends,
exclusive of those contained in the preceding analysis, are in
general small, and in many instances nothing. It is therefore
probable that, in the aggregate, the average profits on the totalamount of capital invested in the railways do not exceed, if they
equal, the average profits obtained on the capital invested in
English railways.
The extraordinary extent of railway, constructed at so early
a period, in the United Stastes, has been by somque ascribed to the
[CHAP. XVI
344
27-0 d.
18-2 miles
1-47 (I.
54-0
7s.
5s. 81- d.
38-0 miles
1-8 d.
54-5
8-2 s 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES. 345
absence of a sufficient extent of communication by common
roads. Although this cause has operated to some extent in
certain districts, it is by no means so general as has been supposed. In the year 1838, the United States mails circulated
over a length of way amounting on the whole to 136,218 miles,
of which two thirds were land transport, including railways as
well as common roads. Of the latter there must have been
about 80,000 miles in operation, of which, however, a considerable portion was bridle roads. The price of transport in the
stage coaches was upon an average 3.25d. per passenger per
mile, the average price by railway being about 1.47d. per mile.
The great extent of internal communication, by railways and
canals, in America, in proportion to its population, has been a
general subject of admiration. The population of the United
States in 1840 amounted to 17 millions, and if its rate of increase
during the ten years commencing at that epoch be equal to the
rate during the preceding ten years, its present population must
be about 23 millions. There are, as I have stated, about 6500
miles of railway in actual operation within the territory of the
Union. This, in round numbers, is at the rate of one mile of
railroad for every 3200 inhabitants.
In the United Kingdom, there are in operation 5000 miles of
railway, with a population of 30 millions, which is at the rate of
one mile for every 6000 inhabitants.
It would therefore appear that, in proportion to the population,
the length of railway communication in the United States is
greater than in the United Kingdom in the proportion of 6 to 3-.
The result of this calculation, however, requires considerable
modification.
Of the entire extent of railway constructed in the United
States, by far the greater portion, as has been already explained,
consists of single lines constructed in a light and cheap manner,
which in England would be regarded as merely serving temnporary purposes; while, on the contrary, the entire extent of the
English system consists not only of double lines, but of railways
constructed in the most solid, permanent, and expensive manner,
adapted to the purposes of an immense traffic.
If a comparison were to be instituted at all between the two
systems, its basis ought to be the capital expended and the traffic
served by them; in which case the result would be somewhat
different from that obtained by the mere consideration of the
length of the lines.
It is not, however, the same in reference to the canals, in
F* 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
which, it must be admitted, that America far exceeds, in proportion to her population, all other countries.
There is no country where easy and rapid means of communication are likely to produce more beneficial results than in the
United States. Composed of twenty-six independent republics,
having various, and in some instances opposite interests, the
American confederacy would speedily be in danger of dissolution, if its population, scattered over a territory so vast, were not
united by communications sufficiently rapid to produce a practical
diminution of distance. In this means of intercommunication
Nature has greatly aided the efforts of art, for certainly no
country in the world presents such magnificent lines of natural
water communication.
To say nothing of the streams which intersect the Atlantic
States, and carry an amount of inland steam navigation wholly
unexampled in Europe, we have the gigantic stream of the
Mississippi, intersecting the immense valley to which it gives its
name, with innumerable tributaries, navigable by steam-boats
having a tonnage of first-rate ships for many thousands of miles,
and traversing territories which present immense tracts of soil,
of the highest degree of fertility, as well as sources of mineral
wealth which are as yet unexplored.
On the American railways, passengers are not differently
classed, or admitted at different rates of fare, as on those in
Europe. There is but one class of passengers and one fare.
In one or two instances, second and third-class carriages were
attempted to be established, but it was found that the number
of passengers availing themselves of thie lower fares and inferior
accommodation was so small that they were discontinued. The
only distinction observable among passengers on railways is that
which arises from color.   The  colored population, whether
emancipated or not, are generally excluded from the vehicles
provided for the whites. Such travelers are but few; and they
are usually accommodated either in the luggage van or in the
carriage in which the guard or conductor travels.
Railways in America have been generally constructed, as in
England, by joint-stock companies, with which, however, the
state interferes much more largely than in England. In some
cases, a major limit to the dividend is imposed by the law which
constitutes the company. In some, the dividends are allowed
to augment; but when they exceed a certain limit, the surplus
is divided with the state. In some, the privilege granted to the
companies is limited to a certain period. In some, a right of
346
[CHAP. XVI 
CHAP. XVI.] INLAND TRANSPORT IN THE U. STATES. 347
revising and restricting the tariff periodically is reserved to the
state.
But little merchandise is transported on the American railways,
the cost of transport being greater than goods in general are capable of paying; nevertheless, a tariff, regulated by weight alone,
without distinction of classes, is fixed by law for merchandise.
In the States of New England the legislature does not interfere with the rate of fare or the tariff of charges imposed by
the companies; but there is a provision in all the railway acts,
that after ten years from the date of the opening of each railway,
dividends are not to exceed ten per cent., and that if the profits
should be such as to produce a greater dividend, the tariff must
be reduced so as to bring the dividend to that limit. In some
few cases of the New England railways, as, for instance, in the
line from Boston to Providence, this period is only four years.
In the State of Pennsylvania, the charters granted to the
several railway companies differ very much in their conditions.
In some, an average limit is named, which the fares and tonnage
are not to exceed; in others, an average maximum tariff is fixed.
These maxima are different on different lines.
Besides these major limits imposed on the fares, there is also,
in certain cases, a major limit imposed on the dividends, which
in some cases must not exceed twelve, and in others fifteen per
cent. In some cases, the dividends above a certain amount are
subject to a tax, payable to the state.
With the exception of this tax upon dividends which exceed
a certain amount, and which only prevails in the State of Pennsylvania, no special tax is imposed on the American railways and
canals. Sometimes, however, they are subject to the same taxes
on their lands and buildings to which other proprietors are liable;
in some cases they are exempted from them.
In several of the largest states, such as New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the acts constituting the railway companies
contain a clause reserving an absolute power of modifying them
firom time to time as the legislature may see fit. In no case,
however, has this clause been yet brought into practical operation, and it is generally regarded as the mere theoretical expression of the unlimited sovereignty of the state.
In some of the states the grants to the railway companies are
for an unlimited time. In the northern states, however, their
period varies from 50 to 100 years.
In some of the latter grants an exclusive privilege is given to
the companies of making railways through certain districts. 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Nothing can be more simple, expeditious, and cheap than the
means of obtaining an act for the establishment of a railway
company in America. A public meeting is held, at which the
project is discussed and adopted. A deputation is appointed to
apply to the legislature, which grants the act without expense,
delay, or official difficulty. The principle of competition is not
brought into play, as in France; nor is there any investigation as
to the expediency of the project, with reference to future profit
or loss, as in England. No other guarantee or security is required from the company than the payment by the shareholders
of a certain amount constituting the first call. In some states,
the nonpayment of a call is followed by the confiscation of the
previous payments; in others, a fine is imposed on the shareholder; in others the share is sold, and if the produce be less
than the price at which it was delivered, the surplus can be
recovered firom the shareholder by process of law. In all cases,
the acts creating the companies fix a time within which the
works must be completed under pain of forfeiture. The traffic
in shares before the definitive constitution of the company is
prohibited.
Although the state itself has rarely undertaken the execution
of railways, it holds out in most cases inducements in different
forms to the enterprise of companies. In some cases, the state
takes a great number of shares, which is generally accompanied
by a loan made to the company, consisting in state stock delivered
at par, which the company negotiate at its own risk.  This loan
is often converted into a subvention.
In many cases the companies obtain the land gratuitously, or
for a nominal price.
When the price becomes a matter of consideration, the land
is valued by a jury, as in England.
Several states have made a condition that foreign capital shall
be excluded under penalty of forfeiture or fine against the
companies.
348
.[CHAP. XVI., 
CHAPTER XVII.
BELGIAN RAILWAYS.
THE Belgian state railways, though in their total length not
exceeding 350 miles, are an object of vast importance considered
in relation to the entire system of railroads now spread over
the continent of Europe.
They are a subject of further interest to the statistician and
the historian from the date and the circumstances of their
construction.
The small state of Belgium had but just established its independence and been acknowledged by the great powers of
Europe, when the statesmen to whom its government was confided, seeing the isolation in which it stood, and the somewhat
contemptuous regards cast upon it by the powers of the north
and east, from whom its recognition had been reluctantly extorted, resolved to confer upon it, by an effort of enterprise and
art, that influence which was denied to it by its insignificant
territory, its small population, and limited commerce.
The first administration under the newly appointed sovereign
was scarcely installed, therefore, when it was determined to
signalize its inauguration by a grand project, tending to establish relations with other states, and calculated to produce such
reciprocal dependence as would be a strong guarantee for the
maintenance of general tranquillity and respect for the independence of the new  state.  It was, in a word, resolved to
overspread the territory with a system of railway communication, which should render this small kingdom the great highway
for a large share of the commerce and personal intercourse
between some of the chief countries of Europe.
It was proposed to construct two great trunk railways forming a cross, the intersection of which should be at Malines.
The length of the cross was to extend from Ostend to Liege,
and to be continued through the Prussian territory by Aix-laChapelle to Cologne.
The transverse line was to be carried at right angles to this
from north to southl, extending from Antwerp through Brussels 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
by Mons to the French territory near Valenciennes, to which
city it was to be continued.
Thus it will be perceived, that Malines, and not Brussels,
was to be the great focus of these lines of communication.
Several secondary lines or branches were to complete the
network.
The EASTERN LINE, extending from Malines to Cologne, by
Louvain, Tirlemont, Landen, Waremme, Liege, and Verviers,
near the Prussian frontier, was to have a branch to St. Trond.
The WESTERN  LINE, from  Malines to Ostend, by  Termonde, Ghent, and Bruges, was to have a branch from Ghent
to Lille and Courtrai.
The NORTHERN  LINE, from Malines to Antwerp, was to
have a lateral line from Antwerp to Ghent, to be continued
to Lille, so as to afford a direct communication between Ghent,
Ostend, Lille, and Antwerp, without the circuitous route afforded by the trunk lines intersecting at Malines.
The  SOUTHERN  LINE, extending from  Malintes through
Brussels to Mons, was to throw off a branch at Brain-le-Comte
to Charleroi, to be carried from thence to Namur.
The total length of the entire system was to be 347 miles.
This magnificent project was no sooner announced, than it
was adopted by the legislature, and received with enthusiasm
by the people.
The date of the law sanctioning it was the 1st May, 1834;
and the statesmen to whom the country was indebted for it
were MM. Lebeau and Rogier.
Independently of those considerations which affected the relations of the new state with the other powers of Europe, the
internal commerce of Belgium prompted such an enterprise.
The revolution of 1830 having separated that country from
Holland, it lost the mouth of the Scheldt as an issue for its
commerce. The communication with the German states could
not be maintained by sea, and was attended with expense by
land on common roads, which rendered it impracticable. The
coal-producing provinces of Liege, which before the revolution
supplied the Dutch markets, were now isolated and unable to
share the supply of the interior with the coal district of Mons.
An effectual and cheap communication with the ocean on the
one side, and with the frontier next to the Rhine on the other,
so as to traverse the kingdom from east to west, would be necessary to restore the prosperity of Liege. It was first proposed
to accomplish this by means of a canal; but MM. Lebeau and
350
(CHAP. XVIT. 
BELGIAN RAILWAYS.
Rogier were sufficiently clearsighted to perceive, even at that
early epoch, the important part which railways were destined
to play in the commerce and politics of Europe, and how much
more such a system would conduce to the national prosperity
and political importance of their country.
It was resolved to construct the system of railways thus projected at the national expense, and to work them under national
management. The execution of the project was commenced
on the 1st June, 1834. Within two years, portions of the
system were completed and opened for traffic. The length
open in 1840 was 190 miles, and the entire system was completed within the next four years at the following rates:
Length in Operation.
Miles.
In 1841................................ 212
1842............................... 246
1843............................... 300
1844................................ 347
The stimulus which this system of communication impressed
upon the commerce of Belgium may be inferred from the following table, showing the progressive development of the home
and foreign trade of that country from 1836 to 1845:
TABULAR STATEMENT of the progressive Increase of the Commerce of
Belgium during Ten Years ending December 31, 1845.
Imports.                            Exports.
Year.
Value of Goods...d 
Vear.  ofCVValue of G oo ds.dV         al ue of B elgian l
entere~~~~~~~1.d.,
delivered for      and foreign        ooBegn
enlteced.      Consumption.          aoods.
1836.............    8,356,000             7,488,000         6,620,000         5,792,000
1840.............   9,856,000              8,224,000         7,340,000         5,584,000
1841.............   11,088,000             8,400,000         8,464,000          6,164,000
1842...........   11,536,000                9,368,000         8,080,000         5,684,000
1843.............   11,784,000             8,656,000         8,884,000         6,248,000
1844.............   12,308,000             8,152,000        11,344,000         6,980,000
1845.............  12,640,000              9,344,000        12,408,000         7,312,000
The value of the imports and exports at the port of Antwerp
in 1839 was e5,600,000; in 1841 it had risen to Z6,640,000,
and in 1843 it amounted to e9,080,000.
The production of coal in Belgium was doubled in the ten
years ending 1845.
From 1831 to 1835, the average annual export of cast-iron
I
CHAP. XVII.]
3 -a I 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
was 3887 tons. In the next five years the average annual
amount was 7478 tons.
After 1840, when the railways were nearly completed, this
branch of commerce was nearly quintupled; its average amount,
in the six years ending December, 1845, being 35,000 tons.
The same rapid progression is observable in the other
branches of commerce.
The average importation of raw cotton, previous to 1835,
was 4400 tons. In the five years ending 31st December, 1846,
its average annual amount was 7353 tons.
Previous to 1835, the average annual import of wool was
2973 tons. In the five years ending 31st December, 1846, its
annual average amount was 4066 tons.
Let us now consider the expenditure by which the agent
which was so mainly instrumental in thus extending Belgian
commerce was created.
The general character of the country was favorable to the
construction of railways; but much more stress has been laid
on this circumstance, by those who desire to explain the early
advance made in this improvement by Belgium, than is due to
it. It is true that those parts of the country between Brussels
and the ocean are generally level, and that but little earth-work
or works of art necessary to bestride valleys or penetrate hills
were required; but, on the other hand, the country was intersected by numerous rivers and canals, which necessitated the
construction of as many bridges and aqueducts.
The country, however, has a very different character between Brussels and the Prussian frontier. The ground there
presents obstacles requiring works of art of an expensive and
difficult character.
From Louvain to Ans, the line passes through an undulating
country, and is carried by cuttings of an average depth of fifty
feet, alternating with embankments of an average height of
sixty-six feet, up a gradual inclination to a summit nearly five
hundred feet above the station at Louvain. In this section of
the line there is a tunnel which measures upward of one thousand yards, besides numerous aqueducts, bridges, and viaducts,
by which the canals and common roads are conducted over and
under the railway.
From Ans to Liege, the country falls along the side of the
valley of the Meuse, by a steep declivity. Here, in a length
of 2300 feet, there is a fall of 360 feet.
The descent is effected by two inclined planes, worked by
[CHAP. XVII.
352 
BELGIAN RAILWAYS.
two stationary engines of 360 horse power. The average
gradient of these planes is one in 33. The prevailing gradient
between Louvain and Liege is from one in 340 to one in 250,
with the exception of a few short gradients constructed at one
in 150. The curves upon this line have generally a large radius,
with the exception of a few points where they are laid down
with a radius of about a quarter of a mile.
It is not found in the working of the line that these curves
are dangerous, or produce any appreciable resistance to the
tractive power.
The Belgian railways are distinguished from those of England and France by the circumstance of passing common roads,
wherever it is possible to do so, by level crossings. By this
expedient considerable expense in the original construction is
saved in bridges and viaducts; and, notwithstanding the great
traffic on the Belgian lines, no serious accidents have been produced by it. It is to be considered, however, that, the speed
of the trains being less than on the English railways, the liability
to accident is proportionally diminished.
The extraordinary expedition with which the Belgian railroads were completed, has been mainly caused by the circumstance of their having been executed by the state, and the
execution being conducted under the superintendence of a
special railway committee, invested with adequate powers. By
this expedient, innumerable official formalities were avoided.
The two engineers, MM. Simons and Deridder, who had proposed the project, were invested with the general direction of
the works; full powers were given them to form contracts, purchase land, and make other definitive arrangements necessary for
carrying on the works, without reference to higher official powers.
On the 1st January, 1848, the amount which had been expended on the construction of the Belgian railways, and the
stock employed in working them, was 6,406,476, of which the
following were the details:
X.
Construction of the road................. 4,800,270
Buildings and machinery for the inclined
planes.............................. 59,544
Buildings and appendages of the stations..  402,949
Dependencies of the stations...............84,772
Management and office expenses......... 205,773
Rolling stock......................... 853,168
~6.406,476
CHAP. XVII.]
353 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
But of this sum, a part had been expended in land for the
way and works, which was subsequently found to be in excess.
A portion of this was accordingly resold, which produced
e46,865. Deducting this from the above expenditure, the remainder will be X6,359,611; which is, therefore, the actual
amount of capital invested in the construction of the Belgian
railways, consisting of 353 miles, including all the works and
the rolling stock.
The cost per mile, therefore, of this system, with its working
stock, has been X18,016.
The amount of the rolling stock, the total cost of which was,
as appears by the above estimate, X853,168, was, on the 1st
January, 1848, as follows:
Locomotive engines........................ 153
Tenders................................... 154
Passenger coaches.......................... 751
Goods wagons............................. 2915
Post-offices............................... 14
Wagons used in the service of the railway..... 394
An increase of 192 goods wagons was ordered, which were
delivered in 1848.
In the following table I have exhibited the classified receipts,
the expenses, and profits, with the relation of them to each
other, on the Belgian railways, during the seven years ending
31st December, 1847:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Receipts, Expenses, and Profits arising from
the Traffic carried on the Belgian Railways during the Seven Years
ending December 31, 1847.
1841.     1842.     1843.     1844.     1845.     1846.     1847.
Number of miles
open............
Passengers.......
Passengers' baggage
Goods carried by
passenger trains.
Goods carried by
goods trains.....
Carriages, horses,
cattle an-( sundries
Total receipts....
Working expenses
Profits...........
Expenses per cent.
of receipts......
1844.
347
~.
246,664
15,788
35,980
132,920
9,868
catl  an  sudis 838 1,6              194       988 1,4             976 1,2
I
[CHAP. XVII.
354
1841.
210
X.
164,550
5,088
13,600
57,684
8,328
1842.
246
X'
187,372
11,916
16,332
70,676
12,168
1847.
353
S'.
278,716
21,200
42,096
232,504
18,928
1843.
300
X.
219,288
13,632
24,808
9,016
11,904
1845.
347
255,736
16,860
40,364
167,024
16,148
1846.
347
X'
277,488
19,364
39,884
188,784
19,716
249,250
181,586
67,664
72
298,464
188,012
110,452
63
361,648
219,064
141,584
61
441,220
230,616
210,604
52
496,13
252,864
243,268
51
546,236
9,830
256,406
53
593,444
372,756
220,688
63 
BELGIAN RAILWAYS.
Having explained, in the preceding chapters of this volume,
the manner in which the movement of the traffic of the carrying
stock and the engines can be deduced from the respective quantities and mileages of these, when properly recorded, it will not
be necessary here to go through the details of the calculations
by which these important statistical data are obtained. I shall,
therefore, give the principal results, in the following table, without the arithmetical processes by which they are found:
SYNOPSIS of the Movement on the Belgian Railways, computed froml
official Documents, during the Four Years ending Dec. 31, 1847.
L~cOMOT~v  lO~.14.                145      86      87
LOCOMOTIVE POWER.
Total average daily mileage of engines.
With goods..........................
With passengers.....................
Total............
Total average hours of engine standing daily
with steam up without running............
Total daily average consumption of coke.
In lighting and steaming..............
In standing with steam up............
In working trains.....................
Total...........
Number of engines employed..............
Average daily mileage per engine...........
Average number of engines lighted daily.....
Average number of miles run by each engine
lighted.................................
Average hours standing daily with steam up
without working per engine..............          
Average consumption of coke per engine
lighted.
In lighting and steaming..............
In standing withi steam up............
In working trains....................          
Total............
Average consumption per hour when standing
with steamn up...........................
Average consumption per mile when drawing
trains...................................
Average consumption per running mile, in  cluding standing and lighting............
PASSENGER TRAFFIC.
Total average daily number booked.
1st class.............................
2d class.............................
3d class.............................
Total............
Total average daily mileage.
1st class.............................
2d class.............................
3d class.............................
Total...........
CHAP. XVII.]
355
1844.
1,452
2,778
4,230
489
lb,,.
3,-,540
10,432
125,687
173,659
143
1)9-6
63-0
67-2
7-7
lb,.
595
165
1,995
2,755
21-4
9-7
40-0
1845.
2,071
2,571
4,642
472
lb,.
40,916
10,421
136,657
187,994
148
31-4
67-4
69-0
7-4
lb,,.
610
155
,039
2,804
20.9
9.9
41-6
1846.
2,788
2,765
5,553
559
lb,.
46,105
12,337
166,270
224,712
151
36-8
75-0
74-0
7-5
lb.,.
613
165
2,217
2,995
22-0
30-0
40-0
1847.
3,483
3,001
6,484
588
lb,.
50,973
14,539
195,893
261,405
154
42-2
84-0
77-0
7-0
lb,.
607
173
2,332
3,112
24-7
30-3
37-1
904
2,390
5,425
8,719
39,080
68,274
116,492
223,846 1
1,089
P,660
5,685
9,510
37,236
65,638
96,937
199,811
1,138
,837
6,032
10,007
41,652
73,446
110,155
225,3
1,132
2,486
6,469
10,087
42,567
67,939
115,772
226,278 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
1845.
~.
192
255
249
696
d.
42-3
10'5
17'5
PASSENGER TRAFFIC-continued.
Total average daily receipts.
1st class.............................
2d class.............................
3d class.............................
Total............
Total average receipts per passenger booked.
1st class.............................
2d class............................
3d class.............................
General average.. 
Total average number of miles traveled per
passenger booked.
1st class.............................
2d class.............................
3d class.............................
Average.........
Total average receipts per passenger per mile.
1st class.............................
2d class.............................
3d class.............................
Average.........
Average number of passengers drawn by each
engine.
1st class.............................      
2d class.............................
3d class.............................
Total............
Average receipts per mile run of passenger
trains.
1st class.............................
2d class.............................
3d class.............................
Total............
Total number of passenger carriages used....
Total average daily mileageof all the passen  ger carriages............................
Average daily mileage per carriage.........
Average number of passengers carried by
each coach..............................
Average number of passenger carriages drawn
by each engine..........................
Average composition of a passenger train.
Passenger coaches....................
Baggage-vans........................
Parcel-vans.........................
Horse-boxes.........................
Carriage-trucks.......................
Cattle-wagons.......................
Post-offices...........................
Prison-vans..........................
Wagons in the service of the railway..
6'5
i
2.3
I
8'
Total number of vehicles.........
I
356
[CHAP. XVII.
1844.
X.
174
243
254
671
d.
46-2
24-3
11-3
18-5
1846.
X.
09
274
269
752
d.
44-1
23-2
10-7
18.0
1847.
X.
214
254
283
751
d.
45-2
24-6
10-5
18-0
43-2
28-5
21-4
25.6
d.
1-42
0.85
0-53
0-72
36.9
24-7
17-1
20-9
d
1-24
0-93
0-62
0-84
36.8
. 25.9
18-3
22-5
d.
1-21
0.90
0.58
0.80
37-6
27-4
17-8
22-6
d
1-21
0.90
0.59
0.80
14-1
24-6
42-0
80-7
1.
1-26
1-75
1-83
4-84
586
16,806
28-7
13-5
6.05
14-6
25-6
37-8
78-0
1-50
1-98
1-94
5-42
643
20,568
32-0
9-7
8.0
15-0
26.5
39-8
81-3
'i-51
1.98
. 1-94
5-43
700
17,972
25-6
12-6
6-5
14'1
22-6
38-6
75-3
1.
1-43
1-69
1.89
4-98
735
21-007
28-6
10-75
7-0
6.05
0.81
1.01
0.09
0.30
0.10
0-16
0-04
0.10
8-66
8.00
1-06
1-32
0.09
0-24
0.10
0-16
0.05
0.18
11.2
7-0
2-7
i
9-7 
BELGIAN RAILWAYS.
1846.
2,016
94,000
47'0
33'7
3-36s.
54,087
2,400
2'2'5
19-4
1-74
5171.
5s. lid.
1-32d.
GOODS TRAFFIC.
Total average daily number of tons booked..
Total average daily mileage of goods........
Average number of miles carried per ton....
Average number of tons drawn by each engine
Average receipts per mile run of goods trains
Total average daily mileage of goods wagons
Total number of wagons used..............
Average daily mileage of each wagon......
Average number of goods wagons drawn by
each engine.............................
Average number of tons carried per wagon..
Total daily average receipts for goods........
Average receipts per ton booked............
Average receipts per ton per mile............
From the important results brought together in the preceding
table, we collect the following summary conclusions, in round
numbers.
1st. On the Belgian railways each locomnotive is worked every
other day, runs 75 miles, is kept standing with steam up for 7
hours, and consumes a ton and a half of coke.
2d. Each passenger engine draws 80 passengers, with baggage, parcels, mails, &c.; the receipts amounting to 5s. per mile,
exclusive of a small amount due to baggage, &c.; the train consisting of from eight to ten vehicles. Each first-class passenger
travels on an average 37 miles, each second-class passenger 26
miles, and each thlird-class passenger 18 miles. The receipts
proceeding from each first-class passenger are 3s., firom each
second-class passenger 2s. 2d., and from each third-class passenger, ls. 6d.
3d. Each passenger coach runs about 28 miles a day, and
carries about 11 passengers.
4th. Each goods engine draws on an average 20 goods wagons,
drawing 34 tons of goods. Each ton of goods is transported on
an average 44 miles, and the receipts for each mile run by the
goods engines are 5s. 2d.
To compare the quantity of traffic with the extent of the
railway, it will be necessary to suppose it unifornmly carried
over the whole length of the lines, and to calculate the quantity
which would, in that case, pass over every mile. The results
are exhibited in the fbllowiii table:
CHAR. XVII. ]
357
1844.
1,264
56,756
44-8
38-0
5-17s.
23,102
1,783
13-4
15-74
.46
3751.
5s. 10d.
1-57d.
1845.
1,771
83,420
47-0
40-0
4-41 s.
38,7!28
2,073
18-7
18-7
2-15
4561.
5s. 2d.
1-32d.
1847.
2,634
115,817
43-8
33-2
3-65S.
70,008
2,707
25.9
20.1
1-66
6391.
5s. 2d.
1-34d. 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
TABLE showing the average Amount of Traffic carried daily over each
Mile of the Belgian Railways during the Four Years ending December
31, 1847.
1844.   1845.   1846.    1847.
113     107       120       120
196      189       212       193
336      279       317       328
645      575       649       641
8'00    7'40      7'95       8'50
48'4   59'3    51'7         59'5
163'6   240'5    271'0   328'0
4'18    5'96      8'3    8'5
66'5   111'4   156'0  198'0
Passengers, 1st class..............
,,    2d class    --------------
3d class -.-. —--------
Total....
Passenger engines.. —--------------
Passenger carriages..............
Tons of goods.. —------------------
Number of goods engines —------— 4
Number of goods wagons —--------          
This would, therefore, be the movement of the traffic on the
Belgian railways, if it were uniformly carried over the whole
extent of the lines, and throughout all seasons of the year. A
great variation, however, takes place, both locally and according
to the change of season.
The official reports published by the Belgian government
supply the means of ascertaining both these variations. In the
annexed diagram I have exhibited the local variation of the
goods and passenger traffic on every section of the Belgian railways. The variations of the passenger traffic are marked by
the continuous lines; those of the goods traffic by the dotted
lines; the heights in each case representing the quantity of the
traffic which passes over each section of the line.
It will be observed that each sort of traffic is subject to very great
local variation; the passenger traffic rather more so than the goods.
The section between Brussels and Malines is obviously exceptional, having a much larger proportion of passenger traffic
than any other section of the line. This is easily explained by
the configuration of the Belgian railways. Malines forms the
intersection or focus of the four great trunk lines, and the great
predominance of traffic exhibited in the diagram arises from that
portion of the traffic which proceeds from Brussels to feed all
these, and which returns to Brussels from them.
The same exceptional character appears in the goods traffic
between Antwerp and Malines, which is explained in the same
manner. The merchandise arriving at or departing from Antwerp necessarily travels over the section of the line between
Antwerp and Malines, either departing from or arriving at the
common focus of the trunk lines at Malines.
i
358
LCHAP. XVII. 
tiI
F -~~~~
d,..I.V  -------------------  -      -—.
... I         -    - -—.                        ----
oi uomaai        gi.~f1   -~ —.'.."'~""U"-01.. ~......." 
!     ~' 
---                   ---            --              -      --                                        -     -    -.
l      -1      ii       I
Sla. unaff
samro
I
=I
I
il
r
i
I
1.
i
I
1'.
.1
I
I
I
I
.I
f"
m
I'm
-A
I.
i
II
cn
.1
to
I
.I
I
I
I 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Another exceptional character in the goods traffic is exhibited
between Charleroi and Brain-le-Comte, which is to be attributed to the coal trade of the former district.
The variation of the daily traffic with the change of seasons
is exhibited in the same manner in the annexed diagram, in
which, as before, the continuous lines represent the passenger
traffic, and the dotted lines the goods traffic. It will be observed
that the latter is much more uniform and independent of the
seasons than the former.
10                                   10
9].
I    .-.1.
.\';Lffi.~~...             I
~
Jan.  Feb. JMarch..dpril. say. June. July.  lug. Sept.  Oct.,ov. Dee.
August and September form the great traveling season for
passengers; the quantity of traffic of this kind being in these
months more than double its amount in the four months commencing in November and ending in February.
The proportion in which each of the three classes of passengers supplies traffic to the railways, is exhibited in the following
table (see page 361) for the four years ending 31st December,
1847.
But the preceding details, important as they are, do not form
all the valuable information which can be deduced from the
reports of the railway department of the Belgian government.
In order to ascertain the proportion in which the business of
the railway is supplied by traffic classified according to the distances it is transported. tables have been published showing the
9
8
7
6
5
44
3
360
[CuHP. XVII.
10
10
9
8
7
6
5
1
4
3
2 
BELGIAN RAILWAYS.
TABLE showing the Number of each Class of Passengers in every 100
booked, the Share of each Class in every 100 Miles traveled, and the
Share contributed by each Class to every ~100 Receipts on the Bel gian Railways during the Four Years ending December 31, 1847.
Year.  1st class. 2d class.  3d class. Totals
1844   10-75    27-66    61-59       100
Number ofpassengers of each    1845   11-50    28-20    60-30           100
class in every 100 booked        1846   11-36    28-36    60-28    100
1847   11-22    24'64    64-14       100
1844   17-40    30-50    52-10    100
Share of each class in every    1845   18-60    32-86    48-54    100
100 miles traveled --------   1846    17-27    32-60    48-90    100
1847    18.80    30-10    51-10    100
(  1844     26        36        38     100
Average amount contributed    1845          27        37        36      100
by each passenger to every     1846       28        36       36       100
100 of recepts   ------ -   1847        28        34        38      100
1847 28 34 38 100
quantity of each class of objects of traffic booked which have
been carried to distances within certain assigned limits.
These voluminous tables have supplied me with the means of
computing the number of units booked which were carried over
distances under 20 miles, between 20 and 40 miles, 40 and 60
miles, and so on. I have also given, in the following table, the
quantity of locomotion which each class of such objects demanded:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Traffic on the Belgian Railways, classified
according to the Distances over which the Objects of Transport were
severally carried, showing the Proportion of 1000 Objects booked of
each Class which was carried over each specified Distance, and also
showing the Proportion per 1000 of the Mileage of each Class assign  able to each specified Distance.
TUnder  From   From   From   From
20     20 to   40 to   60 to   80 to
Miles.    40.      60.      80.      100.
Passengers:
1st class.
Number
Mileage
2d class.
Number
Mileage
3d class.
Number
Mileage
Total.
Number
Mileage
253    349    174    130    77      17    1000
79    253    204    231   174       59    1000
411    345    128      75    34      7    1000
167    328    198    175   100    32    1000
510   303    100      63    20-2   3-8  1000
237    329    176    171    68       19    1000
134     89
193    192
332
.303
Q
I
I
I
C14AP. XVII-I
361
Abov
100.
Total.
392
161
44
I-i4,
9  1000
57    1000 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
From
20 to
40.
315
207
Baggage-Tons.
Number
Mileage
Parcels-Tons.
Number   247
Mileage   72
71    268   196    175   206        84    1000
15   125   156    207   310   187    1000
24   133    144    534   122        43    1000
5     55    101   593   167       79      OOQ1000
343    289    108   135    113       12    1000
108    206    138    243   266       39    1000
253    301    135    303       8      0    1000
77   203    160    542    18         0    1000
Carriages.
Horses.
Goods-Tons.
Number
Mileage
Cattle (large)-Head.
Number
Mileage
Cattle (small)-Head.
Number
Mileage
Mileage    45   220   456   265  7    7   1000
This table supplies some curious and important inferences,
which are probably applicable more or less to all railway traffic;
but we have no means of testing this, owing to the insufficiency
of the official reports of other railways.
It appears that 40 per cent. of all the passengers booked are
for distances under 20 miles, and that 73 per cent. are for distances under 40 miles.
Those who are booked for distances under 20 miles employ
16 per cent. of the mileage, and those who are booked for distatices under 40 miles employ 46 per cent. of all the mileage.
It further appears that only 5 per cent. of all the passengers
booked travel distances above 80 miles, and that they together
supply only 17 per cent. of the mileage.
With respect to goods, conclusions very nearly similar follow.
3it l)er cent. of the goods booked are carried distances under 20
rniles, while 63 per cent. are carried distances under 40 miles.
Those which are carried distances under 20 miles employ, however, less than 11 per cent. of the mileage, while those carried
distances under 40 miles employ only 31 per cent.  It further
I
I
362
[CHAP. XVII.
Under
20
Miles.
257
69
Frot
40 to
60.
125
135
Fi-om
60 to
80.
158
256
From
80 to
100.
113
234
Above
loo.
32
99
Total.
1000
1000
304
201
170
182
154
249
84
174
41
122
1000
1000
Number
Mileage
Number
Mileage
137
45
316
220
386
456
156
265
3
7
2
7
1000
1000 
BELGIAN RAILWAYS.
follows, that only 12 per cent. of all the goods booked are carried distances above 80 miles, but that this quantity employs 30
per cent. of the mileage of the railways.
The class of objects which are carried the greatest distances,
and which employ the greatest amount of mileage, are horses.
Of these 50 per cent. are carried distances from 60 to 80 miles,
and employ 60 per cent. of the mileage.
The larger class of cattle are also carried to considerable
distances, 30 per cent. being carried to distances from 60 to 80
miles, employing 54 per cent. of the mileage.
The proportions in which the different classes of traffic contributed to the revenue of the Belgian railways is exhibited in
the following table:
TABLE showing the Share of every ~100 of gross Revenue contributed
by each Class of Traffic on the Belgian Railways, during the Four
Years ending December 31, 1847.
1844.          1845.          1846.           1847.
Passengers....... 55                   51-5           51'0           47-0
Baggage —-—... 3.5            3.4            3.5            3-5
58-5           54.9           54-5            50'5
Money parcels    0-3               0.3             0-3            0-3
Carriages...       1-8             1-6            1'5            1'2
Horses —---—.  1-1                0-7             0-7            0-7
Parcels —--—.   8-0                8'1            7.3             7-1
Goods -------- 29-6               337             34-6           39-2
Sundries            0-7            0-7             1.1           10
41-5           45-1           45-5           49.5
Total.]         - 100'0          100.0          100. 0          100'0
In the following table I have exhibited the proportion of every
p100 expended, which has been chargeable to the usual heads
of direction, way and works, locomotive power, carrying expenses, and sundries:
ANALYSIS of the Proportion in which the working Expenses of the Bel  gian Railways were distributed, under the specified Heads, in the
Four Years ending 1847.
Direction   Mainte-.     Collection
Collecti on
and      Total.
Sundries.
3'5    100
3'4         100
3'2        100
2-5 10i
Locomotive
Power.
49-3
48-7
51-7
50-1
;3-15    1  100
I
I
I
I
I
CHAP. XVII.]
363
Direction
and
Manage i,nent.
6-3
6-5
5-4
3,7
Maintenance of
Way and
Works.
24-3
25-7
25-1
31-4
Carrying
Expenses.
16-6
15-7
14,6
12-3
Year 1844
11 1845
11 1846
11 1847
,lean
5-47
26-62
49-96
14-80
I, 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Finally, I have compared in the following table thb receipts,
expenses, and profits with the length of the lines, the movement
upon them, and the capital invested in them:
SYNOPSIS of the Proportion between the Receipts, Expenses, and Profits,
and the Length of Line worked, the Movement of the Trains, and the
Amount of Capital on the Belgian Railways during the Seven Years
ending December 31, 1847.
Total average  Amount per   Amount per   Amount per
Total averageount.    Mile of M il e      run by     Cent. of
dl u Railway.     Trains.         Capital.
Yal4.~.       ~.           s.  d.
683           3-25          5  4          6-56
498           2-37          3 11          4-78
185           0'88          1  5          1'78
820           3-33          6  0          6-72
516           2-10          3  9i         4-24
304           1-23          2  21          2-48
994           3-31          6  3           6-68
602           2'00          3 10          4'05
392           1-31          2  5           2-63
1234           3'50          5  9i          7'20
634          1-80           3  0          3'71
600           1-70          2  9~         3.49
1363           3.90          5 11           7-95
694           2-00          3  0          4'05
669          1'90           2 11          390
1500           4'30          5  5           8-75
796           2-30          2 11           4-65
704           2-00          2  6           4'10
1630           4-6           5  0           9-32
1022           2-9           3  lj          5-85
Year 1841.
Receipts
Expenses. —
Profits 1843
Year 1842.
Receipts....
Expenses...
Profits 1845
Year 1843.
Re ceipts....
Expenses.-.
Profits....
Year 1844.
Receipts....
Expenses...
Profits. —---
Year 1845.
Receipts....
Expenses...
Profits ------
Year 1846.
Receipts....
Expenses —
Profits
Year 1847.
Receipts...
Expenses...
Profits ------
Profits                 612             17            1 101r           3.47
It appears from this table, therefore, that the gross receipts
have never exceeded 8 per cent. on the capital, and the net
profits have never exceeded,1 per cent.
I
i
364
[CHAP. XVII.
612
1-7
1 lot
3-47 
BELGIAN RAILWAYS.
To exhibit the average speed on the Belgian railways, I have
calculated in the following table, from the published time-tables,
the rate of progress on several of the principal lines; showing,
as in former chapters, the average speed when in actual motion,
and the reduction of this produced by the stoppages. It appears
that the average speed in actual motion, one line taken with
another, is 25 miles, and that the average speed including stoppages is 18 miles.
We have seen in Chap. X., that on the English railways the
average speed in motion is 32 miles, and the average speed
including stoppages, 2421 miles.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Movement of the Passenger Traffic on the prin cipal Belgian Lines of Railway, showing the average Speed, Stoppages,:
&c., of each Class of Trains.-N. B. An average Loss of Five Minutes
is allowed for each Stoppage, except in particular Cases where a greater
Delay is fixed by the Programme. This is intended to include the Time
lost in coming to Rest and getting up Speed.
Average     Avre
S di,_ Speed i
Name of Railway.                  Train.    Dstances Time.   Sto p-    d        in  Moton
pages. Stoppages. esadg
Stoppagee.
Miles.    h. m.            Miles.      Miles.
Brussels to Valencien nes................ lst class       57-75    2 35       7      22-45       27-90
2d class    57-75    2 50        9      20-40       27-80
,usl, t3d class    57-75    3 50         13     15-12        21-00
Brussels to Cologne........149 9 15    22 16'                     10 22'00
BrusselstoVerviers...   lstclass    86-50    4 30          9      19-20        24-20
2d class    86-50    5 0       19      17-30        25-40
Brussels to NamLr....   1st class    67-50    3 45        16      18-00      22-90
2d class    67-50    3 50    ]1        17-65        22-50
,,   3d class   67-50    3 55        19      17-30       29-00
Brussels to Antwerp..  1st class    27-33    1 10           3     23-55        30-00
~,,,,         2d class    27-33    1 15        3      21-85       27-33
~,,,        ~3d class    27-33        1 15       5      21-85       33-00
779-74   43 10   136        18-10       24-90
In the present chapter our observations have been limited to
the system of Belgian railways constructed and worked by the
State. There are, however, besides these, a few lines in progress of construction in Belgium by private companies.
A grant for ninety years has been made to a company under
the title of the,Great Luxembourg Railway Company," fol
the construction of a line of railway joining the State railway
near Charleroi and Namur, to be carried across the extensive
province of Luxembourg by Dinant, Neufchateau, and Arbon,
and to be extended to Thionville and Metz, where it will join
the Paris and Strasbourg Railway. The entire length of this
system, when completed, will be about 140 miles.
I
i
I
C14AP. XVII.]
365 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The canal and mineral property of the Luxembourg Society
has been purchased by this company for A260,000. The canal
was intended to connect the Moselle with the Meuse, passing
through a district rich in minerals, and covered with extensive
forests.
With the exception of the earth-work on about ten miles of
the line from Brussels to Wavre, no progress has yet been made
in the realization of this project.
A grant for ninety years has been made to another company
for a line of railway between Namur and Liege, following the
valley of the Meuse, with a branch from Mons to Manage. The
length of the main line will be about forty-four miles, and that
of the branch twenty-two miles.
This railway is in progress of construction, and the branch
between Mons and Manage is expected soon to be opened for
traffic.
The Sambre and Meuse Railway Company have a grant for
ninety years for a line joining the Sambre with the Meuse at
Vereux.   The  entire length of the line, with three short
branches, will be about seventy miles, of which twenty-five
miles have been completed, and were lately opened for traffic.
The Tournai and Joubise, and Landen and Hasselt Company,
have a grant for ninety years. The length of the two lines
together is forty-six miles. They are completed and opened
for traffic.
The West Flanders Company have a grant for ninety years
for a system of railways in that province. One line will pass
from Bruges to Courtrai, Ypres, and Poperinghe, passing by
Thourout, Rowlers, and Menin, and  forming at Courtrai a
junction with the State line from Ghent to Lille and Tournai.
The second line will run from Furnes through the centre of
West Flanders to Thiels, where it will join the State line fromn
Antwerp to Brussels.
Of these lines thirty-three miles are opened for traffic, the
remaining sixty miles not being yet commenced.
Thus the entire system of Belgian railways in operation is as
follows:
Miles.
State lines.................................. 353
Sambre and Meuse..........................  25
Tournai and Joubise, and Landen and Hasselt....  46
West Flanders.............................. 33
Total.................. 457
366
[CHAP. XVII.' 
CHAP. XVIIi.]     FRENCH RAILWAYS.
I have not been able to obtain any authentic informnatiol] as
to the cost of the lines constructed by companies; but if their
average cost be assumed to be equal to that of the State lines,
which, as we have seen, is o18,016 per mile, the total capital
absorbed by the Belgian railways must be X8,233,312.
CHAPTER XVIII.
FRENCH RAILWAYS.
BEFORE the memorable epoch when the experiment of the
Manchester and Liverpool Railway rendered manifest the vast
capabilities of iron roads worked by steam power as means of
general transport, no communication of that description existed
in France, except a few lines appropriated exclusively to the
mineral districts of St. Etienne and the Rive-de-Gier, near the
banks of the Loire. These lines were analogous to the railways which existed fiom an early date in the north of England;
their extent was inconsiderable, and they were for the most
part single lines, worked generally by horses, but in some cases
by locomotive engines of the rudest kind, such as those formerly
used on our mineral lines.
When the wonderful effects developed between Manchester
and Liverpool became known, and when the execution of more
extensive lines of railway for the expeditious transport of passengers and merchandise had been undertaken in England, the
attention of all parts of Europe was awakened to this improvement; but a general incredulity prevailed as to its practicability,
except in localities where traffic and intercourse existed on a
velry large scale.  France, sharing this skepticism, remainedi
passive, while the neighboring small state of Belgium was overspreading her territory with that admirable network of communication we have described in the preceding chapter.
At length, in 1835, five years after the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and when other great lines were
known to be in active progress in England, a spirited and entei prising person, whose name must always remain connected withl
the history of French railways, M. Emile Pereire, deeply irm pressed with the advantages which must arise from this improve ment in transport, and desiring to bring its effects, hitherto
367 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
known only by hearsay, under the very eyes of the French
legislature and of the population of Paris, succeeded in forming
a company for the construction of a passenger line between
Paris and St. Germain. An act authorizing this was obtained
in July, 1835. The works were commenced and prosecuted
with activity, and it was finally opened for traffic at the end of
1837.
This event, combined with the rapid progress of railways in
England, forced the French legislature to direct a portion of its
attention, hitherto distracted by political dissensions and the con vulsions which followed the revolution of 1830, to this national
improvement.
In the session of 1837, a commission was authorized to prepare
a project of law on the subject of national railways, which was
to be submitted to the Chambers in the following session; and
it was generally understood and agreed that the construction
of railways was urgent, and that the most important lines
should be executed and possessed by the State, but that the
branches and secondary lines might be conceded to private com panies.
The report of the commission presented to the Chamber on
the opening of the following session of 1838, was in accordance
with these resolutions; but, in the mean while, the majority had
changed its opinion, and was now opposed to the principle of
the State assuming the direction and management of these
enterprises. The government, nevertheless, still adhered to the
original project, and was supported by the parties which then
usually constituted the opposition, and was known as the Left
and Extreme Left of the Chamber. The parties of the Centre
and the Left Centre, distrustful and jealous of the influence
with which the possession of vast patronage must invest the
government, opposed the project.
This section of the Chamber was seconded in its opposition
by a large and influential party representing the financial and
commercial interests, which looked forward to reaping considerable profits from the operations of the Bourse resulting from the
traffic in shares, if the railways were executed, as in England,
by joint-stock companies.  The combination of these parties
prevailed, and the project of government was rejected.
During the next four years, little or no progress was made;
parties continued to be distracted, and the question of the East
especially engrossed the attention of statesmen.
In this interval, however, private companies came forward
368
CHAP. XVIIT. 
FRENCH RAILWAYS.
and proposed to construct railways by their own resources,
independent of the government, between Paris and Orleans and
Paris and Rouen.
In 1838 a grant was made to a company of a lease of seventy
years, on the condition of providing a capital of forty millions for
the construction of a line of railway from Paris to Orleans, with
branches to Corbeil, Pithiviers, and Arpajon. The company,
however, had no sooner commenced their operations, than they
found themselves involved in financial embarrassments, and
were compelled later to obtain the authorization of the legislature
to abandon their branches, except that to Corbeil.  In fine, the
government assisted them by guaranteeing an interest of four
per cent. on their capital for forty-seven years, and extending
their lease to ninety-nine years. Thus aided, the enterprise
was prosecuted, and the railway finally completed.
Two companies proposed the construction of lines from Paris
to Rouen: one by the right bank of the Seine, and the other by
the plateau above it. A grant was first made to the latter in
1838; but the financial crisis which ensued rendered the project
abortive. At length, in 1840, the project of a line by the right
bank of the Seine was resumed, and a grant was made to the
present Paris and Rouen Railway Company, with a lease of
ninety-nine years, the result being the present railway, which,
having been commenced in 1841, was opened for traffic on the
9th May, 1843.
In 1842, M. Teste, then Minister of Public Works, presented
a project to the Chambers for the execution of a system of railways in which the government should co-operate with private
companies.  This project, with some modification, was finally
adopted, and the law known as that of the,, 11th of June, 1842,"
was passed.
This law proposed a certain system of trunk lines to be
executed by companies on conditions to be imposed by the State.
These conditions were as follow:
1st. The government was to purchase the lands, buildings,
and other property necessary for the construction of the lines;
two-thirds of the expense to be paid by the departments and
communes through which the railways would pass, and the
remaining one-third by the State.
2dly. Leases of the railways were to be granted for limited
periods to companies, who were to be required to provide the
capital necessary to defray the expenses of the way and works,
the rolling-stock, and all the material necessary for the working
CAAP. XVIII.]
369
q* 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
of the lines. At the expiration of their leases, provided they
were not renewed, a valuation was to be made of this property,
and the amount of such valuation to be paid to the companies by
the State.
The police of the roads, the limitation of the tariff, and a
general power of supervision and control, were reserved to the
government, which was to appoint agents to represent it, and to
form part of the administration of each railway, the salary of
such functionaries to be paid by the companies.
The system of railways, the construction of which was con templated by this law, was to consist of seven principal arteries
-the first directed upon the Belgian frontier; the second upon
one or more ports of the channel; the third upon the ocean, by
one or more of the western ports; the fourth upon the Spanish
frontier, by Bayonne; the fifth upon the Spanish fiontier, by
Perpignan, passing through the centre of France; the sixth upon
the lMIediterranean, by Marseilles; and the seventh upon the
Rhine, by Nancy and Strasbourg.
Besides these, two trunk lines were contemplated, diverging
from Marseilles; one connecting that port with Bordeaux by
Toulouse, and the other connecting it with the Rhine at Mul hausen, by Dijon and Lyons.
This law had not long been promulgated, before it became
manifest that capital would not flow so freely and abundantly to
the French railways as the legislature appeared to expect; and
that even with conditions modified in favor of those who should
undertake the execution and working of the lines thus projected,
no small difficulty was likely to stand in the way of the accomplishment of the object which the government and the legislature
contemplated. The departments and the communes, already
oppressed under a heavy burden of taxation, had neither the
ability nor the will to co-operate in the enterprise, by the contribution of two-thirds, or even a much smaller part of the cost
of the land. In short, it became evident that the law was impracticable; and, although not subsequently repealed, it became
eventually, in a great degree, a dead letter.
Although the general outline of the system of trunk lines
described in the law of 1842 has been in the main adhered to,
the government has been forced to lay aside other conditions of
the law, and to make the best terms it could with such companies
as presented themselves, to induce them to undertake and work
the railways; and even, in some cases, it has been found impracticable to accomplish this through the medium of private
370
[CHAP. XVIII. 
FRENCH RAILWAYS.
companies, and the government has been obliged to construct
the lines provisionally, trusting to the probability of finding a
company willing to work them when completed.
The first great artery of the system is that now known as the
Northern Railway. This line, issuing from the northern suburbs of Paris, goes directly to Amiens, following the valleys of
the rivers, such as the Oise, the Breche, the Ar6, the Somme,
which run north and south. From Amiens the line is carried
to Douay, where it forks; one branch being directed by Valenciennes to the Belgian frontier at Qui6vrain, and the other by
Lille to Calais, a sub-branch being carried from Hazebrouk to
Dunkerque.
A branch is also in progress from Creil, a place between Paris
and Beauvais, to St. Quentin, by Compiegne. This line was
executed and nearly completed by the government, through the
agency of the department of the Ponts et Chauss6es; and being
that part of the system projected in the law of 1842, which was
attended with the most promising commercial results, it was
found that, when it was proposed to offer this line to public competition, terms highly advantageous to the government could be
obtained.
In fine, it was granted in September, 1845, to the present
company, upon a lease of thirty-eight years, the company aglreeing to provide all the expenses necessary for the establishment
of the railway, and to reimburse all the expenses which had
been previously incurred in its construction.
Connected with this railway, was the line extending from
Amiens to Boulogne, which was constructed by a private company, on a lease of ninety-nine years.
Two short lines had been previously constructed and opened
for traffic, connecting Paris with Versailles; the one by the
right, and the other by the left bank of the Seine.
In carrying out the system defined in the law of 1842, these
lines were adopted as the first section of the artery of communication intended to be carried through Brittany to the
port of Brest. It was accordingly proposed to continue this
western line, by Chartres, Laval, and Rennes, to the ocean at
Brest.
No company having proposed to execute it, the government
proceeded provisionally to construct it, through the agency of
the department of the Ponts et Chauss6es.
The section from Versailles to Chartres has been completed,
and recently opened for traffic. It is worked by the govern
CHAP. XVIII.]
371 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
mnent. The remaining sections of the line beyond Chartres are
in progress.
The Paris and Orleans Railway, which had been previously
conceded to, and nearly completed by a company, was adopted
as the first stage of the two lines of communication intended
to be carried from the capital to the Spanish frontier. From
Orleans it was proposed to carry one of these lines, by Tours,
Poitiers, and Angouleme, to Bordeaux, and from thence to
Bayonne.
This line, from Orleans to Bordeaux, is in process of execution by the State. The first section, from Orleans to Tours,
71.5 miles in length, has been completed, and is now in operation. The entire line has been leased to a company for a
period of twenty-eight years, on the conditions of completing
the road structure, and supplying the rolling stock and all the
requisites for working the line.
With a view to establish a railway communication between
the centre of Prance, and the coal and manufacturing districts
north of Lyons, on the banks of the Loire, it was proposed to
construct a railway communication extending directly from
those districts to the port of Nantes, intersecting the great
southern line at Tours. No progress has, however, been made
in this project east of Tours. The line from Tours to Nantes
has been constructed by the government, and the section from
Tours to Angers is now open for traffic, having been leased to
a company for thirty-four years, on terms similar to those on
which the grant has been made to the company of Orleans and
Bordeaux. The other section, from Angers to Nantes, is in
progress, and will be worked by the same company when completed.
A branch of the southern trunk line was contemplated, to
be carried by Niort to Rochefort from Poitiers and La Rochelle; but this has not been conceded, or even commenced.
The continuation of this southern trunk from Bordeaux toward Bayonne still exists merely in contemplation.
The first section of the great Centre railway intended to be
carried from Paris to Perpignan is completed and in operation.
This section commences at Orleans, and is carried by Vierzon
to Chateauroux, a distance of 90 miles, and is now in operation.
A branch is thrown off at Vierzon, which proceeds eastward by
Bourges to Neronde, and is intended to be continued to Nevers.
This branch from Vierzon to Neronde is 38 miles in length,
and is in full operation.
[CHAP. XVIII.
372 
FRENCH RAILWAYS.
Great financial difficulties have been encountered in executing the southern trunk line from Paris to Marseilles. The
section from Paris to Tonnerre, by Fontainbleau and Montereau,
consisting of 122 miles, has been recently completed, and is
now open for traffic.
The section from Tonnerre to Dijon, consisting of 90 miles,
is in progress, and will speedily be completed. The section
from Dijon to Chalons-sur-Saone, consisting of 43 miles, is
completed, and under traffic.
The section from Chalons by Macon to Lyons is in progress.
The company to whom the line from Paris to Lyons was originally conceded, on a lease of forty-one years, sinking under
financial embarrassments, the Constituent Assembly, after the
revolution of February, 1848, passed a law decreeing the line
the property of the State, and offering shareholders certain compensation in government stock. This has been followed by
various negotiations, which are still in progress, and which will
probably end in the establishment of a new company on new
conditions.
The continuation of this southern trunk line from Lyons to
Avignon was granted to a company who, finding themselves involved in financial embarrassments, resolved in 1847, to wind up
their affairs, return the funds to the shareholders, and forfeit
the deposit which had been made to the government, and the
expenses incurred. Nothing has since been done with this
section of the line, and the government is now negotiating with
companies to include it with the line from Paris to Lyons under
the same contract.
This section will consist of about 150 miles.
The last section of the Marseilles line between Avignon and
Marseilles, granted to a company under a lease of thirty-three
years, has been completed and open for traffic, the chief part of
the cost of construction having been defrayed by the State.
A branch of this line, 15 miles in length, is in progress from
Rognac to Aix. The total length of the line from Avignon to
Marseilles now in operation is 78 miles.
The line connecting Paris and Strasbourg has been undertaken by the State, and is now completed and in operation, as
far as Chalons-sur-Marne, a distance of 107 miles.  The next
section, from Chalons to Nancy, making a total distance of 144
miles, will probably be in operation before the end of 1851. The
remainder of the line from Nancy to Strasbourg, as well as the
branches from Epernay to Rheims, and from Frouard to For
CHAP. XVIII.]
373 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
bach are in progress and in a forward state. The total length
of this trunk line and branches will, when completed, be 410
miles.
This line has been leased to a company for forty-four years,
on conditions similar to those already explained for the Centre
line and the Orleans and Bordeaux; the company undertaking,
however, the construction of the branch from Frouard to Forbach, 75 miles, at an expense of 1,680,000.
Of the lines contemplated to connect Marseilles with Bordeaux
and the Rhine, nothing has been done.
The connection between Marseilles and the Rhine will be
effected as far as Dijon by the great southern railway already
mentioned.  A branch is contemplated from Dijon by Besanvon,
to unite with the Strasbourg and Basle Railway at Mulhausen.
Respecting this branch, however, nothing has been done.
Besides these, which constitute the principal trunk lines indicated by the legislature, several detached lines have been projected, and some executed in different localities. These, however, are generally short, and of but little imnportance.
The following table exhibits the length of the French railways, distinguishing those which are open for traffic, those which
are in progress, and those which are projected, but not commenced:
TABULAR STATEMENT of the French Railways open, in Progress, and
projected.
Lease.                      Lines.
Dura- 
tion.
Lin es.
In
Progress.
.oles.
Passenger Railways.
NORTH OF FRANCE.
,lain line from Paris to Belgian
frontier at Quievrain......
1st branch.
Dotlay to Calais.............
Sub-branch:
Hazebrouk to Dunkirk.......
Lille to Moscron............
2d branch:
Creil to St. Quentin.........
AMIENS AND BOULOGNE............
FARIS, HAVRE, AND DIEPPE.
Paris to Rouen..............
Rouen to Havre.............
Rouen to Dieppe............
PARIS TO VERSAILLES.
Right bank.................
Left bank.................
VERSAILLES TO CIIARTRES.........
CHARTRES TO RENNES, with branch es from Mans to Caen and from
Chartres to Alencon............
I
I
374
[CHAP. XVIIL
L...
I C.. ", .t.
T,.i..ti...
ope..
P,.3-td.
,I-Ii I,.
38
38
70
38
25
99
99
99
97
99
99
883
ISO
85
9.5-5
10.5
20
77
85
55
31
11.8
10-5
44
43
1845
i5
1849
1844
1840
1842
1837
1837
i3
1874
941
1939
1941
1936
936
292 
FRENCH RAILWAYS.
Les.Lns
Lines.
In
Progress.
i;.1iles.
..
.o.
i2
5L2
PARIS TO ST. GERMAIN.............
PARIS TO ORLEANS.
Paris to Orleans............
Corbeil branch.............
ORLEANS AND BORDEAUX.
Orleans to Tours........    2 4.. 
Tours to Bourdeaux.......
TOURS TO NANTES.
Tours to Angers.............     1
Angers to Nantes.......... 5
CENTRE RAILWAY.
Orleans, by Vierzon, to Cha- 
teauroux.............. 
Branch, Vierzon to Neronde              8
by Bourges.............. J
Chateauroux to Limnoges....
PARIS TO LYONS.
Paris to Tonnerre...........
Tonnerre to Dijon...........
Dijon to Chalons-sur-Saone..
Chalons to Lyons...........
LYONS TO AVIGNON................
AVIGNON TO MARSEILLES..........
Branch to Aix..............
PARIS TO STRASBOURG.
Paris to Chalons-sur-Marne'
Chalons to Nancy......... I
Nancy to Strasbourg, with 
branches from Epernay to
Rheims, and from Frouard 
to Forbach.............. J
STRASBOURG TO BASLE............
MULHAUSEN TO THANN............
PARIS TO SCEAUX.................
BOURDEAUX TO CETTE, with branch
to Castres......................
CAEN TO ROUEN RAILWAY at two
points..........................
BEC-D'ALLIERS TO CLERMONT, with
branch to Nevers...............
MONTEREAU TO TROYES...........
BORDEAUX TO TESTE..............
MONTPELIER TO NISMES...........
LYONS TO ST. ETIENNE............
ST. ETIENNE TO ANDRESIEUX......
ANDRESIEUX TO ROANNI..........
Total................
266
..
..
.,.
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
__.
1274 
Mineral Lines.
EPINAC TO THE BOURGOGNE CANAL
MONTBRISON TO MONTROND........
ALAIS TO BEAUCAIRE AND GRANDE  COMBE.........................
ABSCON AND ANZIN TO DENAIN.....
VILLARS-COTTERETS TO PORT-AUX  PERCHES.......................
MONTPELIER TO CETTE............
MINES OF FINS TO THE ALLIER.....
CREUZOT TO CENTRE CANAL.......
DECIZE TO NIVERNOIS CANAL......
COl'HENTRY TO MOUTLUCON.......
Total................
.....
I
CIIAP. XVIII.]
375
L-.,-.
C.,."Ill',,..I.
1835
1838
1844
T,!,.i
1934
1937
1871 51
1884 1
op"..
IVI ,.
- 13
75
6.5
71-5
67
P,,,j,eed.
illill".
D.,.ti...
99
99
27
34
lS50
40 1849 1889
142
85
'i4
80
143
15
33
1848
1881
122
i
7'4
106-75
37-25
1899
1908
1936
1895
1924
1911
1856
1926
19'io
44
1855
i
13
7
6i
32-3
32-3
36
13-5
41-5
1721-9
326
151
101
577-5
70
99
50
75
70
12
99
4
1838
1837
1845
1849
1841
1844
1827
18'ii
18
10
54-5
10
5.6
16-75
15.5
6-5
4-33
9-33
150-26
Iraq
19'i7
t      - -
i
...... 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
It appears from this table, that the following are the total
lengths of the French railways for the transport of passengers
and goods, under traffic, in progress, and projected:
Under traffic....................................... 1,722 miles.
In progress..................... T................ 1,274,,
Total length open and in progress.......  2,966
Projected, but not commenced......................  577,
Total.............. 3,573,,
Besides these, there are, as appears by the above table, 150
miles of railway for the conveyance of coals and minerals, in
many cases composed of single lines of railway of comparatively
small importance.
It is difficult to ascertain with precision the actual cost of the
construction of the French railways, owing to the manner in
which they have been executed, and to the great variety of arrangensents which have been made between the government and
the companies to which they have been leased. In some cases,
as in the Northern Railway, the companies have reimbursed, or
have undertaken to reimburse the State the entire expense incurred in the construction of the line. In other cases, however,
these expenses remain to the charge of the State, and the companies undertake to provide only the remainder of the capital.
I have, however, been able to ascertain, from the published
reports of the railway companies and from the official documents published by the government, the actual cost of construction of the following lines, with sufficient approximation
to supply the basis of a general average estimate of the cost
of the entire system, completed and in progress.
SYNOPSIs of the Length andi Cost of Construction of Fifteen of the
principal French Railways.
Leapt:    Tatal Expenara af   Average
Name or Railway.                       nader     conatructian and      Coat
S..
7,216,596
1,562,564
2,682,878
2,324,790
570,440
740,258
690,832
2,3,24,784
1,749,628
1,355,916
3,473,812
2,894,193
1,788,536
996,399
949,866
- 31,321,492
North                                            7265        248
Amiens and Boulogne                              15254       22
Paris and Rouen —-------------------       
Rouen and Havre. —------------------
Rouen and Dieppe -------------------
Paris and Versailles (right bank).7
,,        (left bank)
Paris and Orleans —------------------             a      
Orleans and Tours.. —-----------------
Tours and Angers.. —-------------------
Centre —----------------------------  
Avignon and Marseilles.. —-------------
Strasbourg and Basle —--------------       
Paris and St. Germain —------------—.
Lyons and St. Etienne  ------—.                  9      
Totals and averages.. 1..
376
[CHAll. XVIII.
321
77
85
55
31
11.8
105
81-5
71-5
67
142
78
87
13
36
1167-3
22,iSl
20""
31,563 1
42'269
18,400
62,734
65,700
28,525
24,470
20,239
24,463
37,105
20,557
76,646
26,385 1
26 83 
CHAP. XVIII.]     FRENCH RAILWAYS.
The length of these fifteen lines being 70 per cent. of the total
length of the lines under traffic, and 41 per cent. of the total
length of those under traffic and in progress, we can not fall
into serious error if we assume the average cost per mile of this
extent of 1167 miles as a standard cost for the whole. This
will enable us to compute the amount of capital which has been
absorbed by the entire system of lines open, and the additional
amount which will be absorbed by those which are in progress
when completed, as well as by those which are projected, if they
should be executed. The result of this computation is as follows:
Estimated Cost of the French Passenger Railways.
~.
1722 miles open at 26,832 a mile.............. 46,204,704
1274 miles in progress at do................... 34,183,968
80,388,672
577 miles projected, nut not commenced, at do.... 15,482,064
X95,870,736
Hence it appears that the French lines executed, and those
likely to be completed, will absorb a capital of more than eighty
millions; while those which are projected, but the execution of
which has not been commenced, will require nearly fifteen
millions and a half.
It is probable that the estimate of the cost per mile which we
have assumed is not below the truth, inasmuch as, among the
fifteen lines from which it has been deduced, there are some
which are exceptionally high in their cost per mile.
It will be perceived fromn what has been explained, that the
French railway companies stand in the relation of tenants or
lessees toward the state. In many cases, the government proceeded with the construction of the lines before a grant had been
made, or even before the lines were submitted to competition.
The surveys were all made, under the direction of the government, by the engineers of the department of the Ponts et Chauss6es; the earth-work and works of art were also in some cases
constructed, the iron-work of the road laid, and the buildings
of the stations erected. In a word, several of the lines were
already in a forward state at the epochs at which they were
submitted to competition, with a view to leasing them to the
companies by whom they were to be worked.
The mode in which the government proceeds to offer the
leases to public competition is nearly the same as is customary
with public contracts in England. A day is named on which
sealed proposals previously received by the government will be
377 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
opened.   The minister lays on the table a sealed paper, in
which is stated the maximum duration of the lease which the
government has determined to grant, and it is understood that
the company Which offers to accept the line on the shortest lease
will receive the preference; but government does not bind itself
to select the shortest lease proposed, if other circumstances
appear to render another proposal preferable.
The effect of this system of competition, combined with the
railway mania which prevailed at the epoch at which the principal concessions were offered, has had the effect of greatly
abridging the period for which the leases of some of the principal lines have been granted. Instead of ninety-nine years, which
were granted to the earlier companies, the more recent leases
have been limited to periods varying from thirty to forty years.
The French railways in general have been opened at an epoch
comparatively so recent, that they supply much more limited
data for the calculations of the average results of the movement
of the traffic upon them than do the railways of Belgium or
those of the United Kingdom. The reports published, however,
have been in general so ample as in some degree to compensate
for the brief period through which they extend.
The locomotive and carrying stock, as well for passenger as
for goods traffic, is in all respects similar to that which is worked
on the English railways. Indeed, in many cases, the passenger
carriages are constructed in a more luxurious and commodious
manner, and the second-class coaches especially are provided,
and furnished with more regard to public convenience.
The locomotive duty, theconsumption of fuel, and other particulars relating to the engines on the French railways, give
results not differing in any imnportant respects from those which
have been already exhibited with reference to the railways of
the United Kingdom and of Belgium. It is found, for example,
that the average distance run by each engine lighted varies from
seventy to eighty miles; that the average daily mileage of each
engine employed is about thirty miles; and that the average
consumption of fuel per mile run, including that which is consumed in lighting and standing, is about forty pounds.
As an example of the manner in which the rolling stock is
utilized on the French railways, and of the very complete reports published of the railway statistics in that country, I give
the following synopses, deduced from the reports of the Northern
Railway Company, which works the traffic of three hundred
and twenty miles of lines, being nearly 20 per cent. of all the
lines under traffic:
378
[CRIAP. XVIII. 
CHAP. XVIII.]       FRENCH RAILWVAYS.
TABULAR SYNOPSIS of the average daily Movement of the Locomotive
Stock of the North of France Railway during the Year 1848.
Passenger
Engines.
Number employed.......... —-------------------------—. 113
Their total mileage... —------------.. —----------- 3,476
Average distance traveled per engine -----------   30-7
Total mileage of trains.................... —----------------------- 3,083
Number of trains per 100 drawn by two engines..    12-75
Equivalent number running over entire line.....  10.8
Total number of engines lighted daily. —------------       575
Average distance traveled per engine lighted. -----         92 miles.
Number of lbs. of coke consumed daily... —---------- 246,600
Number of lbs. per mile run.-.....................    46'7
NNnmher of lbs. per mile run —----------------------— 46-7
TABULAR SYNOPSIS of the average daily Movement of the Carrying-Stock
on the North of France Railway dering the Year 1848.
Equivalent
Number
running over
the entire
Line an,d
Branches.
0'03
13'2
19'8
1 988
18'8 
51-83   1
19-30
4-46
1'50
2-20
1'50
80-79
Average
Number
comerosing       e
a Train.
0'0033
1'37
2-06
1'95
5'3833
2'010
0'464
0'155
0'228
0'160
8'4003
16'000
3'900
6'150
0'170
0'003
26'223
T               o tal
Mileage.
PASSENGER STOCK.
Saloon carriages.
1st class coaches —-------         
2d,,,,..7                                         26
3d,,.........
Totals and averages
Baggage and parcel-vans                       -
Carriage and diligence  trucks —---------------       
Horse-boxes                           4       -     015         5
Milk-wagons. —---------—.
Post-offices.... —----------—.
Totals... —------
GOODS STOCK.
Flat-wagons —----------- 
Covered-wagons for sugar
and merchandise                                       -         -----
Ditto for cattle and mer  chanidise                                      -     -— 0 —— 20Sheep-wagonls -..........Wagons for transport of
turn tables.............-                                    -
Totals and averages.   3,119
i
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
379
Goods
Engines.
64
1,782
27-8
1,522
17-25
5.5
Di.t.,,.v.1 d
"I
Ve,hill".
N..b,-,
,,.pi.yed.
10
4,235
6,354
6,020
16,619
6,200
1,430
480
706
493
25,928
24,260
5,972
9,3.56
2.59
5
39,852
1 102
183
199
484
97
78
50
709
41.6
34-7
30-3
34-4
64-0
18-3
'9-6
34-9
r 3,119
1
r 12-8
75-600
18-600
29-200
0.810
0.015
124-225
12-8 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
In the last column of this table is exhibited the relation between the movement of the rolling stock and the extent of the
railway. The numbers in it express the number of vehicles of
each kind which would have run over the whole length of the
railway per day, if the movement of the rolling stock were uniformly distributed over it.
In the following table is presented a synopsis of the passenger traffic on several of the principal railways of France,
during the year 1848, together with the average results of the
whole.
It is necessary, however, to observe that this year, 1848, was
exceptional as regards the French railways more especially;
the traffic having suffered a considerable diminution, and on
several having been totally suspended for a certain interval, by
the events of the Revolution.
TABULAR SYNOPsIs of the average daily Movement of the Passenger
Traffic, and the Revenue proceeding from it on the principal French
Railways during the Year 1848.
Total            Rereipto  Average    Average
Total
Number    Average.
booked.   - daily
Mileage.
~.   s. d.  JMiles.       d.
29,555    188   7  31  57-5          1-52
66,836   318   3 10i  39-2           1-17
; 114,187   350    1  7~   26-1        0-74
210,578   856   2  7~  31-9          0-98
3    4,149     30   7   8~  53-2        1-74
7,089      38   4  2    38-5         1-30
7    5,084    21   1  91   22-4      0-96
16,322      89   3  4   32-6         1-23
3   14,625   102   6  3    45-0         1-67
32,445   170   3  3'  31-5           1-25
56,419    220    2  3    28-8        0-94
103,489   492   2 111  31-2           1-08
4     520    3-43  3  71   28-25        1-54
0    2.194   11-05  2  52   24-65    1-20
6    2,209    8-25   1  5~   19-61    0-89
Boulogne and Amiens.
1st class --------
2d class --------
3d class
Paris, Rouen, and Havre.
1st class --------
2d class --------
3d class.. —----
Rouen and Dieppe.
1st class --------
2d class --------
3d class --------
Totals and averages  220- 
i
1
2
.i
I
1
1
i!
'Z
i
330
[CHAP. XVIII.
I I.=7
4
A,,,.g.
Di.t..,,.
t,.-,,I,!d
P., P....g,!,.
A,,.,.g.
R... ipt,,
P., P —
-.ge., p,!
I'dil..
R.,-.ipt
P., P.."'g"
b..k.d.
Northem.
ist class --- ---.      2d class
3d class --------
.Totals and averages
Totals and averages
Totals and averages
4,923 22-7
2 0
22-09
1-12 
FRENCH RAILWAYS.
Average
Distance
traveled
per Pas.
senger.
Total
Number    Average 
booked.       daily
Mileage.
' Paris and St. Germain.
1st class                       9..
2d class —----—.
3d class..7
Totals and averages
* Paris and Versailles
(right).
1st class                        71.
2d class —----—.
3d class —------.
Totals and averages
Paris and Orleans.
1st class                         9         1.
2d class
3d class --------
3d class —-— ~ ——,253   44,159   130   1  2a   19'6        0'7l
3,638 111,989   492   2  81  30.7            1.05
l69    2,567   17.5   5 o0   37.2         1-62
393   11,043   56'0    2 10    28-l        1-21
1,378   29,214  96'0    1  5    21'2        0'80
_.                 _    _ _~~~~. 
1,840   42,824  169-5    1 10    24-72       0.89
116    3,190   21-4   3  0~   27-5        1'62
565   10,057   51'0   1  9~  17'8          1-21
1,300   19,240   63'0    1  6    14'8       0'81
Marseilles and Avignon.
1st class --------
2d class
3d class
Strasbourg  and  Basle,
and Mulhausen and
Thann.
1st class
2d class..
3d class --------
Totals and averages
Grand totals and general
averages.
1st class                  8         5         8
2d class —------
3d class.8
Totals and averages 22,776  567,018
* Strictly speaking, the class denominated 1st on these lines, corresponds with the
saloon class on other French railways, and is scarcely analogous to Ist-class passengers generally. Hence the exceptionally small proportion of these passengers.
It will be desirable to show, as we have done with respect to
the railway traffic elsewhere, the proportion in which the dif
I
I
CHAP. XVIII.]
381
,.E4
R-"ipt.
Pe, P.".,."g",
b..k,-d.
A-,,,,g,a
R,,,.Pti,
p,,, P". mil
Totals and averages
Totals and averages
1,981  32,487
1,607 84,575
5,612  175,750
15,557  306,693
135-4
1   4-i 16-40
0-97
538
872
1,036
2,446
6 8
3 11
1 4'4
2 12,
52-43
31-20
19-72
24-9
1-53
1.19
0.81
1-03 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
ferent classes of passengers have contributed to the business of
the railways.
This is done in the following table for several of the principal
lines, and the average result of the whole is given:
TABLE showing the Proportion of Business supplied to the principal
French Railways by the several Classes of Passengers, and the Pro  portion in which they contributed to the Receipts.
Share of each
Class in every
100 Miles
traveled.
North of France.
1st class. —-------------
2d class................
3d class. —--
7-8          14'0            22-0
25-8           31-7           37-3
66-4           54-3           40'7
100.0          100.0          l1000
16-0          25-5           33-7
37-5           43-5           42-7
46-5           31-0          23-6
100-0          100-0          100-0
9.8          14-1           20-7
31.1           31-3          34-6
d591           54'6          44-7
100-0          100'0          100,0
8-4           10.5          15-2
40'0           44-5          48-6
51-6           45'0           36-2
100-0          100-0          100-0
0'3            0'4           0-6
17-5           16-1          18-4
82-2           83'5           81'0
100-0          100'0          100-0
0'3           0'38           0'6
17'6          20-62           23-8
82-1           79'00         75-6
Boulogne and Amiens.
1st class ----------------
2d class
.'d class................
Paris, Rouen, and Havre.
1st class................
2d class................
3d class................
Rouen and Dieppe.
~ 1st class.-. —-----------
2d class................
3d class.-. —-----------
'Paris and St. Germain.
1st class.. —------------
2d class................
3d class................
Total ---------
" Paris   and  Versailles   (right
bank).
1nst class................
2d class................
I 3d class................
I Total. —------
* See note to table at p. 381.
I
I
I
I
I
I
II
LOHAP. XVIII.
382
Number of
ach Class ii-i
every 100
booked.
Share of
each Classin
every X100
Receipts.
Total..-. —..
Total ---------
Total ---------
Total ---------
100-0
100.0
100.0 
FRENCH RAILWAYS.
Nube  of  Shr  fech                o
Share of each
lass in every
100 Miles
traveled.
Orleans.
1st class................
2d class................
3d class................
13'0           26'6          35'6
25'1          34'0            38 1
61'9           39-4           26'3
100'0          100'0          100'0
3'-8           6'0          10-3
21'4           25-8           33'1
74-8           68'2           56-6
100'0          100'0          100'0
5.9           10'0           15'8
28-5           30'8           37-8
65-6           59'2           46-6
100'0          100'0          100'0
Marseilles and Avignon.
1st class ----------------
2d class................
3d class................
Strasbourg and Basle,
1st class................
2d class................
3d class................
Total ---------
General averages.
1st class................
2d class ----------------
3d class --------------—.
Total ---------
Total —---------— 10O'O            100'0     00'0
By comparing the mileage and receipts of the passengers
with the mileage of the engines or trains, the average number
of passengers carried by each train, and the average receipts
per train per mile, may be ascertained. This is exhibited in
the following table:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the daily Movement and daily average Receipts
of the Passenger Traffic on the undermentioned French Railways for
the Year 1848.
Average   Average
daily Mile- Average daily  Av erage   Receoipts
age of Pas-   Mileage of  Number of Pei,
senger    Passengers.  Passeigers per Mile
Trains.                 per Train,   run.
S. d.
Northern............ —---------------  3,083  210,578  68'0    6  94
Boulogne and Amiens.... 616                 16,322        26'5      4  9
Paris, Rouen, and Havre.         2,677      103,489        38'7       5  0
Rouen and Dieppe          -       -- 330      4,923        14'9       2  3
Paris and St. Germain....         182        24,087       132'0     10  3
Paris and Versailles (right)      154        20,319       132-0      12  6
Paris and Orleans --------    1,265         111,989        88'5          0
Orleans and Tours --------        565        75,710       134'0      6  11
Strasbourg and Basle  -.    841              32,487        38-6      3  61
Avignon and Marseilles... 740               42,824        58.0       5 1
Totals and averages-   10,453         642,728       61'4      7   2i
I
I
I
CHAP. XVIII.]
383
Numlfer of
each Class i
every 100
booked.
Share of
each Clas. in
every XIOO
Receipts.
Total..........
Total ---------
21-9
35-6
42-5
7-0
5!4-6
68-4
100-0
14-9
30.9
54-2
100.0
100.0 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
To ascertain the proportion in which each class of objects of
transport contributed to the gross revenue of the railways, it is
only necessary to compare the receipts proceeding from each
class with the gross receipts.
The results of such a comparison for some of the principal
railways are given in the following table:
e of every ~100 of gross Revenue contributed
o il the under-mentioned French Railways.
North of      Orleas         Paris and     Rouen and
France.                      Rouen.         Havre.
49'40          48-20         46-70          37-60
1-47          5.55           2-51           1-92
-  50-87    53-75  -49'21  -  39-52
8-86           3-47         10-72           8'95
0-27           0-45          0-24           0-02
0-67          1-02           0'44           0-03
2-22          3.39           3-65           2-67
34-25          30-64         31-40          48-00
1-52          7-28           0-05           0'01
1-34..             4-29          0-80
-  49-13  -  46-25  -  50-79  -  60-48
100-00         100-00        10000          100-00__
100-00        100-00         100-00         100'.00)
By comparing the mileage of the tons of goods carried, and
the gross receipts produced by them, with the number of tons
booked, we are enabled to ascertain all the circumstances attending the goods traffic.
These are exhibited in the following table:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Movement of the Goods Traffic, and the
Receipts proceeding from it, onr some of the principal French Rail ways.
Average          Average
N_brAeaeDsac   vrg
s. d.
8   0
11   0
5 31
3 10
Northern......................... 1015   84,821
Paris and Orleans. —--------------- 713   41,653
Paris, Rouen, and Havre..........  1367   80,534
Lyons and St. Etienne............   190   49,300
The proportion in which the revenue of the principal lines
has proceeded from passengers and merchandise is exhibited in
the following table, the revenue from passengers including all
the traffic carried by tihe passenger trains:
I
384
[CHAP. XVIII.
Passengers................
Baggage..................
Parcels....................
Horses....................
Carriages.................
Mails......................
Goods....................
Cattle.....................
Sundries..................
Total
83-5
58'5
59.0
26-0 
FRENCH RAILWAYS.
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Total average daily Receipts, Expenses, and
Profits on the principal French Railways during the Year 1848, show  ing the Proportion due to Passengers and Goods.
Per Cent. of
Total Receipts.
Passen- GFods.
geros.
62-5   37-5
89'0    11'0
65-5   34-5
67-2    32-8
....
62 4 37-6
48-6    51-4
70'5   29'5
67-0   33-0
96-5     3-5
24-6   75-4
62-8   37-2
Receipt  s.
Per
Good s
T rains.
~..d
627
18-3
348
17-8
00
00
384
208
97
73
7-3
366
2146-4
Northern..............
Boulogne and Amiens..
Paris, Rouen, and Havre
Rouen and Dieppe......
Paris and St. Germain..
Paris and Versailles....
Paris and Orleans......
Orleans and Tours......
Centre................
Strasbourg and Basle...
Avignon and Marseilles.
Lyons and St. Etienne..
Totals and averages 38-9 2146-4 5765-3 62-8 37-2 3622 2143-3
By comparing the receipts, expenses, and profits with the
movement of the trains, the length of the lines worked, and the
expense of their construction, we obtain the proportion of these
assignable to each mile run by the trains, each mile of the railway open, and each 100 of the capital expended. This is
exhibited in thie following table:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Proportion of the Receipts, Expenses, and
Profits on the French Railways, chargeable per Mile run by Trains,
per Mile of Lines worked, and per Cent. of Capital expended.
Pee Mite of Teaee.       Pee Mile of Railway      Poe cent. pee Anasm
Railway.          -                                                         of capseaL
Re      Rn-    FeaSts        -           FeaSts   Re-       En.   FeaSts
Re       Exceipts.  penses.
s. d. d.
7 36             3                                6
73 s...
....
....
10 3   7  8
12 6   8  3
96  6 0
8  8~   5   4
....
5 31 4 0
....
....
I176 4 3
Northern.........
Boulogne and Am  iens............
Paris, Rouen, and
Havre..........
Rouen and Dieppe
Paris and St. Ger  main...........
Paris and Versailles
Paris and Orleans.
Orleans and Tours.
Centre............
Strasbourg      and
Basle...........
Avignon and Mar  seilles..........5
Lyons and St. Eti  enne...........
Receipts.
~.
5-24
2-14
7-28
1-75
7-15
8-17
12-50
5-64
2-34
2-22
5'25
13-50
5'30
R
I
C HAP. XVIII.]
385
.5
1
I
I
F" Pl",..gel
T,.i.,S.
.Z
X.
1053
147
671
36-4
93
96.5
634
1196
235
149
189
119
3618-9
T.t.l.
X.,
3680
165-3
1019
54-2
93
96-5
1018
404
332
22
196-3
485
5765-3
R.il.y.
P,.fit,,.
xso
102
8351
47-5
69
63-5
642
252
218
168
152
273
3622
X- -
877
63-3
187
6-7
24
33
376
152
114
54
44-3
')12
2143-3
Totals and averages
P, Ce,t. pe,
"f C.Pit
P,, Mil,, f T,.in..
P,a, Mil f Ril.y.
il.Y.
-X.
2-50
1-32
5-93
1-53
5.3 i
5-38
7-87
3-52
1-54
1.68
3.6o
7-50
3-33
R,eipt..
8.50
3.87
7-43
3-45
3-36
13-00
16-00
9-15
3-76
4-25
2-47
18-60
7-20
E.
4-07
2-39
6-06
3-03
51,49
8-55
10-08
5-70
2-47
3-l
1.92
10-50
4-52
P,.f,t..
,. d.
3 9i
2 7
4 3
3 6
3 4
1 3-,t
3 3
P,.fit..
X.
2-74
O-En
1-35
0.22
1-84
2-79
4-63
2.12
0.80
0-54
1.95
5-91
1-97
P,.fit".
4-43
1-48
1-37
0-42
0-87
4-45
5.92
3-45
1.29
1-04
0.55
8-10
2-68 
386                    RAILWAY  ECONOMY.                [CHAP. XVIII.
The average speed of the passenger trains on the principal
French lines is exhibited in the following table:
I TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Movement of the Passenger Traffic on the
French Lines of Railway, showing the average Speed, Stoppages, &c.,
of each Class of Trains.-N.B. An average Loss of Five Minutes is
allowed for each Stoppage, except in particular Cases where a greater
Delay is fixed by the Programme.  This is intended to include the
Time lost in coming to Rest, and getting up Speed.
Diitaee   Average   Alve rdag.e
Railway                  Train      traveled.  i.     Stop.f   Speed Speed till
includieg  eoctadio
pages.    Stop-  excludng
pages.    patp.
Paris to Calais...........
Paris to Boulogne....6...1
Paris to Havre............
Paris to Orleans........
Orieans to Tours..........
Tours to Angers..........
Paris to Chtalons-sur-Marne
Totals and averages..
Mail
1st class
3d class
1st class
2d class
Night M.
1st class
3d class
1st class
2d class
..
Ist class
2d class
1st class
2d class
3d class
.........
Miles.
29'35
25'40
18'85
25 -00
23 -5 0
20'70
23'00
19'75
23'10
18'72
16-50
13'25
7'20
-2'95
22'10
21 35
21'20
h. m.
8.0
9 25
12   3        0
6      4    5
7 10
6 45
6    5
7    5
3 15
4    0
3 55
3    0
5 30
4 38
4 50
5   0
97 53
i
i
Y,il,;
235.
235-0
235-0
168-3
168-3
140-0 -
140-0
140-0
75-00
75-00
r,4-50
39-75
39-75
106-75
10,6-75
106-75
2075-85
10
23
33
15
21
1
22
28
4
17
15
5
13
10
12
14
243
1
34-60 1
32-40
515-40 1
9,9-30 1
33-10
34-25
20-85
25-80
28-85
24-25
15-30
8-65
-10
516-65
28-00
26-95'i
-—  i 
CHAPTER XIX.
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
THE Germanic States are the only extensive theatre of railway enterprise which now remains to be noticed, and under
this term I would be understood to include all that portion of
Central Europe which is situate east and north of the Rhine.
The system of railways executed and in progress upon this
part of the Continent is very unequally distributed, in accordance with the unequal distribution of population, commerce, and
industry. A tract, east of the frontier of the kingdom of the
Netherlands, having a length of about four hundred miles measured east and west, and a breadth of about two hundred miles
measured north and south, is covered with a close network of
railways, most of which are completed and in operation, and
the remainder in active progress.
This system includes Prussia Proper and its provinces, the
kingdoms of Hanover and Saxony and their dependencies, and
Brunswick and the other northern duchies. These form an
extensive basin of population, commerce, and industry, subordinate and tributary to which all the other systems of railways
in the Germanic States may be considered. These latter systems consist of four distinct trunk lines, running north and south
in parallel directions.
The first follows the course of the Rhine, commencing at
Cologne, and terminating for the present at Ble. This system
is completed and in full operation from Mayence and Frankfort
to Bile, and from Cologne to Bonn, the link between Bonn and
Mayence being still incomplete.
Short branches are thrown off from this trunk line at various points, to reach principal centres of population which do
Iot lie in its direct course, such as Baden, Manheim, and
Spires.
The second of these tributary lines which run north and
south is the Wtirtemburg Railway, which has for its point of
departure Stuttgard, the capital of that kingdom. From this
the line proceeds northward to Heilbronn, to which point it is
complete and in operation.  From Heilbronn, it is proposed to
continue it to Frankfort; and a branch is also projected to connect Stuttgard with Carlsruhe.
I 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
From Stuttgard, the line is carried southward by Ulm to
Frederickshafen, on Lake Constance. This part is also nearly
completed. It is proposed to continue the line southward from
a point on the opposite shore of the lake, crossing the Alps,
by the pass of the Splugen, and descending by the western
shores of the Lago Maggiore into the plain of Piedmont, terminating on the field of Marengo, under the walls of Alexandria. Here this line would join the Piedmont system of
railways, and thus communicate at once with Turin and Genoa.
A continuous line of railway communication would thus be
made firom Genoa to Cologne, and thence to the principal ports
of the Baltic, the Sound, the German Ocean, and the Channel,
by means of the extensive network of railways already described as overspreading the northern section of the Germanic States,
and by the Belgian lines.
The third great tributary to which we have referred is that
which traverses the kingdom of Bavaria, having Munich as its
point of departure. From Munich it proceeds northward, by
Augsburg, Donauworth, Nuiremberg, Bamberg, and Lichtenfels, to HIof, where it unites with the Saxon railways, and ultitnately reaches Leipsic; being thus connected with the great
northern system already mentioned. This northern trunk of
the Bavarian system throws off several branches east and west.
From Augsburg a branch is in progress, intended to b.e carried
to Lindau, on the shores of Lake Constance. This is completed and opened as far as Kaufbeuren, the remainder being
in progress. Another branch proceeds westward from Augsburg, and unites with the Wuirtemburg Railway at Ulm. From
Ntiremburg a branch is projected (but not yet commenced), to
be carried eastward, and to terminate on the left bank of the
Danube, at Ratisbon.  From Bamberg a branch is in progress
westward, to be carried through Wuirzburg to Frankfort on the
Maine, and there to unite with the great Rhenish trunk. From
Lichtenfels a link is projected, but not yet commenced, to pass
through Cobourg and Meiningen to Cassel. Finally, it is intended to carry a branch eastward from Hof to Pilsen in Bohemia, and from thence, by two branches to Prague on the one
side, and to Budweis, the terminus of an Austrian mineral line,
on the other.
The Bavarian trunk line for the present terminates at Munich,
but it is designed to carry it southward and eastward. The
southern trunk will traverse the Tyrol, passing through Innspruck and Bautzen, following the pass of the Alps to Trent,
[CHAP. XIX.
338 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
and terminating finally at Verona, where it will unite with the
railway connecting Venice and Milan.
When this project shall be realized, a continuous railway
communication will be in operation between the Adriatic and
the ports of the Baltic, the Sound, the German Ocean, and
the Channel, the course being through the Tyrol, Bavaria,
and either through the Rhenish states, or through Prussia,
according as it is desired to reach the German Ocean or the
Baltic.
The eastern trunk will be carried from Munich to Saalsburg,
on the frontiers of Austria, where it will fork; one branch
being carried to the Linz and Gmuinden line at Lambach, and
the other to the Vienna and Trieste line at Brick. When
this project is realized, an unbroken railway communication
will be formed from Vienna westward to Munich, and from
thence, by Augsburg, Ulm, and Stuttgard, to the Rhine at
Frankfort.
The fourth tributary of the northern basin is that which
traverses Austria north and south, having Vienna for its point of
departure, and throwing off numerous and important branches.
This line proceds south from Vienna by Glognitz, Gratz, Cilli,
to Laybach, an.d terminates at Trieste. The line is already
open and in operation to Laybach, with the exception of a
short distance presenting some engineering difficulties near
Glognitz. The section between Laybach and Trieste crosses
the Julian Alps, and will be attended with some engineering
operations of an expensive kind.
Of the branches from this southern trunk of the Austrian line,
one of the most important is that which has been already mentioned, connecting Bruck with Saalsburg and Munich. Another
proceeds eastward from Neustadt, and is completed as far as
Oderberg. It is intended to be continued to Pesth; and the
last section of it, connecting Stahlweissenberg with Pesth, is in
operation. From Vienna, several short lines to neighboring
places of resort, such as Laxenberg, Brtick, and Stokerau, are
completed and in operation.
The trunk line is carried northward from Vienna by Gandserndorf, Lundenburg, and Prerau, to Oderburg, on the confines
of Upper Silesia, where it unites with the extensive system
of northern lines already adverted to. This northern trunk
throws off several extensive and important branches.  The
first proceeds eastward from Gandserndorf to Presburg and
Pesth, throwing off a sub-branch to Tyrnau. It is completed
CHAP. XIX.]
389 
RAILWAY EOONOMY.
and in operation as far as Presburg, as is also the last section
between Waitzen and Pesth, and the sub-branch to Tyrnau,
the intermediate sections being in progress.
From Pesth the line is continued eastward into Hungary as
far as Debreczen, about half its length, terminating at Sczolnok,
being completed and in operation.
Another branch of the northern trunk is carried westward
fiom Lundenberg, passes the field of Austerlitz at Bruinn, and
is continued from thence to Bohm-Tribau in Moravia. Another
branch proceeds eastward from Prerau by Olmutz, and unites
with the former at Bohm-Tribau.  From  Bohm-Tribau this
line proceeds further eastward by Kollint to Prague, from
whence it is continued northward to Dresden, following the
valley of the Elbe, where it unites with the great northern system already described.  Short branches are thrown off from
Prague to Lana and to Saatz.
The branch lines from the Austrian northern trunk, extending across the entire territory of Bohemia, are complete and in
full operation, with the exception of a short section near Dresden, between Pirna and Aussig.
This Austrian system of railways thus carried north and
south, and which is now completed, except the short section
between Labach and Trieste, forms an almost unbroken line
of railwvay communication between Trieste and the various
ports of the Baltic, the Sound, and the German Ocean, and
presents various routes according to to destination aimed at.
If the ports of the German Ocean be desired to be reached,
the branch diverging eastward at Lundenbeig will be adopted,
by which the traveler will pass pass through Bohemia, Saxony,
and Western Prussia, touching at Prague, Dresden, Leipsic,
Magdeburg, and arriving ultimately at Hamburg. If it be desired to reach the ports of the Baltic or the Sound, he will
pursue the Austrian trunk line to Oderburg, on the frontiers
of Silesia, where he will enter on the Prussian-Silesian system,
and will pass by Breslau, Frankfort on the Oder, and Berlin to
Stettin.
Berlin is the common centre and point of departure of the
extensive system of northern railways. From this capital seven
trunk lines will ultimately diverge, five of which are completed
and in operation.  The first of these connects Berlin with Hamburg, passing through Wittenberg, and following the right bank
of the Elbe.
The second connects Berlin with Hanover and Dusseldorf,
390
[CHA.P. XIX. 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
on the right bank of the Rhine, passing through Magdeburg,
Brunswick, Minden, and  Hamm,  and throwing off various
branches in its course.
The third proceeds firom Berlin, by Potsdam, to Kothen,
Halle, Weimar, Gotha, and Cassel. From Halle, a link connects it with Leipsic, and this is continued from Leipsic to
Dresden. A shorter course, however, has been opened between Berlin and Dresden, by a link formed with the Berlin
and Kothen line just mentioned, proceeding from Jiiterbogt to
Riesa, passing through Herzburg.
The fourth line diverging from Berlin, and which may be
considered as the continuation of the Berlin and Hamburg line,
passes through Frankfort on the Oder, and is carried through
Upper Silesia, by Bunslau, Breslau, and Oppeln, to Kosel,
where it forks, one branch going to Cracow, and the other
uniting with with the Austrian northern trunk at Oderburg, on
the frontier. This Silesian trunk line by Berlin and Cracow
throws off various branches of more or less importance, connecting it with the principal centres of population and industry
on the one side and the other. A most important branch, proceeding northward fromn this line, is intended to be carried
from Breslau by Posen to Dantzic and Konigsberg; and another is projected from Frankfort to Posen, uniting with this
latter.
The fifth line diverging from Berlin proceeds northward to
Stettin, from whence it is carried at right angles by Stargard
to Posen.
The two remaining lines diverging from Berlin have not yet
been commenced. One will proceed northward to Strelitz, and
the other eastward to Bromberg, in the grand duchy of Posen,
uniting at this point with the Breslau and Dantzic line already
mentioned.
A great number of lines are projected, but not yet com menced, in the tract of country between the Weser and the
German Ocean, which will be seen by reference to the table
of railways completed and projected, which we shall presently
give.
Dresden and Hanover form two secondary centres of diverg ence of this northern Germanic system. From Dresden three
trunks diverge; one, which has been already mentioned, fol lows the valley of the Elbe to Prague; another proceeds east ward, by Bautzen to Kohlfurt, where it unites with the Silesian
trunk line connecting Berlin with Breslau, throwing off a branch
to Zittau; the third trunk, which diverges from Dresden  plo
CHAP. XIX.]
.391 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
ceeds westward to Leipsic, first following the right bank of the
Elbe, which it crosses at Riesa. A branch proceeds from
Riesa to Chemnitz, now in operation, which is to be continued
to Zuickau, and to join the Saxon-Bavarian line at Werdau.
From Hanover three trunk lines issue, all of which are in
operation: one directed to Bremen, following the right bank
of the Weser; another by Celle and Luneburg to Harburg, on
the left bank of the Elbe, opposite Hamburg.
The third trunk proceeding from Hanover, being the continuation of the great line from Berlin westward, strikes the
Elbe at Minden, and is continued by Hamm and Duisburg to
Cologne. This line throws off several branches. One which
proceeds firom Minden, and which is in progress, will pass
through Osnabruck and Lingen to Emden. Another proceeds
from Hamm eastward by Padderborne to Cassel, where it is
connected with the line which traverses the duchies of Anhalt,
and is continued to Halle, Leipsic, and Dresden. Another
branch of this trunk line connects Harem with Munster. At
Dortmund the line forks; one branch proceeding to Dusseldorf
by Elberfeld, and the other to Dusseldorf by Duisburg.  At
Cologne this unites with the Belgian railways, which open a
communication to the ports of the Netherlands and to the
French system of railways.
The progress of the construction of the Germanic railways
for the last five years, including those which are merely projected, as well as those which are in progress or contemplated,
is exhibited in the following table:
TABLE showing the Progress of the Railways in the Germanic States
during the Five Years ending December 31, 1849.
1845.  1847.  1849.
RAILWAYS.
Miles. Miles.   Miles.
Completed and in operation................... 1,588  2,828   4,542
In process of construction. —------------------- 2,917  2,138   800
Total completed and in process of construction 4,505 4,966   5,342
3,114
Projected or contemplated, but not finally decided
on or sanctioned by the state.. —---------------
Total constructed, in progress, sanctioned, and
contemplated............................ —           
I
I
i
I
[CHAP.  XI X.
392
1,gQl
8,186
8,456 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
In order to present a complete view of the present state of
the railways constructed and in progress in the Germanic States,
I have collected in the following table the railways classed as
they are in operation, in progress, or merely projected, according
to the most recent documents. The lengths assigned to the
lines open and in progress are generally exact, being taken from
official reports. The lengths of the lines projected are in some
cases taken only from measurement on the maps and charts.
TABLE showing the Railways of the Ger
those which were in operation, those v
those which were projected but not come
RAILWAYS.
Altona-Kiel.................................
Branches to Gluckstadt and Rendsburg......
Amsterd am-Rotterdam-Arnheim............
Annabtrg-Bochnia..........................
Arnheimil-Duisburg..........................
Arnheim-Zwolle............................
Augsburg-Ulm..............................
B amberg-Francfort-on-Maine.................
Bavarian Railway (Lindau-Hof).............
Branch: Aiigsburg-Munich................
Berlin-Hamburg.............................
Berlin-Stettin-Posen.......................
Berlin-Dantzic..............................
Berlin-Potsdam- Magdebrg.................
Berlin-Kothen-Bernburg....................
Berlin-Breslau..............................
Branch: Handsdorf-Glogau................
Breslau-Fribotrg............................
Branch: Konigszeit-Schwednitz............
Breslau-Kozel..............................
Bresltnu-Bromberg...........................
Bileig-Niesse................................
Budiveis-Gmiinden..........................
Canstadt-Esslingen..........................
Cassel-Francfort-on-Maine...................
Cologne —Duisburg...........................
Cologne-Herbestal...........................
Cologne-Bonn...............................
Constance to Alexandria by Splugen...........
Copenhagen-Roskild-Kersoer...............
Del fzyl —Meppel-A rlingen...................
Dresden-Lobau-Zittau......................
Dresden-Prague.............................
Dusseldorf- Dortmund........................
Dusseldog —Maestricht.......................
Flensburg-Rensburg-Husum.................
Francfort-on-Maine —VWiesbaden..............
Francfort-Hanau............................
Francfort-Soden.............................
Francfort-Fribourg-Efringeii................
Branches: Baden-Kehl....................
Gendserndorf-Pesth.........................
Gbttingen-Cassel............................
Length of Line.
Miles.
65'5
31-10
100-0
..
..
..
37-4
176-0
184'20
9'. o
109-6
241 3
43-75
35'6
5'75
78-0
81-0
122'0
6'3
i6.o
53'30
18-4
4..
20-0
20'0
34-1
~..
25-3
25-0
10'0
224'5
25-0
57'0
CHAP. XIX.]
393
rmanic States, distinguishing
hich were in progress, and
ei,iced in 1849.
Nil,,.
100.0
70-0
40-0
45-0
230-0
350-0
182.0
130.0
260-0
50.0
160-0
60-0
70-0
65-0
74-0
28.0 
394                 ~~RAILWAY  ECONOMY.                        CA.XX
L~ength of Lin.,
RAILWAYS. ~~~Completed.                                             in p,og"-ee.    Pojected.
]Falle-Weimar-Caisel......................iG~
Hlalle-Gd.ttingen-Brunswick........................                  00
Haiiim-Munster.............................6~
Hamm-Dunisburg............................0~
Hlamm-Cassel.............................3.0. 4~
Hanover-Bremien...........................64.
Hanover-Hlarburg..............
Hanover-Branswick.............
Hlanover-H-,tmm...............
Hildesheim-Celle...........................35
Hlof-Pilsen.......................................                  90
Jdt~ebogt-Riesa..............................0 
Kosel-Cracow............................... 
Kosel-Annaburg............................97
Kotzbus-Goyatz.............................2
Lana-Budweis..................................00                    80
Leipsic-Drese d.............................73
Leignitz-Liss...................
Lichitenfels-Gerstung...........................                     8~
Lundenbnirg-Prague......................15
Lingen- Zwol..................
Lingen-   Munse..................
Lubeck- Schwei...............
Luheck-llamburg-Kiel..~.......................                      70
Magdeburg-Brnwc..............
Branches: Oschernieben  llalberntadt.........l6
Wolfenbittle-Harzhnrg............26
Magdeburg-Leipsic..........................2'
Manheim-Spires............................0~
Manheim-Meiz..............................     5~
Mecklenbiirg-Seliwerin-Hagenan...............14
Middleburg-Dusseldorf.............................                  7~
MidnEmden..................................                    20
Mnnich-Lambach................................                      00
Munich-Verona..................................                     60
Nienntadt-Oderburg.........................3 0
Noremberg-Fo.rth...........................3.
Odenburg-Raab...................................                    4~
OwetnWarsaw.......................110               5~
Peoth-Diebrizen...........................00              6~
Pesth —Stalweissetiierg.......................40
Prague-Lana................................~
Pragne-Saatz......................3 0
Presbnrg-Tyrnan...................20
Pieratt-Annabnrg...........................4'
Riena-Meisnen..............................6~
Riena-Gnhen.....................................                     0
Rotterdaim.-Utrechte................................                 30
Schwerin-Rostock..............................                      4~
Vienna-Briinn-Bnhm...............74
Vienna-Stockeraun...................1~
Vienna-Bruick...............................~
Vienna-Trieste........................290                 90
Branch: Mlidling-Laxenbiirg...........57
Wilrtemhnrg Railway (Heilbronn- Stuttgard  Frederickshafen)...........................~            5'
Total........454230            8000      3114'0
I
I
394
[CITA.P. XIX.
Mil,,.
160.0
16-o
50.0
36-0
64-0
64-0
40-5
95.0
30-5
. o
92-0
19-70
22-0
71-3
18-6
27-6
72-5
10.0
li-4
32-0
3-5
161-0
40-0
40-0
41.0
35.0
20.0
34-2
16-0
174-4
13-8
25-5
259.0
5-75
107-3
4542-30
108.0
54-0
90.0
80.0
80.0
4- 0
80.0
60.0
40-0
40-0
79-0
50.0
170-0
120.0
200.0
260-0
45-0
i6. o
60-0
80.0
30-0
42-0
92.0
50.0
800.0
3114-0
Total........ 
0-48
0-96
17-26
6-16
6'45
0-12
3-86
..
..
..
Kingdom of Saxony
Saxon Duchies....
Bavaria..........
Wirtemburg......
Grand Duchy of
Baden..........
Grand  Duchy  of
Hesse..........
Nassau...........
Free city of Franc fort............
Electorate of Hesse
Duchly  of Bruns wick...........
Kingdom of Hano ver............
Schamberglippe...
Free cities of Ham burg, Lubeck, and
Bremen.........
Duchy of Mecklen burg............
Duchy of Holstein
andLavensburg..
2,828'0   100-0   2,138-0   100-0   1,299-0
The German railways have been constructed in some cases
by companies, and in others by the government. Those of the
grand duchy of Baden, the kingdoms of Wuirtemburg, Bavaria,
and Hanover, the empire of Austria, the duchy of Brunswick,
and the principailties of Hesse, have been, with a few exceptions, constructed and are worked by the States. Even in the
few cases where the construction of particular lines was confided to companies, the governments have generally redeemed
them. 
I
178-16
13-92
151-17
24'33
161-14
34'90
23-70
5-80
75-80
59'50
..
6-2114'670
0'49    44]10
5'33    448-00
0'86    149'70
5-'66 35'80
1-23    44-10
0'84 1    3-48
0'20     10-44
..  I 179-80
2-58..
2-10   1 55'70
..   1   15-59
6:98
2-05
20-70
6'98
1'67
2-05
0-17
0'49
8-46
.,
7'29
0'73
'4-64
88-10
44-10
32-48
40-06
'3-62
6-63
246-93
0:36
6-84
3-41
2'52
3-1.5
0-28
0-51
19.19
'9'28
18'53
331-80
118'20
124'00
2-32
74'30
..
.o.
.,.
9'28
46-40
124-50
0'34
1-64
4'40
2-32
95-10
9-28
0-12
4-44
0'43
18-54
69'50
80-30
0'96
3'62
4-18
4..
44-10
.o.
3-42
00'0 1,921-0 100-0 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
In Prussia, the State has abstained from any direct interference with the construction or working of the railways, but has
extended encouragement to the private companies by whom
the extensive systemn of lines which cover its territory has been
executed. In cases where the traffic did not offer sufficient
encouragement to stimulate private enterprise, the government
has extended its aid, either in the shape of subvention, or by
taking certain shares in the line, or in guaranteeing a minimum
rate of interest on capital. The government, however, reserves
a power of redemption at the end of thirty years, on the condition of paying to the railway proprietors a capital equal to
twenty-five times the average amount of the dividends enjoyed
by the shareholders for the preceding five years. The State
would, in that case, assume the responsibilities and debts of the
company, but it would at the same time take possession of their
entire assets, as well as the reserve fund. The State engages
meanwhile, not to permit parallel and competing lines to be
constructed. The government also retains a power of controlling the tariff.
Constructed with a view to a traffic comparatively limited, and
resembling closely in their commercial conditions the roads of
the United States, the German railways have been constructed,
in general, on principles analogous to those which have been
found to answer so well in America. The vast expenditure for
earth-work and costly works of art, such as viaducts, bridges,
and tunnels, by which valleys are bestridden and mountains
pierced to gain a straight and level line in the English system,
have not been attempted; and the railways have been carried
more nearly along the natural level of the country, the cost of
earth-work having been generally limited to that of short cuttings
and low embankments. Curves of comparatively short radius
have also been admitted, so that the railways might wind along
those levels which would offer the most economical conditions
of construction.
The following table will illustrate the general characters of
the lines as to gradients and curves, compared with those which
prevail in England:
396
[CHAr. XIX. 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
TABLR showing the prevailing Gradients and Curves on the principal
Railways of the Germanic States, as well as the exceptional Gra  dients of steeper Acclivities, and the exceptional Curves of shorter
Radius, where they occur.
Gradients.
Pre-   Excepvailing.  tioeal.
Ore i   Ore in
200..
525..
300
200      43
100      45
46       15
22..
300
280    130
130      50(2)
150..
100..
300..
200..
300    200
114. 230..
300..
300..
300..
300
130 3o0
200      38(5)
200..
200
140      55(6)
170      46
400..
360
500    100(7)
270..
Baden Railway (Manheim
-Francfort)...........
(1) Six curves have radii
under 400 yards.
Line absolutely straight.
Niremberg-Firth......
Munich-Augsburg......
BIlavarian State lines.....
Wtirtemburg State lines..
Budweis-Linz..........
Linz-Munden..........
Austrian Northern.......
Vienne-Glognitz........
Miirzuchslag-Trieste....
(2) At the passage of the
Semmering.
Vienna-Pragne..........
Prague-Dresden.......
Breslau-Oppela.........
Breslau-Fribourg.......
(3) On the Schweidnit
branch.
Lower Silesia...........
Berlin-Frankfort-sur-Oder
Berlin-Stettin...........
Berlin-Potsdam........
Anhalt..................
Magdeburg-Leipsic.....
Magdeburg-Halberstadt...
Dusseldorf-Elberfeld....
Cologne-Belgian frontier
(4) Self-acting plane.
(5) Inclined plane.
(s) At Aix-la-Chapelle
station.
(9) At Leipsic station.
Leipsic-Dresden........
Saxon-Bavarian........
Saxon-Silesian.........
Brunswick-Harzburg....
Brunswick-M agdeburg..
Brunswick-Hanover....
Hainburg-Bergedorf.....
Francfort-Wiesbaden...
(6) At Dresden station.
In the first and third columns of this table are given the characteristic or prevailing gradients and radii; and in the second
and fourth columns are given those which occur only exceptionally, where the character of the ground rendered them inevitable. In some cases, as, for example, in the section of the railway constructed from Brunswick to Harburg, on the left bank
of the Elbe, facing Hamburg, the prevailing gradient is 1 in
166; but in one section of this line extending over a distance of
about five miles, being the section between Hamburg and the
station of Weinenburg, there is a series of gradients which vary
I
CI-IAP. XIX.]
397
dii f
P,e,ili.g.
Mll,,,.
0-56
..   1
0-37
0.011
0.09
0-5
1.0
0.18
0.18
0.18
1.11
1-17 1
0-7
0-65
0-56
0.9
0-7
0-58
0-7
0-7
0-7
0-7
0-5
0-4
0-7
0.8
0.8
o.'i
f R,,il,,.y.
Ob,,.ti....
Mineral lines worked by
horse power.
(11) At Lherte station.
(1) At Hamburg station. 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
from 1 in 100 to 1 in 50. No practical difficulty, however, is
encountered in the regular working of this part of the line by
locomotives without assistant engines.  Trains of an average
gross weight of sixty or seventy tons are drawn over this section
by locomotives whose weight does not exceed eighteen tons,
having six coupled wheels of 4 feet 9 inches diameter.
In some cases, where circumstances favor the expedient,
self-acting planes are resorted to. An example of this occurs
on the railway between Dusseldorf and Elberfeld, where a
descent of a mile and a half toward Elberfeld occurs with a
gradient of 1 in 30. At first this plane was worked by a sta tionary engine and endless rope. This, however, was soon
discontinued, and the traffic of the line has since been worked
in the following manner. The descending train, accompanied
by its engine, is attached to the upper part of the endless rope,
and the ascending train, also accompanied by its engine, at the
same time to the lower part. Both engines continue to work,
the one ascending and the other descending; and the one train
arrives at the top of the plane, when the other train arrives at
the bottom. Thus the two engines are made to co-operate in
drawing the ascending train, while the weight of the descending train aids in the operation.  The regularity of this process
requires that the trains moving in different directions should be
ready to start from the top and bottom of the inclined plane at
the same moment.
Accidental delays in the movement of the trains are subject
to interrupt this; and to meet such exigencies a reserve engine
is kept with its steam up at the top of the incline. When a
train, being late, arrives at the bottom of the plane, and requires
to ascend it without the aid of a descending train, the reserve
engine at, the top of the plane is hooked on to the endless rope,
and descending in this manner, co-operates with the engine attached to the train, and draws it up to the top. In this way
the regularity and continuity of the service is maintained.
The economy of construction of the German railways is
further promoted by the conditions observed in the construction
of the lines. Although a sufficient quantity of land has been
invariably purchased, and earth-works and works of art, in most
cases, constructed of sufficient width to lay a double line, one
line only has been made, except in the immediate neighborhood
of great centres of population and industry, where a traffic sufficient to employ a double line might be counted on.
The gauge of the railways, with one or two exceptions, is
1398
[CHAP. XIX. 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
the same as that which is generally adopted in England, that is
to say, 4ft. 8- in. between the inner edges of the rails.  The
form and weight of the rail varies according to the traffic, and
to the varying judgment and discretion of the engineers. Rails
consisting of simple iron bars nailed down on longitudinal planks
of wood, such as have been extensively adopted in America,
have been used in some cases, among which may be mentioned
a section of the Vienna and Glognitz Railway, the section first
constructed of the Leipsic and Dresden line, and a mineral
line in Austria worked by horse power, between Budweis,
Linz, and Gmunden. On the Leipsic and Dresden lines, these
have been removed and replaced by heavier rails, and it is probable a like change has already taken place in the rails on the
Vienna and Glognitz line; so that the only German railway on
which this system of iron bars is used as rails is at present the
mineral line above mentioned.
A rail of the form used on the Great Western Railway, representing an inverted U, supported on continuous bearings, and
connected by transverse sleepers at regular intervals, has been
adopted on four lines of railway in Germany, viz., the Baden,
the Berlin and Frankfort, the Magdeburg and Leipsic, and the
Upper Silesian lines. On the two last, however, they have
lately been removed, and now are continued only on the two
former railways.
The single and double T rails have obtained more favor, and
are adopted, in one form or other, on several of the German lines; but the form of rail which  is most   %
prevalent is that which passes in Germany under    ~
the name  of the American rail, the transverse
section of which is represented in the annexed 
cut.
In the following table (see page 400) is exhibited the details
of the construction of the principal German lines. The letters
in the first column indicate the form of the rail. That which
corresponds to the rail on the Great Western Railway is expressed by W, the single T rail is expressed by T, and the
double T rail by TT.
The form represented in the preceding section is expressed
by A, and the flat iron bar by B. In the second column is represented the inclination of the table of the rail inward; and in
the third and fourth its length and weight. The weight of the
chairs is exhibited in the next two columns; and in the succeeding column the nature of the supports of the rails is denoted.
CHAP. XIX.]
399 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
In the first of these columns, the letter L indicates longitudinal and continuous bearings, S transverse sleepers at regulated
distances, D stone blocks, and T L implies longitudinal continuous bearings with transverse ties at regulated distances.
In the last column of the table is given, where it could be obtained, the play allowed between the flanges of the wheels and
the inner edge of the rails, which varies according to the curves
admitted on the lines:
TABLE showing the Dimensions, Weight, and Form of the Rails and their
Supports on the principal Railways of the Germanic States.
Support of Rails.
Distance
L       7-37
S       250betwe
D       2-40
Sort S    280leepers
~~  tOO  Yard. ~~~~    o              or Traaons        Booms.
D&S   2 80
L    6'20
L  }    4.14
S        260
S 3-.1           0
S        3-00
L       4-10
S       2-66
S        3-10
S        3-10
S       3-10
TL       3-10
TL       2-70
S       3-10
S       3-10
S'      2-33
S       3-00
S       3-00
S       3.00
....
I S    3-00
S       2-73
Inches.
..
0-70
0'55
0'55
o.,g
0:55
0'27
0'55
0'70
0'27
.'.
.5.
..
..
0'55
0'27
.,.
Name of Railways.
One
in
24
18
8
18
18
24
16
16
16
16
16
16
.o.
..
20
16
..
,..
..
,..
Baden Railway:
(Manheim-Franicfort)..
Wirtemburg State lines...
Niiremberg-Furth.......
Munich-Auigsburg.......
Bavarian State lines......
Budweis-Linz...........
Maine-Neustadt.........
Neustadt-Glognitz.......
Austrian Northern........
Upper Silesian...........
Breslau-Fri bourg........
Berlin-Franefort........
Berlin-Stettin...........
Berlin-Potsdam.........
Anhalt..................
Magdeburg-Leipsic......
Magdeborg-Halberstadi..
Dusseldorf-Elberfeld.....
Cologne-Belgian frontier.
Cologne-Bonn...........
Leipsic-Dresden.........
Saxoi —Bavar-ian.........
Brunswick-Magdeburg..-.
Brunswick-Hanover.....
Hamburg-Bergedorf.....
Altona- Kiel............
Francfort-Wiesbaden....
Manheim-Francfort.....
Mahe     irnir.... 1-07   0S                              27
The cost of construction of the system of German railways
is, as might be expected from these and other local circumstances, incomparably less than in other parts of Europe, and
will not exceed in a considerable proportion that of the railways
of the TUnited States.  I have given in the following table the
I
I
[CHAP. XIX.
400
W,,i I,t
lb,. Ibl.
3-3
7-1
13-6
21.0 1748
25-3 19-7
li-31
3-5
ii-7
ii-5 i6-4
22-7 20-4
23-8 -
1 1'.3
2 io
R.il.
- I
14
F,,.
14-75
15-00
14-40
14-75
16-75
9-33
18-25
15,:55
18-50
18-50
i-'50
15-45
18-50
15-40
15-00
li-'40
17-90
15-00
17-90
15-40
16-40
;kI
I,"Ii..tl;...
W,,iglt
p
Y.d.
lb,.
52-50
53-50
28-00
45-00
47-50
5.00
52-00
31-00
42-50
53-50
60-00
50-00
50-50
45-00
49-00
52-50
59-00
49-50
51,-50
63-00
51-60
59-00
63-50
64-50
61-50
56-50
59-00
70-00
w
A
T
T
TT
B
A
B
T
A
A
w
A
T
TT
A
A
T
T
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
TT
A 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
estimated expense of the construction of the railways, obtained
from the most authentic sources, up to the year 1847:
If
Lines constructed by    Lines constructed by   Ttals and Aveenge,.
~Railways.       the State.            Companies.
antCos   cst pee   antCasocst pee   antCocst pee
Total Cost.  CMile      t.          Mi      Total C ost.    Mile. Tt Cst.
m~ ~         ~~~~~~~~~~~il e.
~.        ~.    ~..          ~.         ~.
Completed.......... 10,080,858  12,554   20,507,539  10,122   30,588,397  10,813
In progress......... 16,992,867  14,624   11,335,531  11,613   28,328,398   13,203
Adopted but not com menced........... 7,844,844  12,038    6,074,301   9,387   13,919,145  10,715
Contemplated but not
adopted........... 5,828,571   11,631   13,758,676   9,689   19,587,245  10,186
40,747,140  13,069   51,676,047  10,197   92,423,187   11,289
It appears from the preceding statement, that the capital
absorbed by the railways which had been completed up to the
date of the reports we have quoted, which are the most recent
we have obtained of an authentic and exact character, was at the
average rate of something less than,11,000 per mile; but it is
probable that these lines had not yet absorbed their full amount
of capital. It appears further, that the estimated expenses of
the lines in progress were greater than those which had been
executed, being at the average rate of upward of X13,000 per
mile. We shall probably not depart widely from the truth,
if we estimate the entire extent of railways in the German
States, constructed and to be constructed, at the rate of e13,000
per mile, including in that amount the cost of stock as well as
the cost of construction. This rate of expense is scarcely one
third of the cost per mile of the English railways.
The expenditure of thirty millions, which had been made
previously to 1847, had been spread over nine years, being at
the average rate of three millions and one third per annum,
2828 miles of railway having been then completed. In the
three years ending 31st December last, 1720 miles of additional
lines had been opened, being at the average rate of 570 miles
per annum, which, being estimated at 12,000 per mile, would
give an annual expenditure by the German States of X6,800,000
per annum, being just double the average annual expenditure
of the preceding nine years. It is, however, to be observed
here, that although the average expenditure of the nine years
preceding 1847 was only three millions and one third, yet the
chief part of this expenditure had been incurred within the last
CHAP. XIX.]
401 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
four of these nine years; and, consequently, it is probable that
the entire rate of expenditure in the three years ending 31st
December, 1849, did not on the whole much exceed the average annual expenditure of the years immediately preceding.
The comparatively low rate of cost of the German railways
has arisen from several causes, some of which we have already
indicated. The absence of expensive earth-works and works
of art, while it caused a considerable diminution of the cost of
construction, might be expected to create difficulties in the
working of the lines. Nevertheless, the German engineers
were reassured on this subject by what they had witnessed in
several parts of the United States, and more especially on the
line which connects Boston and Albany. They did not, therefore, hesitate to admit a system of gradients and curves, where
the character of the country rendered it necessary, which are
nowhere seen on the railways of England, France, or Belgium.
The low comparative cost of construction of the German railways was also influenced by the low price of the land occupied
by the lines and stations, the low price of materials, and the
low rate of wages of manual labor. In order to render manifest
how far these causes operated, I have exhibited, in the following table, the average cost per acre of the land, and the average
wages per day of the laborers employed in earth-work on the
principal lines:
TABLE showing the average Cost of Land per Acre, and the average
Wages of Earth-work Laborers per Day on the principal German
Railways.
Railways                 Cost of Land per Wages of Laborer
Acre.           per Day.
~.               d.
Baden............................     143-0             14-5
Upper Silesia. —--------------------    47-0                   7-8
B erlin —Francfort..................   69-2
Anhalt...... —--------------—................. —------- 63-0
Berlin-Stettin. —------------------    46-0                   15-6
Magdeburg-Leipsic ------------          -    53-5
Dusseldorf-Elberfeld...............70-0                     13-0
Cologne-Belgian frontier......... 95.5                        15-6
Saxon-Silesian.................... 53-0
Nuiremberg-Fuirth..................                    9.5
It would be important to ascertain the proportion in which
the cost of construction of the German lines has been shared
among the different heads of expenses, such as the cost of land,
the road structutre, the stations. and the stock. I have not been
I
i
I
402
[CHAP. XIX. 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
able to obtain, in every case, complete data for this purpose; but
in the following table the expenses of construction and stock of
several of the principal lines are exhibited under their respective
heads:
TABLE showing the Cost of Construction per running Mile of each of the
principal German Railways, with the Share of the total Expenses as  signed to each Head.
Eneth                 Ototiono,
Railways.
Stations,
including
Purchase
o f Land
for them.
~.
~ I,957
438
318
642
1,178
750
2,222
582
733
839
990
Road
Structure.
~.
2,625
1,800
2,966
3,190
2,272
1,835
2,760
2,485
2,170
2,118
1,854
Baden................
Niiremberg-Furth....
Munich-Augsburg....
Austrian Northern....
Berlin - Frankfort-sur Oder...............
Berlin-Stettin........
Berlin-Potsdam......
Berlin-Kothen.......
Magdeburg-Halberstadt
Bonn-Cologne.......
Saxon-Bavarian......
The sufficiency of single lines for the maintenance of the
traffic generally throughout the German States will at once
suggest the fact, that the amount of the traffic is small comparatively with that which prevails on the English and some
of the continental lines. The mode of working the traffic has
generally relation to its amount. On the single lines, sidings
are provided, as in America, at convenient intervals, and trains
proceeding in contrary ditrections run into these, the first which
arrives waiting for the passage of that which is about to meet it.
No practical inconvenience ensues from this, since the traffic
does not require the frequent departures which are necessary
upon English, French, and Belgian railways. On the German
railways, three departures per day for passenger trains, and one
or two for mixed trains of passengers and goods, are generally
sufficient.
In passing from railway to railway under the administration
of different companies, or through the territory of different
states, the passengers are generally obliged to change carriages;
but arrangements are in most cases made, by which they may
book their places and obtain tickets to their ultimate destination,
so that no further payment of fare or examination of luggage is
necessary. Thus, at the Berlin station of the Anhalt railway,
tickets and baggage may be booked for Brunswick, and the passengers will then be carried through without further trouble,
except occasionally changing carriages.
t
CHAP. XIX.]
403
E.,th,k,
-1.'k f
A,t,.,,d
S'.
3,478
163
3,485
2,030
1,365
1,770
2,110
2,020
650
885
3,850
Di,.,-ti..
..d M..,ge-.t.
X.
276
354
434
104
399
388
194
304
99
i63
..d '..Y".
1.-C.
,445
829
1,042
745
920
550
1,940
607
616
1,965
.1,085
St.ek.
T.t.l.
X.
1,983
593
810
1,092
1,384
975
3,300
1,052
895
1,610
1,248
4,
11,764
4,177
9,055
7,823
7,518
6,268
1-.,526
7,050
5,273
7,417
9,330 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
On the German railways there are, as on those in England,
three classes of passengers, the first, second, and third, and in
some cases even a fourth class, with corresponding degrees of
accommodation in the vehicles of transport; but no such classification prevails as to the trains. There are no express, or first
and second-class trains, as in England, distinguished from thirdclass trains. Passengers of all the classes are indifferently taken
in each.
There are mixed trains, by which goods and passengers are
indifferently carried, and in general these only take goods. On
a few railways, however, there are trains exclusively devoted to
merchandise.   The  mixed trains" on the German railways,
mean those which carry passengers and goods indifferently.
In order to show the movement of the trains which generally
prevails on the German railways, I have exhibited in the following table the number of each kind running daily in each direction, on fifteen principal railways. In the first column is indicated by the letter T such as run through from terminus to
terminus over the entire length of the lines, and by the letter I
such as ply to intermediate stations. The numbers in the other
columns indicate the number of those respectively which start
from each station daily.
TABLE showing the Number of Trains daily which depart from each of
the Termini of the under-mentioned principal German Railways, dis tinguishing those which go from Terminus to Terminus from those
which ply to intermediate Stations.
Indication of          Number of Trains.
.Distance.    Passenger Trains. Mixed.
Railways.
Altona-Kiel —-----------        
Berlini-Hameburg —-----—.
B erlin-Stettin...........B erlin-Magdeburg     -         -     -       - - --
B erlin-Kothen -----------
Magdeburg-Leipsic     -          -    -       - - -
Halle-Eisenach —-------        
Brunswick-Hartzburg -
Leipsic-Dresden ---------
Leipsic-Reichenbach....
Berlin-Breslau..........
Breslau-Myslowitz            -    -                         -
Cologne-Hanimm —-----—.
Manheim-Fribourg             -             3         - 
Vienna-Leipsic.......... T
2
2
2
4
2
3
2
3
3
2
1
1
2
2
3
6
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
4
2
404
[CIIAP. XIX.
oods.
T
T
T
T
I
T
I
T
I
T
T
T
T
I
T
T
I
T
I
T
I
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1
I
2
2
2
I
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1 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
It will be seen from this table, that, in general, on the German
lines the number of trains daily in each direction does not exceed
four. The railways which form exceptions to this are short
lines diverging from chief cities, such as Vienna, Berlin, or
Leipsic, which serve as excursions for the population of these
towns, analogous to the Greenwich, Blackwall, and other short
lines diverging from London, or the Versailles and St. Germain
lines from Paris.
When railways in the German states were first brought into
operation, considerable difficulty was encountered in obtaining
locomotive power and carrying stock, and engineers were sent
by their respective governments to England and America, for
the purpose of obtaining the information, and making contracts
for engines and vehicles of transport.
A considerable stock was soon obtained, and a still greater
number were ordered. Before the end of 1845, 237 engines
had been delivered by the principal engine-builders in England,
of which 168 were supplied by Messrs. Stephenson of Newcastle, and Messrs. Sharp and Roberts of Manchester. Upward
of 30 were then under order in England, but not yet delivered,
57 engines had been obtained from the manufactory of Messrs.
Norris of Philadelphia, 43 from the Belgian manufacturers, and
25 from Messrs. Meyer and Co. of Mullhouse, in France.
The senior partner of Messrs. Norris of Philadelphia was
induced to remove to Germany, and to establish a factory of
locomotive engines near Vienna, from which a considerable
number of engines have already been obtained.
The expense and disadvantage of importing soon, however,
stimulated domestic talent and industry; and there are now
established in Germany several extensive factories for the construction of locomotive engines, among which may be mentioned
those of M,essrs. Kessler at Carlsruhe, Hirschau at Munich, the
factory of the Vienna and Glognitz Railway, that of Mr. Norris
at Vienna, the Wyener and Neustadt factory near Vienna, that
of Borsig at Berlin, and several others of minor importance at
Berlin, Magdeburg, Aix-la-Chapelle, Chemnitz, &c.
Before the end of 1845, 125 engines had been delivered from
the German factories, to which a large number has since been
added.
In the following table are shown the dimensions of the engines
generally used on the principal German railways:
CHAP. XIX.]
405 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
TABLE showing the Dimensions of'the Locomotive Engines used on the
principal German Railways.
Baden.
ft.   ft.  in.
0    13      0   13
0   18       0   24
5    6       6    0
3     7     3    7
3     1     3    4
12     0    12    4
150         121
0     1'6    0    1'6
3    2      3    10
3    2      3    6
4    0      3    10
60 sq. ft. 57,' sq. ft.
765,,  658,
825,    715i,'
18 tons.    17-2 tons.
Diameter of cylinders..............
S       troke of pistons...................
Diameter of driving-wheels.........
Diameter of supporting-wheels......
Diameter of boiler..................
Length       of boile r...................
N    umber         of tubes...................
Internal diameter of tubes..........
Fire-box, length....................
,,   breadth..................
height...................
Heating surface of fire-box.........
Heating surface of tubes............
Total heating surface..............
Weight of engine..................
Table [B] referred to in page 407.
TABLE showing the Magnitude and average Cost of the Vehicles of
Transport used on the principal German Railways.
No. of Cost of Con- Cost per
Designation of Vehicles.             Pa. ef    res f cn. cast per
Places.   stractias.   Place.
PASSENGER STOCK.                                ~..
Four-wheeled carriages-ist class.................     18      276        15-3
,,,, 2d class................. 30                  217        7-24
~,,,,      3d class.................    36       166        4'6
Six-wheeled carriages-lst class................... 32         346        10.8
,,,, 2d class................... 40                 287        7'17
,, d            3d class................... 40          235        5.9
Six-wheeled do. 1st class................... 48                485        10'1
,,,, 2d class................... 60                 338       5'64
3d class................... 60          279        4'66
Eight-wheeled American do.-lst class.............. 70         545         7-8
,,,,! 2d class.............. 70                 472         6'75
,, 3d class............. 120          332         2'78
Capacity.          Cost per
GOODS STOCK.                                          Ton.
Tons.
T,,~~~~Tn
Four-wheeled baggage-wagons....................     4-5       113       25-2
Six-wheeled do................................... 7-5         181       24-2
Four-wheeled goods wagons uncovered............      4'5       69-6    15'4
Four-wheeled do. covered......................... 4-5          77-0    17-1
Six-wheeled do. uncovered........................ 7 -5         99.5     13'25
Eight-wheeled do. covered........................ 12'5        311-0     24-9
Eight-wheeled do. uncovered..................... 12'-5 261-0    21-0
Horse-boxes........................................ 111
Carriage-trucks................................... 89
Eight-wheeled cattle-wagons............................ 260
i
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406
(CHAP. XIX.
B.,.,i..
1.  i..
12
0 24
5    0
3 0
3 4
9 0
III
0 1-60
A..t,i.
i..
3.3
0 25
4 2
51 7
3 8
12 6
115
o     2
54 sq. ft. 591 sq. ft.
463, 775,
517,.834.1            "
14,6 tons. 17 tons. 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
The vehicles of transport for passengers and goods on the
German railways are very various.
Passenger carriages similar to those used in England, Belgium, and in France, are adopted on many German lines.
The passenger vehicles used in the United States, already
described in Chapter XII., are also extensively used. These
carriages measure from 25 to 35 feet in length, and accommodate from 70 to 120 passengers. The goods wagons, of
like construction, are capable of carrying upward of twelve
tons.
There are also passenger vehicles supported on six wheels,
and consisting of six compartments, each first-class compartment
accommodating eight, and each second or third-class compartment accommodating ten passengers.
In the Table [B] (see page 406) are given the dimensions,
capacity, and cost of construction of the several classes of
vehicles for the transport of passengers and goods on the principal German lines.
In order to show the movement of traffic in passengers and
goods on the German railways, I have obtained such official
returns as have been published for the year 1846, which is the
latest period for which returns have been made. These are
given in the following table; the passenger and goods traffic
being distinguished, and the quantity, mileage, and receipts of
each class being given:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the average daily Traffic in Passengers and Goods
on the under-mentioned German Railways during the Year 1846.
Passenger T.         od Traf fic.
Railways.
o ileage-   Re    beroR
Mileger..  reipto.
boe.,  P     t     ke..
X.
72'0
189'0
27-4
) 18
95'(
1. Altona-Kiel...........
2. Baden - Manheim - Fri    bourg......             a..2          2.3
3. Bavarian:
(Munich-Donauworth).
Niiremberg-Neumarket)
4. Berlin-Anhalt:
(Berlin-Kothen)........
I
CHAP. XIX-1
4 ri
.f P..b..ked.
N..b., f
T...
..ked.
L,,-.gtl,.
il.g"..    R"
"!Iptr,.
X.
77-5
258.0
67-5
56-3
1.86-0
65-50
142-00
63-00
81-00
99-00
1,084
6,230
1'108 
115154
24,635
82,013
37,140
51,520 -
220
275
60-0
55.0
133-0
4,550
23,850
5,740
10,750 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
Passenger Traffic.
Nums Re-    ber of
cegipts.  Tons..
booked.
hooked.                   hooked.
. Berlin-Ha     mburg.......                                          
Berlin-Potsdam —Magde       burg.
bug.................
7. Berlin - eStin - -Star       gard                            1.     42       36   14    4          77-0......
8. Brunswick Railway.....                               
9. Breslau - Schweidnitz -
Fribourg.413  64 190 4  1   2   3
10. Cologne-Minden:
(Col        ogne-Du isburg)....
11. Dusseldorf-Elberfeld...
12. Gluckstadt-iElmshorn..
13. Hamburg-Bergedorf....
14. Hanoverian Railway:
(Hanover- Brunswick
Hildesheim-Celle)...              1
15. Austrian Northern:
(Vienna-Brinn-Olmutz
Leipsic-Stockerau)... I
16. Leipsic-Dresden.......
17. Lower Silesian:
(Breslau-Berlin......-           1-                            8
Kohlfurt-Gorlitz)...... 
18. Nuremberg-F-rth......
19. Breslau-Myslowitz.....
20. Austrian States Railway:
(Murzusclag-Cilli.......
Olmutz-Prague)........ 
21. Rendsburg-Neuminster 
22. Rhenish Railway:
(Cologne-Belgian firontier)
23. Saxon-Bavarian:
Leipsic-Reichenbach)..
24. Saxon-Silesian:
(Dresden-Lobau).......
25. Taunus Railway:
(Francfort-Wiesbaden).
26. Vienna-Glognitz:
(Trunk line)............
Vienna-Brick.........
27. William's Railway:
(Kosel-Ratisbor).......
18     4       
1,380
1,222
1,540
645
1,852
976
265
519
1,040
2,016
1,338
1,523
1,450
],069
1,090
860
214
1,490
835
418
2,180
3,350
158
131
39,768
From the results of this table we can deduce the average
distance over which each passenger and each ton of goods
was carried, the average receipts obtained per head or per ton
booked, and the average receipts per head or per toIl per
mile.
Theso are exhibited in the following table:
i
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408
[CHAP. XIX.
G-.d T.,ffic_ I
Raflway-.
L.gth.
N..b,
.f P..,"g"'
b..k,5d.
R,e,,iptr,.
il.g"
il.
X.
19-4
103-0
136-0
68-0
46-0
75-5
47-8
6.0
15-3
70-0
X.
8.0
19-4
77-0
48-0
33-0
3-5
37-3
2-8
1-4
36-6
398-0
112.0
09.0 1
0.061
01.0
109.0
133-0
6-5
129-0
68-0
12-0
10-3
93-0
3-3
5.5
19,
176-00
90-00
104-20
61-50
41-35
39-00
16-25
10-401
10-00
71-00
1 6,152
28,600
43,200
21,6'20
15,900
18,120
11,472
1,910
4,600
22,250
90,640
44,850
45,120
4,900
35,280
26,400
39,360
3,500
33,300
23,350
9,200
28,150
48,720
1,776
1,356
778,634
505
2,150
4,870
5,430
2,550
200
2,130
177
4,145
31,840
11,700
8,450
6,i8o
8,720
10,640
410
16,o
7,100
1,254
123
7,440
264
348
176,263
154-0
166-0
iii-o
43-3
186-0
188-00
71-30
240-00
3.50
124-00
144-00
152-00
20-80
53-30
65-50
149-30
28-30
49-90
25-50
19-70
2304-40
336-0
156.0
188-0
13-0
102-0
110.0
164-0
11.8
154-0
75-0
32-0
98.0
203-0
7-4
8-6
3061-1
432-0
166-0
123-0
16 o
221-0
181.0
28.0
521.0
189.0
22-01
233-0
15.0
25-0
3800.0 
0693
Cologne-Minden.........
D usseldorf-El berfeld.......
Gliickstadt-Ellmshorn                   5.4        5..
Haiiiburg-Bergedorf.......
Hanoverian Railway.....      0.
Austrian Northern.........
Leipsic-Dresden8                                   3             16.0...
Lower Silesian..          7.........
Nureniberg-Ftirth........
Breslau-Mvslowitz........
Austria,tn Stte.5...........
Olmutz-Prague............
Rensbuig- Neuminster..9
Rhenish Railway...........
Saxon-Bavarian...........
Saxon —Silesian......
Taunnis Railway........
Viennm-Glognitz (trunk line)
Vienna -Briuck                 1 2 - -                   1...     53.0...
William's Railway.........
General averages        19 6      155      093     46A      1210
It will be observed, in these results of the passenger traffic,
that the average receipts per passenger per mile very little exceed the tariff for the third-class passengers. This is explained
by the fact that the third class constitutes a very large proportion
of the entire number of passengers booked, a much larger proportion than prevails on the railways worked in the western
states of Europe.
To demonstrate this, I have given in the following table the
proportion of each class of passengers booked for the principal
German railways:
S
I
24'6
9'75
'I1'75
7'20
8'9
21'3
45'0
33'6
2)9'7
3'0
33'1
24'2
45'6
16'3
22'4
28'0
22'0
13'0
14'5
11'2
10'5
19'6 
918'
15'4
121'0
3'10
4'20
4'20
3'80
3'0
2'3
3'1
3'0
2'9
3'9
1'9
2'3
2'3
:/6
3'0
3'0
2'6
General averages....-  
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
TABULAR ANALYSIS showing the Number of Passengers belonging to
each Class in every 100 booked on Sixteen of the principal German
Railways.
lot class. Id class. 3d class. Total.
Nurenmberg and Firth....................
Vienna and Glognitz.......................
Breslau and Opeln.........................
Breslau and Fribourg......................
Berlin and Franefort-sur-Oder..............
Berlin and Stettin..........................
Berlin and Potsdan........................
Berlin and Kothen.........................
Magdeburg and Leipsic....................
Dusseldorf and Elberfeld...................
Bonn and Cologne.........................
Cologne and Herbestal.....................
Leipsic and Dresden.......................
Nireniberg and Hof........................
Hamburg and Bergedorf....................
Francfort and Wiesbaden...................
General averages........
It follows, therefore, that there are not four passengers in
every hundred on the German railways that take the first-class
places, and that 74 per cent. of all the passengers booked belong
to the third class.
The following are the average fares chargeable per mile on
the three classes of passengers on the German lines:
d.
1st class................................... 1- 62
2d class................................... 1-13
3d class................................... 079
The following are the average tariffs per mile for other objects
of transport on the German railways:
d.
Carriages.................................. 8'1
Horses.................................... 50
Cattle per head............................. 1-56
Sheep per head........................... 0-18
Goods:                                             d.
Not classed per ton......................... 6-85
1st class............................... 3-47
2d class................................ 2-53
3d class............................... 2-40
The traffic on the German railways, as elsewhere, is subject
to variation arising fromn local circumstances.
This variation is shown in the following table in which the
gross receipts per mile of railway and per cent. of capital in the
[CHAP. XIX.
410
i.t Cl,.,.
3-42
5-28
1.10
1.00
0-97
1.80
8.16
2-88
1.80
2-00
3-08
13-74
3-32
0-72
0'70
1.65
3-60
2d Cl...
24' 37
25-54
15-55
14-00
17-93
26-89
5!3-84
31-44
22-55
17-74
33-69
35-08
19-70
11-64
9.68
11-22
22-40
3d Cl.t,,,.
72-21
69-18
83-35
85-00
81-10
71-31
68-00
65-68
75-65
80-26
63-23
51-18
76-98
87-64
89-62
87-13
74-00
T.t.l.
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
100-00
1100.00 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
four years terminating 31st December, 1846, on eighteen of the
principal German railways, are given:
TABLE showing the average Receipts per Mile and per Cent. of Cost of
Construction on the under-mentioned Railways during the Four suc  cessive Years ending December, 1846.
-~~~~~Rcit e ieo ala. Rcit e et fcptl
Railway.
Receit
1843.
~.
24-75
8'70
8-15
12-40
10"56
9-48
12'96
14-46
15'0
7-85
5'65
i. o
9'35
7-98
5-34
11-85
Nuremberg-F irth......
Vienna-Glognitz.......
Austrian-Northern.....
Upper Silesian (Breslau Myslowitz)............
Breslau-Fribourg.......
Berlin-Francfort........
Berlin-Stettin..........
Berlin-Potsdam........
Berlin-Kothen.........
Magdeburg-Leipsic......
Magdeburg-Halberstadt.
Dusseldorf-Elherfeld....
Bonn-Cologne..........
Cologne-Herbestal......
Leipsic-Dresden.........
Saxon-Bavarian........
Hamburg-Bergedorf....
Francfort-Wiesbaden...
Fraerfort-Wiesbaden... 1,376 1,385 1,478 1,610 11-85 11-95 12-75 13 90
I have obtained exact returns of the gross receipts on upward
of two thousand miles of all the railways open in the German
States in the years 1845 and 1846, later than which there are no
published returns. The results of these reports are as follows:
Total length of railways to which the    1845.         1846.
returns refer........... Miles        2,348          2,738
Gross receipts.....................1,433,061      2:049,231
Receipts per mile of railway......     612            748
Receipts per cent. of capital, taking
cost of construction at t12,500
per mile.......................... 49           6-0
It appears therefore, that, although upon some few of the most
frequented of the railways the receipts bear a considerable proportion to the cost of construction, yet on the average of the
whole they did not, according to the last returns, exceed 6 per
cent. on the capital expended. The proportion in which they
have been produced by passenger and goods traffic has been, on
an average, in the ratio of 61 per cent. from passengers, and 39
per cent. from goods.
I have not been able to obtain exact returns of working expenses, more recent than 1844. In the following table is given
the details of these expenses, together with their ratio to the
gross receipts, for eighteen of the principal lines for that year:
i
p
CliAP. XIX.]
411
R-,-i
1 1843.
X.
1, 300
1,898
806
489
8' io
682
1,625
1,085
1,352
495
1,310
1,6,3
1,185
743
716
1,376
t. p,,
1844.
X.
1, 300
2,000
863
487
560
862
744
1,728
1,085
1,395
548
1,353
980
1,528
1,210
683
660
1,385
il. f R
1845.
X.
1, 390
2,120
1,050
643
'23
67
1,41)O
634
1,618
1,058
1,704
1,270
483
595
1,478
il'..Y.
1846.
X.
1, 410
2,428
1,420
599
696
ii2
i,dio
1,600
760
1,932
1,110
1,940
1,380
802
600
1,610
t. p,,, C
1844.
.E.
24-75
9-15
8-73
12-35
7-82
10-84
10-35
13-80
14-4(,
15-50
8-70
5-84
10-90
6.58
9-53
7-32
4-91
11-95
.t. f C
1845.
X.
26-48
9-70
10-60
-i7
i-4
ii.'OO
15-78
10-08
6.98
li-76
7-35
10-00
5.i8
4-43
12-75
.Pit,l.
1846.
X.
26-85
11-10
14-35
15-510
9-74
10.'4
13-72
17-80
12-06
8-34
12-35
8.35
10-86
8.60
4-46
13-90 
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Expenses, Receipts, and Profits on the under-imientioned
German Railways during the Year 1844.
Expenses.
I Locomotive Police and Direction
Railway.            and        Mainte-     and     Total.  Receipts.  Profits.
carrying    nance of  Geeral
Expenses.    Way.   Expenses.
'~.        ~.         ~.        ~.      ~.        ~.
Nuiremberg-Furth.... 1,252              448       344      2,044    4,844     2,800
Vienna-Glognitz.....      31,350      7,020      2,820    41,190   93 536   52,346
Austrian Northern....  50,800        23,564    10,108    84,472  171,384   86,912
Upper Silesian........ 7,616          4,576      1,496    13,688   24,504   10,816
Breslau-Fribourg..... 8,020           4,472      1,120    13,612   23,768   1(0,156
Berlin-Francfort...... 10,672         4,452      2,400    17,124   43,576   26,452
Berlin-Stettin........ 29,096 62,300   33,204
Berlin-    Potsdam          8624       3,952      1 176   13,752   28,260   14,508
Berlin-An       halt....... 33,152   14,176      4,080    51,408  102,584   51,176
Magdeburg-Leipsic... 29,900           10,580      3,764    44,244  102,392   58,148
Magdeburg-Hal berstadt..13240   20,048    61,808
Dusseldorf-Elberfeld.    6,548          3,668       896    11,112  23,464   12,352
Bonn-Cologne........ 4,236            2,596       896    7,728   15,644    7,916
Cologne-Herbestal.... 23,536           8,808     2,814    35,188   81,560   46,372
Leipsic-D resden...... 30,412         9,712      2,572    42,696   86,040   43,344
Saxon-Bavarian......  6,924           4,592      1,724    13,240   26,016   12,776
Hambuirg-Bergedorf    2,600             3,700       912     7,212    6,376       836
Francfort-Wiesbaden......        19,032   37,440   18,408
Total..............    460,078  953,636  493,558
In the following table I have shown the receipts, expenses, and
profits on eighteen of the principal German railways as compared
with the length of railway worked, and have calculated the proportion per cent. borne by the expenses to the receipts, and by
the receipts and profits respectively to the capital.
TABULAR ANALYSIS showing the Receipts, Expenses, and Profits compared with
the Length of Raivlway worked and the Cost of Construction on the under-men  tioned German Railways during the Year 1844.
Receipts. ~~~~ Exess _    Pois
Receipts.        Expenses.    Profts.
Ralway.             Pee Per    Cent.  Per   Per Cent.  Per   Pe  Cent.
Capital   i     Receipti.    Rece'pts.
~.              ~.                A.
Niiremberg-FiOrth.....      1300   24-7        85585  450    715    55'0
Vienna-Glognitz......   2000    9-15    942        47' 0    1058   53 0
Autstrian Northern...... 863    8-73    428 49'8 435    50'2
Upper Silesian.........      487   12-35    270       55'0     217'  45'0
Breslau-Friboirg...... 560    7-82             1327 58-5         233    41-5
Berlin-Francfort....... 862   10 84    340 39'5 522    61-5
Berlin-Stettin.........      744   10 35    348    46-8    396    53'2
Berlin-Potsdam.......       ]728   1380       843     490       885    51'0
Berlin-Anhalt......... 1085   14-46    543 50'0 54;    50'0
Magdebturg-Leipsic....  ].395   15 50    603    43-3    792    56'7
Magdeburg -H alberstadt   548    870    368            67-0      180   33-0
Dusseldorf -Elberfeld... 1353    5 84    640          47-4      713    52'6
Bonn-Cologne.........        980   10'90    482       49-4        498        50'6
Cologne-Herbestal.....  1528    6'58    665            43-7    863    56-3
Leipsic-Dresden.......  1210    9'53    600           49-7    610    50'3
Saxon-Bavarian.......        683    7'32    349       51-2    334    48-8
Hamburg-Bergedorf...   660    4-91    720    109'0              60*. 
Francfort-Wiesbaden..  1385   11'95    705             51'0     680    490
Averages...  1024    9'7         495      48'3     529   51'7
*A loss of 44 per cenit. was sustained on this railway.
T -
i
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
LCI-IAP. XIX
412 
GERMAN RAILWAYS.
In order to show the general movement of the traffic on the
German railways in the same manner as has been already done
on railways elsewhere, I have collected in the following table
the data showing the movement of the trains, their stoppages,
and average speed:
TABULAR ANALYSIS of the Movement of the Traffic on the principal Ger  man Railways, showing the average Speed, Stoppages, &c., of each
Class of Trains.-N.B. An average Loss of Five Minutes is allowed
for each Stoppage, except in particular Cases where a greater Delay
is fixed by the Programme. This is intended to include the Time lost
in coming to Rest, and getting up Speed.
Average    Average
Railway.  Distance Time No of Speed a  Speed en-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miles.
22-5
17-00
17-50
19-40
14-20
18-70
19-90
22-00
22-00
20-70
23-70
19-20
18-40
17'40
17-30
11-30
15'00
25-00
20-00
Manheim-Fribourg.............
Munich-Gunsenhatisen1                                        0.........
Augsburg-Katufburen...........
Berlin-Hamyburg................
Nuremnberg-Hof................
Berlin-Breslau.................
Berlin-Stettin..................
Berlin-Magdeburg..............
Berlin-Eisenach...............
Magdeburg-Leipsic.............
Leipsic —Dresden................
Hanover-Brenmen...............
Breslau-Myslowitz.............
Cologne-Harem................
Vienna-Pragie.................
Vienna-Glognitz................
Munich-Augsburg..............
Berlin-Leipsic.................
Totals and averages........
I
CIIAP. XIX.]
413
27-75
24-75
23-50
23-40
21-50
21-60
22-26
26-00
25-30
24-50
28-50
510-20
22-80
24-50
20-50
17-75
22-00
30-50
24-,20
Mil.,,.
170-0
99.5
35-0
175-0
111-3
227-5
82-75
90.0
253-0
1 72-5
71-3
64-0
124-0
86-8
276-3
45-2
37-4
162-5
2284-5
h...
7 37
5 55
2 0
9 0
7 51
12 15
4 10
4 5
11 30
3 30
3 0
3 30
6 45
5 0
16 0
4 0
2 5
6 30
114 43
25
18
7
19
26
21
6
8
18
7
6
4
16
13
31
13
8
14
273 
CHAPTER XX.
RAILWAYS IN RUSSIA, ITALY, AND SPAIN.
OF the railways in operation, in progress, and contemplated
in other countries, a brief notice will suffice.
Russia, carried along by the tide of public opinion in Europe,
found herself compelled, by a due regard to the interests of her
people, to consecrate a part of her exertions and her capital to
the construction of the new lines of communication. An attempt
was first made to attract private capitalists to these projects, and
special advantages were offered to companies who might be disposed to undertake the construction of the lines of railway contemplated in Russia. The emperor, besides guaranteeing to
the shareholders a minimum profit of 4 per cent., proposed to
give them gratuitously all the lands of the state through which
the railways should pass, and to place at their disposal, also
gratuitously, the timber and raw materials necessary for the
way and works which might be found upon the spot. It was
further proposed to permit the importation of rails and the
rolling stock free of duty. Russian proprietors also spontaneously came forward, and not only agreed to grant such portion of
their land as the railways might pass through gratuitously, but
further to dispossess themselves temporarily of their serfs, and
surrender them to the use of the companies on the sole condition
that they should be properly supported while employed.
By a special ukase, dated February ]3, 1842, it was decreed,
that the railway which was to unite the two capitals of St.
Petersburg and Moscow should be constructed exclusively at
the expense of the State, in order to retain in the hands of the
government, and in the general interest of the people, a line of
communication so important to the industry and the internal
commerce of the empire. The local proprietors equally agreed
to surrender to government gratuitously the lands necessary for
the works of this line.
The system of railways contemplated in Russia is composed
of five principal trunk lines, one of which, connecting Warsaw
with Cracow, is completed and in operation, and has been already 
CHAP. XX.]    RAILWAYS IN RUSSIA, ETC.
noticed in the last chapter, in connection with the German railways: the length of this line is 168 miles. The second will
connect Warsaw with St. Petersburg: the extent of this would
be, when executed, 683 miles.   The third will connect St.
Petersburg with Moscow; this line is in active progress: its
length will be about 400 miles.
Besides these, authorization was given to a company by a
ukase dated July, 1843, to construct a railway for the transport
of goods between the Wolga and the Don, the length of which
would be 105 miles.
In the actual execution of this magnificent system of railway
communication, no considerable progress has been yet made.
with the exception of the line already mentioned between Warsaw and Cracow.
A short line of railway connecting St. Petersburg with Tsarko6e-soela, having an analogy to the Greenwich and Richmond
lines, which diverge firom London, and the Versailles and St.
Germain lines from Paris, was completed and opened for traffic
in April, 1838. The traffic on this line has hitherto amounted
to about seven hundred passengers per day.
The railway connecting the Don and the Wolga was opened
for traffic in 1846; but this line is exclusively for merchandise,
and is worked by horses.
In southern Russia a line of railway is projected between Kief
and Odessa, the surveys of which have been made by Belgian engineers; but no progress in its construction has yet been effected.
A railway has been projected also between St. Petersburg and
Cronstadt, and another between St. Petersburg and Baltishport,
in Esthonia, to be constructed and worked by a company with
a guarantee of four per cent. by the government.
In Italy a few short lines of railway only have been executed,
connecting the chief states with neighboring places. They are
as follows:
Miles.
Naples to Portici, opened Oct. 1839................    5
Portici to Castelmare, with branch to Nocera........ 213
Naples to Capua................................ 2321
Milan to Treviglio...............................  18
Milan to Monza.................................  12
Venice to Vicenza...............................  40
Leghorn to Pisa................................. 122
Florence to Empoli, Ponte Dera, Pisa, and Sienna....
Pisa to Lucca and San Salvador...................
Florence to Prato........................ 102
415 
R1.%A]LWAY ECONOMIY.
In the kingQom of Sardinia, railways exist as yet only in
prospect. It is intended to carry two lines from Turin, one
directed on Genoa by Alexandria, and the other on Milan by
Vercelli and Novara. The political distractions, however, of
the last two years have suspended these projects.
In Spain only one railway of eighteen miles in length, connecting Barcelona with Mataro, has been constructed.  Others
have been projected and even conceded to companies, the priincipal of which is that between Madrid and Valencia. The
political distractions of the country, however, have suspended
all such projects.
CHAPTER XXI.
COMPARISON OF RAILWAY TRANSPORT IN DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES.
HAVING investigated in the preceding chapters the conditions
of railway communication in the different countries of the globe
where this species of locomotion has been adopted, we shall
now bring into juxtaposition the results of our calculations, and
show the comparative progress which  different people have
made in this important art, and distinguish what has been
actually done from what is in progress and likely to be accomplished.  I shall not notice here the projects which exist
only in contemplation, many of which will probably never be
executed.
In making such a comparison it is especially necessary to consider not merely the length of railway reported to be in operation or in progress, but the capital which has been invested in its
construction; for two lines of communication receiving the common denomination of railways may differ fiom each other extremely in their utility and value. Such a line of communication as that which connects, or lately connected, Portsmouth
(Virginia) with Weldon (North Carolina), and that which con
416
[CIIAP. XXI. 
CHAP. XXI.] RAILWAY TRANSPORT GENERALLY.
nects London and Birmingham, both receive the common name
of railway, nearly in the same manner as a log cabin of a Missouri settler and the palace of Blenheim receive the common
denomination of; dwelling-house." The most exact measure of
the relative utility or efficiency of two lines of railway is their
cost. It is not, however, to be forgotten that, even in adopting
this test, regard must be had to the relative cost of land, material, and manual labor.
The extent of railway communication, and the expense of its
construction, may be compared either with the population to
whose commerce it is appropriated, or to the territorial extent
of the country through which it is carried.
In the following table I have given, according to the most
recently published reports, the population, the extent of territory, the extent of railway open and in progress, and the capital
invested in the one, and to be invested in the other in those
countries where railways have been established.
TABLE showing the Population, Extent of Territory, and Extent of Rail  way in Operation and in Progress, in the several Countries of the
WVorld where Railways have been constracted.
Popo- Extent
Extenit   E,ft   Capital in- Capital to be
Railway Ri   vested in   invested in
Tertr.   Rai lway,s Y           Ra ilways   in
open-. Progress.  pe.       Progress.
Sq. Miles.            Miles.    Miles.
121,050  223-0    5,000    4,500
United Kingdom
Germanic States,
including Den  mark and HolI land..........
United States...
!France.........
|Belgiutii........
I Russia.........
!&Italy...........
Totals & averages
45,753,640  268,548
17,104,615 1,642,536
35,400,486  204,708
4,335,319   11,256
54,092,300 1,892,478
47,696,338  312,774
231,312,25614,453,350
231,312,2564453,310 52-0 18,656 7,829 368,567,000 146,750,000
* Statistiches Jahrbuch fur 1847, von Karl August Muller: Leipsic, 1848.
The data supplied by this table will enable us to compare the
length of railways and the railway capital of each country, with
its population and its territory. This is done in the following
table.
S*
i
i
I
s
I
1
4
0
0
1
417
P.P.I.ti..
p,a,
sq,,,,,.
mil..
p.p.l.ti... F-.t.,t -f
T.,,,it.,y.
X.
00,000,00
ioo,oooloo
27,019,55
Soo
200
1,189
200*
470*
470*
7,829
56,775,000
52,000,000
45,812,00
81000,000
3,000,000
3,000,00
368,567,000
11-0.0
10-4
173-0
38-2-0
28-6
152-0
5.-O
4,542
6,565
1,722
457
200
170
18,656
10,000,000
2,000,000
15,350,000
3,600,000
7,500,000
8,300,000
146,750,000 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
COMPARISON of the Extent of Railways in Operation, and the Amount of
Railway Capital, with the Population and Territorial Extent of the
Countries which possess them.
MIiles.                             ~.
United Kingdom........ 185-00 41-3 7'400 1,652-00 26-80 54'10 57*50 68-16
38 -1 7 - 
Germanic States,  includ ing Denmark and Hol land................. 99'50 16 -9 1-240 212-00 2           4-34 15'27 10-20 6-8~
United States.......... 384 00  40           0      50 3050 31-70 3517 14-10 -55 1-37
France..............,, 48-30 8-3 1-310 227-00 9'12  12-75 15-20 10-40
Belgium............... 105'20 40'5   1-850 705'00  2-45 2-16 2-55 2-45
Russia................. 370    010 0'055            1 59 15-0         7 0-81 6'00 5-13
Italy...................3-57   054 0-063             9-60   0-91   0-81   6-00  5'67
Totals and averages..  80-5    4-18 1-600          83-00 100-0  100-00 100-00 100-00
l0-0
Some of the results of this table are very remarkable.
In the proportion which the length of railway bears to the
population, the several countries stand in the following order:
1. United States.                  5. France.
2. United Kingdom.                 6. Russia.
3. Belgium.                        7. Italy.
4. Germanic States.
In the proportion which the length of railway bears to the
extent of territory, these countries stand in the following order:
1. United Kingdom.                5. United States.
2. Belgium.                        6. Italy.
3. Germanic States.                7. Russia.
4. France.
In the proportion of the railway capital to the population, the
following is the order in which they stand:
1. United Kingdom.                  5. Germanic States.
2. United States.                   6. Italy.
3. Belgium.                         7. Russia.
4. France.
In the proportion which the railway capital bears to the extent of territory, the following is the order:
1. United Kingdom.                  5. United States.
2. Belgium.                         6. Italy.
3. France.                          7. Russia.
4. Germanic States.
I
I
418
[CHAP. XXt. 
CHAP. XXI.] RAILWAY TRANSPORT GENERALLY.
The following is the order in which they stand with reference
to the actual length of railway open:
1. United States.                 5. Belgium.
2. United Kingdom.                6. Russia.
3. Germanic States.               7. Italy.
4. France.
And the following is their order in relation to the capital expended in railways:
1. United Kingdom.                 5. Belgium.
2. Germanic States.               6. Russia.
3. United States.                 7. Italy.
4. France.
While the total length of railway in operation in the United
States exceeds the length opon in the United Kingdom in the
proportion of about 4 to 3, the capital invested in railway communication in England exceeds that invested in the United States
in the ratio of about 4 to 1.
It will also be observed that, of the aggregate amount of capital invested in railways in all the countries of the globe, England
possesses more than the half, or 54 per cent.; while the length
of railways constructed with this capital is less than 27 per cent.,
or little more than one quarter of the aggregate length.
This will exhibit, in a striking manner, the superior efficiency
of the mode of construction in England.
Of all the railways in progress in every part of the world,
more than the half, or 5721 per cent., are in England; and of
the entire amount of capital to be invested in these, about 68 per
cent. is to be invested in England.
It appears from the results of the preceding tables, that the
entire amount of capital actually invested in railway communication in all the countries of the world is three hundred and
sixty-eight millions and a half; and that with this, upward of
eighteen thousand six hundred miles of railway have been constructed, and that the capital to be invested in seven thousand
eight hundred miles of railway in progress will amount to nearly
one hundred and forty-seven millions.
It would have been desirable to have exhibited a comparative
view of the average movement of the traffic upon the railways
in operation in different countries at a corresponding epoch.
Unfortunately we have no documents to enable us to do this
with all the precision which might be wished. I have, however,
collected in the following table as many data as are supplied by
authentic  documents for nearly corresponding epochs.  The
419
'k 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
railways on which the traffic reported has been carried do not
in general include all the lines open in the respective countries;
nevertheless, they will afford some approximation to a comparison of the extent of intercommunication by railway.  In some
cases, also, I have been obliged to obtain the numerical results
by estimation. These I have indicated in the table:
COMPARATIVE VIEW of the Movement of the Traffic on a Portion of the
Railways in operation in the United Kingdom, United States, B elgiuim,
France, and Germany.
United                        Cermasin
United    Itt       Betginm.   France.    States.
United
Kingdom.
1847.
miles.
3036
~.
40,000
Belgiu m.
1847.
miles.
353
18,000
Length of railway.................
Average cost of construction and
stock per mile..................
Per mile of railway per day:
Receipts....................
Expenses......................
Profits......................
Expenses per cent. of receipts......
Profits per cent. of capital..........                       
S.
4-6
2'9
1-7
63'0
3-44
;.       d.
1   6
mloes.
22-6
d.
0-8
75-3
11
24-0
65
s. d.
5!2
miles.
43'8
d.
1-34
33-2
Receipts per mile of trains........     
Receipts per passenger booked.....        
X.
4-05
1-89
2'16
46'8
8'6
s.  d.
7 5
2 3
miles
18-2
d.
1'47
54
100
..
..
5 8-5
miles.
38
d.
1-8
54-5
15-01
..
Distance traveled per passenger.... 
~.
5'30
3'33
1'97
63'0
2'68
.,. d.
7..
2 1-75
ni!e~,
24'9
d.
1-03
61 4
7'0
24'6
68'4
Receipts per passenger per mile.... 
Nunnber of passengers per train.... 
Per cent of passengers booked:
1st class.....................
2d class.....................
3d class.....................
Receipts per ton of goods booked...
Distance carried per ton...........
Receipts per ton per mile..........                                  
Ntttnber of tons per train..........
Average speed of passenger-trains in
miles per lihoutr:
Stoppages included..........
Stoppages excluded..........
* The average cost of the American railways taken collectively per mile is only
~8129. Those to which the present report refers include among them the most expensive in the States.
t The estimated limit, see page 263.                I               By estimation.
I
I
410
[CHAR. XXI.
U.it,-d
st.t.".
1847.
,160
X.
92001
S,i
1846.
2304
X.
11,000
F,...
1848.
.ile,,
109
X.
26,800
Year reported.....................
X.
7-6
3-ot
4-6t
40-Ot
4",."f
d.
0
2 0
.it, 15-75
11.
1-54
-50
13-8
39.5
46-7
d.
2-2
.il,!,.
22-5
d.
1-67
S..
-16
1-04
1.12
48-3
3-72
,. d.
1 6-5
.il".
19.6
d.
0-93
3-6
2-4
74-o
,6 d.
I I
I
.it,.
46-4
d.
2-6
24-5
32-0
18-10
5!4-90
21-2
27-0
20.0
24-2 
CHAPTER XXII.
THE RELATION OF RAILWAYS TO THE STATE.
RAILWAYS, when first brought into operation, were regarded
as exceptional modes of conveyance, suitable to particular localities and particular conditions of commerce and intercourse. As
their powers were gradually developed, it became evident that
they were destined to play a more important part in the business
of transport, and that they must ultimately become the general,
if not the only means by which the internal movement and
commerce of peoples, and even the intercommunication of people
and people, would be conducted. Under this point of view, the
question of their relation with the State became one of capital
importance.
Hitherto the public highways in all countries have been regarded as within the special domain of government. By government and by the legislature they were controlled and regulated; and it was natural, therefore, to conclude that tile same
system of regulation and control must be extended to the new
ways of communication, by which they seem destined to be
superseded.
Between the common high roads, however, and the railways,
an important difference was not slow to unfold itself. The
superintendence and control of the State over the highways had
been limited to their maintenance and superintendence, and to
the regulation of their police.  The carrying business conducted
upon them was always in the hands of the public, and was regulated and controlled by the wholesome influence of competition.
The operation of the same principle of competition was contemplated in the infancy of railways, as is apparent from the
provisions in the legislative enactments by which the companies
have been incorporated.  It was expected that the public should
be admitted to exercise the business of carriers upon them, sub ject to certain specified regulations and by-laws.
It soon became apparent, however, that this new means of
transport was attended with qualities which must exclude every
indiscriminate exercise of the carrying business. A railway,
like a vast machine, the wheels of which are all connected with 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
each other, and whose movement requires a certain harmony,
can not be worked by a number of independent agents. Such
a system would speedily be attended with self-destruction. The
organization of a railway requires unity of direction and harmony
of movement, which can only be attained by the combination of
the entire carrying business with the general administration of
the road. Hence it followed, as a necessary consequence, as
has been already explained, that the companies originally established for the construction of a road only, became, in spite of
themselves, the exclusive carriers upon it; and hence arose
inevitably as many local monopolies of transport as there were
separate and independent companies.
This evil was speedily aggravated by amalgamation. The
very same principles and conditions which rendered it indispensable that each company should have the sole direction and
management of the entire movement of transport upon its own
line, rendered it scarcely less expedient that systems of lines
running into each other should either voluntarily establish a
code of regulations to secure their mutual harmony, or that
they should coalesce so as to form fewer companies of greater
magnitude. Both of these expedients have been resorted to.
Lesser, placed near greater companies, have coalesced with
then). A great number of small monopolies have, by the
operation of the affinities of commercial interest, been drawn
together, and have become a small number of great monopolies;
and so indispensable has a certain unity of management and harmony of movement proved to be to the efficiency of the entire
system, that, where amalgamation has not been effected, the
device of the Clearing-house has been invented to surmount, as
far as is practicable, those difficulties which might arise firom
the absence of unity of direction and management of intercommunicating lines.
Such were the circumstances out of which sprung those
colossal monopolies among which the territory of the United
Kingdom is parceled out, and by which the entire internal commerce, and correspondence, and personal intercourse of its
people are conducted.
A great variety of relations have arisen out of a like state of
things in other countries, according to the local circumstances
attending the form of government, and the social and commercial condition of the people.
In some the State has taken upon itself the entire charge of
the construction and working of the railways. This is the case,
422
[CH,iP. XXII. 
CIIAP. XXII.]   RAILWAYS AND THE STATE.
for example, in Belgium and Hanover, in some of the Northern
Duchies, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, in Wtirtemburg, Bavaria, and Austria. It is true that a few isolated lines in these
several states had been conceded to companies before the great
question of the relation between the State and the railways had
been raised; but these cases, besides being exceptional, have
gradually been diminished in number by the governments respectively redeeming the property in the roads.
In other countries, a mixed system has been pursued. Some
railways have been constructed and furnished by the State, but
farmed by companies on terminable and frequently short leases.
the State maintaining a certain control regulated by the clauses
of the leases. In some cases, the railways have been constructed and stocked by the companies themselves, who hold the
property under a lease of more or less extended duration; but
still the State is represented in the administration of the railway
by the presence of an agent, who is invested with almost unlimited control over the working of the lines. In France, this agent
was established under the name of a Royal Commissioner, and
one such functionary was nominated to form part of the administration of each railway company.   Besides this, the government appoints the police of the road, all these functionaries,
however, of every grade, being paid by the company. On the
expiration of the leases, the State is usually bound to reimburse
to the company the estimated value of the movable stock attached to the establishment; and the company, on the other
hand, is bound to sustain this movable stock in a satisfactory
and efficient state pending the lease.
In cases where the State has adopted the policy of leaving
the construction and management of the railways to private
companies, it has nevertheless intervened, by means of subvention or other encouragement, to stimulate private enterprise in
those cases in which the lines run through localities where the
commerce is deemed insufficient to produce the average profit
on the capital invested. In different countries this object is
accomplished by different expedients.
In some, a subvention in money is directly given; in others,
the State takes a certain proportion of the shares, supplying
the corresponding amount of capital on favorable terms; in
others, the State guarantees a minimum amount of interest on
the capital to be invested; in others, the companies are favored
by the free importation of stock and materials, by the gratuitous
use of the land, and by exemption from taxation.
1,;
423 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
The authority of the State is, in almost all cases, asserted,
and in many periodically exercised. Thus a power of revising
the tariff at stated intervals, such as every three or five years,
is often reserved. This is the case in some of the railway enterprises in the United States.
The case of the English railway companies is, in several respects, peculiar. The spirit of the laws and traditions renders
the State averse firom interference in commercial enterprises,
and somewhat reserved even in the exercise of that control over
them, which would seem to be indispensable to the general
interests.
Powers of an unusually extensive and durable character were
therefore readily granted to all railway companies in this country, and monopoly after monopoly grew up, fostered by the
legislature, and favored by the public. Monopoly, however, was
not slow to develop some of its customary evils, and complaints
and remonstrances followed. Abuses were signalized, and a
reaction in public opinion was manifested. Railway directors,
who had been previously the objects of unbounded laudation,
now became the subjects of distrust and censure, and a general
demand of some efficient system of control was put forth.
This demand was opposed by railway directors and parties
under their influence, who went so far as to deny the right of
parliament to interfere with their concerns, assimilating their
establishments to those of banks, insurance offices, dock comIpanies, and other industrial associations.  These parties indignantly rejected all control, and even complained of the system
of publishing periodical reports, partial and imperfect as it has
been, which the law and public opinion has exacted firom them,
as a grievance. They declared that any interference with the
affairs of railway companies, or any compulsory publication of
their proceedings, or any report of the state of their financial
concerns, is a violation of the rights of capital as gross and unjustifiable as would be the same measures if adopted in reference to the mercantile transactions of Rothschild's, Baring's, or
any other private establishment. They admit that government
may so far interfere as to provide for the safety and convenience of the public in traveling. But beyond this, they denounce all legislative or State intervention in their affairs. They
complain that the temper evinced by parliament and the press
is such as ought to be directed only against the greatest enemies
of social progress, instead of the promoters, as they justly enough
claim to be, of one of the most signal instruments for the ad
[CHAP. XXII,
424 
CIIAP. XXII.]  RAILWAYS AND THE STATE.
vancement of civilization that modern times have witnessed.
Such a temper, they contend, must produce a corresponding
feeling on the part of railway directors; and it is declared that,
if such a system of annoyance and improper interference be
continued, it must result either in raising a spirit of opposition
on the part of railway interests, which, considering the magnitude of the property at stake, can not be lightly regarded, or
inducing an apathy and indifference in the administration of railways  in either case being the cause of great injury and inconvenience to the public.
To all this it is answered, that bodies which possess the almost
exclusive control of the intercourse of the country, including the
conveyance of persons and goods, the service of the post-office,
and the movement of the troops, have none of the qualities, and
ought to have none of the privileges, attaching to private commercial establishments; that, therefore, it would be a great
error to regard the British railways as speculations imnportant
to none but the shareholders; that they, on the contrary, involve
interests public, political, and social, of the greatest magnitude;
that they have not been created, as the advocates of their complete independence pretend, by the unaided efforts of individuals;
that they owe their origin and existence to the will of the legislature, expressed in their various acts of incorporation, and that
to the legislature they must be held, in a peculiar degree, responsible; that they have been intrusted with privileges and
powers almost without precedent; and that, in fine, it is incumbent on parliament to see that these powers are properly exercised, and to amend the laws which regulate them in such a
manner as may from time to time be deemed expedient.
It is further contended, that the duty of legislative interference is rendered more imperative by the enormous amount of
money which railway companies have raised under parliamentary authority. Not only has a capital been raised amounting to
a quarter of the national debt, which amount will be augmented
by at least 50 per cent. within a short period, but loans have
been obtained by the companies to vast amounts, under the direct
sanction, and subject to the conditions, of special acts of parliament.  The debentures representing these loans, as well as the
railway shares, are transferable firom hand  to hand with as
much facility as the unfunded debt, with which they enter into
direct competition.
Of late years, moreover, the interests involved in railway
property have assumed an importance which has introiduced it
425 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
into marriage settlements, wills, and other family arrangements,
almost as generally as the public securities. It would therefore,
it is contended, be preposterous to maintain that property of
such an amount and such character should be left to the uncontrolled management of bodies so fleeting and so little responsible
as the boards of railway directors.
It is further maintained by the advocates of government control, that shareholders are a fleeting and mutable body, liberated
from many of the responsibilities and obligations which attach
to property of a more permanent character. A share-market
has been created as well in the chief commercial towns as in the
capital, where transactions to an enormous amount take place.
Not only are permanent investments made in railway securities
which have become matters of settlement, bequest, and inheritance, but large speculations are daily made, with a view to profit,
by traffic in a description of property peculiarly liable to sudden
and extraordinary fluctuations, fluctuations so extreme that the
capital of a single railway has been known to fall in value within
the brief period of two months to the amount of three millions
sterling. These violent and sudden variations in the value of
the securities of one railway produce sympathetic effects in all
the others, and always arise from the want of confidence entertained by the public in the representations made by the directors
of railway companies of their financial condition.*
Since, however, the necessity of establishing an independent
body, invested with definite powers to examine and check the
railway accounts, is admitted by all persons beyond the immediate circle of railway directors, and those in their employment
and under their influence, and even by some among those directols themselves, it will not be necessary to enter further into this
discussion. It may be assumed that the establishment of such
a controlling body is demanded by public opinion; the only points
to be considered being the authority firom which its nomination
must emanate, and the nature and extent of its powers.
The appointment of such a body can only be made by the
directors, the proprietors of railways, not being directors, or the
State.
That railway directors should nominate the body which is to
control themselves, would be an outrage on common sense,
which public opinion indignantly rejects.
The appointment of an efficient and independent board of
* Third Report of Select Committee of House of Lords, June, 1849.
[CHAII. XXII.
426 
CHAP. XXII.]  RAILWAYS AND THE STATE.
control by railway proprietors, exercising its powers over railway directors, would be attended with many practical difficulties.
The railway proprietors are a very numerous body, scattered
over the country, and even over the world, varying extremely
in age, sex, and condition. It is difficult to imagine how such a
body could ever be brought into any real co-operation otherwise
than by the agency and influence, direct or indirect, of the
directors themselves. The body of proprietors have already
nominated the directors, and must be presumed to have selected the individuals for that office whom they regarded as best
entitled to their confidence. To call on the sanme proprietors to
elect other individuals to be placed in a sort of antagonism to the
former, and invested with powers to check and control them.
would be to require them to place over those individuals. in
whom they have manifested the greatest confidence, others, in
whom they must necessarily have less.
The impracticability of attaining such an object is in sonme
degree illustrated by the effect of the system of audit hitherto
pursued. It is well known that on the presentation of each
half year's report, auditors are appointed by the meeting of
shareholders, to examine and to check the balance-sheet. The
witnesses produced before the House of Lords, consisting of
public accountants, eminent railway directors, and others, distinguished by special knowledge on such subjects, were unanimous
in declaring this system of audit to be destitute of all efficiency.
Mr. Swift (says the report), a witness whose confidential connection with the Northwestern Railway Company gives great
weight to his testimony, declared such an audit to be, moonshine against dishonest directors." Mr. King, who had been
secretary to two companies, said, the audit was, a complete
farce," to which he could not attach the slightest value or importance.   Sir John Easthope declared that he could never
consent to become a director again unless an effective audit
were established, and that if such audit be not entirely independent of the directors, it would be better to have no audit at
all. Mr. King said that a shareholder ought not to be an auditor,
,, inasmuch as it would place him in an invidious position. Ile
would, in some way or other, be connected with the directors,
and would probably be chosen, or suggested, or recommended,
by them to the shareholders."
A board of railway control properly constituted would represent, not the interest of the shareholders only, but that of the
public; and among the abuses which it would become its duty
427 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
to check, would be more especially those which affect that
portion of the public who are not shareholders. The misapplication of capital and financial malversations, which have been
already sometimes practiced by directors, having the effect of
producing factitious changes in the marketable value of railway
securities, of which changes the directors themselves, who thus
brought them about, have largely availed themselves, are examples of this. So far, then, as such a board of control would
represent the interests of the public in general, as contradistinguished from those of railway proprietors in particular, it
ought legitimately to derive its appointments and authority from
tile State, which represents the public.
But, whatever may be the origin of such a controlling or
auditing body, it is agreed on all hands that it must be perfectly
independent of the directors in the exercise of its functions. If
such independence can be shown to be compatible with any
system of election by shareholders, no legitimate objection can
perhaps be brought against it; and it would, in such case, be
exempted firom those inconveniences which are supposed  to
attend such a body when deriving its nomination and authority
firom the government.
Whatever may be the nature of the functions and limits of
the powers to be conferred upon the body proposed to be created for the control or audit of railway management, its objects
may be briefly and clearly stated.
They must be to supply railway shareholders, and the public
in general (any of whom may at any moment become railway
sharehlolders), with the means of obtaining an assurance of the
honesty and of estimating the ability of the railway management. This object will be attained partly by the confidence
which the public may entertain in the persons appointed to
compose such a board, and partly by the publicity which may be
given to the accounts and proceedings of the railway managers.
One of the objects most strongly insisted upon in the measure
proposed in the House of Lords for an independent system of
railway audit in the session of 1849, was to secure greater uniformity and more detailed explanation itn the system of financial
accounts issued by the directors to the shareholders.  These
accounts naturally arrange themselves under the two heads of
capital and revenue.
It was proposed that the capital account should be twofold,
or, to state it more correctly, a single account consisting of triple
columns.
[CHAP. XXII.
428 
CHAP. XXII.]   RAILWVAYS AND THE STATE.
The first column would consist of a clear and detailed statement of the amounts of capital which the company had been
authorized to raise, stating the purposes to which these amounts
respectively had been directed by the legislature to be applied.
The second column would contain a statement of the extent
to which the company had exercised these powers. It would
state the amounts respectivelv which had been raised under
each authorization, assigning them to their respective heads,
and showing the purposes for which they were destined.
The difference between the totals of these two columns
would show the amount of the unexhausted power with which
the company was still invested.
The third column would contain a clear and detailed statement of the capital which had been actually expended, stating
the objects to which it had been appropriated, and showing
clearly that these objects were those for which parliament had
authorized the capital to be raised.
The difference between the totals of the second and third
columns would show the portion of the capital raised which had
been still unexpended.
One of the abuses against which legislative interference had
been invoked, was the misappropriation of capital by railway
directors. This misappropriation was twofold. In some cases
the directors would apply the capital which the company had
been authorized to raise for one purpose to another, still, howvever, being legitimately capital.  Thus, capital authorized to be
raised for the construction of a particular branch of the trunk
line, would be applied to the purchase of steamboats, or to the
improvement or construction of docks.
Such proceedings involved a double violation of the spirit of
the law. Not only was capital applied to a purpose not authorized by parliament, but works, the construction of which was
sanctioned by parliament, and ordered to be executed within
a given limit of time, were left either incomplete or not commienced.
But the most frequent and scandalous misapplication of capital, whether considered in itself or its consequences, had been
the appropriation of capital to the purposes of revenue, and
more especially to the payment of dividends.
Railway directors are usually large holders of shares, fiequently obtained by allotment, and at a much lower rate than
the current market price.
Thus situated, they have a direct interest to raise the mar
429 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
ket, and to avail themselves of such elevation to dispose of
shares.
This object is accomplished by the misappropriation of capital
for the purpose of swelling the dividends beyond the amount
which they would have reached if paid legitimately out of profits.
When a rise has been produced by these means, and the
directors avail themselves of it, they dispose of their allotted
shares at a large profit. This spurious price is of course only
temporary, and the market soon declines. The deluded public
loses precisely to the extent to which the directors and those
in their confidence gain. Thus the fortunes of the widow and
orphan, and the accumulations of industry and thrift, are firaudulently transferred to swell the colossal fortunes of individual
directors, who by such means suddenly rise firom stations comparatively obscure to almost fabulous wealth.
It may be most truly replied, that proceedings such as these
are rare, that directors in general are persons altogether incapable of such malpractices, and that it would be unjust to stigmatize a large, respectable, and intelligent body of men, to the
unwearied exertions and talents of many of whom the world is
indebted for the successful issue of the most signal improvement
of modern times, because of the misconduct of some individuals
among them. To this it is answered, that unreserved and complete publicity of all the details of the management of the affairs
of each company can alone do justice to the respectable and independent majority of directors. Such a publicity will enable
every one who possesses the necessary information to judge
not only of the honesty but of the ability of the management,
and without such publicity there can be no test by which the
public at large can know the integrity or skill with which any
railway establishment is conducted.
An intelligent and experienced witness, long connected with
railway affairs, declared, before the Committee of the House
of Lords, that practices of misapplying capital, such as had prevailed in certain cases, would lead at some period to, total
ruin, and in the mean while to great confusion, and an entire
misapprehension of the value of each undertaking."
Another said, that there was, no safety for bondholders or
shareholders, unless the separation of capital fiom revenue was
observed, and that any deviation from it must falsify the accounts and deprive the public of the means of measuring the
value of such undertakings."
An experienced accountant stated, that under the present
[CIIAP. XXII,
430 
CHAP. XXII.]   RAILWAYS AND THE STATE.
system, there is no security that capital and income snall be
kept distinct, and that the practical consequence is, that the
purchaser who buys shares does so in ignorance of the true
state of the company's affairs, and is led to give a higher price
than the thing is worth, under the belief that the dividends
declared come bond fide out of profits. Any balance under
such a system, may be struck which may suit the purpose of
the directors; any dividend may be declared, and the public
may be deceived to any extent desired."
,, If capital," says the Report of the Lords' Committee,, be
unduly brought to increase income, or ordinary expenditure be
unduly carried to the account of capital, the apparent balances
may be varied at pleasure, a fallacious and firaudulent value may
for a time be given to shares, greatly profitable to all proprietors
desirous of selling, but leading to results fatal to the interests of
the more important class who invest permanently; for the sake
of a deceptive present gain the value of the reversion will be
sacrificed. Cases may easily be contemplated, and undoubtedly
have occurred, in which the future profitable working of the
line may thus be endangered, and the public interests connected
with the maintenance of railways be placed in jeopardy, if not
sacrificed." *
To guard against this and similar abuses, shareholders have
always had a certain power at reasonable times to examine the
books of the company, but this power has proved, as might
easily have been foreseen, illusory. It is not by individual
shareholders going to a railway office, and demanding journals
and ledgers, and running over their pages, that any real estimate
of the state of the affairs of the company can be ascertained.
This is a proceeding which individual shareholders will never
be induced to undertake, nor, if they did, would any satisfactory
result ensue. Practiced accountants alone can form a satisfactory
estimate of the financial condition of the company, and even they
could only accomplish this by an elaborate examination of the
books; such an examination as individual shareholders could
never effect by the means provided in the acts of incorporation.
But whatever powers may be conferred upon the controlling
or auditing body, and from whatever source it may derive its
appointment and authority, its influence will be unavailing unless the most ample and unreserved publicity be given to the
details of the railway management, and with such publicity the
* Third Report of the Lords' Committee, June, 1849.
431 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
task of the auditors or controllers will be rendered comparatively
easy. Their duties will in such case be reduced in effect to
mere verification of the disbursements by the vouchers; for, by
such means, the public at large would be converted into one
great and unquestionable Board of Audit. Railway aftfairs would,
in a word, be placed under the immediate operation of public
opinion.  Railway directors, instead of denmanding, as they now
do, half-yearly votes of confidence from their blindfolded constituents, would receive the intelligent approbation of a wellinformed public.
In all the discussions which have hitherto taken place on this
question of railway control, a stress much too exclusive has
been placed on the fidelity and accuracy of the report of the
financial condition of the company, as if the honesty and integrity of the management were all that could be required to satisfy
the railway proprietors and the public. The degree of ability
and skill with which the affairs of the railway may have been
conducted, seems to be wholly left out of view. This is a grave
error. Honesty is happily a much more ordinary quality than
ability, and there is much stronger ground for distrusting the
skill shown in the management of the enterprise of a railway
than the integrity of those to whom the management is confided.
It is not, therefore, sufficient, for the sntisfaction of public
opinion, to publish an authenticated report of the financial condition of each railway company.
Such details of its management must also be given as may
enable ail persons competently informed to form  an estiniate
of the skill and ability with which its afftairs have been conducted.  They must be in a condition to judge whether the
capital has been duly utilized; but, to place them in this condition, a much more ample report of the business of the company must be published than any which has hitherto been issued
by railway companies in England, or even on the Continent,
where the periodical reports are more detailed.  The Belgian
government alone puts forth a complete and satisfactory annual
report of its management. We do not maintain that the exposition annually supplied to the public by the Belgian governinment of the administration of the State railways may not be
susceptible of improvement, or that it may  not contain some
needless detail. It can not, however, be denied that it demonstrates the possibility of placing the affiirs of railway management under the operation of public opinion.
[CHAP. XXII.
432 
CHAP. XXII.]  RAILWAYS AND THE STATE.
The report should be annual, and not half-yearly, as is the practice in England; because the traffic runs through its periodical
phases, and completes them with the revolution of the seasons.
Half-yearly reports, therefore, supply itmperfect inferences;
and it is only by comparing two such reports successively issued
that correct average results can be obtained.
While I would therefore propose greater amplitude in detail
of the railway reports, I would suggest that they should be
published annually and not half-yearly, and as soon after the
commencemnent of each year as might be practicable, giving the
details of the management and working of the railway for the
preceding year.
Such a report might consist of the following heads:
SECTION I.
CONSTRUCTION AND STOCK.
Sums which the company has been empowered to raise.-Sums actually raised under such powers.-Sums expended, specifying in detail
the objects to which they have been appropriated, and the sources from
which they have been derived.
SECTION II.
EXPENSES.
This section should contain a detailed statement of the current expenses of the management and working of the railways, each class of
disbursement being assigned to its proper head-such as direction and
management, way and works, locomotive power, carrying expenses, &c.
SECTION III.
RECEIPTS.
This section should contain a detailed statement of the revenue of
the company, assigning distinctly the amount of revenue proceeding
from each object of traffic, such as passengers, distinguished by classes,
baggage, parcels, horses, carriages, mails, and all objects carried by
passenger trains; goods and live stock, classed according to their tariff.
The receipts should also be stated according to the parts of the line
from which they have proceeded; thus the amount received for each
class of traffic at each station should be given.
The receipts should also be classified accordiring to the period of the
year at which they have been realized, their amounts being separately
stated for each successive month.
In cases where a graduated tariff has been established, diminishing
as the distance to which the objects of transport are carried is increased,
the receipts should also be classified according to the distances to which
the objects of transport producing them have been severally carried, so
T
433 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
as to show the amounts of revenue which have proceeded from long
traffic and short traffic.
Such a statement is supplied in the reports of the Belgian railways.
SECTION IV.
THE MOVEMENT OF THE TRAFFIC.
This section should contain a statement of the quantity and mileage
of the several classes of traffic.  Thus the number of passengers of
each class booked and the total mileage of each class should be given.
In like manner, the quantity and mileage of each object of transport
conveyed by passenger trains, such as baggage, parcels, mails, horses,
and carriages, should be stated. The comparison of the quantity of
these with their mileage would give the average distance over which
each passenger and other object of traffic was carried.
A like statement should be given for the various classes of goods
traffic, showing in each case the quantity booked and its mileage.
The quantity booked at each section of the line should be distinctly
given, to show the variation of the traffic on different parts of the railway; and the quantity in each month, to show the variation of the
traffic according to the seasons.
SECTION V.
THE MOVEMENT OF TIlE LOCOMOTIVE STOCK.
This section should contain a statement of the quantity of the locomotive stock, enumerating the engines with the circumstances of their
origin, construction, age, former services, and their current mileage.
The distances run by each engine during the year should be stated, as
well as the total distance it has run since first put upon the road. The
consumption of fuel should be given, distinguishing that which is consumed in lighting and getting up steam, and standing, and in profitable
work. The consumption of oil and other materials, and the cost of repairs, should also be given. All these details are supplied annually in
the reports of the Belgian railways.
SECTION VI.
THE MOVEMENT OF THE CARRYING STOCK.
This section should contain a statement of the entire stock of vehicles
of transport used during the year, distinguishing them according to
classes, and giving their mileages respectively.
Also a statement of the consumption of materials, cost of repairs, &c.
SECTION VII.
MIOVEMENT OF TRAFFIC COMPARED WITH MOVEMENT OF LOCOMOTIVE
AND CARRYING STOCK.
By comparing the movement of the different classes of traffic with
the movement of the various classes of vehicles of transport to which
they are respectively appropriated, we can obtain the average load car
434
[cliap. XXIT 
CHAP. XXII.]    RAILWAYS AND THE STATE.
ried by each vehicle, and by comparing them with the movement of
the locomotive stock, we can obtain the average load drawn by each
engine. Data are thus obtained by which numerous economical problems of the highest importance can be solved. It is by these means
that we can ascertain the extent to which the moving stock of the railway has been utilized.
SECTION VII.
RECEIPTS AND EXPENSES COMPARED WITH THE MOVEMiENT  OF THE
TRAFFIC AND ROLLING STOCK.
By this comparison may be ascertained the proportion of the expenses
chargeable to each class, and even to each individual object of traffic.
By comparing such expenses with the receipts arising from each object
of traffic, the profit or loss arising from each class of traffic can be
ascertained.
By this means a numerous class of important problems can be solved
which are intimately connected with the questions of the tariff, and by
which alone the future tariff can be advantageously regulated.
SECTION IX.
THE MOVEMENT OF THE TRAFFIC AND ROLLING STOCK COMPARED
WITH THE EXTENT OF THE RAILWAY.
The comparison made in this section would show the extent to which
the railway itself has been utilized.  It would indicate the proportion
in which the traffic has been distributed over it, showing the quantity
of profitable load as well as of dead weight which has been transported
between station and station on every part of the line. This would also
indicate the extent to which the local supply of traffic may have been
cultivated, and would direct the attention of managers and the public to
the still unsatisfied exigencies of the districts through which the railways may be carried.
It must not be supposed that a report containing details such
as I have enumerated here, is either difficult or impracticable.
Many of them are regularly supplied in the annual reports of
most of the continental railway companies, and all of them, and
many others still more minute, are contained in the annual railway report of the Belgian government. It is true, that the existing arrangements of the English railways do not afford the
means of recording some of these statistical facts, but nothing
would be more easy than to organize in this country, as elsewhere, the means of recording them.
In order to show the extent to which the movable stock of the
railway has been utilized, it is essential to supply the means of
comparing the movement of the rolling stock with the movement
of the traffic. It is by such a comparison alone that the average
435 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
amount of loads carried by the different vehicles of transport can
be accurately ascertained. This will be easily comprehended
from the preceding part of this volume.
If we know the distance which any class of vehicles of transport have traveled within the year, and also know the distance
over which each class of objects of transport to which such vehicles are appropriated have been carried, the comparison will
immediately supply the means of ascertaining the average load
carried by each vehicle, and this average load is the only exponent of the extent to which each class of vehicle has been utilized.
To accomplish this it would be necessary to keep separate
mileage accounts of the traffic and of the rolling stock. In the
case of the traffic, its mileage can be immediately ascertained
from the record of the receipts, inasmuch as each sum received
represents the transport of a given object to a given distance.
In the case of the vehicles of transport, the manner in which
the mileage has been hitherto kept on continental lines is not as
simple and satisfactory as could be desired. The places of departure and arrival of each vehicle are registered, and reports
firom the different stations are received, the comparison of which
supplies the means of computing the mileage.
Nothing, however, would be more easy than to attach to each
vehicle of transport a counter, which would become a self-acting
register of the aggregate space over which each vehicle has run.
These counters, when required in large numbers, could be constructed at a small expense.  They are not liable to derangement, and would relieve the railway administration from the
clumsy and expensive method of observing and registering the
miovement/of the stock, and, in fine, would accomplish the object
with greater certainty and accuracy. The counters, as commonly constructed, run up to a million of revolutions of the
wheels, which, with a wheel ten feet in circumference, would,
in round numbers, extend to about two thousand miles.
Similar instruments might be attached to the engines, by
which a register of their mileage would be kept. In this manner an account recorded of the movement of the entire rolling
stock would be obtained at a nominal expense, nothing more
being necessary than to provide agents who would attend to and
record the indications of the counters.
The expenses, besides being recorded under the usual heads
of direction, way and works, locomotive power, carrying expenses, &c., should also be distributed according to some pri-iciples such as those which have been explained in Clhap. XII.,
436
[CHAP. XXII 
OCAP. XXII.]   RAILWAYS AND THE STATE.
so as to enable the managers of the road to ascertain thle cost at
which each object of traffic has been transported. It is by a
comparison of this cost with the tariff, that the profit arising
firom each object of traffic is ascertained. Data would thus be
also obtained, by which the managers could ascertain what increased expense would be produced by any given increase of
the distance to which each object of traffic is transported, and
hence would arise the data necessary for the fornmation of a
graduated tariff, diminishing in its rate per mile according as the
distances to which the objects of traffic respectively are transported are increased.
These, and a multitude of other practical problems, involving
the most important economical principles in railway management will at once suggest themselves as arising out of the circumstances here adverted to, and the solution of which would
be altogether impossible unless data, such as those here described, could be obtained.
No such data can be obtained, however, from the present system of railway accounts, nor is it possible for directors and managers themselves to obtain the means of solving such economical
problems.
Connected with each railway administration, a statistical
bureau should be established for organizing and recording these
classes of data.* Such bureaus are already established in connection with several of the best conducted continental railways,
and although their operations have not been in all cases conducted so efficiently as could be desired, they are, nevertheless,
attended with the best effects.
It can not escape observation that, by the publication of such
ample and detailed reports as I have here proposed, the functions of the board of audit, about which so much discussion has
taken place, wouldbe stripped of much of their invidious character,
and less difference of opinion would prevail as to the source from
which they might derive their nomination and authority.
* The business of such a bureau, and indeed that of other departments in the railway administration, would be materially facilitated and
expedited by the adoption of " FULLER'S Calcuilating Scale," which is
an improvement on the sliding rule, the uses and application of which
it has enlarged so as to become almost a new instrument.  In all statistical inquiries, where rates percentages and arithmetical reductions are
necessary, it supplies the place of a table of logarithms, and gives the
results with much greater expedition, and with sufficient accuracy for
all practical purposes.
437 
RAILWAY ECONOMY.
It is sometimes contended that railways, being commercial
companies, whose concerns affect only their respective share holders, publicity should not be exacted from them, and that the
shareholders alone have a right to be informed of the affairs of
their administration and management; but to this it may be
answered, that nothing short of publicity can bring such information to the knowledge of bodies so large and fluctuating as those
of railway shareholders. By what means, short of general publicity for example, could a body like the proprietors of the Northwestern Railway, acquire a clear, full, and satisfactory knowledge of the affairs of that vast enterprise?
Besides, it may be answered, the shares being matters of daily
bargain and sale in the public market, every individual who may
become a purchaser has a claim to a full knowledge of the state
of the affairs of the company into which he is about to enter.
In fine, considering the questions which have been agitated
for some months respecting the great railway enterprises of the
country, in all their bearings and relations, no expedient appears
so likely to remedy the evils which have formed the subject of
universal complaint and remonstrance, to revive public confidence, and to restore railway property to its just value in the
public market, as a system of publicity such as is here recommended.
438
[CHAP. XXII. 
INDEX.
class of passengers, 237; from traffic in
general, 241; proportion of receipts to
length, traffic, and capital, 243; daily
receipts  per mnile, 243; proportion of
re ceipts  to increase of railways,  244;
proportion of receipts to capital, 264;
accidents on, 267.  (See Great  West  ern,Northwestern, Southeastern, South western,  and Brighton Railways, Re  ceipts, Expenses, Profits, Locomotive,
Carrying stock, Capital.)
Capital of railways in United Kingdom,
68; and revenue, 116; account, 116; of
all the railways in the world.  (See Bel  gian, French, German and United States
Railways.)
Carriage, service of, 52; trucks, 91, 192;
depot, 120; station, 126; sheds, 138.
Carriages 136, 192; weight of augmented,
58; passenger, 90; passenger of North  western, 97; cost of, 112; mixed, 261;
on railways of the United States, 387.
Carrying stock,  89; weight of augmented,
58; Belgian, 92; North of France,  92;
Northwestern, 92, 97, 110; register of,
93; mileage,  94, 95 96, 98; number
necessary to stock railway, 98,170; rail   way  titanufactories of, 108; of English
railways, 112; question as to deteriora   tion, 114; average load, 168; number,
170; expenses, 220, 230; analysis of ex   penses of, in Belgium, 220, 221; mixed
carriages, 261.
Cattle wagons, 92.
Chairs, 208; expenses of repair, 207.
Clearing house, 140; bankers', 141: com   panies associated in, 143; goods traffic
and  live stock, 146; passenger traffic,
147; pa r cels,  148; carrying stock, 149;
s tatistics,  151; capable of extension,
151; passengers iecorded in,l156.
Coal, consumed  in making coke on British
railways, 84.
Coke, 80; fabrication of, 80; quantity pro    disced from coal, 81; consumption of on
Gre at VVestern,  81; on Northlwestern
and Brighton  and South Coast, 82; on
British railways, 89.
Counter, to register mileage, 436.
Cost of railway traveling compared with
old mode, 164.
Crusades, influence on art of transport, 45.
Dead weight drawn by each engine, 105.
Derailment, 279.
ACCIDENTS, 265,  335; chan ces of, 265;
cause     2                                         res ofe en, 273; rules  to prevent  277
feg signals, 278; analys  is  of cases pro  duced by imprudence, 282; pre,,~tutions
against, 283 plain rules to avoid, 284.
Amlerican  el e ctric telegraph, 302.
Baggage, 128.
Baggage vans, 91.
Belgihan railways, 349; register of,  72;
locomotive stock, 73; mileage of en  gines, 75; carrying stock,.02; mileage
of, 94;  g    ood s  wagons,  131; number of
passengers carried by each train, 171;
transport of  horses and  carri         ages, 174;
expenses of loconotive power, 215; tanal   ysis and expenses of carrying stock,
220; proportion al expenses    of station for
goods, 228; estimated  stati on expenses,
330: analysis of general expenses, 230;
receipts, expenses, and profits, 1247; en   (couragement to omplete loads, 261;
length, 349; description, 350;  c onstruct   ed by state, 351; Belgian commerce,
351; character of the country, 352;
curves, 353   gradients,  353;  cost  of
construction, 353; cost   p     e    r mil e, 354;
rolling stock, 354; locomotive power,
passenger traffic, 357; goods traffic, 357;
traffic compared with extent of railway,
357; local variations of traffic, varia   tions of traffic with seasons, 360; per    centage of number,  mileage, and re    ceipts of passengers, 361; traffic ac    cording to distance, 361; proportions of
revenue contributed by traffic 363; pro    portion of expenses chargeable to usual
heads, 363; comparison of receipts, ex    penses, and profits, with length of line,
364; speed, 365; passenger traffic, 365;
constructed  by companies, 365; esti    imrated cost of, 367.
Brighton and South Coast railway, coke,
,92; number of passengers per engine,
172; distance traveled per passenger,
17a; number of passenger coaches in
each train, 173; departures, 175; ex    pense  of locomotive power, 218; esti     mated general working expenses, 233.
(See British lrailways.)
British railways, mileage of passenger
coaches, 98, 152; passenger traffic, 154;
158, 163; length of, 166; speed, 177;
goods mileage, 185; estimated working
expenses of, 233; receipts on, 235; pro     portion per cent. of receipts from each 
Engine, 127, 132; weight of augmented,    goods traffic, and receipts firotm it, 384;
58; passenger, 71; goods, 71; to ascer-   receipts, expenses, and profits, 385; pro    tain mileage, 73; can not be used indefi-    portion of receipts, expenses, and profits
nitely, 74; to determine average number    per mile, of trains and of lines, and per
ot' miles run by, after lighliting, 75  ntim-   cent. of capital, 385; speed 386.
ber lighted on Belgian railways, 75; Fuel, consumed in working railways, 77;
on Orleans railway, 75; reserve, 76; as-    economy of on Belgian lines, 78; regis    sistant ol bank, 76: number of times    ter of on Belgian lines, 79; sources for
lighted on Belgian railways, 82; require    economizing, 80, 142.
three days a week for cleaning, 83; tuse   ful service of, on Belgian lines, 83; total German railways, 387; description of, 387;
annual and daily mileage on foreign rail-   summary of length completed, in pro   ways, 83; useful service of, on North-    gress, and projected, 392; detail of lines,
western, 83; fixed, 127: station, 134;   392  constructed by companies and gov   stable, 135; number of passengers drawn      ernrnent, 395; on similar principles to
by, 172; action of at high speeds, 178;   American,  396; gradients and curves,
relation between mileage ofand receipts,    397; cost of construction, 401; cost per
262.  (See Locomotive.)                      muile, 403; causes  oflow rate ofcost, 402;
Engine  drivers, distance  driven by, on    self acting planes, 398; rails, 400; prices
Northwestern, 85.                            of land and labor, 402; proportion of
Expenses, 191; objects of analysis of, 194;    cost shared between land(, road, stations,
relation of to services, 198; of direction    and stock, 403; mode of working traffic,
and ma    nagement, 2-01; way and works     403; passengers, 404; mixed trains, 404;
20 4;      causes of repair of iron work of    movement of trains, 404; movement of
road, 2 07; locomotive power, 211; oflo-   traffic 413; distance traveled and re   comotive powver, how distributed among    ceipts,  407; proportion of passengers,
carrying stock, 214; carrying, 220, re-    410; fares, 10;  tariffs, 410; local vani   capitulation of various heads of, 225;    ations of traffic, 411; gross receipts per
stations, 226; chargeable independently    mile and per cent. of capital, 412; pro  of distance, 226; proposal of M. Teisse-   portion of receipts from passengers and
renc to fix common measure for expenses    goods, 411- working expenses, 411  re  of stations, 258; estimated, of stations    ceipts, expenses and profits, compared
on Belgian railways, 230; measures for    with length of railway, proportion per
increased economy of, 233; gross ex-    ct.ofexpensos to receipts and ofreceipts
penses classified, 250; decreased by in-    and profits to capital, 412; speed, 413;
creasing  distance  of transport,  256;   percentage of miles in the several states
means of diminishing, 262; on Belgian    in reference to territorial surface, 417.
railways, 353.   (See British, Belgian,  Goods engines, 71, 132; wagons. 92, 131;
United States, and German railways.)          carrying stock, mileage of, 98, 187; num                                             ber of carrying stock on Northwestern,
Fog signals, 278.                              99; movement of on Northwestern, 99
Foreign railways, carrying stock, 96; mile-    station, 120, 131; accounts, 146; mile  age, 83, 96.                                 age, 183, 187.
French revolution, its influence on inter- Goods traffic,  182;  clearing house, 145;
nal commnerce, 46; roads, 46; canal nav-    mileage, 184, 190; distance per ton, 184;
igation, 311.                                213; augmentation, 187; compared with
French railways, 367; introduced by M.    development  of railways, 188.  (See
E. Pereire, 367; St. Germains line, 368;    British, Belgian,  German, and United
commission appointed by Chambers, 368;   States railways.)
Paris and Orleans and Paris and Rouen  Goods wagons, average load, 99.
lines, 369; law of 11th June, 1842,369;  Grease, (yellow), 137.
description of, 369; length of, completed,  Grease-box, 137.
in progress, and projected, 374; cost of  Great Western: coke, 81; number ofpas construction, 376; estimated cost of all   sengers drawn by each engine, 172; dis the, 377; companies tenants of State,    tance traveled by each passenger, 172;
377; mode  of receiving  tenders for   departures, 175; expenses of locomotive
leases, 377; locomotive and  carryiing    power, 219; estimated general working
stock, 378: locomotive duty and con-    expenses, 233.  (See British railways.)
sumption of fuel, 378; average daily
movement of locomotive stock of North  Horses, 126, 174.
of France, 379; of carrying stock, 379; Horse-boxes, 51, 126, 174.
relation between movement of rolling Horse-power, compared with steam-pow stock and extent of railway, 380; pas-    er, 163, 188.
senger traffic, 380; receipts, 380; propor tion of business and receipts supplied by  Inclined plane, 127.
several classes of passengers, 382; daily  Italian railways, 404.
movement and daily receipts of passen ger traffic, 383; share of every ~100 by  Load, average of passenger carriages, 168,
each class of traffic, 384; nmovement of    of goods wagons, 99.
440
INDEX. 
INDEX.
Live stock: clearing house, 146; mileage,
184.
Locomotive power, 71; stock, 71; Bel  gian stock, 72; quantity of, independent
of length of line, 86; depends on mile  ag      e, 87; or on amount of receipts, 88;
number of locomotives on British rail  ways, 88;  mileage, 88; railway loco  mot iv    e  manufactories, 1 08;  stock  of
N       orth western,  111;   d6p6t, 120;  exp ense
of, 211, 230.  (See Engine, British, Bel  gian, Fr ench, German, and           United  States
railways.)
London retail dealers, 133.
L      ondon fruit, 134.
Los t          lugg age     office, 128.
Luggage,  128, allowed, 122;  free, 122.
M     ilea ge,  definition of, 87.
Morrison, K., suggests clearing house, 141.
Napoleon, roads projected and executed
by, 46.
Navigation developed earlier than internal
commerce, 46. (See United States.)
North of France Railway, carrying stock
of, 92; mileage of passenger vehicles,
96, 97; goods wagons, 131; number of
passengers carried by each train, 171;
average daily movement of locomotive
stock, 172. (See French railways.)
Northwestern, investigation of durability
of rails by, 63; coke, 82; service of en   gines, 84; engine drivers, 85; carrying
stock, 93, 97, 106, 110; movement of
carrying stock, 99; manufactories, 108;
locomotive stock, 111; goods wagons,
131; goods engines, 132; goods trains,
133; number of passengers drawn by
each engine, 172; distance traveled per
passenger,  172; departures, 175; per   sons and horses emplloyed, 190; expenses
of locomotive power, 219; estimated
general working expenses. (See British
railways, Expenses, Receipts, Profits.)
Orleans Railway, mileage of engines, 75
Parcels, 123, 133.
Parcel vwns, 91.
Passenger engines, 71; station, 120.
Passenger carriages, load, 168.
Passenger traffic, 152; mileage account,
100; clearing house, 147; mileage  of,
152,169; atutgmenitation of, 162,167,186;
comparative, per mile, 167: decrease,
168. (See British, French, Belgian, Ger   man, and United States Railways.)
Post offices, 91.
Profits, 235; may be increased by in   creasing distance of transport, 259; and
regulating tariff of empty transport and
incomplete loads, 260. (See British, Bel   gian, French, German, and United States
railways.)
Rails, gradual wear, 56-63; means  of
calculating duration, 56; weight  auig    mented, 58; recommended by Stephen
son and Locke, 59; modes of support,
59; durability of, investigated, 60, 207;
expenses of repair, 204; reserve fund for
relaying, 65; on United States railways,
342.
Railways, organization of administration
of, 52; newly constructed require fre  quent repair, 55; erroneous opinion as
to durability, 57; date of nmodern, 56;
projects sanctioned by parliament, 67;
extent to which used  by rolling stock,
103; proprietors carriers on, 108; devel  opment of compared  with traffic,  166,
188; length of British, 166; trains classi  fied, 176; accidents on, 265; in different
countries, 416; population, extent of
territory, extent of railway and capital
in countries where railways exist, 417;
comparison of length oif railways and
capital with population and  territory,
418; relation of to State, 421; in some
countries constructed and worked  by
State, 423; in others a mixed system,
423; case of English railway companies
peculiar, 424; demand of system of con   trol, 424; right of parliament to inter  fere,  424; necessity of control, 425; nom  ination of Board of Control, 426; par  liam entary evidence on audit system,
427; objects of control, 428; reports of
House of Lords, 431; details necessary
i n railway accounts, 433; advantages of
complete record of    r ailway affairs, 433;
ne cessity of publishing such record, 438;
(See British, Belgian, French, German,
United States,  Russian, Italian,  and
Spanish railways.)
Receipts,  235; on  Britisr e   railways, 235;
on what gross receipts depend, 247; re   lation between variation in and tariff
248; means of augmenting,  257; rela  tion betweenr mileage of engines and,
r262; on Belgian railways, 364. (Sce
Belgian, British, French, German, and
United States railways.)
Register of locomotive stock, 71: of Bel   gian railways, 72.
Repairs, chief objects of annual repairs of
way, 55.
Reserve fund for relaying permanent way,
65.
Revenue and capital, 115.
, Roads only in two sevenths of inhabited
parts of globe, 42; Romnian and Egyptian,
42; constructed by Setiri-aris, 43; in
ancient Greece, 43; of the Phoenicians
and Carthaginians, 43; ancient Romnan,
44; constructed  by Roitmans, 44; pro   jected and made by Napoleon, 46; in
western Europe after peace of 1802, 46;
French,  47; English,  48; Romnan, in
England, 48.
- Rolling  stock, maintenance  and repro s   duction of, 107; on Belgian railways,
353.
Rules (plain) to avoid accidents, 284.
Russ        ian railways, 414.
Sleepers, 60; material, 60; distance,  60;
441 
INDEX.
ance of speed as regards persons, 34;
importance of improved  transport to
operative classes, 34; enlarges area of
supply and of residence for large towns,
35; importance in military affairs,  37;
diminishes chances and duration of war,
37; tends to diftlhsion of knowledge and
increase of civilization,  38; effect of
rapid, exhibited in journalism, 38;  ret  rospect of progress of, 41; influence of
Crusades on, 45; impediments by fiscal
exactions, 46; on English roads, 49.
Traveling (railway) compared with old
mode, 163, 188.
United Kingdom:  canal navigation, 311;
railway in proportion  to population
343.
United States: transport in, 308; canal
navigation, 309; river navigation, 311;
Hudson steamers, 313; Ericsson's  eni  gine, 316; steamers of other ri ers,
323; Ericsson's propellers, 325; sea  going  steamers,  326; railways  intro  duced, 327; length of, 327; descr iption
of, 328; mixed lines, 328; steam fernies,
334; mode of construction of railways,
335; mode of   working, 336; speed on,
33(i6;  accidents,  337; cariages,  337;
curves,  338; railways  conmpleted, in
pr ogress, and piojected, 339; cost of
construction, 342; dividends and price
of shares, 339; roads, 345; extent of
railways  and canals in proportion to
population, 345; passengers on railways,
346; railways constructed by corn pinies,
346; little goods traffic, 347; conditions
imposed by States on railway comnpanies,
347; railway act, 348; inducements by
States to companies, 348.
Valuation of stock, 118.
Vehicles (public) in connection with rail  ways, 121, 128, 132.
Vehicles  of transport.   (See  Carrying
stock.
Wagons station, 136.
Way and works, 53; service of, 52; wear,
53; expenses of, 204, 230.
Way  (permanent),  with  given  traffic,
when relaid, 54; reserve fund  for re  laying, 54.
Wheels, 136
magnitude, 60; investigation as to du  rability, 61; expenses of repair, 207.
Spanish railways, 416.
Southeastern: departures, 175; estimated
general working expenses, 233. (See
British railways.)
Southwestern: departures, 175; estimate          d
general working expenses, 233. (See
British railways.)
Speed, 176, 336, 365, 386, 413; depends on
stoppages, 175; injurious effects of high,
179.
Stations, 119; service of, 52; passenger,
121; goods, 131; engine, 134; carriage
and  wagon,  136;  intermediate,  138;
number, 138; expenses, 226.
Statistical bureau, 437.
Stock, valuation of, 1 18.
Stoppages, injurious effects of, 176.
Tariff, 195, 235, 247; goods, 182, 306; re  lation between variation of tariff and
receipts, 248; skill required to adjust,
252; may be reduced by increasing dis  tance of transport, 257; on empty trans  port and incomplete loads, 260.
Telegraph  (Electric), 38, 296; discovery
Tf phen omena subser vient to, 296;  on  ducto rs and non-conduwtors, 297; effects
used ais          s ignals, 297; mode of operation,
299; in          United  States, 302; sub-marine
304; in England, 306; tariff of charges,
306;  subscription intelligence  ro oms,
307;                              inces exe  in Pussia, 307; extent in England,
308; project of East India Company,
308;  cos      t        of    con struction, 308.
Tend      er s,    num ber  of, should be equal  to
engines,  88.
Traffic, compared with development of
railways, 165.  (See  Brit ish,  Belgia          n,
French, German, and United States
railways.)
Trains, increase      in speed of, 58;  i    nc      rease
in number and weight of, 58; composi  tion of, 99; arrangements of, 126; arrival,
128; for poorer classes, 161; number of
passengers carried by each, 171; classi  fied, 176; express, 180.
Transport, improved, influence of on civil  ization, 25; requisites of, 26; advan  tages, 26; confers value on things value  less, 29; augments commerce, 30; par  liamentary evidence as to, 31; augments
rent and profit of farmer, 33; import
THE END.
I
442 
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