LTRANSPORTA TION LIBRAR X
DEFECTS
IN OUR PRESENT SYSTEM OF
RAIL ROAD CONSTRUCTION:
BY
JOS. MIFFLIN, C. E.,
COLUMBIA, PA.
COLUMBIA, PA.:
A. M. RAMBO, STEAM-POWER BooIK AND JOB PRINTER, SPY OFFICE.
1868.








DEFECTS
IN (UR PRESENT SYSTEM
OF
RAIL ROAD CONSTRUCTION:
BY
JOS. MIFFELIN, C. E.,
[jI   ~      COLUMBIA, PENN'A.,  In the early days of railroad enterprises, it was
supposed that such roads would only be constructed
along the great thoroughfares of trade and travel,
and that the smaller and less important points
would still have to be reached, as before, only by
the wagon and the stage-coach. Time, however,
has dissipated this illusion, and every town throughout the land, containing a population of five or six
hundred, cries out for railroad facilities. The stagecoach is too slow and comfortless for travel, and the
old-time wagon is too much behind the age for
trade.
This. demand is a reasonable one and must be
met, and the important question arises-"How?"
This question I propose to answer. In the first




place, then, when any enterprise is undertaken, it
is necessary to understand fully the nature and objects of such enterprise before determining the manner of conducting it to a satisfactory conclusion.
In this case, no two opinions can be supposed to
exist as to the object of the contemplated railroad,
it being to accommodate the trade and travel of a
certainn district of country. (I italicise the word
"certain," because upon that depends the whole
force of what I am about to say; or, in other words,
the whole strength of the theory which I have been
advocating in a limited sphere for fifteen years, and
which I feel impelled to announce more widely at
this time, from the fact that I see every year, more
and more loss and inconvenience sustained by the
failure to appreciate and adopt it.)
To proceed: The "trade" of that region is the
amount of tonage which its agricultural and commercial transactions require to be transported to
and from a certain point, that " point" being either
a station on some "through" road leading to the
great commercial centres of the country, or one of
those centres itself. The "travel" is the amount
ofjourneying, for business or pleasure, which the
inhabitants of the region will do, and that which
others may do in visiting it.
Nature, in all her works, acts upon the principle
of adapting means to ends, and man generally follows her example, showing most discretion when
most closely following it. Thus we see nature furnishing her Mississippi, her Delaware, her Susquehanna, for the drainage of vast regions of country,
and her smaller tributaries, down to the merest rills,




3
for the drainage of the smaller regions-eaclt adaccted
to the area to be drained.
And we see the engineers of our large cities copying nature's plan in the systems adopted for sewerage-laying their main, or (as they are miscalled)
"arterial" sewers through the principal streets, in
tle direction of the greatest fow, gradually diminishing the caliber in proportion to the reduced area to
be drained.
Here allow me to pause one moment to ask what
opinion would be formed of the capacity of an engineer who would construct all his sewers of the
same caliber, without regard to the area to be
drained, and then ask whether our railroads are
not, in all essential features, mere sewers, to drain
the agricultural, mineral, and other products of the
country, and transport them to the place of consumption or shipment; (the preponderance of tonage being always towards the cities renders an estimate of the back freight unnecessary;) and whether,
in that view of the case, they should not be built
upon nature's plan of the adaptation of means to
ends?'
An architect builds a church in a central location
in a large city, and builds it with a capacity for
seating fifteen hundred persons. He is called upon
to furnish the design and estimate (there's the rub)
for another church, in a town of some two thousand
population, where, as usual, the citizens are divided
into half a dozen different sects..Does he copy the
plan and dimensions of his city church? No difference of opinion can exist as to what categor3y.he
would be placed in if he did.




4
Now, carry our research a little further. The
citizens of a town of one thousand or fifteen hundred
population, the centre of an agricultural region of,
say fifty square miles, situated ten miles from a
market, (or, which is the same thing, from some
station on a main through railroad,) dispairing of
ever having the discovery made (except by themselves) that they are in the air-line of communication between two large cities, which cannot much
longer exist without railroad connection, determine
upon establishing for themselves a rail connection 
with the aforementioned market town or railroad
station. A meeting is called, a committee appointed, an engineer employed, a survey made, and what
is the result? Why the engineer's estimate of the
cost of construction has completely knocked the
wind out of the friends of the project, and the community again fall back upon the wagon and the
stage-coach, and the hope that some day a railroad
may happen to be made along that way.
Now, why is this? Simply, in nine cases out of
ten, because the engineer failed to appreciate the
importance of adapting meamls to ends, and did what
the engineer of a city, who would carry his 4 feet
drains into one acre districts, or the architect who
would build his church of 125 by 80 feet in a village
of one thousand population would do, viz: He made
a fool of himself; he estimated his alignment, gradient and superstructure for a road of probably
twenty to fifty times the required capacity, and
costing from three to five tinles all that would be
required to meet all the wants of the region alluded
to.
Let us examine this thing a little in detail.




:5              *
In the first place, then, we will suppose our town
desiring railroad connection to be, as stated, of
twelve or fifteen hundred population, and the centre
of an agricultural region of fifty square miles, and
situated ten miles from the market town. Now, 
what are its requirements in the matter of railroad
facilities?'
Fifty square miles contains 32,000 acres. Onefourth of this being in forest, leaves 24,000 acres
under cultivation. Su ppose one-sixth to be sown
in wheat, yielding 16 blusnels per acre; one-fourth
in corn, yielding 30 bushels per acre; one-fourth in
oats, yielding 30, bushels per acre, and'we have. a
total weight of 9,540 tons. Fully'one-third of this
will be required for home consumption, (including' 
the unproductive[ population of the town,) leaving
ifr transportation 6,360 tons, to which add 640 tons
of miscellaneous freight-timber for,instance —and
we hlave a total annual tonage of 7,00 toins, or less
than 23 tons per day, requiring two eight-wheeled'
cars to transport it, at one trip per day. 
Now, what manner of road and motive power are 
necessary for the movmn.g of 23 tons of f.eight per
day a distance of ten miles?  A road-bed reduced 
to a gradient of 5 or 10 feet per mile?; An align- 
ment with the minimum radius of curve 1,000 feet?
Masonry and. superstructure of bridges patterned
after the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge above Har-,
risburg?  Road ballasted to a depth of 12 or 15
inches? Cross-ties 6 by 8 inches, and rail weighing
70. pounds to the yard? - All to wind up with a locomotive engine of 30 tons weight?  I answer:- 
"No; most em2phatically; No."  And yet it is. an es-'
timate just as supremely absurd as the above that




as prevted the building of many a nuch-ne
has prevented the building of many a much-needed
road.
We will now proceed to inquire what are the real
requirements of the case. In the first place, then,
the grading. This is one part of the expense which
cannot be even approximately estimated without an
examination of the route, but it is safe to assume,
almost anywhere in Pennsylvania, that the roadbed can be reduced to a gradient of 40 feet to the
mile, and a curvature of 500 to 600 feet radius, at
half, or less than half, the cost of a road between the
same terminal points, graded to 15 or 20 feet per
mile, with curvature limited to 1000 feet radius.
Again, as it is the heavy locomotive engine, (required for moving heavy trains,) that necessitates a
solid, heavy superstructure, and as an engine of 7
or 8 tons weight would be ample for the business
of this road, the masonry, and the superstructure
of bridges and road could be proportionally light.
Ballast, 6 inches deep. Cross-ties, 4 by 6 inches,
and a rail of 25 or 28 pounds to the yard. The
cost of such a road would be (approximately), as
follows:
Grading and nmasonry, per mile  -     - $1,500.
50 Tons of Iron, at $80,  -    -    -  4,000.
2,700 Cross-Ties, at 35 cts., -  -  -    945.
880 Yards of Ballast, at 50 ets.,  -  -  440
Track-Laying and Contingencies, -        615.
$7,500.
Making a total cost per mile, (without counting land damages,) of $7,500, for a road equal
to five times the requirements of the region under
consideration; furnishing the community their two




mail and passenger trains per day, and all needed
freight facilities; as the small engine spoken of
would, over a road of maximum gradient of 40 feet
per mile, transport a passenger and baggage car,
with a freight car attached, (containing one-half of
the daily tonnage,) at the rate of 12 or 15 miles per
hour; but, as the freight would not be equally distributed throughout the year, more frequent trips
would be needed during the busy season. These
details can be worked up for any locality, by anyI
person of ordinary capacity, and it is useless to
dwell longer upon them. The vital consideration
is this: are there not hundreds of miles of just such
railroads needed in Pennsylvania at this moment?
I am confident that there are, and that many of
llthem would have been built ere this, had these
viexvws been brought to the notice of those most
interested.
A very important consideration in this connection, is the facility with which charters could be
obtained for such roads, even without a Free (?) R.
R. law, as no great monopoly cares how much
Imotley other roads make, so long as they do not
occupy any line which the said monopoly may deem
it probable that she herself may desire to occupy
at some future time; therefore the application for a
chartei would meet no serious opposition; and as
these lateral or branch roads are sources of profit to
those with which they connect, the main road will
generally be willing to extend aid in their construction.
If these views, long entertained, and, frequently
expressed, effect any reformation of the present




defects of our railroad system by thus. more widely
disseminating'them, the object of the subscriber
will be accomplished.
Respectfully,
JOasterCo.Sep,, 1868. 
COLU BRIA, Lancastel r Co., Pelnn'.a, Junle tlib, ISGS.