Charles Shattuck Hill

“ Sometimes one route is superior to any of the others in its ability to command traffic while being inferior in its ability to present the most economical combination of grades and curves. In such a case it often becomes the duty of the engineer to select the more expensive route for the sake of securing the greater amount of available traffic. ”

“ A superintendent is at the head of each department, who is responsible for every detail of the work in every division and subdivision of his department, and each sub-department is in turn under the control of a single head, and so on down to the end of the scale. In this way the lines of responsibility of each employee, from the car-cleaner up to the president, are clearly defined. The heads of the prinicipal departments directly in charge of the general manager are the superintendent of roadway, the superintendent of machinery, and the superintendent of transportation. ”

“ The average rate per mile for railroad fares in the United States is approximately the same as in Europe, and to make a comparison the different classes of travel must be considered. In Europe the rates of fare are graded into three classes—first, second, and third. The first-class travel is very small, and the fares are comparatively high; by far the largest proportion of travel is on the third class. In the United States the first class comprises most of the railroad travel, the second and third classed together amounting to only 1 per cent. ”

“ With the increase of freight traffic the custom has grown to allow freight cars to run from the point of shipment over any number of railways to their destination without transfer, and the greater part of the freight business in the United States is now done in this way. The cars of each company become considerably scattered over the lines of other companies, and every road does more or less business with other companies' cars, for which a mileage is paid to the owners of the cars. ”

“ Safety appliances for railways have been of growing importance in proportion to the increase of the weight and speed of trains; at the same time, very few of these appliances are used solely with a view to safety, most of them having some mechanical function to fulfill apart from the promotion of safety. Signals are one of the most important items of this class, and serve to keep the trains a certain distance apart, as well as to inform the engine runners of the condition of the tracks at switches, crossings, etc. The semaphore is the standard signal in both the United States and England. ”

“ Railway Capitalization. Much of the financial difficulty under which a good many American railways have labored has been the direct outgrowth of speculation, in which the properties have frequently been practically wrecked merely to effect deals in the stock market, and roads which have been the subject of these operations are generally overcapitalized or mortgaged to such an extent that the earnings which would be sufficient to provide reasonable dividends on the actual value of the property are frequently too small to pay the interest on its bonds. ”

“ As soon as the right of way is cleared, the work of excavation and embankment construction is begun. In locating the road the engineer has settled upon certain stretches and grades which are right lines and which define the top surface of the roadbed. The lines of these levels and grades in some places cut the natural surface of the ground and in other places they lie above the ground surface so that the roadbed has to be filled in. So far as he can do so without sacrificing more important things, the engineer endeavors to make the adjacent cuts and fills balance each other ”

“ Railway service in England is in some respects different from that of any other country, and its evolution from stage-coach travel is still suggested by its nomenclature. The cars are called carriages, the engineers drivers, and the conductors guards. The absence of grade crossings and sharp curves and the substantial character of the construction work make the English roadbeds superior to most others. ”

“ A railway may consist of a single line of track with two lines of rails, when it is known as a single-track railway, or it may consist of two, three, or four lines of track, when it is known, respectively, as a double track, three-track, or four-track railway. ”

“ The through freight service of the country is very much improved by avoiding transfers, but at the same time keeping account of the whereabouts of its cars and reducing its mileage balance by as little use as possible of foreign cars are often troublesome problems for a railway. The car accountant's department keeps records of the movement of cars, which are made up from the reports of the train conductors and from agents placed at each railway junction. ”

“ Sometimes also it is preferable to take the material from burrow pits even where the amount of cuttings is more than enough to form the fills, since it is less expensive to do this than to haul the material excavated from the cuts to the points where it is required for embankment construction. A cut is simply a trench whose bottom is at the plane of the grade line and somewhat wider than the required roadbed, and whose sides slope upward and away from the track to the ground surface at greater or less angles, determined by the slope at which the material will stand without sliding. ”

“ Competition between railways is apparently less desirable than it is in the case of other kinds of trade, as the localities where it exists are alone benefited, and the business at other places is threatened. Railways serving a certain territory find it necessary to coöperate in fixing joint rates, and the concessions in charges which are mutually agreed upon between competing lines practically effect the same division of the traffic between them which was secured by the railway pools. ”

“ The amount of railway stock which has been issued without consideration of money or value is unquestionably very large, although no approximation to the real sum is possible of being estimated. Occasionally such stock is issued pro rata to the stockholders of a very profitable road to make the rate of dividends less prominent, which might otherwise invite restrictive legislation. More frequently the object of issuing watered stock is to keep the control of the railway by means of the apparent investment it represents, or to balance some difference in cases of reorganization. ”

“ Few cars of less than 60,000 pounds capacity are now used for general freight service, and there is a decided tendency to increase the capacity to 70,000 pounds and 80,000 pounds. For special coal and ore traffic steel cars of 100,000 pounds and 110,000 pounds capacity are quite generally used. The steel car is a decidedly modern innovation and one which has been received in America with much favor. The principal advantages argued in favor of steel cars of 50 to 60 tons capacity are their great capacity in proportion to their weight and their superior strength and durability over wooden cars. ”

“ Vestibuled express trains are now in general use, on which sleepers, parlor cars, a dining car, a smoking saloon, library, bath-room, barber shop, and writing-room are provided. The checking of baggage is regarded in this country as one of the most indispensable features of railway travel, as by this system through checks over any number of connecting railways may be issued, so that baggage is transferred from the passenger's residence to any specified address in the country without devolving any responsibility upon the owner. ”

“ The average freight charges in this country are the cheapest in the world, yet the question of rates is the most troublesome one with which railway companies have to contend. The relative rates between different roads and different points rather than the actual charges for freight involve problems which railroad pools, traffic associations, and legislators have not been as yet entirely successful in solving. ”

“ At each railway junction a record of the cars in every train is made. For through freight several fast freight lines have been organized under a separate management to operate between certain points over several roads. Some of these are simply formed by the coöperation of several roads, each of which assigns a certain number of cars to the line, which is placed in control of a general manager. Other fast freight lines are independent of the railways, which simply charge mileage for the cars carried over their lines. ”

“ The speed of passenger trains is being steadily increased, and recent years have shown some remarkable records of train speeds both in America and abroad. A more important development than these occasional record runs, however, has been the increase in the average speed of trains. Many railways to-day maintain a schedule speed of 50 miles per hour in their express train service, and in some instances regular trains average 60 miles per hour. Where an average speed of 60 miles an hour is demanded by the time-table, the speed during a part of the run often reaches 75 and even 85 miles per hour. ”

“ The interlocking system is a very ingenious arrangement, by means of which the movements of a number of levers are interdependent, so that it is mechanically impossible for the signalman to move them except in their prearranged order. In approaching a switch there are two signals, the farther one indicating caution, and the home signal danger, if the switch is not locked in position so that the line is clear. The switch lever is the only one which can be moved, and its movement releases the lever of the caution signal. ”

“ The stockholders, as owners of the road, have the entire control of the property, and the bondholders have no voice in the management so long as their interest is paid. This condition, corresponding to that of the owners and mortgagees of real estate, is entirely reasonable as long as the actual investments in stock and bonds maintain normal proportions, for the reason that the stockholders assume all the risk, while the bondholders are practically secured. ”

“ The actual work of construction of the roadbed of a railway begins with the clearing of the right of way. This right of way is a strip of land usually 100 feet wide, or 50 feet each side of the centre line of the road, and the clearing from it of all obstructions is obviously necessary before the work of actual construction can be begun. ”

“ Safety in travel is greatly promoted by these conditions, but in other respects the passenger service is, from an American standpoint, much inferior to that in this country, although vast improvements have taken place both in England and on the Continent within recent years. ”

“ An essential part of a switch is a frog. (See Frog.) On bridges and trestles the track construction also varies somewhat from that on embankments and in cuts. Sometimes the floors of bridges are made solid and carry ballast on which the ties and rails are supported in the usual manner, but more commonly the ties are laid on the bridge stringers and carry the rails without any ballast. An essential part of railway track on bridges is a wooden or metal rail laid parallel to each of the track rails and a little distance away from them. ”

“ The object of the guard rails is to restrain the free movement of derailed cars and prevent them from running off the bridge. In thickly settled districts the railway right of way is usually fenced in with fences of timber or wire, or, where a nice appearance is particularly desired, with hedges and walls of stone bearing ornamental iron railings. At grade crossings of highways and in a few other places at which cattle are liable to stray onto the track cattle guards are employed. ”

“ A number of special classes of freight require special cars for their transportation, and these are sometimes owned by the shippers or by fast freight lines, as well as by the railway companies. Live-stock cars for cattle, refrigerator cars for dressed meat and other provisions, heater cars for fruit, etc., are in extensive use, as well as many other special cars adapted to the needs of perishable freight. ”

“ The smaller cars are from 26 to 34 feet long and are usually mounted on six wheels; the larger cars reach a length of nearly 60 feet and are mounted on trucks after the American fashion. The smaller American passenger cars are usually 50 feet long, while the large sleeping and dining cars frequently have a length of 80 feet or even 90 feet. European freight cars are veritable pygmies as compared with those used for the same service in America, they being from 12 feet to 18 feet long, mounted on four wheels and having a capacity of from 51⁄2 to 9 tons. ”