TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
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THE AMERICAN RAILWAY
[Illustration: THE LAST SPAN--READY TO JOIN.]
THE AMERICAN RAILWAY
_ITS CONSTRUCTION, DEVELOPMENT,_
_MANAGEMENT, AND APPLIANCES_
BY
THOMAS CURTIS CLARKE
JOHN BOGART
M. N. FORNEY
E. P. ALEXANDER
H. G. PROUT
HORACE PORTER
THEODORE VOORHEES
BENJAMIN NORTON
ARTHUR T. HADLEY
THOMAS L. JAMES
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS
B. B. ADAMS, JR.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
THOMAS M. COOLEY
CHAIRMAN OF INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION
_WITH MORE THAN 200 ILLUSTRATIONS_
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1889
COPYRIGHT, 1888, 1889, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
TROW'S
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY,
NEW YORK.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
_INTRODUCTION_ xxi
BY THOMAS M. COOLEY,
_Chairman Interstate Commerce Commission_.
THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY 1
BY THOMAS CURTIS CLARKE,
_Civil Engineer_.
Roman Tramways of Stone--First Use of Iron Rails--The Modern
Railway created by Stephenson's "Rocket" in 1830--Early
American Locomotives--Key to the Evolution of the American
Railway--Invention of the Swivelling Truck, Equalizing Beams,
and the Switchback--Locating a Road--Work of the Surveying
Party--Making the Road-bed--How Tunnels are Avoided--More
than Three Thousand Bridges in the United States--Old Wooden
Structures--The Howe Truss--The Use of Iron--Viaducts of
Steel--The American System of Laying Bridge Foundations
under Water--Origin of the Cantilever--Laying the Track--How
it is Kept in Repair--Premiums for Section Bosses--Number
of Railway Employees in the United States--Rapid Railway
Construction--Radical Changes which the Railway will Effect.
FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING 47
BY JOHN BOGART,
_State Engineer of New York_.
Development of the Rail--Problems for the Engineer--How
Heights are Climbed--The Use of Trestles--Construction on a
Mountain Side--Engineering on Rope Ladders--Through the Portals
of a Cañon--Feats on the Oroya Railroad, Peru--Nochistongo
Cut--Rack Rails for Heavy Grades--Difficulties in Tunnel
Construction--Bridge Foundations--Cribs and Pneumatic
Caissons--How Men work under Water--The Construction of Stone
Arches--Wood and Iron in Bridge-building--Great Suspension
Bridges--The Niagara Cantilever and the enormous Forth
Bridge--Elevated and Underground Roads--Responsibilities of the
Civil Engineer.
AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS 100
BY M. N. FORNEY,
_Author of "The Catechism of the Locomotive," Editor "Railroad
and Engineering Journal," New York_.
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1830--Evolution of the Car
from the Conestoga Wagon--Horatio Allen's Trial Trip--The
First Locomotive used in the United States--Peter Cooper's
Race with a Gray Horse--The "De Witt Clinton," "Planet," and
other Early Types of Locomotives--Equalizing Levers--How Steam
is Made and Controlled--The Boiler, Cylinder, Injector, and
Valve Gear--Regulation of the Capacity of a Locomotive to
Draw--Increase in the Number of Driving Wheels--Modern Types of
Locomotives--Variation in the Rate of Speed--The Appliances by
which an Engine is Governed--Round-houses and Shops--Development
of American Cars--An Illustration from Peter Parley--The Survival
of Stage Coach Bodies--Adoption of the Rectangular Shape--The
Origin of Eight-wheeled Cars--Improvement in Car Coupling--A
Uniform Type Recommended--The Making of Wheels--Relative Merits
of Cast and Wrought Iron, and Steel--The Allen Paper Wheel--Types
of Cars, with Size, Weight, and Price--The Car-Builder's
Dictionary--Statistical.
RAILWAY MANAGEMENT 149
BY GEN. E. P. ALEXANDER,
_President of the Central Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia_.
Relations of Railway Management to all Other Pursuits--Developed
by the Necessities of a Complex Industrial Life--How a Continuous
Life is Given to a Corporation--Its Artificial Memory--Main
Divisions of Railway Management--The Executive and Legislative
Powers--The Purchasing and Supply Departments--Importance of
the Legal Department--How the Roadway is Kept in Repair--The
Maintenance of Rolling Stock--Schedule-making--The Handling
of Extra Trains--Duties of the Train-despatcher--Accidents
in Spite of Precautions--Daily Distribution of Cars--How
Business is Secured and Rates are Fixed--The Interstate
Commerce Law--The Questions of "Long and Short Hauls" and
"Differentials"--Classification of Freight--Regulation of
Passenger-rates--Work of Soliciting Agents--The Collection of
Revenue and Statistics--What is a Way-bill--How Disbursements are
Made--The Social and Industrial Problem which Confronts Railway
Corporations.
SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL 187
BY H. G. PROUT,
_Editor "Railroad Gazette," New York_.
The Possibilities of Destruction in the Great Speed of
a Locomotive--The Energy of Four Hundred Tons Moving at
Seventy-five Miles an Hour--A Look ahead from a Locomotive at
Night--Passengers Killed and Injured in One Year--Good Discipline
the Great Source of Safety--The Part Played by Mechanical
Appliances--Hand-brakes on Old Cars--How the Air-brake Works--The
Electric Brake--Improvements yet to be Made--Engine Driver
Brakes--Two Classes of Signals: those which Protect Points
of Danger, and those which Keep an Interval between Trains
on the Same Track--The Semaphore--Interlocking Signals and
Switches--Electric Annunciators to Indicate the Movements--The
Block Signal System--Protection for Crossings--Gates and
Gongs--How Derailment is Guarded Against--Safety Bolts--Automatic
Couplers--The Vestibule as a Safety Appliance--Car Heating and
Lighting.
RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAVEL 228
BY GEN. HORACE PORTER,
_Vice-President Pullman Palace-Car Company_.
The Earliest Railway Passenger Advertisement--The First
Time-table Published in America--The Mohawk & Hudson
Train--Survival of Stage-coach Terms in English Railway
Nomenclature--Simon Cameron's Rash Prediction--Discomforts
of Early Cars--Introduction of Air-brakes, Patent Buffers
and Couplers, the Bell-cord, and Interlocking Switches--The
First Sleeping-cars--Mr. Pullman's Experiments--The
"Pioneer"--Introduction of Parlor and Drawing-room
Cars--The Demand for Dining-cars--Ingenious Devices for
Heating Cars--Origin of Vestibule-cars--An Important Safety
Appliance--The Luxuries of a Limited Express--Fast Time in
America and England--Sleeping-cars for Immigrants--The Village
of Pullman--The Largest Car-works in the World--Baggage-checks
and Coupon Tickets--Conveniences in a Modern Depot--Statistics
in Regard to Accidents--Proportion of Passengers in Various
Classes--Comparison of Rates in the Leading Countries of the
World.
THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE 267
BY THEODORE VOORHEES,
_Assistant-General Superintendent, New York Central Railroad_.
Sixteen Months' Journey of a Car--Detentions by the
Way--Difficulties of the Car Accountant's Office--Necessities
of Through Freight--How a Company's Cars are Scattered--The
Question of Mileage--Reduction of the Balance in Favor of
Other Roads--Relation of the Car Accountant's Work to the
Transportation Department--Computation of Mileage--The Record
Branch--How Reports are Gathered and Compiled--Exchange of
"Junction Cards"--The Use of "Tracers"--Distribution of
Empty Cars--Control of the Movement of Freight--How Trains
are Made Up--Duties of the Yardmaster--The Handling of
Through Trains--Organization of Fast Lines--Transfer Freight
Houses--Special Cars for Specific Service--Disasters to Freight
Trains--How the Companies Suffer--Inequalities in Payment for Car
Service--The Per Diem Plan--A Uniform Charge for Car Rental--What
Reforms might be Accomplished.
HOW TO FEED A RAILWAY 298
BY BENJAMIN NORTON,
_Second Vice-President, Long Island Railroad Company_.
The Many Necessities of a Modern Railway--The Purchasing and
Supply Departments--Comparison with the Commissary Department of
an Army--Financial Importance--Immense Expenditures--The General
Storehouse--Duties of the Purchasing Agent--The Best Material the
Cheapest--Profits from the Scrap-heap--Old Rails Worked over into
New Implements--Yearly Contracts for Staple Articles--Economy
in Fuel--Tests by the Best Engineers and Firemen--The
Stationery Supply--Aggregate Annual Cost of Envelopes, Tickets,
and Time-tables--The Average Life of Rails--Durability of
Cross-ties--What it Costs per Mile to Run an Engine--The
Paymaster's Duties--Scenes during the Trip of a Pay-car.
THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 312
BY THOMAS L. JAMES,
_Ex-Postmaster General_.
An Object Lesson in Postal Progress--Nearness of the Department
to the People--The First Travelling Post-Office in the United
States--Organization of the Department in 1789--Early Mail
Contracts--All Railroads made Post-routes--Compartments for
Mail Clerks in Baggage-cars--Origin of the Present System in
1862--Important Work of Colonel George S. Bangs--The "Fast Mail"
between New York and Chicago--Why it was Suspended--Resumption
in 1877--Present Condition of the Service--Statistics--A
Ride on the "Fast Mail"--Busy Scenes at the Grand Central
Depot--Special Uses of the Five Cars--Duties of the Clerks--How
the Work is Performed--Annual Appropriation for Special Mail
Facilities--Dangers Threatening the Railway Mail Clerk's Life--An
Insurance Fund Proposed--Needs of the Service--A Plea for Radical
Civil Service Reform.
THE RAILWAY IN ITS BUSINESS RELATIONS 344
BY ARTHUR T. HADLEY,
_Professor of Political Science in Yale College, Author of
"Railroad Transportation_."
Amount of Capital Invested in Railways--Important Place in
the Modern Industrial System--The Duke of Bridgewater's
Foresight--The Growth of Half a Century--Early Methods of
Business Management--The Tendency toward Consolidation--How
the War Developed a National Idea--Its Effect on Railroad
Building--Thomson and Scott as Organizers--Vanderbilt's Capacity
for Financial Management--Garrett's Development of the Baltimore
& Ohio--The Concentration of Immense Power in a Few Men--Making
Money out of the Investors--Difficult Positions of Stockholders
and Bondholders--How the Finances are Manipulated by the Board
of Directors--Temptations to the Misuse of Power--Relations of
Railroads to the Public who Use Them--Inequalities in Freight
Rates--Undue Advantages for Large Trade Centres--Proposed
Remedies--Objections to Government Control--Failure of
Grangerism--The Origin of Pools--Their Advantages--Albert
Fink's Great Work--Charles Francis Adams and the Massachusetts
Commission--Adoption of the Interstate Commerce Law--Important
Influence of the Commission--Its Future Functions--Ill-judged
State Legislation.
THE PREVENTION OF RAILWAY STRIKES 370
BY CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS,
_President of the Union Pacific Railroad_.
Railways the Largest Single Interest in the United
States--Some Impressive Statistics--Growth of a Complex
Organization--Five Divisions of Necessary Work--Other Special
Departments--Importance of the Operating Department--The Evil
of Strikes--To be Remedied by Thorough Organization--Not the
Ordinary Relation between Employer and Employee--Of what the
Model Railway Service Should Consist--Temporary and Permanent
Employees--Promotion from one Grade to the Other--Rights
and Privileges of the Permanent Service--Employment during
Good Behavior--Proposed Tribunal for Adjusting Differences
and Enforcing Discipline--A Regular Advance in Pay for
Faithful Service--A Fund for Hospital Service, Pensions, and
Insurance--Railroad Educational Institutions--The Employer
to Have a Voice in Management through a Council--A System of
Representation.
THE EVERY-DAY LIFE OF RAILROAD MEN 383
BY B. B. ADAMS, JR.,
_Associate Editor, "Railroad Gazette," New York_.
The Typical Railroad Man--On the Road and at Home--Raising the
Moral Standard--Characteristics of the Freight Brakeman--His Wit
the Result of Meditation--How Slang is Originated--Agreeable
Features of his Life in Fine Weather--Hardships in
Winter--The Perils of Hand-brakes--Broken Trains--Going back
to Flag--Coupling Accidents--At the Spring--Advantages of
a Passenger Brakeman--Trials of the Freight Conductor--The
Investigation of Accidents--Irregular Hours of Work--The
Locomotive Engineer the Hero of the Rail--His Rare Qualities--The
Value of Quick Judgment--Calm Fidelity a Necessary Trait--Saving
Fuel on a Freight Engine--Making Time on a Passenger
Engine--Remarkable Runs--The Spirit of Fraternity among
Engineers--Difficult Duties of a Passenger-train Conductor--Tact
in Dealing with Many People--Questions to be Answered--How
Rough Characters are Dealt with--Heavy Responsibilities--The
Work of a Station Agent--Flirtation by Telegraph--The
Baggage-master's Hard Task--Eternal Vigilance Necessary in a
Switch-tender--Section-men, Train Despatchers, Firemen, and
Clerks--Efforts to Make the Railroad Man's Life Easier.
STATISTICAL RAILWAY STUDIES 425
ILLUSTRATED WITH THIRTEEN MAPS AND NINETEEN CHARTS.
BY FLETCHER W. HEWES,
_Author of "Scribner's Statistical Atlas_."
Railway Mileage of the World--Railway Mileage of the United
States--Annual Mileage and Increase--Mileage Compared with
Area--Geographical Location of Railways--Centres of Mileage
and of Population--Railway Systems--Trunk Lines Compared:
By Mileage; Largest Receipts; Largest Net Results--Freight
Traffic--Reduction of Freight Rates--Wheat Rates--The Freight
Haul--Empty Freight Trains--Freight Profits--Passenger
Traffic--Passenger Rates--Passenger Travel--Passenger
Profits--General Considerations--Dividends--Net Earnings per
Mile and Railway Building--Ratios of Increase--Construction and
Maintenance--Employees and their Wages--Rolling Stock--Capital
Invested.
_INDEX_ 449
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.
_Title._ _Designer._ _Page_
THE LAST SPAN (Frontispiece) A. B. Frost v
ALPINE PASS. AVOIDANCE OF A TUNNEL _From a photograph_ 5
BIG LOOP, GEORGETOWN BRANCH OF THE UNION
PACIFIC, COLORADO _From a photograph_ 11
SNOW-SHEDS, SELKIRK MOUNTAINS, CANADIAN
PACIFIC J. D. Woodward 19
RAIL MAKING Walter Shirlaw 39
LOOP AND GREAT TRESTLE NEAR HAGERMAN'S,
ON THE COLORADO MIDLAND RAILWAY J. D. Woodward 51
PORTAL OF A TUNNEL IN PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTION Otto Stark 65
AT WORK IN A PNEUMATIC CAISSON--FIFTY
FEET BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE WATER Walter Shirlaw 73
BELOW THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE J. H. Twachtman 83
THE ST. LOUIS BRIDGE DURING CONSTRUCTION M. E. Sands
& R. Blum 95
A TYPICAL AMERICAN PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE _From a photograph_ 111
INTERIOR OF A ROUND-HOUSE M. J. Burns 130
VIEW IN LOCOMOTIVE ERECTING SHOP J. D. Woodward
& R. Blum 135
DIAGRAM USED IN MAKING RAILWAY TIME-TABLES 161
THE GENERAL DESPATCHER M. J. Burns 165
MANTUA JUNCTION, WEST PHILADELPHIA,
SHOWING A COMPLEX SYSTEM OF
INTERLACING TRACKS W. C. Fitler 169
DANGER AHEAD! A. B. Frost 189
INTERLOCKING APPARATUS FOR OPERATING
SWITCHES AND SIGNALS BY COMPRESSED
AIR, PITTSBURG YARDS, PENNSYLVANIA
RAILROAD _From a photograph_ 211
PULLMAN VESTIBULED CARS _From a photograph_ 247
IN A BAGGAGE-ROOM W. C. Broughton 255
"SHOW YOUR TICKETS!" Walter Shirlaw 261
FREIGHT YARDS OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL &
HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD, WEST SIXTY-FIFTH
STREET, NEW YORK W. C. Fitler 285
FREIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS--SOME TYPICAL
TRAINS W. C. Fitler 291
AT A WAY-STATION--THE POSTMASTER'S
ASSISTANT Herbert Denman 321
TRANSFER OF MAIL AT THE GRAND CENTRAL
STATION, NEW YORK Herbert Denman 327
SORTING LETTERS IN CAR NO. 1--THE
FAST MAIL Herbert Denman 333
A BREAKDOWN ON THE ROAD A. B. Frost 405
IN THE WAITING ROOM OF A COUNTRY STATION A. B. Frost 413
THE TRIALS OF A BAGGAGE-MASTER A. B. Frost 417
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.
PAGE
First Locomotive 2
Locomotive of To-day 3
A Sharp Curve--Manhattan Elevated Railway, 110th Street,
New York 7
A Steep Grade on a Mountain Railroad 8
A Switchback 9
Plan of Big Loop 10
Profile of the Same 10
Engineers in Camp 14
Royal Gorge Hanging Bridge, Denver and Rio Grande, Colorado 16
Veta Pass, Colorado 17
Sections of Snow-sheds (3 cuts) 18
Making an Embankment 21
Steam Excavator 21
Building a Culvert 22
Building a Bridge Abutment 22
Rock Drill 23
A Construction and Boarding Train 24
Bergen Tunnels, Hoboken, N. J. 25
Beginning a Tunnel 26
Old Burr Wooden Bridge 28
Kinzua Viaduct; Erie Railway 30
Kinzua Viaduct 31
View of Thomas Pope's Proposed Cantilever (1810) 34
Pope's Cantilever in Process of Erection 35
General View of the Poughkeepsie Bridge 36
Erection of a Cantilever 37
Spiking the Track 38
Track Laying 41
Temporary Railway Crossing the St. Lawrence on the Ice 44
View Down the Blue from Rocky Point, Denver, South Park and
Pacific Railroad; showing successive tiers of railway 49
Denver and Rio Grande Railway Entering the Portals of the
Grand River Cañon, Colorado 54
The Kentucky River Cantilever, on the Cincinnati Southern
Railway 55
Truss over Ravine, and Tunnel, Oroya Railroad, Peru 56
The Nochistongo Cut, Mexican Central Railway 57
The Mount Washington Rack Railroad 58
Trestle on Portland and Ogdensburg Railway, Crawford Notch,
White Mountains 58
A Series of Tunnels 59
Tunnel at the Foot of Mount St. Stephen, on the Canadian
Pacific 60
Peña de Mora on the La Guayra and Carácas Railway, Venezuela 61
Perspective View of St. Gothard Spiral Tunnels, in the Alps 62
Plan of St. Gothard Spiral Tunnels 63
Profile of the Same 63
Portal of a Finished Tunnel; showing Cameron's Cone, Colorado 64
Railway Pass at Rocky Point in the Rocky Mountains 67
Bridge Pier Founded on Piles 68
Pneumatic Caisson 70
Transverse Section of Pneumatic Caisson 71
Pier of Hawkesbury Bridge, Australia 75
Foundation Crib of the Poughkeepsie Bridge 76
Transverse Section of the Same 76
Granite Arched Approach to Harlem River Bridge in Process
of Construction 77
The Old Portage Viaduct, Erie Railway, N. Y. 78
The New Portage Viaduct 79
The Britannia Tubular Bridge over the Menai Straits,
North Wales 80
Old Stone Towers of the Niagara Suspension Bridge 82
The New Iron Towers of the Same 82
Truss Bridge of the Northern Pacific Railway over the Missouri
River at Bismarck, Dak.--Testing the Central Span 87
Curved Viaduct, Georgetown, Col.; the Union Pacific Crossing
its own Line 88
The Niagara Cantilever Bridge in Progress 90
The Niagara Cantilever Bridge Completed 91
The Lachine Bridge, on the Canadian Pacific Railway, near
Montreal, Canada 92
The 510-feet Span Steel Arches of the New Harlem River Bridge,
New York, during Construction 97
London Underground Railway Station 98
Conestoga Wagon and Team 101
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 1830-35 101
Boston & Worcester Railroad, 1835 102
Horatio Allen 103
Peter Cooper's Locomotive, 1830 104
"South Carolina," 1831, and Plan of its Running Gear 105
The "De Witt Clinton," 1831 105
"Grasshopper" Locomotive 106
The "Planet" 107
John B. Jervis's Locomotive, 1831, and Plan of its
Running Gear 108
Campbell's Locomotive 109
Locomotive for Suburban Traffic 110
Locomotive for Street Railway 110
Four-wheeled Switching Locomotive 113
Driving Wheels, Frames, Spurs, etc., of American Locomotive 114
Longitudinal Section of a Locomotive Boiler 115
Transverse Section 115
Rudimentary Injector 116
Injector Used on Locomotives 117
Sections of a Locomotive Cylinder 118
Eccentric 118
Eccentric and Strap 118
Valve Gear 119
Turning Locomotive Tires 121
Six-wheeled Switching Locomotive 122
Mogul Locomotive 123
Ten-wheeled Passenger Locomotive 123
Consolidation Locomotive (unfinished) 124
Consolidation Locomotive 124
Decapod Locomotive 125
"Forney" Tank Locomotive 126
"Hudson" Tank Locomotive 127
Camden & Amboy Locomotive, 1848 129
Cab End of a Locomotive and its Attachments 133
Interior of Erecting Shop, showing Locomotive Lifted by
Travelling Crane 137
Forging a Locomotive Frame 138
Mohawk & Hudson Car, 1831 139
Early Car 139
Early Car on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 140
Early American Car, 1834 140
Old Car for Carrying Flour on the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad 141
Old Car for Carrying Firewood on the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad 141
Old Car on the Quincy Granite Railroad 141
Janney Car Coupler, showing the Process of Coupling 142
Mould and Flask in which Wheels are Cast 143
Cast-iron Car Wheels 144
Section of the Tread and Flange of a Car Wheel 145
Allen Paper Car Wheel 145
Modern Passenger-car and Frame 147
Snow-plough at Work 154
A Type of Snow-plough 155
A Rotary Steam Snow-shovel in Operation 156
Railway-crossing Gate 157
Signal to Stop 162
Signal to Move Ahead 162
Signal to Move Back 163
Signal that the Train has Parted 163
Entrance Gates at a Large Station 167
Central Switch and Signal Tower 168
Interior of a Switch-tower, showing the Operation of
Interlocking Switches 171
Stephenson's Steam Driver-brake, patented 1833 192
Driver-brake on Modern Locomotive 192
English Screw-brake, on the Birmingham and Gloucester Road,
about 1840 193
English Foot-brake on the Truck of a Great Western Coach,
about 1840 193
Plan and Elevation of Air-brake Apparatus 196
Dwarf Semaphores and Split Switch 202
Semaphore Signal with Indicators 203
Section of Saxby & Farmer Interlocking Machine 204
Diagram of a Double-track Junction with Interlocked
Switches and Signals 205
Split Switches with Facing-point Locks and Detector-bars 206
Derailing Switch 207
Torpedo Placer 213
Old Signal Tower on the Philadelphia & Reading, at
Phœnixville 214
Crossing Gates worked by Mechanical Connection from
the Cabin 217
Some Results of a Butting Collision--Baggage and Passenger
Cars Telescoped 218
Wreck at a Bridge 219
New South Norwalk Drawbridge. Rails held by Safety Bolts 220
Engines Wrecked during the Great Wabash Strike 222
Link-and-pin Coupler 224
Janney Automatic Coupler applied to a Freight Car 224
Signals at Night 225
Stockton & Darlington Engine and Car 229
Mohawk & Hudson Train 231
English Railway Carriage, Midland Road. First and Third
Class and Luggage Compartments 232
One of the Earliest Passenger Cars Built in this Country;
used on the Western Railroad of Massachusetts (now the
Boston & Albany) 233
Bogie Truck 233
Rail and Coach Travel in the White Mountains 234
Old Time Table, 1843 235
Old Boston & Worcester Railway Ticket (about 1837) 236
Obverse and Reverse of a Ticket used in 1838, on the New
York & Harlem Railroad 236
The "Pioneer." First Complete Pullman Sleeping-car 240
A Pullman Porter 241
Pullman Parlor Car 243
Wagner Parlor Car 244
Dining-car (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad) 245
End View of a Vestibuled Car 249
Pullman Sleeper on a Vestibuled Train 250
Immigrant Sleeping-car (Canadian Pacific Railway) 251
View of Pullman, Ill. 252
Railway Station at York, England, built on a Curve 257
Outside the Grand Central Station, New York 258
Boston Passenger Station, Providence Division, Old
Colony Railroad 259
A Page from the Car Accountant's Book 277
Freight Pier, North River, New York 280
Hay Storage Warehouses, New York Central & Hudson River
Railroad, West Thirty-third Street, New York 282
"Dummy" Train and Boy on Hudson Street, New York 287
Red Line Freight-car Mark 288
Star Union Freight-car Mark 288
Coal Car, Central Railroad of New Jersey 289
Refrigerator-car Mark 289
Unloading a Train of Truck-wagons, Long Island Railroad 290
Floating Cars, New York Harbor 295
Postal Progress, 1776-1876 313
The Pony Express--The Relay 314
The Overland Mail Coach--A Star Route 315
Mail Carrying in the Country 316
Loading for the Fast Mail, at the General Post-Office,
New York 324
At the Last Moment 326
Pouching the Mail in the Postal Car 329
A Very Difficult Address--known as a "Sticker." 331
Distributing the Mail by States and Routes 332
Pouching Newspapers for California--in Car No. 5 335
Catching the Pouch from the Crane 339
George Stephenson 345
J. Edgar Thomson 349
Thomas A. Scott 350
Cornelius Vanderbilt 352
John W. Garrett 355
Albert Fink 366
Charles Francis Adams 367
Thomas M. Cooley 369
"Dancing on the Carpet" 386
Trainman and Tramps 387
Braking in Hard Weather 389
Flagging in Winter 391
Coupling 392
The Pleasant Part of a Brakeman's Life 395
At the Spring 397
Just Time to Jump 403
Timely Warning 407
The Passenger Conductor 409
Station Gardening 416
In the Yard at Night 419
A Track-walker on a Stormy Night 421
A Crossing Flagman 423
A Little Relaxation 424
MAPS.
Mileage compared with Area 429
Railways, 1830, 1840, 1850, and 1860 430
Railways, 1870 431
Railways, 1880 432
Railways, 1889 433
Five Railway Systems 434, 435
CHARTS.
Principal Railway Countries 425
Mileage to Area in New Jersey 426
Total Mileage and Increase, 1830-1888 429
Mileage by States, 1870 431
Mileage by States, 1880 432
Mileage by States, 1888 433
Largest Receipts, 1888 435
Largest Net Results, 1888 435
Freight Rates of Thirteen Trunk Lines, 1870-1888 436
Wheat Rates, by Water and by Rail, 1870-1888 438
The Freight Haul, 1882-1888 439
East-bound and West-bound Freight, 1877-1888 439
Freight Profits, 1870-1888 440
Passenger Rates, 1870-1888 441
Passenger Travel, 1882-1888 442
Passenger Profits, 1870-1888 442
Average Dividends, 1876-1888 443
Net Earnings and Mileage Built, 1876-1888 444
Increase of Population, Mileage, and Freight Traffic,
1870-1888 446
INTRODUCTION.
BY THOMAS M. COOLEY.
The railroads of the United States, now aggregating a hundred
and fifty thousand miles and having several hundred different
managements, are frequently spoken of comprehensively as the
railroad system of the country, as though they constituted a unity
in fact, and might be regarded and dealt with as an entirety,
by their patrons and by the public authorities, whenever the
conveniences they are expected to supply, or the conduct of
managers and agents, come in question. So far, however, is this
from being the case, that it would be impossible to name any other
industrial interest where the diversities are so obvious and the
want of unity so conspicuous and so important. The diversities
date from the very origin of the roads; they have not come into
existence under the same laws nor subject to the same control. It
was accepted as an undoubted truth in constitutional law from the
first that the authority for the construction of railroads within
a State must come from the State itself, which alone could empower
the promoters to appropriate lands by adversary proceedings for
the purpose. The grant of corporate power must also come from the
State, or, at least, have State recognition and sanction; and where
the proposed road was to cross a State boundary, the necessary
corporate authority must be given by every State through or into
which the road was to run. It was conceded that the delegated
powers of the General Government did not comprehend the granting
of charters for the construction of these roads within the States,
and even in the Territories charters were granted by the local
legislatures. The case of the transcontinental roads was clearly
exceptional; they were to be constructed in large part over the
public domain, and subsidies were to be granted by Congress for
the purpose. They were also, in part at least, to be constructed
for governmental reasons as national agencies; and invoking State
authority for the purpose seemed to be as inconsistent as it would
be inadequate. But, though these were exceptional cases, the
magnitude and importance of the Pacific roads are so immense that
the agency of the General Government in making provision for this
method of transportation must always have prominence in railroad
history and railroad statistics.
Not only have the roads been diverse in origin, but the
corporations which have constructed them have differed very
greatly in respect to their powers and rights, and also to the
obligations imposed by law upon them. The early grants of power
were charter-contracts, freely given, with very liberal provisions;
the public being more anxious that they be accepted and acted upon
than distrustful of their abuse afterward. Many of them were not
subject to alteration or repeal, except with the consent of the
corporators; and some of them contained provisions intended to
exclude or limit competition, so that, within a limited territory,
something in the nature of a monopoly in transportation would be
created. The later grants give evidence of popular apprehension of
corporate abuses; the legislature reserves a control over them, and
the right to multiply railroads indefinitely is made as free as
possible, under the supposition that in this multiplication is to
be found the best protection against any one of them abusing its
powers. In very many cases the motive to the building of a new road
has been antagonism to one already in existence, and municipalities
have voted subsidies to the one in the hope that, when constructed,
it would draw business away from the other. The anomaly has thus
been witnessed of distrust of corporate power being the motive
for increasing it; and the multiplication of roads has gone on,
without any general supervision or any previous determination
by competent public authority that they were needed, until the
increase has quite outrun in some sections any proper demand for
their facilities.
Roads thus brought into existence, without system and under diverse
managements, it was soon seen were capable of being so operated
that the antagonism of managers, instead of finding expression in
legitimate competition, would be given to the sort of strife that
can only be properly characterized by calling it, as it commonly
is called, a war. From such a war the public inevitably suffers.
The best service upon the roads is only performed when they are
operated as if they constituted in fact parts of one harmonious
system; the rates being made by agreement, and traffic exchanged
with as little disturbance as possible, and without abrupt break at
the terminals. But when every management might act independently,
it sometimes happened that a company made its method of doing
business an impediment instead of a help to the business done over
other roads, recognizing no public duty which should preclude
its doing so, provided a gain to itself, however indirect or
illegitimate, was probable. Many consolidations of roads have had
for their motive the getting rid of this power to do mischief on
the part of roads absorbed.
In nothing is the want of unity so distinctly and mischievously
obvious as in the power of each corporation to make rates
independently. It may not only make its own local rates at
discretion, but it may join or refuse to join with others in
making through rates; so that an inconsiderable and otherwise
insignificant road may be capable of being so used as to throw
rates for a large section of the country into confusion, and to
render the making of profit by other roads impossible. It is
frequently said in railroad circles that roads are sometimes
constructed for no other reason than because, through this power of
mischief, it will be possible to levy contributions upon others, or
to compel others, in self-protection, to buy them up at extravagant
prices. Cases are named in which this sort of scheming is supposed
to have succeeded, and others in which it is now being tried.
Evils springing from the diversities mentioned have been cured, or
greatly mitigated, by such devices as the formation of fast-freight
lines to operate over many roads; by allowing express companies to
come upon the roads with semi-independence in the transportation
of articles, where, for special reasons, the public is content to
pay an extra price for extra care or speed; and by arrangements
with sleeping-car companies for special accommodations in luxurious
cars to those desiring them. These collateral arrangements,
however, have not been wholly beneficial; and had all the roads
been constructed as parts of one system and under one management,
some of them would neither have been necessary nor defensible. They
exist now, however, with more or less reason for their existence;
and they tend to increase the diversities in railroad work.
The want of unity which has been pointed out tended to breed abuses
specially injurious to the public, and governmental regulation was
entered upon for their correction. Naturally the first attempts
in this direction were made by separate States, each undertaking
to regulate for itself the transportation within its own limits.
Such regulation would have been perfectly logical, and perhaps
effectual, had the roads within each State formed a system by
themselves; but when State boundaries had very little importance,
either to the roads themselves or to the traffic done over them,
unless made important by restrictive and obstructive legislation,
the regulation by any State must necessarily be fragmentary and
imperfect, and diverse regulation in different States might
be harmful rather than beneficial. It must be said for State
regulation that it has in general been exercised in a prudent and
conservative way, but it is liable to be influenced by a sensitive
and excitable public opinion; and as nothing is more common than
to find gross abuses in the matter of railroad transportation
selfishly defended in localities, and even in considerable
sections, which are supposed to receive benefits from them, it
would not be strange if the like selfishness should sometimes
succeed in influencing the exercise of power by one State in a
manner that a neighboring State would regard as unfriendly and
injurious.
The Federal Government recently undertook the work of regulation,
and in doing so accepted the view upon which the States had acted,
and so worded its statute that the transportation which does not
cross State lines is supposed to be excluded. The United States
thus undertakes to regulate interstate commerce by rail, and the
States regulate, or may regulate, that which is not interstate.
It was perhaps overlooked at first that, inasmuch as Government
control may embrace the making of classifications, prescribing
safety and other appliances, and naming rates, any considerable
regulation of State traffic and interstate traffic separately must
necessarily to some extent cause interference. The two classes of
traffic flow on together over the same lines in the same vehicles
under the management of the same agencies, with little or no
distinction based on State lines; the rates and the management
influenced by considerations which necessarily are of general
force, so that separate regulation may without much extravagance be
compared to an attempt in the case of one of our great rivers to
regulate the flow of the waters in general, but without, in doing
so, interfering with an independent regulation of such portion
thereof as may have come from the springs and streams of some
particular section. This is one of many reasons for looking upon
all existing legislation as merely tentative.
No doubt the time will come when the railroads of the country will
constitute, as they do not now, a system. There are those who think
this may, sufficiently for practical purposes, be accomplished by
the legalization of some scheme of pooling; but this is a crude
device, against which there is an existing prejudice not easily to
be removed. Others look for unity through gradual consolidations,
the tendency to which is manifest, or through something in the
nature of a trust, or by means of more comprehensive and stringent
national control. Beyond all these is not infrequently suggested a
Government ownership.
Of the theories that might be advanced in this direction, or the
arguments in their support, nothing further will be said here;
the immediate purpose being accomplished when it is shown how
misleading may be the term _system_, when applied to the railroads
of the country as an aggregate, as now owned, managed, and
controlled.
* * * * *
Every man in the land is interested daily and constantly in
railroads and the transportation of persons and property over them.
The price of whatever he eats, or wears, or uses, the cost and
comfort of travel, the speed and convenience with which he shall
receive his mail and the current intelligence of the day, and even
the intimacy and extent of his social relations, are all largely
affected thereby. The business employs great numbers of persons,
and the wages paid them affect largely the wages paid in other
lines of occupation. The management of the business in some of its
departments is attended by serious dangers, and thousands annually
lose their lives in the service. Other thousands annually are
either killed or injured in being transported; the aggregate being
somewhat startling, though unquestionably this method of travel
is safer than any other. The ingenuity which has been expended
in devices to make the transportation rapid, cheap, and safe may
well be characterized as marvellous, and some feats in railroad
engineering are the wonder of the world. With all these facts and
many others to create a public interest in the general subject, the
editor of _Scribner's Magazine_, some little time ago, applied to
writers of well-known ability and competency to prepare papers for
publication therein upon the various topics of principal interest
in the life and use of railroads, beginning with the construction,
and embracing the salient facts of management and service. He
was successful in securing a series of papers of high value,
the appearance of which has been welcomed from month to month,
beginning with June, 1888, with constant and increasing interest.
These papers have a permanent value; and, in obedience to a demand
for their separate publication in convenient form for frequent
reference, the publishers now reproduce them with expansions and
additions. A reference to the several titles will convince anyone
at all familiar with the general subject that the particular topic
is treated in every instance by an expert, entitled as such to
speak with authority.
THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.
BY THOMAS CURTIS CLARKE.
Roman Tramways of Stone--First Use of Iron Rails--The Modern
Railway created by Stephenson's "Rocket" in 1830--Early
American Locomotives--Key to the Evolution of the American
Railway--Invention of the Swivelling Truck, Equalizing Beams,
and the Switchback--Locating a Road--Work of the Surveying
Party--Making the Road-bed--How Tunnels are Avoided--More
than Three Thousand Bridges in the United States--Old Wooden
Structures--The Howe Truss--The Use of Iron--Viaducts of
Steel--The American System of Laying Bridge Foundations
under Water--Origin of the Cantilever--Laying the Track--How
it is Kept in Repair--Premiums for Section Bosses--Number
of Railway Employees in the United States--Rapid Railway
Construction--Radical Changes which the Railway will Effect.
The world of to-day differs from that of Napoleon Bonaparte more
than his world differed from that of Julius Cæsar; and this change
has chiefly been made by railways.
Railways have been known since the days of the Romans. Their tracks
were made of two lines of cut stones. Iron rails took their place
about one hundred and fifty years ago, when the use of that metal
became extended. These roads were called tram-roads, and were used
to carry coal from the mines to the places of shipment. They were
few in number and attracted little attention.
The modern railway was created by the Stephensons in 1830, when
they built the locomotive "Rocket." The development of the
railway since is due to the development of the locomotive. Civil
engineering has done much, but mechanical engineering has done more.
The invention of the steam-engine by James Watt, in 1773, attracted
the attention of advanced thinkers to a possible steam locomotive.
Erasmus Darwin, in a poem published in 1781, made this remarkable
prediction:
"Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam! afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car."
[Illustration: First Locomotive.]
The first locomotive of which we have any certain record was
invented, and put in operation on a model circular railway in
London, in 1804, by Richard Trevithick, an erratic genius, who
invented many things but perfected few. His locomotive could
not make steam, and therefore could neither go fast nor draw a
heavy load. This was the fault of all its successors, until the
competitive trial of locomotives on the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway, in 1829. The Stephensons, father and son, had invented the
steam blast, which, by constantly blowing the fire, enabled the
"Rocket," with its tubular boiler, to make steam enough to draw ten
passenger cars, at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour.
Then was born the modern giant, and so recent is the date of his
birth that one of the unsuccessful competitors at that memorable
trial, Captain John Ericsson, was until the present year (1889)
living and actively working in New York. Another engineer, Horatio
Allen, who drove the first locomotive on the first trip ever made
in the United States, in 1831, still lives, a hale and hearty old
man, near New York.
The earlier locomotives of this country, modelled after the
"Rocket," weighed five or six tons, and could draw, on a level,
about 40 tons. After the American improvements, which we shall
describe, were made, our engines weighed 25 tons, and could draw,
on a level, some sixty loaded freight cars, weighing 1,200 tons.
This was a wonderful advance, but now we have the "Consolidation"
locomotive, weighing 50 tons, and able to draw, on a level, a
little over 2,400 tons.
And this is not the end. Still heavier and more powerful engines
are being designed and built, but the limit of the strength of the
track, according to its present forms, has nearly been reached. It
is very certain we have not reached the limit of the size and power
of engines, or the strength of the track that can be devised.
After the success of the "Rocket," and of the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway, the authority of George Stephenson and his
son Robert became absolute and unquestioned upon all subjects
of railway engineering. Their locomotives had very little side
play to their wheels, and could not go around sharp curves. They
accordingly preferred to make their lines as straight as possible,
and were willing to spend vast sums to get easy grades. Their lines
were taken as models and imitated by other engineers. All lines in
England were made with easy grades and gentle curves. Monumental
bridges, lofty stone viaducts, and deep cuts or tunnels at every
hill marked this stage of railway construction in England, which
was imitated on the European lines.
[Illustration: Locomotive of To-day.]
As it was with the railway, so it was with the locomotive. The
Stephenson type, once fixed, has remained unchanged (in Europe),
except in detail, to the present day. European locomotives have
increased in weight and power, and in perfection of material and
workmanship, but the general features are those of the locomotives
built by the great firm of George Stephenson & Son, before 1840.
* * * * *
When we come to the United States we find an entirely different
state of things. The key to the evolution of the American railway
is the contempt for authority displayed by our engineers, and the
untrammelled way in which they invented and applied whatever they
thought would answer the best purpose, regardless of precedent.
When we began to build our railways, in 1831, we followed English
patterns for a short time. Our engineers soon saw that unless vital
changes were made our money would not hold out, and our railway
system would be very short. Necessity truly became the mother of
invention.
The first, and most far-reaching, invention was that of the
swivelling truck, which, placed under the front end of an engine,
enables it to run around curves of almost any radius. This enabled
us to build much less expensive lines than those of England, for
we could now curve around and avoid hills and other obstacles at
will. The illustration opposite shows a railroad curving around a
mountain and supported by a retaining wall, instead of piercing
through the mountain with a tunnel, as would have been necessary
but for the swivelling truck. The swivelling truck was first
suggested by Horatio Allen, for the South Carolina Railway, in
1831; but the first practical use of it was made on the Mohawk and
Hudson Railroad, in the same year. It is said to have been invented
by John B. Jervis, Chief Engineer of that road.
The next improvement was the invention of the equalizing beams or
levers, by which the weight of the engine is always borne by three
out of four or more driving-wheels. They act like a three-legged
stool, which can always be set level on any irregular spot. The
original imported English locomotives could not be kept on the
rails of rough tracks. The same experience obtained in Canada when
the Grand Trunk Railway was opened, in 1854-55. The locomotives of
English pattern constantly ran off the track; those of American
pattern hardly ever did so. Finally, all their locomotives were
changed by having swivelling trucks put under their forward ends,
and no more trouble occurred. The equalizing levers were patented
in 1838, by Joseph Harrison, Jr., of Philadelphia.
[Illustration: Alpine Pass. Avoidance of a Tunnel.]
These two improvements, which are absolutely essential to the
success of railways in new countries, and have been adopted
in Canada, Australia, Mexico, and South America,[1] to the
exclusion of English patterns, are also of great value on the
smoothest and best possible tracks. The flexibility of the American
machine increases its adhesion and enables it to draw greater loads
than its English rival. The same flexibility equalizes its pressure
on the track, prevents shocks and blows, and enables it to keep
out of the hospital and run more miles in a year than an English
locomotive.[2]
[Illustration: A Sharp Curve--Manhattan Elevated Railway, 110th
Street, New York.]
Equally valuable improvements were made in cars, both for
passengers and freight. Instead of the four-wheeled English car,
which on a rough track dances along on three wheels, we owe to Ross
Winans, of Baltimore, the application of a pair of four-wheeled
swivelling trucks, one under each end of the car, thus enabling it
to accommodate itself to the inequalities of a rough track and to
follow its locomotive around the sharpest curves. There are, on
our main lines, curves of less than 300 feet radius, while, on the
Manhattan Elevated, the largest passenger traffic in the world is
conducted around curves of less than 100 feet radius. There are few
curves of less than 1,000 feet radius on European railways.
[Illustration: A Steep Grade on a Mountain Railroad.]
The climbing capabilities of a locomotive upon smooth rails were
not known until, in 1852, Mr. B. H. Latrobe, Chief Engineer of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, tried a temporary zigzag gradient
of 10 per cent.--that is 10 feet rise in 100 feet length, or 528
feet per mile--over a hill about two miles long, through which the
Kingwood Tunnel was being excavated. A locomotive weighing 28 tons
on its drivers took one car weighing 15 tons over this line in
safety. It was worked for passenger traffic for six months. This
daring feat has never been equalled. Trains go over 4 per cent.
gradients on the Colorado system, and there is one short line, used
to bring ore to the Pueblo furnaces, which is worked by locomotives
over a 7 per cent. grade. These are believed to be the steepest
grades worked by ordinary locomotives on smooth rails.