| | || Passenger-train cars.| |
Year.|Miles of |Locomotives.|+----------+-----------+ Freight | Total.
|railroad.| ||Passenger.| Baggage, | cars. |
| | || | mail, and | |
| | || | Express. | |
-----+---------+------------++----------+-----------+---------+---------
1876 | 76,305 | 14,562 || -- | -- | 358,101| 358,101
1877 | 79,208 | 15,911 || 12,053 | 3,854 | 392,175| 408,082
1878 | 80,832 | 16,445 || 11,683 | 4,413 | 423,013| 439,109
1879 | 84,393 | 17,084 || 12,009 | 4,519 | 480,190| 496,718
1880 | 92,147 | 17,949 || 12,789 | 4,786 | 539,255| 556,930
1881 | 103,530 | 20,116 || 14,548 | 4,976 | 648,295| 667,819
1882 | 114,461 | 22,114 || 15,551 | 5,566 | 730,451| 751,568
1883 | 120,552 | 23,623 || 16,889 | 5,848 | 778,663| 801,400
1884 | 125,152 | 24,587 || 17,303 | 5,911 | 798,399| 821,613
1885 | 127,729 | 25,937 || 17,290 | 6,044 | 805,519| 828,853
1886 | 133,606 | 26,415 || 19,252 | 6,325 | 845,914| 871,491
1887 | 147,999 | 27,643 || 20,457 | 6,554 | 950,887| 977,898
1888 | 154,276 | 29,398 || 21,425 | 6,827 |1,005,116|1,033,368
-----+---------+------------++----------+-----------+---------+---------
The number of cars, it will be seen, has more than doubled in ten
years, so that if the same rate of increase continues for the next
decade there will be over two millions of them on the railroads of
this country alone. Beyond a certain point, numbers convey little
idea of magnitude. Our railroad system and its equipment seem to
be rapidly outgrowing the capacity of the human imagination to
realize their extent. What it will be with another half-century of
development it is impossible even to imagine.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] An engraving of a team and of a "Conestoga" wagon--which was
used in this traffic--taken from a photograph of one which has
survived to the present day, is given opposite (Fig. 1).
[10] It was not really the first train, as the Baltimore & Ohio and
the South Carolina roads were in operation earlier.
[11] The truck was first applied by Mr. Jervis to an engine built
by R. Stephenson & Co., of England.
[12] It should be mentioned that this is not one of the most recent
types of engines. The arrangement of parts in the cab has been
somewhat simplified in later locomotives.
[13] This engine had two different appliances for oiling the
cylinders, a pair of oil-cups, 20, 20, and an automatic oiler, 9.
RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.
BY E. P. ALEXANDER.
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.
The world was born again with the building of the first locomotive
and the laying of the first level iron roadway. The energies and
activities, the powers and possibilities then developed have
acted and reacted in every sphere of life--social, industrial,
and political--until human progress, after smouldering like a
spark for a thousand years, has burst into a conflagration which
will soon leave small trace of the life and customs, or even the
modes of thought, which our fathers knew. But, in it all, the
railroad remains the most potent factor in every development. By
bringing men more and more closely together, and supplying them
more and more abundantly and cheaply with all the varied treasures
of the earth, stored up for millions of years for the coming of
this generation, it adds continually more fuel to the flame it
originated. And as it is necessarily reacted upon equally by
every new invention or discovery, and by all progress in other
departments of human activity, the demands upon it, and its points
of contact with everyday life, are still increasing in geometrical
progression.
Hence, in the practical management of railroad affairs, problems
are of constant occurrence which touch almost every pursuit to
which men give themselves, whether of finance, agriculture,
commerce, manufactures, science, or politics; and the methods,
forms, and principles under which current railroad management is
being developed (for it is by no means at a stand-still) are the
result of the necessities imposed by these multiplying problems
acting within the constraints of corporate existences.
For while the life of a corporation is perpetual, its powers are
constrained, and the individuals exercising them are constantly
changing. It is but an artificial individual existing for certain
purposes only, and, as it lacks some human qualities, all its
methods of doing business are influenced thereby. The business
affairs of an individual, for instance, are greatly simplified
by his memory of his transactions from day to day and from year
to year. But a corporation having no natural memory, all of its
transactions and relations must be minutely and systematically
noted in its archives. Every contract and obligation must be
of record, all property bought or constructed must go upon the
books, and, when expended or used up, must go off in due form; and
especially must an accurate system of checks guard all earnings
and expenditures, and a comprehensive system of book-keeping
consolidate innumerable transactions into the great variety of
boiled-down figures and statistics necessary for officers and
stockholders to fully understand what the property is doing.
Under such circumstances, then, our railroads and their systems of
organization and management, like the Darwinian Topsy, have not
"been made" but have "growed."
Naturally, both the direction and extent of the development have
varied in different localities and under different conditions.
Within the limits of this article it would be impossible to
give anything like an exhaustive or complete account of the
organization, distribution of duties, systems of working, and of
checks in the various departments of even a single road. Most roads
publish more or less elaborate small volumes of regulations on such
subjects for the use of their various employees. The task would
also be endless to describe technically the variations of practice
and of nomenclature in different sections and on different systems.
The shades of difference, too, between managers, superintendents,
or masters; comptrollers, auditors, book-keepers, and accountants;
secretaries, cashiers, treasurers, and paymasters in different
localities would be tedious to draw. A technical account of them
would be almost a reproduction of the volumes above-mentioned. I
can only attempt to outline and illustrate very briefly the general
principles which underlie the present practice, and are more or
less elaborated as circumstances may require.
The principal duties connected with the management of a railroad
may be classified as follows:
1. The physical care of the property.
2. The handling of the trains.
3. The making rates and soliciting business.
4. The collection of revenue and keeping statistics.
5. The custody and disbursement of revenue.
The president is, of course, the executive head of the company, but
in important matters he acts only with the consent and approval
of the Board of Directors, or of an executive committee clothed
with authority of the board, which may be called the legislative
branch of the management. More or less of the executive power
and supervision of the president may be delegated to one or more
vice-presidents. Often all of it but that relating to financial
matters is so delegated, but, as their functions are subdivisions
of those of the president, they have no essential part in a general
scheme of authority.
Of the five subdivisions of duties indicated above, the first
four are usually confided to a general manager, who may also be
a vice-president, and the fifth is in charge of a treasurer,
reporting directly to the president.
The special departments under charge of the general manager are
each officered by trained experts:
A superintendent of roadway or chief engineer has charge of the
maintenance of the track, bridges, and buildings.
A superintendent of machinery has charge of the construction and
maintenance of all rolling stock.
A superintendent of transportation makes all schedules, and has
charge of all movements of trains.
A car accountant keeps record of the location, whereabout, and
movements of all cars.
A traffic manager has charge of passenger and freight rates, and
all advertising and soliciting for business.
A comptroller has charge of all the book-keeping by which the
revenue of the company is collected and accounted for. All
statistics are generally prepared in his office.
A paymaster receives money from the treasurer and disburses, under
the direction of the comptroller, for all expenses of operation.
All dividend and interest payments are made by the treasurer, under
direction of the president and board.
There are, besides the above, two general departments with which
all the rest have to do, to a greater or less extent--the legal
department and the purchasing department. The quantity and variety
of articles used and consumed in the operation of a railroad are
so great that it is a measure of much economy to concentrate all
purchases into the hands of a single purchasing agent, rather
than to allow each department to purchase for itself. This agent
has nothing to do but to study prices and markets. His pride is
enlisted in getting the lowest figures for his road, and the large
amount of his purchases enables him to secure the best rates. And
last, but not least, in matters where dishonesty would find so
great opportunities, it is safer to concentrate responsibility than
to diffuse it.
As I shall not again refer to this department, what remains of
interest for me to say about it will be said here. As an adjunct to
it, storehouses are established at central points in which stocks
of articles in ordinary use are kept on hand. Whenever supplies are
wanted in any other department--as, for instance, a bell-cord and
lantern by a conductor--requisitions are presented, approved by a
designated superior. These requisitions state whether the articles
are to be charged to legitimate wear and tear, and if so, whether
to the passenger or the freight service, and of which subdivision
of the road; or whether they are to be charged to the conductor
for other articles not properly accounted for. Without going
into further detail, it can be readily seen how the comptroller's
office can, at the end of each month, from these requisitions,
have a complete check upon all persons responsible for the care
of property. The purchasing agent, too, from his familiarity with
prices, is usually charged with the sale of all condemned and
worn-out material.[14]
Before returning to a more detailed review of the operating
departments of a railroad, its legal department requires a few
words. Not only is a railroad corporation, being itself a creation
of the law, peculiarly bound to conform all its actions to legal
forms and tenets, but it is also a favorite target for litigation.
The popular prejudice against corporations, it may be said in
passing, is utterly illogical. The corporation is the poor man's
opportunity. Without it he could never share in the gains and
advantages open to capital in large sums. With it a thousand men,
contributing a thousand dollars each, compete on equal terms with
the millionaire. Its doors are always open to any who may wish to
share its privileges or its prosperity, and no man is denied equal
participation according to his means and inclinations. It is the
greatest "anti-poverty" invention which has ever been produced,
and the most democratic. But, for all that, instead of possessing
the unbounded power usually ascribed to it, no creature of God or
man is so helpless as a corporation before the so-called great
tribunal of justice, the American jury. It may not be literally
true that a Texas jury gave damages to a tramp against a certain
railroad because a section-master's wife gave him a meal which
disagreed with him, but the story can be nearly paralleled from
the experience of many railroads. Hence settlements outside of the
law are always preferred where they are at all possible, and an
essential part of an efficient legal organization is a suitable
man always ready to repair promptly to the scene of any loss or
accident, to examine the circumstances with the eye of a legal
expert on liabilities.
But the management of claims, and of loss and damage suits, though
a large part, is by no means all of the legal business connected
with a railroad. Every contract or agreement should pass under
scrutiny of counsel, and in the preparation of the various forms
of bonds, mortgages, debentures, preferred stocks, etc., which
the wants of the day have brought forth, the highest legal talent
finds employment. For, as development has multiplied the types of
cars and engines to meet special wants, so have a great variety
of securities been developed to meet the taste and prejudices of
investors of all nations. There is, in fact, a certain fashion in
the forms of bonds, and the conditions incorporated in mortgages,
which has to be observed to adapt any bond to its proposed market.
[Illustration: (Ploughing snow.)]
We shall now return to the operating departments under their
respective heads, and glance briefly at the methods and detail
pursued in each. On roads of large mileage the general manager
is assisted by general or division superintendents in charge
of roadway, motive power, and trains of one or more separate
divisions; but for our purposes we may consider the different
departments without reference to these superintendents.
[Illustration: (Ploughing snow.)]
The superintendent of roadway or chief engineer comes first,
having charge of track, bridges, and buildings. In his office are
collected maps of all important stations and junction points,
kept up to date with changes and additions; scale drawings of all
bridges and trestles, of all standard depots, tanks, switches,
rails, fastenings, signals, and everything necessary to secure
uniformity of patterns and practice over the entire road. Under
him are supervisors of bridges and supervisors of road, each
assigned to a certain territory. The supervisors of bridges make
frequent and minute examinations of every piece or member of every
bridge and trestle, report in advance all the repairs that become
necessary, and make requisition for the material needed.
[Illustration: A Type of Snow-plough.]
Under the bridge supervisor are organized "bridge gangs," each
consisting of a competent foreman with carpenters and laborers
skilled in bridge work and living in "house" or "boarding" cars,
and provided with pile-drivers, derricks, and all appliances for
handling heavy timbers and erecting, tearing down, and repairing
bridges. These cars form a movable camp, going from place to place
as needed, and being side-tracked as near as possible to the work
of the gang. Long experience begets great skill in their special
duties, and the feats which these gangs will perform are often more
wonderful than many of the more showy performances of railroad
engineering. It is an every-day thing with such gangs to take
down an old wooden structure, and erect in its place an iron one,
perhaps with the track raised several feet above the level of the
original, while fifty trains pass every day, not one of which will
be delayed for a moment.
[Illustration: A Rotary Steam Snow-shovel in Operation.
(From an instantaneous photograph.)]
Each of the supervisors of road has his assigned territory
divided into "sections," from five to eight miles in length.
At a suitable place on each section are erected houses for a
resident section-master and from six to twelve hands. These are
provided with hand- and push-cars, and spend their whole time in
keeping their sections in good condition. Upon many roads annual
inspections are made and prizes offered for the best sections. At
least twice a day track-walkers from the section-gangs pass over
the entire line of road. To simplify reports and instructions,
frequently every bridge or opening in the track is numbered, and
the number displayed upon it; and every curve is also posted with
its degree of curvature and the proper elevation to be given to the
outer rail.
The work of the section-men is all done under regular system. In
the spring construction-trains deliver and distribute ties and
rails on each section, upon requisitions from supervisors. Then the
section-force goes over its line from end to end, putting in first
the new ties and then the new rails needed. Next the track is gone
over with minute care and re-lined, re-surfaced, and re-ballasted,
to repair the damages of frost and wet, the great enemies of a
road-bed. Then ditches, grass, and the right-of-way have attention.
These processes are continually repeated, and especially in the
fall in preparation for winter. During the winter as little
disturbance of track is made as possible, but ditches are kept
clean, and low joints are raised by "shims" on top of joint ties.
Essential parts of the equipment of any large road are snow-ploughs
(pp. 154-5-6) and wrecking cars, with powerful derricks and other
appliances for clearing obstructions. When wrecks or blockades
occur these cars, with extra engines, section-hands, bridge gangs,
and construction-trains, are rushed to the spot, and everything
yields to the work of getting the road clear.
[Illustration: Railway-crossing Gate.]
We come next to the superintendent of machinery, whose duty it is
to provide and maintain locomotives and cars of all kinds to handle
the company's traffic. His department is subdivided between a
master mechanic, in charge of locomotives and machine-shops, and a
master car-builder, in charge of car-shops.
The master mechanic selects and immediately controls all
engine-runners and firemen, and keeps performance sheets of all
locomotives, showing miles run, cars hauled, wages paid, coal and
oil consumed, and other details giving results accomplished by
different runners and firemen, and by different types of engine,
or on different divisions or roads. Premiums are often paid the
runners and firemen accomplishing the best results.
_Report of Performance of Engines, Repairs, and all other Costs
Incident thereto, for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1888._
[Key for column headings. Column A has been repeated in each Part.]
A. Number of Engine.
B. Passenger
C. Freight.
D. Gravel or Construction.
E. Switching.
F. Total.
G. Eighth Cords of wood.
H. Bushels Coal.
I. Cost of Fuel.
[Table--Part 1 of 4]
--+----------------------------------------+-------------------------
| MILES RUN. | FUEL.
+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+----+--------+-----------
A.| B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. | I.
--+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+----+--------+-----------
1| --| 12,084| 4,253| 64| 16,401| 118| 10,699| $1,090 25
2| --| 2,672| 11,779| 954| 15,405| 193| 10,913| 1,131 77
3| 5,402| 14,471| 408| 120| 20,407| 189| 10,590| 1,101 08
4| 28,643| 4,168| --| --| 32,811| 297| 11,875| 1,212 20
5| 28,275| 4,490| --| 72| 32,837| 301| 12,961| 1,335 31
6| --| --| --| 32,370| 32,370| 33| 10,360| 1,042 26
8| 3,229| 11,799| 4,779| --| 19,807| 150| 13,233| 1,356 30
9| 1,050| 23,203| --| --| 24,253| 155| 16,344| 1,663 41
10| 874| 24,729| --| 96| 25,699| 158| 17,039| 1,741 67
11| --| --| --| 23,609| 23,609| 205| 7,661| 811 00
12| 1,527| --| 4,369| 12,060| 17,956| 142| 8,875| 918 75
30| 41,345| --| --| --| 41,345| 237| 17,702| 1,821 37
31| 37,450| --| --| --| 37,450| 215| 16,695| 1,716 56
32| 4,233| 13,516| --| 120| 17,869| 115| 10,918| 1,117 10
34| 13,742| 5,217| --| 1,224| 20,183| 149| 6,691| 704 07
--+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+----+--------+------------
|165,770|116,349| 25,588| 70,695| 378,402|2657| 182,556| $18,768 13
--+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+----+--------+------------
A. Number of Engine.
J. Gallons of Engine Oil.
K. Signal Oil.
L. Head-Light Oil.
M. Lbs. of Cyl. Oil.
N. Car Grease.
O. Waste.
P. Packing.
Q. Gallons Kerosene.
[Table--Part 2 of 4]
--+----------------------------------------------------------------
| OIL, WASTE AND OTHER STORES.
+---------+--------+--------+----------+-----+-----+---------+---
A.| J. | K. | L. | M. | N. | O. | P. | Q.
--+---------+--------+--------+----------+-----+-----+---------+---
1| 124 | 10 | 29 | 59½ | 45| 347| 72 | --
2| 121½ | 13½ | 35½ | 69½ | 69| 466| 102 | 2
3| 132½ | 10½ | 38 | 74½ | 69| 350| 61 | --
4| 258 | 14 | 49 | 125 | 106| 659| 76 | --
5| 256 | 12 | 39 | 99½ | 75| 622| 82½ | --
6| 30½ | 12½ | 188½ | 111¼ | --| 298| 160½ | --
8| 134 | 10½ | 41 | 65¼ | 60| 327| 98 | --
9| 135 | 12½ | 45½ | 73 | 70| 374| 87 | --
10| 131½ | 13½ | 63 | 69 | 70| 372| 96 | --
11| 136 | 1¾ | 96 | 81 | 40| 354| 81 | 2
12| 105 | 9¼ | 58 | 95½ | 20| 360| 75 | --
30| 223 | 23¾ | 44½ | 69 | 106| 726| 51 | --
31| 243 | 15¼ | 46 | 92 | 110| 660| 68 | 1
32| 138 | 10½ | 41 | 71½ | 130| 361| 63 | 7
34| 186 | 10 | 32 | 71 | 75| 409| 43 | 2
--+---------+--------+--------+----------+-----+-----+---------+---
|2,554 | 179½ | 846 | 1,226½ | 1045| 6685| 1214 | 14
--+---------+--------+--------+----------+-----+-----+---------+---
A. Number of Engine.
R. Cost of Stores.
S. Wages of Engineer and Fireman.
T. Cost of Cleaning.
U. Labor.
V. Material.
W. Total Cost of Repairs.
X. Total Expenses and Repairs.
[Table--Part 3 of 4]
--+-------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------+---------
| | | | COST OF REPAIRS. |
| | | |----------------------------+
A.| R. | S. | T. | U. | V. | W. | X.
--+--------+----------+--------+---------+--------+---------+---------
1|$ 87.64|$ 1,293.80|$ 115.00| $ 223.40|$ 66.32|$ 289.72|$2,876.41
2| 106.85| 1,646.90| 82.50| 69.65| 75.14| 144.79| 3,112.81
3| 93.85| 1,489.65| 187.50| 178.25| 63.61| 241.86| 3,113.94
4| 171.85| 1,719.55| 212.50| 203.95| 100.13| 304.08| 3,620.18
5| 144.86| 1,628.80| 202.00| 240.55| 114.98| 355.53| 3,666.50
6| 173.92| 1,884.50| 10.00| 172.35| 63.65| 236.00| 3,346.68
8| 97.34| 1,593.05| 150.00| 110.75| 106.69| 217.44| 3,414.13
9| 108.53| 1,625.80| 200.00| 139.80| 175.48| 315.28| 3,918.02
10| 108.38| 1,669.55| 205.00| 207.55| 109.78| 317.33| 4,041.93
11| 111.83| 1,126.75| 5.00| 413.95| 89.76| 503.71| 2,558.29
12| 106.31| 1,405.10| 25.00| 37.45| 27.17| 64.62| 2,519.78
30| 142.71| 1,719.56| 212.50| 144.50| 77.52| 222.02| 4,118.15
31| 152.16| 1,554.55| 205.00| 642.50| 432.86| 1,075.36| 4,703.66
32| 108.40| 1,186.40 172.00| 1,729.70| 438.40| 2,168.10| 4,752.00
34| 108.40| 1,186.40| 137.00| 1,522.10| 781.64| 2,303.74| 4,313.48
--+--------+----------+--------+---------+--------+---------+---------
|1,823.80| 22,603.45|2,121.00| 6,036.45|2,723.13| 8,759.58|54,075.96
--+--------+----------+--------+---------+--------+---------+---------
A. Number of Engine.
Y. Bushel Coal.
Z. Gal. Engine Oil.
AA. Pound of Tallow.
BB. Repairs.
CC. Fuel.
DD. Stores.
EE. Wages E. and F.
FF. Cleaning.
GG. Total.
HH. Car Mileage.