United States, there can be no doubt. For the fiscal year 1880-81
the data compiled by the Railroad Commissioners of Massachusetts
and published in their reports give as the total number of persons
killed and injured in the United States 2,126, as against 8,216
upon which the comparisons in the above table are based. If we
substitute in this table the former number for the latter, it would
reduce the number of injured per million passengers in the United
States to 10.6, about the same as on the European railways.
Edward Bates Dorsey gives the following interesting table of
comparisons in his valuable work, "English and American Railroads
Compared:"
_Passengers Killed and Injured from Causes beyond their own Control
on all the Railroads of the United Kingdom and those of the States
of New York and Massachusetts in 1884._
-----------------+---------+---------------------------+-------+------
| Total | | |
| length | Total mileage. | | In-
| of line +-------------+-------------+Killed.|jured.
|operated.| Train. | Passengers. | |
-----------------+---------+-------------+-------------+-------+------
United Kingdom | 18,864 | 272,803,220 |6,042,659,990| 31 | 864
New York | 7,298 | 85,918,677 |1,729,653,620| 10 | 124
Massachusetts | 2,852 | 32,304,333 |1,007,136,376| 2 | 42
-----------------+---------+-------------+-------------+-------+------
In | | | | |
1,000,000,000 | | | | |
passengers | | | | |
transported | | | | |
1 mile. | | | | |
| | | | |
United Kingdom | | | | 5.15 | 143
New York | | | | 5.78 | 70
Massachusetts | | | | 2.00 | 42
-----------------+---------+-------------+-------------+-------+------
--------------------------------------------------+------------
| Miles.
+------------
The average number of miles { United Kingdom | 194,892,255
a passenger can travel without { New York | 172,965,362
being killed. { Massachusetts | 503,568,188
|
The average number of miles { United Kingdom | 6,992,662
a passenger can travel without { New York | 13,940,754
being injured. { Massachusetts | 23,955,630
--------------------------------------------------+------------
From this it will be seen that in the United Kingdom the average
distance a passenger may travel before being killed is about equal
to twice the distance of the Earth from the Sun. In New York he may
travel a distance greater than that of Mars from the Sun; and in
Massachusetts he can comfort himself with the thought that he may
travel twenty-seven millions of miles farther than the distance of
Jupiter to the Sun before suffering death on the rail.
The most encouraging feature of these statistics is the fact that
the number of railway accidents per mile in the United States has
shown a marked decrease each year. Taking the figures adopted by
the Massachusetts commissions, the number of persons injured in
the year 1880-81 was 2,126, and in 1886-87, 2,483, while in the
same time the number of miles in operation increased from 93,349 to
137,986.
The amounts paid annually by railways in satisfaction of claims for
damages to passengers are serious items of expenditure, and in the
United States have reached in some years nearly two millions of
dollars. About half of the States limit the amount of damages in
case of death to $5,000, the States of Virginia, Ohio, and Kansas
to $10,000, and the remainder have no statutory limit.
In the year 1840 the number of miles of railway per 100,000
inhabitants in the different countries named was as follows: United
States, 20; United Kingdom, 3; Europe, 1; in the year 1882, United
States, 210; United Kingdom, 52; Europe, 34.
In the year 1886 the total number of miles in the United States was
137,986; the number of passengers carried, 382,284,972; the number
carried one mile, 9,659,698,294; the average distance travelled per
passenger, 25.27 miles.
In Europe the first-class travel is exceedingly small and the
third class constitutes the largest portion of the passenger
business, while in America almost the whole of the travel is first
class, as will be seen from the following table:
---------------+--------------------------------------------
| Percentage of passengers carried.
+--------------+---------------+-------------
| First Class. | Second Class. | Third Class.
---------------+--------------+---------------+-------------
United Kingdom | 6 | 10 | 84
France | 8 | 32 | 60
Germany | 1 | 13 | 86
United States | 99 | ½ of 1 | ½ of 1
---------------+--------------+---------------+-------------
The third-class travel in this country is better known as immigrant
travel. The percentages given in the above table for the United
States are based upon an average of the numbers of passengers of
each class carried on the principal through lines. If all the roads
were included, the percentages of the second- and third-class
travel would be still less.
That which is of more material interest to passengers than anything
else is the rate of fare charged.
The following table gives an approximate comparison between the
rates per mile in the leading countries in the world:
---------------+--------------+---------------+-------------
| First Class. | Second Class. | Third Class.
---------------+--------------+---------------+-------------
| Cents. | Cents. | Cents.
United Kingdom | 4.42 | 3.20 | 1.94
France | 3.86 | 2.88 | 2.08
Germany | 3.10 | 2.32 | 1.54
United States | 2.18 | -- | --
---------------+--------------+---------------+-------------
The rates above given for the United Kingdom, France, and Germany
are the regular schedule-rates. An average of all the fares
received, including the reduced fares at excursion rates, would
make the figures somewhat less.
The rate named as the first-class fare for the railways in
the United States is, strictly speaking, the average earnings
per passenger per mile, and includes all classes; but as the
first-class passengers constitute about ninety-nine per centum
of the travel the amount does not differ materially from the
actual first-class fare. In the State of New York the first-class
fare does not exceed two cents, which is not much more than the
third-class fare in some countries of Europe, and heat, good
ventilation, ice-water, toilet arrangements, and free carriage of
a liberal amount of baggage are supplied, while in Europe few of
these comforts are furnished.
On the elevated railroads of New York a passenger can ride in a
first-class car eleven miles for 5 cents, or about one-half cent a
mile, and on surface-roads the commutation rates given to suburban
passengers are in some cases still less.
The berth-fares in sleeping-cars in Europe largely exceed those in
America, as will be seen from the following comparisons, stated in
dollars:
--------------------+-------------------+------------
Route. | Distance in Miles.| Berth fare.
--------------------+-------------------+------------
Paris to Rome | 901 | $12.75
New York to Chicago | 912 | 5.00
Paris to Marseilles | 536 | 11.00
New York to Buffalo | 440 | 2.00
Calais to Brindisi | 1,373 | 22.25
Boston to St. Louis | 1,330 | 6.50
--------------------+-------------------+------------
While it would seem that the luxuries of railway travel in America
have reached a maximum, and the charges a minimum, yet in this
progressive age it is very probable that in the not far distant
future we shall witness improvements over the present methods which
will astonish us as much as the present methods surprise us when we
compare them with those of the past.
FOOTNOTES:
[23] See "Safety in Railroad Travel," page 195.
[24] See "Safety in Railroad Travel," page 224; also, "American
Locomotives and Cars," page 142.
[25] See "Safety in Railroad Travel," page 204.
[26] See "Safety in Railroad Travel," page 191.
THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.
BY THEODORE VOORHEES.
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.
I.
THE WANDERINGS OF A CAR.
On the 14th of December, 1886, there was loaded in Indianapolis a
car belonging to one of the roads passing through that city. It
was loaded with corn consigned to parties in Boston. The car was
delivered to the Lake Shore road at Cleveland on the 16th; but,
owing to bad weather and various other local causes, it did not
reach East Buffalo until December 28th. It was turned over by the
New York Central & Hudson River Railroad to the West Shore road
the next day, and by this company was taken to Rotterdam Junction,
and there delivered on December 31st to the Western Division of
the Fitchburg Railroad, or what was then known as the Boston,
Hoosac Tunnel & Western. They took it promptly through to Boston.
After a few days the corn was sold by the consignees for delivery
in Medfield, on the New York & New England Railway. The car was
delivered to this road on January 24, 1887, and taken down to
Medfield. There it remained among a large number of other cars,
until it suited the convenience of the purchaser to put the corn
into his elevator.
On the 17th of March the car was unloaded, taken back to Boston,
and delivered to the Fitchburg road to be sent West, homeward. That
company took it promptly, but instead of delivering it to the West
Shore road at Rotterdam Junction, as would have been the regular
course, either through some mistake of a yardmaster at the junction
station, or in pursuance of general instructions to load all
Western cars home whenever practicable, the car was not delivered
to the West Shore, but was turned over to the Delaware & Hudson
Canal Co's. Railroad, taken down to the coal regions, and on March
31st delivered to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, by
whom it was loaded with coal for Chicago. That company promptly
delivered it to the Grand Trunk at Buffalo, and on April 10th the
car reached Chicago. It was immediately reconsigned by the local
agents of the coal company to a dealer in the town of Minot, 523
miles west of St. Paul, on the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba
Railroad. To reach that point, it was delivered to the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific on April 10th, then to the Burlington, Cedar
Rapids & Northern, Minneapolis & St. Louis, St. Paul & Duluth, St.
Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, arriving at its destination on the
14th of April.
Winter still reigned in that locality, and the car was promptly
unloaded, and returned to St. Paul, where it was loaded with wheat
consigned to New York. It left St. Paul on the 26th of April, was
promptly moved through to Chicago, and delivered to the Grand
Trunk. Coming east, in Canada, the train of which this car formed
a part, while passing through a small station, in the night ran
into an open switch. The engine dashed into a number of loaded
cars standing on the siding, and the cars behind it were piled
up in bad confusion, a number of them being destroyed, and the
freight scattered in all directions. Our car, whose history we are
tracing, suffered comparatively slight damage. The drawheads were
broken, and some castings on one truck, not sufficient to affect
in any way the loading of the car. It was sent to the shops of the
road; and it became necessary for them, on examination, to send
to the owners of the car for a casting to replace that broken on
the truck. This resulted in serious detention. The requisition for
this casting had to be approved by the Superintendent and by the
General Manager, and was forwarded, after a considerable delay, to
the officers of the road owning the car. There it was sent through
a number of offices before it finally reached the hands of the
man who was able to supply the required casting. This in turn was
sent by freight, and passed over the intervening territory at a
slow rate; the whole involving a detention which held the car from
April 28th, when it was delivered at Chicago to the Grand Trunk,
until July 18th, when finally the Grand Trunk delivered it to the
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western at Buffalo. It came through promptly
to New York, the grain was put in an elevator, the car was sent
back once more to the mines at Scranton, and again loaded with coal
for Chicago. On August 9th the record says the car was delivered by
the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western to the Grand Trunk, and on the
12th of August it was in Chicago.
About this time the owners of the car began to make vigorous
appeals to the various roads, urging them to send the car home. One
of these tracers reached the Grand Trunk road while they still held
the car in their possession; so that orders were sent that the coal
must be unloaded at once, and the car returned. In order to unload
it, it was necessary to switch it to the Illinois Central for some
local consignee, and it was unloaded within four days and delivered
back to the Grand Trunk at Chicago. This was on August 16th.
During the few days that had elapsed since the order was given to
send this car home, there had been an active demand for cars, and
knowing that this one had to be sent to Buffalo in order to be
delivered to the Lake Shore road, from which it had originally been
received, the car was loaded for that point. This again resulted
in detention, for we find that the car was held on the Grand Trunk
tracks at Black Rock, awaiting the pleasure of the consignee to
unload the freight, until the 27th of September; and then, instead
of being unloaded and delivered to the Lake Shore road, as had been
the intention of the Grand Trunk officials, the consignee sold the
wheat in the car to a local dealer on the line of the Erie Railway,
and the car was sent down on that road on October 1st, and not
returned to the Grand Trunk again until the 10th day of October.
Unfortunately, the Erie was as anxious at that time to load cars
west with coal as the other roads, and when they brought the car
back to the Grand Trunk, they brought it once more filled with
coal, and back the car went to Chicago, reaching there on the 13th
of October.
It had now been away from home and diverted from its legitimate
uses for nine months, and apparently was as far from home as ever.
The delivery of the coal this time at Chicago put the car in the
hands of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway, and they
promptly gave it a lading by the southern route to Newport News;
for we find the car delivered by the Louisville, New Albany &
Chicago to the Chesapeake & Ohio route on October 28th, and at
Newport News on the 10th of November. The owners of the car were
meanwhile not idle. The occasional stray junction cards which came
in notified them of the passage of the car by different junction
points, giving them clews to work by, and they were in vigorous
correspondence with the various roads over which the car had gone,
urging, begging, and imploring the railway officers to make all
efforts in their power to get the car back to its home road.
On its last trip from Chicago to Newport News, the car passed
through Indianapolis, the very point from which it began its long
journey and many wanderings. Unfortunately, however, it passed
there loaded, without detention, and the owners of the car did not
discover until it had been for some time at Newport News, that the
car had been anywhere near its home territory. By the time they
made this discovery the car had been unloaded, and had started west
once more. The records of the movement of the car here become dim.
It was apparently diverted from its direct route back, which would
have taken it once more to Indianapolis, and so home, for we find,
after waiting at Newport News for some time to be unloaded, it was
delivered to the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis, next on the
Western & Atlantic, and so down into Georgia and South Carolina.
Again, on January 14, 1888, the car was reported on the Richmond
& Danville. They sent it once more down into South Carolina and
Georgia. From there it was loaded down to Selma, Ala., on the
Atlanta & West Point Railroad. They returned it promptly to
Atlanta, and so to the Central Railroad of Georgia; and the car,
after being used backward and forward between Montgomery and
Atlanta and Macon, finally appeared at Augusta, Ga., where it stood
on February 11, 1888. Here the car remained for some time, long
enough for the owners to get advices as to its whereabouts, and
communicate with the road on whose territory the car was, before
it was again moved. An urgent representation of the case having
been laid before the proper authorities, they agreed, if possible,
to load it in such a way that it should go back to Indianapolis.
This could not be done at once, however; but about the 12th of
March the car was sent to a near-by point in South Carolina loaded,
and worked back over the Georgia road and the Western Atlantic,
delivered to the Louisville & Nashville on April 3d, and finally,
after its many and long wanderings, was by that road delivered to
the home road at Cincinnati on the 17th of April; having been away
from home sixteen months and one day.
This is a case taken from actual records, and is one that could be
duplicated probably by any railroad in the country.
II.
THE CAR ACCOUNTANT'S OFFICE.
THE WINNIPEG & ATHABASKA LAKE RAILWAY CO.,
_General Superintendent's Office_,
WINNIPEG, December 31, 1888.
TO JOHN SMITH, ESQ.,
_Supt. of Trans'n, L. & N. R. R. Co., Louisville, Ky._
SIR: Our records show forty-five of our box-cars on your line,
some of which have been away from home over three weeks. I give
below the numbers of those which have been detained over thirty
days, viz.:
Nos. 28542 34210 34762 29421 28437 29842
34628 34516 29781 28274 34333 28873
There is at this time a strong demand for cars for the movement
of the wheat crop, and I must beg that you will send home
promptly all that you have on your line.
I remain,
Yours very truly,
THOMAS BROWN.
LOUISVILLE & NORFOLK R. R. CO.,
_Office of Superintendent of Transportation_,
LOUISVILLE, KY., Jan'y 3, 1889.
TO THOMAS BROWN, ESQ.,
_Gen'l Supt., W. & A. L. R. W. Co., Winnipeg, Canada_.
SIR: Your favor of the 31st ulto. was duly received and contents
noted.
I call your attention to the enclosed mem. from our Car
Accountant, which shows that we have but seven of your cars now
on our road; of these but three are bad cases, Nos. 28437, 34516,
and 28873. One of these cars was crippled, and is in the shops;
the other two are loaded with wheat consigned "to order."
The necessary instructions have been given our agents, and we
will do all in our power to hurry the return of your cars.
I am,
Very truly yours,
JOHN SMITH.
(Mem. enclosed.)
MEMORANDUM.
W. & A. L. Nos.
28542 to Ohio Northern, Dec. 5th.
34210 " Ohio Northern, Dec. 10th.
34762 " Kanawha Junc., 12/15 crippled.
29421 " Elmwood, 12/15 unloading.
28437 " Norfolk Shops, Dec. 6th.
34628 " No account.
34516 " Blue Ridge, 12/4 ordered out.
29781 to Ohio Northern, Nov. 27th.
28274 " Niantic, Dec. 12th, loading home.
34333 " Louisville Belt, Dec. 8th.
29842 " Brockton, Dec. 14th, empty, will load home.
28873 " Blue Ridge, Nov. 18th, ordered out.
This is but an example of a correspondence that is constantly
being exchanged between the officials who are in charge of the
Transportation Department of the various railways of the country.
The demands of trade necessitate continually the transportation of
all manner of commodities over great distances.
Thus, wheat is brought from the Northwest to the seaboard, corn
from the Southwest, cotton from the South, fruit comes from
California, black walnut from Indiana, and pine from Michigan.
In the opposite direction, merchandise and manufactured articles
are sent from the East to all points in the West, the North, and
Southwest. The interchange is constant and steadily increasing in
all directions.
In the early period of railways in this country, when they were
built chiefly to promote local interests, and the movement
of either freight or passengers over long distances was a
comparatively small portion of the traffic, it was customary for
all roads to do their business in their own cars, transferring
any freight destined to a station on a connecting road at the
junction or point of interchange of the two roads. While this
system had the advantage of keeping at home the equipment of each
road, it resulted in a very slow movement of the freight. As the
volume of traffic grew, and the interchange of commodities between
distant points increased, this slow movement became more and
more vexatious. Soon the railway companies found it necessary to
allow their cars to run through to the destination of the freight
without transfer, or they would be deprived of the business by more
enterprising rivals. So that to-day a very large proportion of the
freight business of the country is done without transfer; the same
car taking the load from the initial point direct to destination.
The result of this is, however, that a considerable share of all
the business of any railway is done in cars belonging to other
companies, for which mileage has to be paid; while, in turn, the
cars of any one company may be scattered all over the country from
Maine to California, Winnipeg to Mexico.
The problem that constantly confronts the general superintendent of
a railway is, how to improve the time of through freight, thereby
improving the service and increasing the earnings of the company;
and, at the same time, how to secure the prompt movement of cars
belonging to the company, getting them home from other roads, and
reducing as far as possible upon his own line the use of foreign
cars, and the consequent payment of mileage therefor.
By common consent the mileage for the use of all eight-wheel
freight cars has been fixed at three-quarters of a cent per mile
run; four-wheel cars being rated at one-half this amount, or
three-eighths of a cent. This amount would at first sight appear
to be insignificant, yet in the aggregate it comes to a very
considerable sum. In the case of some of the more important roads
in the country, even those possessing a large equipment, the
balance against them for mileage alone often amounts to nearly half
a million annually.
It becomes therefore of the first importance to reduce to a minimum
the use of foreign cars, thereby reducing the mileage balance;
at the same time avoiding any action that will interfere with or
impede in any way the prompt movement of traffic.
The first step toward accomplishing this result is to organize
and fully equip the Car Accountant's Department. The importance of
this office has been recognized only of late years. Formerly, and
on many lines even now, the Car Accountant was merely a subordinate
in the Auditing Department of the company. His duties were confined
strictly to computing the mileage due to other roads. This he
did from the reports of the freight-train conductors, often in a
cumbrous and mechanical manner, making no allowance for possible
errors. At the same time, he received reports of foreign roads
without question and without check. He was not interested in any
way in the operations of the Transportation Department; and, as a
consequence, it never occurred to him to make inquiries as to the
proper use of the cars belonging to his own company. That he left
entirely to the Superintendent. The latter, on the other hand, his
time incessantly filled with many duties, could give but scant
attention to his cars.