COST OF MINERAL TRAFFIC ON ENGLISH RAILWAYS. 



001 

 ool 



not given. It is estimated by M. de Franqueville 

 at 8.(58 miles. If we take this as an approxima- 

 tion, and allow the same tare for the passenger 

 traffic as on the French lines, we arrive at an ag- 

 gregate of 5,628 millions of ton-miles-gross for 

 the passenger traffic of the railways of the United 

 Kingdom. If we take the tare of the Indian 

 passenger traffic, or if we allow, as on a former 

 occasion, a mean between the French and the 

 Indian tare, we obtain somewhat different results. 

 But, in making use of figures estimated by M. de 

 Franqueville, it is desirable not to introduce any 

 sources of correction or of disturbance with 

 which that careful investigator was unacquainted. 



The net tonnage of goods and minerals for 

 the same year was a little over 200,000,000 

 tons. The average distance over which this 

 weight was conveyed is taken by M. de Franque- 

 ville as thirty-six miles. This, at the French 

 rate of fare, would give a total of 18,700 millions 

 of ton-miles-gross for the heavy traffic, making a 

 grand total of 24,828 millions of ton-miles-gross 

 as the duty of our English railways. This amount 

 of duty would make the average cost of conveying 

 100 tons gross for a mile amount to 32.6c?., a re- 

 sult almost identical with that arrived at by com- 

 parison with the French railways. It may be re- 

 membered that the gross total of ton-mileage 

 arrived at by taking a tare intermediate between 

 that of the French and that of the Indian rail- 

 ways was stated as 25,072 millions of ton-miles, 

 the passenger tare being raised and the mineral 

 tare being reduced, by taking French proportions 

 alone. The difference of result thus obtained, 

 while interesting as showing the limits of varia- 

 tion in practice, shows further the absolute need 

 of obtaining definite returns on these points from 

 the railway companies of the United Kingdom. 



On the Taff Vale Railway, which was origi- 

 nally constructed as a mineral line, and on which 

 the passenger traffic only earns 14 per c?nt. of 

 the gross receipts, the charge for the conveyance 

 of minerals is .78c?. per ton net per mile. The 

 tare on this line is kept down to the unusually 

 low proportion of 50 per cent., including return 

 of empty wagons. The working expenses amount 

 to 57 per cent, of the gross revenue. If we allow 

 them to reach 60 per cent, for the mineral traffic 

 (which is, of course, the least productive per ton- 

 mile), we find the working cost of conveying 

 100,000 tons gross for a mile to be 23.46?. This 

 figure (which probably is kept somewhat too low 

 by the percentage distribution) is the lowest 

 known to be attained on any English railway. 



On the Metropolitan Railway the weight of 



the trains is a regular quantity. The cost of 

 locomotion and maintenance on this line is con- 

 siderably increased by the frequent stoppages, 

 and by the rapidity with which a high speed is 

 attained and arrested. The contingent expenses, 

 including rates, are also unusually high. Thus, 

 although the Metropolitan line works at a lower 

 percentage on receipts than any other English 

 railway, the cost of its duty per ton-mile is un- 

 usually high. From reliable data this cost has 

 been calculated for 1873 at 45.7c?. per 100 ton- 

 miles-gross, which is close upon the American 

 cost for the same year of 44. 4d. It thus appears 

 that the variation in the cost of duty performed 

 on the English railways is about the same as that 

 on the Indian lines ; the most expensive instance 

 approaching the double of the cheapest. On the 

 Taff Vale, however, the only two items of charge 

 included in the price quoted are for road-tolls 

 and for locomotive power. There is a charge of 

 2d. per ton for shipping, which is not included in 

 the rates cited, the distribution of which would 

 somewhat raise the price per ton-mile-gross. The 

 wagons are provided, repaired, and loaded by 

 the freighters, and in point of fact the traffic ex- 

 penses on the Taff Vale line are 3.5 per cent, be- 

 low the average for the United Kingdom. 



On the above data it is safe to assume that the 

 ordinary cost of moving a ton of gross load for 

 a mile on an English railway averages about one- 

 third of a penny, never quite rising, on any im- 

 portant line, to a halfpenny, never falling, all 

 things considered, so low as a farthing. And 

 although this cost is not the direct measure of 

 the profitable character of the traffic, it is a 

 prime element in the calculation of profit. It 

 is a datum for the engineer rather than for the 

 financier. Between line and line the importance 

 of this element is to a great extent controlled by 

 other influences. But as to the cost of the dif- 

 ferent branches of traffic on any one line, the 

 knowledge of the cost of duty is the first and 

 most important step to be taken. 



The absolute exactitude with which the duty 

 cost per ton-mile-gross may be made use of in 

 order to dissect the working cost of the different 

 kinds of traffic on the same line depends on two, 

 and only two, additional conditions. The first is 

 that to which reference has more than once been 

 made — namely, the proportion of tare or dead 

 weight, The knowledge of this is essential in 

 order to know what proportion obtains between 

 the ton-mile-gross, which is the unit of cost, and 

 the ton-milenet, which is the unit of income. 



A further question arises as to whether the 



