COST OF MINERAL TRAFFIC ON ENGLISH RAILWAYS. 



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of the cost of the special omnibus service, the 

 percentage of traffic expenses is only 13.75 on 

 the gross revenue, or 2.47 below the average for 

 the United Kingdom. On the Southeastern 

 line, the percentage is 14.09 ; on the Brighton, 

 13.67 ; but on the Midland it rises to 18.16, or 

 1.94 per cent, above the average for the United 

 Kingdom. Thus, to say that this item of railway 

 cost is diminished by increasing the proportion 

 of mineral traffic is simply to state what is con- 

 trary to published facts. 



The incidence of the Government duty is of 

 course proportionately heavier, the smaller the 

 amount of mineral traffic. This is, however, a 

 burden that may be borne without reluctance by 

 those who study the figures above stated. As 

 to the remaining items of expenditure, any varia- 

 tion in their incidence depends very much on 

 local conditions, and can only be directly con- 

 nected with the question of the proportion of 

 mineral traffic by the amount of the payments 

 for compensation. These do not, however, ma- 

 terially affect the question ; as the average inci- 

 dence for the United Kingdom is less than half 

 per cent, on the gross returns. 



It is thus absolutely undeniable that, while 

 the circulation of heavy mineral trains on a main 

 trunk-line of railway increases the cost of loco- 

 motive power, of maintenance, and of repairs, 

 so rapidly as to leave only half of the sum nomi- 

 nally received for mineral freight available for the 

 payment of all other expenses, including divi- 

 dend, incurred in the conduct of such traffic, 

 there is no saving, but rather an extra expense, 

 in the " traffic-charges," and no appreciable dimi- 

 nution in other items of outlay which can be cred- 

 ited to the mineral traffic. 



From the above facts it is manifest that, of 

 the £13,400,000 received by the railway compa- 

 nies of the United Kingdom in 1875, so con- 

 siderable a portion is counterbalanced by the 

 augmentation in the expenditure caused by the 

 conduct of a mixed traffic, that the possible 

 source of profit to the shareholders is reduced 

 to an almost imperceptible figure. ' The investi- 

 gation previously carried out as to the cost of 

 duty per ton-mile-gross is fully adequate to ex- 

 plain this fact. 



The mineral traffic of the metropolis, as a 

 rule, all goes in one direction. The vehicles 

 bearing coals are sent up full, and have to be 

 taken back empty, at the cost of the carrying 

 companies, which thus receive only one payment 

 for two duties. The exact amount of tare is, as 

 we have seen, one of those points in which the 



Board of Trade returns are defective, and in 

 which foreign railway companies give informa- 

 tion refused by those of the United Kingdom. 

 We have said that, under exceptionally favorable 

 circumstances, the amount of mineral tare has 

 been kept down to 50 per cent, of the gross load. 

 Considering that the average tare of merchandise 

 and mineral trains on the French lines investi- 

 gated is 61.5 per cent., and on the Indian lines 

 67.3 per cent., and that much merchandise goes 

 in both directions, while mineral traffic (except 

 in the cross-lines, which may exchange coals for 

 ironstone) goes mainly in one, it will probably 

 be much understating the tare of the mineral 

 trains to take it at 64 per cent, of the gross load, 

 being the mean between the French and the In- 

 dian proportion of dead-weight. 



On this allowance, 100 tons of loaded mineral 

 train (taking returns into account) will carry 30 

 tons of minerals. The average cost of the duty 

 will be 33.3d. for a mile of lead, that is to say, 

 of distance for which the freight is carried. This 

 is equivalent to a cost of .925J. per ton of min- 

 eral conveyed. This figure, which is an approxi- 

 mate cost price, is more than the freight usually 

 charged. On the Taff Vale, for haulage and tolls 

 alone, the charge is .78c?. per ton of coal per 

 mile. On the Midland, freight is stated recently 

 to have been reduced to .55c?., and on the Great 

 Northern to .45c?., per ton per mile. We have 

 before seen that the working cost of the two 

 items covered by the Taff Vale charge approxi- 

 mately amounts to 23.4 per 100 ton-miles-gross. 

 Even that exceptionally low rate comes to the 

 cost of .65(7. per ton of coal per mile, at a tare 

 allowance of 64 per cent. The saving of the Taff 

 Vale in traffic expenses, as compared to the Mid- 

 land rate, amounts to .05c?. per ton of coal per 

 mile. That good examples of bona-Jide profit 

 from purely mineral lines occur is not disputed. 

 But that any profit whatever is gained by the 

 conveyance of coals to London at prices below 

 .Id. per ton of coal per mile is a statement al- 

 together contradicted by the statistics now be- 

 fore us. 



A moderate profit per ton, however, even if 

 earned, would still be far from compensatory to 

 main trunk-lines for undertaking the conveyance 

 of minerals. It is a truism to say that such 

 traffic is a losing speculation unless its net re- 

 sults be such as to pay interest on the capital 

 invested in order to carry it out. The question 

 here is to ascertain how much of the £3S,000 per 

 mile which our railways have now cost has been 

 expended in order to 'provide for the mineral 



