164 Wisconsm Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 



By this we see that the railways of Massachusetts and New 

 York average only about one-sixth of their capacity. The 

 general average of our railways will fall far short of this, es- 

 pecially in the agricultural districts of the South, West and 

 Northwest. 



In transporting way-freight the narrow-gauge cars have still 

 greater advantages as is shown by the following table : 



This table shows that if it is necessary to drop cars with 9 

 tons of freight, at a way-station — this being an amount which 

 is one ton over a car load for the narrow guage, and which 

 renders necessary the use of two cars at the utmost disadvan- 

 tage — the dead weight is even then only 1,777 lbs. per ton, 

 and still 278 lbs. less than the broad-gauge. As to wear and 

 tear, if we assume that the repairs of machinery and rolling 

 stock are in direct ratio to their cost, the reduction for the 

 narrow-gauge would be about 50 per cent., which is the differ- 

 ence in the first cost. Narrow-gauge locomotives weigh from 

 6 to 18 tons, depending upon the nature of the service they 

 have to perform. The following table gives the principal di- 

 mensions and weights of various patterns and sizes of narrow- 

 gauge locomotives, together with the loads they will haul on a 

 straight track in good condition : 



*Difference in favor of narrow-guage. 



