360 History of Inland Transport 



" Track mileage " in the United Kingdom is shown in the 

 Board of Trade Returns for 1910 as under : 



TRACK. MILES. TRACK. MILES. 



First . . . 23,389 Ninth . . .24 



Second . . 13,189 Tenth . . .14 



Third . . 1,517 Eleventh . . 10 



Fourth . . 1,192 Twelfth ... 7 



Fifth . . 236 Thirteenth . . 5 



Sixth . . 143 Fourteenth . . 4 



Seventh . . 70 Fifteenth . . 3 



Eighth . . 44 Sixteenth-nineteenth I each 



Corresponding figures for the United States of America, 

 taken from an abstract issued in July, 1911, by the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission, give the following classification of 

 track mileage, excluding yard track and sidings : 



TRACK. MILES. TRACK. MILES. 



First . . 240,831 Third . . . 2,206 

 Second . . 21,659 Fourth . . 1,489 



It will be seen from the figures relating to track mileage 

 in the United Kingdom that there is at least one mile of 

 railway in the United Kingdom which really consists of nineteen 

 pairs of rails alongside one another, though counting, in length 

 of line, as only a single mile. In the United States there seems 

 to be no suggestion of any railroad having more than four 

 tracks. 



The length of track in the United Kingdom is 39,851 miles. 

 To this must be added a further 14,460 miles, the length of 

 sidings reduced to single track, giving a total, including 

 sidings, of 54,311 miles. 



Rolling stock was owned in 1910 by the different railway 

 companies throughout the United Kingdom as follows : 

 Locomotives, 22,840 ; carriages used for conveyance of 

 passengers only, but including rail motor carriages, 52,725 ; 

 other vehicles attached to passenger trains, 20,090 ; waggons 

 of all kinds used for the conveyance of live stock, minerals 

 or general merchandise, 745,369 ; any other carriages or 

 waggons used on the railway, 21,360 ; total number of 

 vehicles, excluding locomotives, 839,544. These figures are 

 exclusive of about 600,000 waggons owned by private traders. 1 



1 The existence of this large number of privately owned railway 

 waggons the greater proportion of which are in use in the coal trade 



