TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 



753 



3rd. The general use on the American railways of freif^ht cars or waggona, 

 carrj'ing a greater percentage of paying load to dead weight than those used on the 

 English railways. 



4th. The lower speed at which the American goods trains run. 



6th. The use on the American railways of heavier locomotives, which haul 

 heavier loads than can be done by the lighter ones used on the English railways. 



6th. The use of locomotives on the American railways with outside cylinders 

 and connections, which can be more cheaply and easily" repaired than those witb 

 inside cylinders, used on the English railways. 



7th. The use on the American railways of collecting and distributing goods 

 trains, which load and unload at the stations goods in less than car-load quantities, 

 thus avoiding the use of waggons only partially loaded, as is the custom on the 

 English railways ; the Americans apply to their goods trains the same principle 

 that the Englisii railway managers now apply to their milk-trains. 



The tables show the following percentages against the London and North- 

 Western and Great Northern railways, when compared with the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad division : — 



1888 



Average freight train load in tons 



Average charge for transjjorting 1 ton 1 mile 



Average cost of transporting 1 ton 1 mile .... 



Average cost of transporting 1 ton 1 mile, deducting on 

 the English roads all ' Traffic Expenses,' 36 and 3i per 

 cent, respectively, and deducting nothing on the 

 American road. 



Average cost of transporting 1 ton 1 mile, deducting all 

 ' Traffic Expenses ' on all roads. 



Equated cost of train mile, provided the present train load 

 on the English roads should be transported at the same 

 cost per ton per mile as on the American road. 



Percentage against 



London and 

 North- 

 Western 



171 



215 



152 



02 



149 

 114 



Great 

 Northern 



263 



215 



172 



80 



176 

 147 



The present freight charge on pig iron from Stoke-on-Trent to Liverpool is 

 5s. 5rf. per ton, distance 65 miles. From Birmingham, Alabama, to Pensacola 

 (both in the United States) the freight charge is ^1.40 = 5s. 7id. (l/. = ^4.80) 

 distance 280 miles— the freight being about the same for five times the distance. 

 This 18 a practical illustration of the difference between English and American 

 railway practice, and its effect upon the trade of the country. The Birmingham 

 district in the United States is only three or four years old, it will produce"^ this 

 year over 800,000 tons of pig iron. With railway freights as high as they are in 

 England the iron could not be profitably made, and the whole district would be 

 depopulated and abandoned. These are stern facts and cannot be put aside by 

 saying that they are estimates or theoretical possibilities. 



The preceding remarks and opinions are not founded on theory or some new 

 invention, but are founded upon actual workings of many years of all the American 

 and Canadian railways, embracing over 170,000 miles of "operated lines with over 

 1,100,000 cars and carriages constructed and run on the principle advocated in this 

 paper. 



This can no longer be considered an experimental test. What is done in 

 America on such a very large scale could surely be done here. 



When the present railways were constructed England had comparatively no 

 commercial rivals. Now, strong and in some cases successful, ones liave sprung up 

 on all sides. If anyone, then, had told the English farmer that wheat rai.'^ed in the 

 interior of North .\merica, Australia, or India, would compete successfully in the 

 English market with the wheat raised by the farmers of the United Kingdom 



1889. 3 c 



