Part 2

Rudimentary Injector 116

Injector Used on Locomotives 117

Sections of a Locomotive Cylinder 118

Eccentric 118

Eccentric and Strap 118

Valve Gear 119

Turning Locomotive Tires 121

Six-wheeled Switching Locomotive 122

Mogul Locomotive 123

Ten-wheeled Passenger Locomotive 123

Consolidation Locomotive (unfinished) 124

Consolidation Locomotive 124

Decapod Locomotive 125

"Forney" Tank Locomotive 126

"Hudson" Tank Locomotive 127

Camden & Amboy Locomotive, 1848 129

Cab End of a Locomotive and its Attachments 133

Interior of Erecting Shop, showing Locomotive Lifted by Travelling Crane 137

Forging a Locomotive Frame 138

Mohawk & Hudson Car, 1831 139

Early Car 139

Early Car on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 140

Early American Car, 1834 140

Old Car for Carrying Flour on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 141

Old Car for Carrying Firewood on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 141

Old Car on the Quincy Granite Railroad 141

Janney Car Coupler, showing the Process of Coupling 142

Mould and Flask in which Wheels are Cast 143

Cast-iron Car Wheels 144

Section of the Tread and Flange of a Car Wheel 145

Allen Paper Car Wheel 145

Modern Passenger-car and Frame 147

Snow-plough at Work 154

A Type of Snow-plough 155

A Rotary Steam Snow-shovel in Operation 156

Railway-crossing Gate 157

Signal to Stop 162

Signal to Move Ahead 162

Signal to Move Back 163

Signal that the Train has Parted 163

Entrance Gates at a Large Station 167

Central Switch and Signal Tower 168

Interior of a Switch-tower, showing the Operation of Interlocking Switches 171

Stephenson's Steam Driver-brake, patented 1833 192

Driver-brake on Modern Locomotive 192

English Screw-brake, on the Birmingham and Gloucester Road, about 1840 193

English Foot-brake on the Truck of a Great Western Coach, about 1840 193

Plan and Elevation of Air-brake Apparatus 196

Dwarf Semaphores and Split Switch 202

Semaphore Signal with Indicators 203

Section of Saxby & Farmer Interlocking Machine 204

Diagram of a Double-track Junction with Interlocked Switches and Signals 205

Split Switches with Facing-point Locks and Detector-bars 206

Derailing Switch 207

Torpedo Placer 213

Old Signal Tower on the Philadelphia & Reading, at Phœnixville 214

Crossing Gates worked by Mechanical Connection from the Cabin 217

Some Results of a Butting Collision--Baggage and Passenger Cars Telescoped 218

Wreck at a Bridge 219

New South Norwalk Drawbridge. Rails held by Safety Bolts 220

Engines Wrecked during the Great Wabash Strike 222

Link-and-pin Coupler 224

Janney Automatic Coupler applied to a Freight Car 224

Signals at Night 225

Stockton & Darlington Engine and Car 229

Mohawk & Hudson Train 231

English Railway Carriage, Midland Road. First and Third Class and Luggage Compartments 232

One of the Earliest Passenger Cars Built in this Country; used on the Western Railroad of Massachusetts (now the Boston & Albany) 233

Bogie Truck 233

Rail and Coach Travel in the White Mountains 234

Old Time Table, 1843 235

Old Boston & Worcester Railway Ticket (about 1837) 236

Obverse and Reverse of a Ticket used in 1838, on the New York & Harlem Railroad 236

The "Pioneer." First Complete Pullman Sleeping-car 240

A Pullman Porter 241

Pullman Parlor Car 243

Wagner Parlor Car 244

Dining-car (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad) 245

End View of a Vestibuled Car 249

Pullman Sleeper on a Vestibuled Train 250

Immigrant Sleeping-car (Canadian Pacific Railway) 251

View of Pullman, Ill. 252

Railway Station at York, England, built on a Curve 257

Outside the Grand Central Station, New York 258

Boston Passenger Station, Providence Division, Old Colony Railroad 259

A Page from the Car Accountant's Book 277

Freight Pier, North River, New York 280

Hay Storage Warehouses, New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, West Thirty-third Street, New York 282

"Dummy" Train and Boy on Hudson Street, New York 287

Red Line Freight-car Mark 288

Star Union Freight-car Mark 288

Coal Car, Central Railroad of New Jersey 289

Refrigerator-car Mark 289

Unloading a Train of Truck-wagons, Long Island Railroad 290

Floating Cars, New York Harbor 295

Postal Progress, 1776-1876 313

The Pony Express--The Relay 314

The Overland Mail Coach--A Star Route 315

Mail Carrying in the Country 316

Loading for the Fast Mail, at the General Post-Office, New York 324

At the Last Moment 326

Pouching the Mail in the Postal Car 329

A Very Difficult Address--known as a "Sticker." 331

Distributing the Mail by States and Routes 332

Pouching Newspapers for California--in Car No. 5 335

Catching the Pouch from the Crane 339

George Stephenson 345

J. Edgar Thomson 349

Thomas A. Scott 350

Cornelius Vanderbilt 352

John W. Garrett 355

Albert Fink 366

Charles Francis Adams 367

Thomas M. Cooley 369

"Dancing on the Carpet" 386

Trainman and Tramps 387

Braking in Hard Weather 389

Flagging in Winter 391

Coupling 392

The Pleasant Part of a Brakeman's Life 395

At the Spring 397

Just Time to Jump 403

Timely Warning 407

The Passenger Conductor 409

Station Gardening 416

In the Yard at Night 419

A Track-walker on a Stormy Night 421

A Crossing Flagman 423

A Little Relaxation 424

MAPS.

Mileage compared with Area 429

Railways, 1830, 1840, 1850, and 1860 430

Railways, 1870 431

Railways, 1880 432

Railways, 1889 433

Five Railway Systems 434, 435

CHARTS.

Principal Railway Countries 425

Mileage to Area in New Jersey 426

Total Mileage and Increase, 1830-1888 429

Mileage by States, 1870 431

Mileage by States, 1880 432

Mileage by States, 1888 433

Largest Receipts, 1888 435

Largest Net Results, 1888 435

Freight Rates of Thirteen Trunk Lines, 1870-1888 436

Wheat Rates, by Water and by Rail, 1870-1888 438

The Freight Haul, 1882-1888 439

East-bound and West-bound Freight, 1877-1888 439

Freight Profits, 1870-1888 440

Passenger Rates, 1870-1888 441

Passenger Travel, 1882-1888 442

Passenger Profits, 1870-1888 442

Average Dividends, 1876-1888 443

Net Earnings and Mileage Built, 1876-1888 444

Increase of Population, Mileage, and Freight Traffic, 1870-1888 446

INTRODUCTION.

BY THOMAS M. COOLEY.

The railroads of the United States, now aggregating a hundred and fifty thousand miles and having several hundred different managements, are frequently spoken of comprehensively as the railroad system of the country, as though they constituted a unity in fact, and might be regarded and dealt with as an entirety, by their patrons and by the public authorities, whenever the conveniences they are expected to supply, or the conduct of managers and agents, come in question. So far, however, is this from being the case, that it would be impossible to name any other industrial interest where the diversities are so obvious and the want of unity so conspicuous and so important. The diversities date from the very origin of the roads; they have not come into existence under the same laws nor subject to the same control. It was accepted as an undoubted truth in constitutional law from the first that the authority for the construction of railroads within a State must come from the State itself, which alone could empower the promoters to appropriate lands by adversary proceedings for the purpose. The grant of corporate power must also come from the State, or, at least, have State recognition and sanction; and where the proposed road was to cross a State boundary, the necessary corporate authority must be given by every State through or into which the road was to run. It was conceded that the delegated powers of the General Government did not comprehend the granting of charters for the construction of these roads within the States, and even in the Territories charters were granted by the local legislatures. The case of the transcontinental roads was clearly exceptional; they were to be constructed in large part over the public domain, and subsidies were to be granted by Congress for the purpose. They were also, in part at least, to be constructed for governmental reasons as national agencies; and invoking State authority for the purpose seemed to be as inconsistent as it would be inadequate. But, though these were exceptional cases, the magnitude and importance of the Pacific roads are so immense that the agency of the General Government in making provision for this method of transportation must always have prominence in railroad history and railroad statistics.

Not only have the roads been diverse in origin, but the corporations which have constructed them have differed very greatly in respect to their powers and rights, and also to the obligations imposed by law upon them. The early grants of power were charter-contracts, freely given, with very liberal provisions; the public being more anxious that they be accepted and acted upon than distrustful of their abuse afterward. Many of them were not subject to alteration or repeal, except with the consent of the corporators; and some of them contained provisions intended to exclude or limit competition, so that, within a limited territory, something in the nature of a monopoly in transportation would be created. The later grants give evidence of popular apprehension of corporate abuses; the legislature reserves a control over them, and the right to multiply railroads indefinitely is made as free as possible, under the supposition that in this multiplication is to be found the best protection against any one of them abusing its powers. In very many cases the motive to the building of a new road has been antagonism to one already in existence, and municipalities have voted subsidies to the one in the hope that, when constructed, it would draw business away from the other. The anomaly has thus been witnessed of distrust of corporate power being the motive for increasing it; and the multiplication of roads has gone on, without any general supervision or any previous determination by competent public authority that they were needed, until the increase has quite outrun in some sections any proper demand for their facilities.

Roads thus brought into existence, without system and under diverse managements, it was soon seen were capable of being so operated that the antagonism of managers, instead of finding expression in legitimate competition, would be given to the sort of strife that can only be properly characterized by calling it, as it commonly is called, a war. From such a war the public inevitably suffers. The best service upon the roads is only performed when they are operated as if they constituted in fact parts of one harmonious system; the rates being made by agreement, and traffic exchanged with as little disturbance as possible, and without abrupt break at the terminals. But when every management might act independently, it sometimes happened that a company made its method of doing business an impediment instead of a help to the business done over other roads, recognizing no public duty which should preclude its doing so, provided a gain to itself, however indirect or illegitimate, was probable. Many consolidations of roads have had for their motive the getting rid of this power to do mischief on the part of roads absorbed.

In nothing is the want of unity so distinctly and mischievously obvious as in the power of each corporation to make rates independently. It may not only make its own local rates at discretion, but it may join or refuse to join with others in making through rates; so that an inconsiderable and otherwise insignificant road may be capable of being so used as to throw rates for a large section of the country into confusion, and to render the making of profit by other roads impossible. It is frequently said in railroad circles that roads are sometimes constructed for no other reason than because, through this power of mischief, it will be possible to levy contributions upon others, or to compel others, in self-protection, to buy them up at extravagant prices. Cases are named in which this sort of scheming is supposed to have succeeded, and others in which it is now being tried.

Evils springing from the diversities mentioned have been cured, or greatly mitigated, by such devices as the formation of fast-freight lines to operate over many roads; by allowing express companies to come upon the roads with semi-independence in the transportation of articles, where, for special reasons, the public is content to pay an extra price for extra care or speed; and by arrangements with sleeping-car companies for special accommodations in luxurious cars to those desiring them. These collateral arrangements, however, have not been wholly beneficial; and had all the roads been constructed as parts of one system and under one management, some of them would neither have been necessary nor defensible. They exist now, however, with more or less reason for their existence; and they tend to increase the diversities in railroad work.

The want of unity which has been pointed out tended to breed abuses specially injurious to the public, and governmental regulation was entered upon for their correction. Naturally the first attempts in this direction were made by separate States, each undertaking to regulate for itself the transportation within its own limits. Such regulation would have been perfectly logical, and perhaps effectual, had the roads within each State formed a system by themselves; but when State boundaries had very little importance, either to the roads themselves or to the traffic done over them, unless made important by restrictive and obstructive legislation, the regulation by any State must necessarily be fragmentary and imperfect, and diverse regulation in different States might be harmful rather than beneficial. It must be said for State regulation that it has in general been exercised in a prudent and conservative way, but it is liable to be influenced by a sensitive and excitable public opinion; and as nothing is more common than to find gross abuses in the matter of railroad transportation selfishly defended in localities, and even in considerable sections, which are supposed to receive benefits from them, it would not be strange if the like selfishness should sometimes succeed in influencing the exercise of power by one State in a manner that a neighboring State would regard as unfriendly and injurious.

The Federal Government recently undertook the work of regulation, and in doing so accepted the view upon which the States had acted, and so worded its statute that the transportation which does not cross State lines is supposed to be excluded. The United States thus undertakes to regulate interstate commerce by rail, and the States regulate, or may regulate, that which is not interstate. It was perhaps overlooked at first that, inasmuch as Government control may embrace the making of classifications, prescribing safety and other appliances, and naming rates, any considerable regulation of State traffic and interstate traffic separately must necessarily to some extent cause interference. The two classes of traffic flow on together over the same lines in the same vehicles under the management of the same agencies, with little or no distinction based on State lines; the rates and the management influenced by considerations which necessarily are of general force, so that separate regulation may without much extravagance be compared to an attempt in the case of one of our great rivers to regulate the flow of the waters in general, but without, in doing so, interfering with an independent regulation of such portion thereof as may have come from the springs and streams of some particular section. This is one of many reasons for looking upon all existing legislation as merely tentative.

No doubt the time will come when the railroads of the country will constitute, as they do not now, a system. There are those who think this may, sufficiently for practical purposes, be accomplished by the legalization of some scheme of pooling; but this is a crude device, against which there is an existing prejudice not easily to be removed. Others look for unity through gradual consolidations, the tendency to which is manifest, or through something in the nature of a trust, or by means of more comprehensive and stringent national control. Beyond all these is not infrequently suggested a Government ownership.

Of the theories that might be advanced in this direction, or the arguments in their support, nothing further will be said here; the immediate purpose being accomplished when it is shown how misleading may be the term _system_, when applied to the railroads of the country as an aggregate, as now owned, managed, and controlled.

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