Part 34

By adding the auxiliary trackage reported to this Bureau for 1909 to the 234,182 miles of operated line reported to the Interstate Commerce Commission for June 30 of that year, it appears that the total of all tracks on that date was _upwards of 340,000 miles_.

It will be observed that in every instance the mileage of second, third and fourth track and yard track and sidings reported to this Bureau in 1909, the year of comparative stagnation in railway construction, exceeded the complete mileage of these tracks in 1908 reported to the Commission.

The above table (with the Commission's figures for single track) shows that where there has been an increase of only 50,798 miles of single track, or 27.7%, in twelve years, all trackage has increased over 98,000, or 42%, during the same period. It also shows that during the same twelve years second track has increased 87%; third track 120%; fourth track 91%, and yard track and sidings 76%.

MILEAGE AND TRACK OF BRITISH RAILWAYS.

As English railways are so often brought into comparison with American railways, it is well to know the total of all tracks in the United Kingdom as well as the mileage. Both are given in the following statement, compiled from returns to the British Board of Trade for the years ending December 31, 1904 to 1908:

+--------+--------+--------+--------+------- Description of Track | 1908 | 1907 | 1906 | 1905 | 1904 ---------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------- Single track (miles) | 23,209 | 23,112 | 23,063 | 22,870 | 22,601 Second track | 13,048 | 12,963 | 12,934 | 12,819 | 12,692 Third track | 1,435 | 1,385 | 1,363 | 1,324 | 1,271 Fourth track | 1,141 | 1,103 | 1,091 | 1,067 | 1,030 Fifth track | 208 | 195 | 186 | 170 | 153 Sixth track | 122 | 117 | 111 | 97 | 85 Seventh track | 59 | 51 | 47 | 40 | 35 Eighth to twentieth tracks | 94 | 87 | 75 | 44 | 34 Sidings | 14,353 | 14,145 | 14,032 | 13,891 | 13,733 +--------+--------+--------+--------+------- Total trackage | 53,669 | 53,189 | 52,904 | 52,322 | 51,634 ---------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------

Here it will be perceived the mileage of British roads increased only 608 miles and the trackage only 2,035 miles in four years. During the same period, as shown in the preceding table, the mileage of American railways increased 18,251 miles and their total trackage 36,543. It is this continuous demand for increased mileage and trackage in the United States, to say nothing of equipment, that differentiates the problem confronting American railway management from British. In the United States we need more railways and still more railways, and the problem is to get the capital on reasonable terms to provide the facilities.

In railroad mileage alone we have over ten times that of the United Kingdom and we have more than six times as many miles of track. We have enough trackage in our yards and sidings to double track all the British railways, with enough over to put four tracks where they have only two tracks now.

II

EQUIPMENT

AN OBJECT LESSON IN EQUIPMENT.

No car shortage occurred to interrupt the orderly movement of railway traffic during the fiscal year 1908-09. On the contrary, there was an unprofitable surplus of cars throughout the year, ranging from 110,912 in September, 1908, to 333,019 in January, 1909. From this high figure the surplus was slowly reduced by the demands of traffic until subsequent to the close of the fiscal year, in September last, it reached a practical level of shortages and surpluses. During the year there was an average of 150,000 freight cars in the shops, where in times of ordinary activity the mean would be in the neighborhood of 100,000.

These conditions, which prevailed since November, 1907, account for the greatly reduced purchases of rolling stock during the years 1908 and 1909 shown in the following record of locomotives and cars built in the United States during the past eleven years:

ELEVEN YEARS' OUTPUT OF CARS AND LOCOMOTIVES.

_From the Railroad Age-Gazette._

========================+=============+===========+========== | | Number | Year | Locomotives | Passenger | Freight | | Cars | Cars ------------------------+-------------+-----------+---------- 1909(a) | 2,887 | 2,849 | 96,419 1908(a) | 2,342 | 1,716 | 76,555 1907(a) | 7,362 | 5,457 | 284,188 1906(a) | 6,952 | 3,167 | 243,670 1905(a) | 5,491 | 2,551 | 168,006 1904 | 3,441 | 2,144 | 60,806 1903 | 5,152 | 2,007 | 153,195 1902 | 4,070 | 1,948 | 162,599 1901 | 3,384 | 2,055 | 136,950 1900 | 3,153 | 1,636 | 115,631 1899 | 2,475 | 1,305 | 119,886 +-------------+-----------+---------- Total | 46,709 | 26,835 | 1,617,905 ------------------------+-------------+-----------+----------

(a) Includes Canadian output.

Between 1898 and 1908 the Interstate Commerce Commission reported an increase of 21,464 locomotives, 11,697 passenger cars, and 856,999 freight and company cars. Allowing for the Canadian output in the above table, this would show 22,742 more locomotives, 13,821 more passenger cars, and 674,023 more freight cars built in ten years than are accounted for in the official returns. Roughly speaking, these last figures represent the number of locomotives and cars worn out beyond repair or destroyed that have to be replaced annually. It means that provision has to be made every year for the purchase of new equipment amounting to approximately 5% of locomotives and passenger cars and 4% of freight cars in order to maintain the equipment numerically, irrespective of the sums spent on maintaining the remainder in serviceable condition.

On the equipment reported by the Commission for 1908 this would necessitate the following outlay for replacement alone:

======================+===========+=============+=========+============= | Number | Needed for | Average | Total | | Replacement | Cost | Cost ----------------------+-----------+-------------+---------+------------- Locomotives | 57,698 | 5% = 2,884 | $15,000 | $ 43,260,000 Passenger cars | 45,292 | 5% = 2,214 | 6,000 | 13,284,000 Freight cars | 2,100,784 | 4% = 84,031 | 1,000 | 84,000,000 Company cars | 98,281 | 3,931 | 500 | 1,965,500 | | | +------------- Total cost for | | | | replacing equipment | | | | $142,509,500 ----------------------+-----------+-------------+---------+-------------

It is probable that the computed percentage for the replacement of locomotives and passenger cars is too high and that for freight cars too low. This is the opinion of operating officials. If so, it would amount to a set off and the aggregate would still be approximately $142,000,000 to be expended annually for new equipment to take the place of old, worn out and discarded rolling stock. Conditions forbade the expenditure of any such sum in 1908 and 1909.

NUMBER AND CAPACITY OF LOCOMOTIVES FOR EIGHT YEARS, 1909 TO 1902.

Next follows a summary giving the number and capacity of locomotives for the seven years since the Commission has included capacity in the published returns:

==========================+========+===========================+======== | | | Weight | | | Tractive | without | Average Year | Number | Power | Tender | Weight | | (Pounds) | (Tons) | (Tons) --------------------------+--------+---------------|-----------+-------- 1909 (94.4% represented) | 55,495 | 1,421,114,798 | 4,033,309 | 72.7 1908 Final returns | 57,698 | 1,519,568,551 | 4,071,554 | 71.5 1907 | 55,388 | 1,429,626,658 | 3,828,045 | 69.1 1906 | 51,672 | 1,277,865,673 | 3,459,052 | 66.9 1905 | 48,357 | 1,141,330,082 | 3,079,673 | 63.6 1904 | 46,743 | 1,063,651,261 | 2,889,492 | 62.1 1903 | 43,871 | 953,799,540 | 2,606,587 | 59.4 1902 | 41,225 | 839,073,779 | 2,323,877 | 56.3 +--------+---------------+-----------+-------- Increase seven years | | | | to 1909 | 34.6% | 69.4% | 73.6% | 29.1 --------------------------+--------+---------------+-----------+--------

Complete returns will raise the totals for 1909 approximately to 57,704 locomotives of 1,465,070,000 pounds tractive power and 4,158,000 tons weight, exclusive of tenders. These figures bear out the conclusion expressed above that the purchase of new locomotives in 1909 was barely sufficient to replace those abandoned or destroyed during the year. The loss, however, was in a measure made good by the greater weight of the new engines. As the average weight of locomotives in 1899 was approximately 53 tons, the figures just given indicate an increase of nearly 114% in the weight of all locomotives during the decade.

In connection with the estimate of $15,000 put on locomotives in this report, it is of interest to reproduce the return to the legislature of New South Wales of the cost of engines built in the railway shops at Sydney recently. The figures refer to 6-wheel-coupled heavy mail and express engines weighing, with tender, 163,128 pounds, as published in the _Railway Age-Gazette_, December 3, 1909:

DETAILS OF LOCOMOTIVE COSTS.

====================================+=============+============+======== | 10 Engines | Cost | Per | | Per Engine | Ton(a) ------------------------------------+-------------+------------+-------- Direct charges: | | | Materials | $117,462.77 | $11,746.28 | $161.29 Wages | 76,484.23 | 7,648.42 | 104.99 +-------------+------------+-------- Total | $193,947.00 | $19,394.70 | $266.28 | | | Indirect charges: | | | Percentage of shop charges | | | (exclusive of superintendence) | | | on wage basis in each shop, | | | 37.84% | 28,943.79 | 2,894.38 | 39.74 Superintendence, on wage basis, | | | 3% | 2,294.51 | 229.45 | 3.10 Interest on capital cost of new | | | shop and machinery, including | | | land | 4,850.52 | 485.05 | 6.63 Proportion of interest on capital | | | cost of old shops on locomotive | | | work produced for new engines | 5,449.53 | 544.95 | 7.45 Depreciation of machinery and | | | plant, 2% on capital cost | 5,149.99 | 515.00 | 7.03 +-------------+------------+-------- Total indirect charges | $46,688.34 | $ 4,668.83 | $ 63.95 | | | Total charges | $240,635.34 | $24,063.53 | $330.23 ----------------------------------+-------------+------------+--------

(a) Ton of 2,240 lbs.

Applied to a Mallet articulated compound locomotive, such as that built for the Erie weighing 410,000 pounds on the drivers, the rate per ton paid by the government of New South Wales would make it cost over $60,000. It did not cost any such sum, but the Australian experience is a straw which shows how the cost of locomotives is soaring. American railways find it necessary economy to build engines whose average weight is well above that built in the government shops at Sydney.

PASSENGER AND FREIGHT CARS.

During the same period, 1902 to 1909, covered in the table relating to locomotives, for which alone full data is available, the increase in the number of passenger cars and freight cars, and in the capacity of the latter, is shown in the following statement:

===================+=========+========================+=======+========= | | Freight Service | | | +-----------+------------+ |Company's Year |Passenger| Number | Capacity |Average| Service | Service | | (tons) | tons | Number -------------------+---------+-----------+------------+-------+--------- 1909 | | | | | (97% represented) | 44,665 | 2,050,049 | 71,028,266 | 34.6 | 96,739 1908 | | | | | (Final returns) | 45,292 | 2,100,784 | 73,526,440 | 35 | 98,281 1907 | 43,973 | 1,991,557 | 67,216,144 | 34 | 91,064 1906 | 42,282 | 1,837,914 | 59,196,230 | 32 | 78,736 1905 | 40,713 | 1,731,409 | 53,372,552 | 31 | 70,749 1904 | 39,752 | 1,692,194 | 50,874,723 | 30 | 66,615 1903 | 38,140 | 1,653,782 | 48,622,125 | 29 | 61,467 1902 | 36,987 | 1,546,101 | 43,416,977 | 28 | 57,097 +---------+-----------+------------+-------+--------- Seven years' | | | | | increase(a) | 20.8% | 35.9% | 64.0% | 23.5% | 69.6% -------------------+---------+------------------------+-------+---------

(a) Final returns for 1909 will raise these percentages materially.

It is in the increased capacity of locomotives and cars rather than in their numbers that the seeker after truth will find the explanation of how American railways have been able to handle freight traffic that has increased in volume over 80% in ten years where numerically the increase of equipment has been less than 60%. During that period the average capacity of the freight car has increased from 27 to nearly 35 tons, accounting for an aggregate increase of 109.6%.

Between 1899 and 1909 the population of the United States increased from 74,318,000 to 88,806,000, or 19.5%. (On April 1, 1910, the treasury estimate was an even 90,000,000.) In the same ten years the number of passenger cars increased over 36%, accompanied by a steady advance in their size, strength and conveniences.

Between 1902 and 1907 the Official Statistics furnish the following information showing the gradual transformation taking place in the number and capacity of freight cars:

NUMBER AND CAPACITY OF DIFFERENT SIZES OF FREIGHT CARS, 1902-1907.

===========+==========+=========+===========+============ | Capacity | | | Increase or Class | Pounds | 1902 | 1907 | Decrease | | | | Per Cent -----------+----------+---------+-----------+------------ I | 10,000 | 5,122 | 4,277 | Dec. 16.5 II | 20,000 | 15,615 | 7,244 | " 53.5 III | 30,000 | 46,353 | 10,132 | " 78.1 IV | 40,000 | 327,342 | 204,583 | " 37.5 V | 50,000 | 246,684 | 178,827 | " 27.5 VI | 60,000 | 634,626 | 802,187 | Inc. 26.4 VII | 70,000 | 22,493 | 34,652 | " 53.6 VIII | 80,000 | 158,179 | 452,070 | " 185.9 IX | 90,000 | 310 | 5,054 | " 1,527.1 X | 100,000 | 48,834 | 285,241 | " 484.3 XI | 110,000 | 389 | 1,476 | " 279.4 XII | 120,000 | 43 | 60 | " 39.5 All over | 120,000 | 2 | 214 | -----------+----------+---------+-----------+------------

The line of cleavage between former and modern railway methods of handling freight is clearly shown in the above table to lie between cars of 25 and 30 ton capacity. The former and all of less capacity are on the decline, whereas the latter and all of greater capacity are on the increase. Numerically the 30-ton cars still exceed those of 40 and 50 tons, but already they are exceeded by the combined capacity of the latter.

THE SURPLUS OF FREIGHT CARS.

For two years (28 months as this is written) the reports of the Committee on Car Efficiency of the American Railway Association show that the supply of freight cars has been in excess of the demand. In other words, the railways during that period were paying interest on a considerable percentage of unremunerative equipment, besides the cost of its maintenance. The rise and fall of this surplus of freight cars is set forth below:

FREIGHT CAR SHORTAGES AND SURPLUS BY MONTHS FROM JANUARY, 1907, TO APRIL, 1910.

===========================+==========+=========+=========+======== | 1907 | 1908 | 1909 | 1910 Month | Shortage | Surplus | Surplus | Surplus ---------------------------+----------+---------+---------+-------- January | 110,000 | 342,580 | 333,019 | 52,309 February | 150,000 | 322,513 | 301,571 | 45,513 March | No data | 297,042 | 291,418 | 45,672 April | 100,000 | 413,605 | 282,328 | 84,887 May | 60,000 | 404,534 | 273,890 | -- June | 40,000 | 349,994 | 262,944 | -- July(a) | 20,000 | 308,680 | 243,354 | -- August(a) | 15,000 | 253,003 | 159,424 | -- September | 60,000 | 133,792 | 78,798 | -- October | 90,757 | 110,912 | 35,977 | -- November | 57,003 | 132,829 | 39,528 | -- December (surplus) | 209,310 | 222,077 | 58,354 | -- ---------------------------+----------+---------+---------+--------

(a) In July and August, 1907, there was a net surplus.

At the date of one report in October, 1909, a surplus of cars in one territory was practically offset by a shortage in another territory.

FREIGHT CAR PERFORMANCE.

According to Statistical Bulletin No. 58 of the Committee on Relations between Railroads of the American Railway Association, the average performance of the freight cars of American and Canadian railways during the year ending June 30, 1909, including and excluding surplus cars, was as follows:

==================+=======================+====================== | Average Miles | Average Ton Miles | per Day | per Car per Day +-----------+-----------+-----------+---------- Month | Including | Excluding | Including | Excluding | Surplus | Surplus | Surplus | Surplus | Cars | Cars | Cars | Cars ------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+---------- July, 1908 | 20.0 | 24.8 | 275 | 342 August, " | 20.8 | 25.1 | 292 | 354 September, " | 22.0 | 25.2 | 320 | 367 October, " | 23.8 | 25.9 | 346 | 376 November, " | 23.5 | 25.8 | 341 | 375 December, " | 22.3 | 25.2 | 332 | 376 January, 1909 | 20.9 | 25.3 | 293 | 354 February, " | 21.7 | 25.9 | 306 | 365 March, " | 22.7 | 27.2 | 330 | 393 April, " | 22.4 | 26.8 | 310 | 371 May, " | 22.5 | 26.8 | 304 | 362 June, " | 22.4 | 26.5 | 314 | 371 ------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------

These figures of the average miles per day of freight cars are the delight of demagogues and other detractors of American railways who ignore, or have never been able to comprehend, that the average performance of a car per day depends from six to nine times more on the time allowed for shippers to load and unload cars than on its speed in transit. This speed runs all the way from ten to forty miles and over an hour. But if freight trains averaged 40 miles an hour it would make little impression on the per day average of cars so long as 48 hours has to be allowed as a minimum at either end for loading and unloading and almost as much more for placing notices and disposing of cars, to say nothing of time consumed in making up trains.

The salient and significant feature of this table is the proof it affords that each car of those in commission averages the movement of one ton 367 miles per day. This means an average load of 14 tons per car. It would take at least three English or European freight cars to average such a load.

SAFETY APPLIANCES.

Of all the locomotives and cars in railway service in 1908, aggregating 2,302,055, less than 4% were not fitted with train brakes, and less than three quarters of 1% were unprovided with automatic couplers.

BLOCK SIGNALS.

While the gain in mileage protected by some form of block signals in 1909 is only slightly more than half the increase in 1907, it shows a healthy revival of this most important constructive work. At the close of the last calendar year, according to the _Railroad Age-Gazette,_ the mileage on which some system of block signals had been installed was as follows:

====================+===============+=============+========+======= System | Single Track | Two or | Total | Total | | More Tracks | 1909 | 1908 --------------------+---------------+-------------+--------+------- Automatic block | | | | signals (miles) | 6,436 | 7,983 | 14,419 | 11,932 Non-automatic block | | | | signals (miles) | 40,323 | 8,593 | 48,916 | 48,777 +---------------+-------------+--------+-------- Total miles | 46,759 | 16,576 | 63,335 | 60,709 --------------------+---------------+-------------+--------+--------

Miles of line operated by the companies, 1909 158,938