Handbook of Railroad Construction; For the use of American engineers. / Containing the necessary rules, tables, and formulæ for the location, construction, equipment, and management of railroads, as built in the United States.

As the speed is increased, the relative effect of grade and curves is lessened, but the absolute danger of passing curves is increased. Express trains require larger radius of curvature, or greater elevation of exterior rail than others, which extra elevation causes an unnecessary resistance to all other trains. The rails to resist large and heavy wheels must be heavier and more firmly fastened. All bridges and viaducts (particularly if on grades or curves), will require more strength to resist the increased shocks to which they will be subject. The wear of rails is nearly as the weight passing over them; the wear of rails consequent upon stopping and starting the trains depends upon the momentum of the train which is to be imparted to them.

The proportion, in which the working expenses are distributed under the several heads on the larger railways of Great Britain, is as follows:—

And the percentage of increase due to fast travelling, to be applied to the several items of expense, with the resulting increase in total expense, is shown below.

or 18 per cent. increase, nearly.

Express trains, as worked on many roads, run at an unnecessary speed, to make up for frequent stops. Overcoming a long distance in a short time, depends as much on decrease in the number of stops, as increase in the speed.

The following figures show the effect of decreasing the number of stops.

A train running 400 miles, and stopping once in fifty miles, each stop being five minutes, (including coming to rest and starting,) to pass over the whole distance in eight hours, must run fifty-five miles per hour.

Stopping once in twenty miles, sixty-three miles per hour.

Stopping once in ten miles, eighty-six miles per hour.

The following table shows the velocities of the different classes of trains in England, France, and Belgium, including and excluding stops.

The distances at which the different classes of trains stop in the several countries, are as follows:—

The causes of accident, beyond the control of passengers, are

Those causes which are aggravated by fast travelling are the first, second, fifth, and sixth; the effects of all are worse at high speeds than at low.

The proportion of accidents due to each of these causes, taken at random from one hundred cases on English railways, are as follows:—

In collision by opposition, the engines, tenders, and baggage cars must be demolished before the shock reaches the passengers; in collision by overtaking, the engine of the rear train plunges at once into the last passenger car of the leading train; the force in the last case is the difference of the speeds, in the former the sum. The increase of danger from this cause, attendant upon express trains, is due, first, to the longer time required in stopping, and second, in the greater shock if collision occurs.

Breakage of machinery is more liable to take place while wheels are revolving 25,000 times per hour, than when the speed is less.

Failure of the superstructure of bridges, (particularly when on curves or grades,) is more liable to take place at high than at low velocities.

Accidents from obstacles upon the track, from fire, boiler explosions, and misplaced switches, are no more attendant upon express than upon other trains, but the consequences are worse with the high speeds.

From the analysis above, of one hundred accidents, it appears that eighty-eight per cent. of the cases are due to the causes that are aggravated by increase of speed, and if we assume the aggravation of collision, and breakage of machinery, to be (speed being doubled) as two to one, the danger of travelling a fixed distance, by express, is eighty-eight per cent. greater than by a slow train.

COMPARATIVE COST OF WORKING HEAVY AND LIGHT TRAINS.

414. The question is sometimes asked, if it would not be better to run a greater number of trains and reduce the weight of engines. A comparison of cost is easily made.

The cost of working trains consists of

Suppose we have to move 1,000 tons per day over any road. If we do it by one engine and 100 cars, the whole cost will be

And if we move 1,000 tons by ten trains of one hundred tons each,

Difference of salaries in favor of the heavy train, of $54.75.

As the whole weight upon the drivers must be the same to move a given load by either method, the only difference in weights of engines will be that upon the truck. To lead well a truck must have five tons upon it. The whole weight upon ten trucks is, then, fifty tons, and that upon one, five tons, which leaves an excess of forty tons to be daily carried over the road by the small trains. The heaviest freight engine will not cost over $15,000; the cost of an engine to draw one hundred tons cannot be less than $5,000.

Add to this five times as much fuel used in firing up and standing with steam up, ten times as much oiling, cleaning, and repairing, ten times as much engine house and shop accommodation; also that the cars in frequent trains are much less loaded than in seldom ones, increased delay and chance of accident from increased number of trains, and estimating all of them at $170.00 per day, (the cost of the large engine being assessed at $30 per day, and that of each of the small ones as $20, the daily difference is $170,) and we have, as the whole daily increased cost of working ten small over one large train,

or $72,446.98 per annum, which employs a capital of $1,207,449.

BRANCH ROADS.

415. These lines, when belonging to the main road, are generally worked at a loss; and when independent, are a poor investment. At a meeting of the directors of the Boston and Worcester (Mass.) Railroad in February, 1855, it was declared that out of six branches, but one was profitable. That four of them gave an income upon cost of from one and a quarter to one and three quarter per cent.

Independent branch lines generally share a joint business by the mileage standard; and here is where they lose, for if the branch trains do not traverse the main line, and the tribute passengers help to fill a train which runs at any rate upon the main, then the branch expense of carrying the passengers is to that of the main, as (say ninety to ten), and the branch should take 90
100 of the receipts. In this case the branch is charged with using both the cars and road of the main. If it runs its own cars over the main, (as when the branch is near the terminus,) it should be charged only with the wear of the road.

In like manner several roads, forming a continuous line, should not divide the receipts according to the mileage; but according to the cost of working that mileage. Thus if we have the continuous line below, column one shows the length; column two, the cost of building; column three, that of maintaining; and column four, the division of receipts.

REPRODUCTION OF ROAD AND STOCK.

416. Besides the annual repairs necessary to maintain a road in proper working order, there is needed a periodic expenditure for reproduction. Evidently the time will come, upon all roads, when rails and sleepers, buildings, bridges, etc., need to be replaced. Knowing the life of rails, we also know the annual depreciation, and from that can easily find what sum must annually be laid aside, which being properly invested, shall, at the end of the life of the rail, together with its interest, be equal to the cost of renewing.

RAILS.

Suppose rails to last ten years, the annual depreciation is ten per cent. At sixty lbs. per yard we have one hundred and five tons per mile, which, at $60 per ton, amounts to $6,300. Let the cost of rerolling and relaying be $30 per ton, the depreciation is then $30 per ton for ten years, or $3 per ton per annum, or $315 per mile per annum.

If sleepers last seven years, and cost forty cents apiece, their annual depreciation per mile (at 2,400 per mile) will be $138 per mile (nearly).

BRIDGES.

If wooden bridges cost $30 per lineal foot, and last twenty years, the annual depreciation per foot will be $1.50, and if there is ten feet per mile of road, $15 per annum per mile.

EXTRAS.

Allowing for the annual depreciation per mile of buildings, fences, etc., $33, we have as the whole annual depreciation, $500 per mile; and the amounts which yearly reserved and placed at compound interest for each of the ten years, will pay for reproducing the road, are as follows:—

which, at six per cent., gives, at the end of the tenth year, $500 each.

Note.—Reproduction of rolling stock has been proved to be nothing more than repairs, as a locomotive may be fitted with one and another new part until none of the original machine remains. See Lardner’s Railroad Economy.

As the business upon a railroad increases, so does the amount of station accommodation necessary, and also of rolling stock, which increase should be debited to capital, and not to revenue.

The permanent investors in a railroad are in favor of having capital maintained, even at the expense of revenue. The temporary shareholders, and the speculators in stock, wish most to produce large dividends, even at a sacrifice of capital, and would charge nothing to revenue.

The rights of both of the above classes are to be regarded, as the road is often built mainly by the efforts of the temporary investors.

WORKING RAILROADS BY CONTRACT.

417. An experiment has lately been tried upon the working of railroads which bids fair to reduce very considerably the cost of operating; and to render the enterprises more profitable, namely, working the several departments by contract; that is, paying certain persons a fixed price for supplying the necessary amount of power, cars, or material per annum, thus bringing into play private interest and individual enterprise. There is no doubt but that by a judicious system of this kind, correctly applied, many roads which are now worthless could be made to pay, while the value of good roads would be also increased.

CLASSIFICATION OF FREIGHT.

418. Freight is classified according to its nature, the commercial nature of the country traversed by the road, and the direction of the principal market. The distribution adopted upon some of the large roads is as follows:—

• Baskets, * Band Boxes;
• * Camphene;
• * Carboys, and contents;
• * Demijohns, and contents;
• * Eggs;
• Feathers, in bags;
• Furs;
• Hobby Horses;
• Musical Instruments;
• * Plaster of Paris, (ornaments);
• Pictures, in frames;
• Teazles, in casks;
• Wagons, (children’s);
• Willow Ware.

• * Ale, in glass;
• * Apples, green, pre-paid;
• Bacon, loose;
• Batting;
• Bells;
• * Berries, pre-paid;
• * Blinds, (window) in packages;
• Bonnets;
• * Books, in boxes;
• Boots;
• Bran, in bags;
• Brass, in sheets and pigs;
• Brass Castings;
• Brass Vessels;
• Bread and Biscuit;
• Brooms, in bales or bundles;
• Broom Handles, in boxes or bundles;
• Brushes;
• Buffalo Robes, packed;
• Buttons;
• * Candies and Confectionary, canvassed;
• Cane;
• Cards;
• Carpeting;
• Caps;
• China Ware;
• Chocolate;
• * Cigars, in boxes;
• Cinnamon;
• * Clocks, in boxes;
• Cocoa;
• Cassia;
• Coffee, ground;
• Collars;
• Combs;
• Copper, in sheets and pigs;
• Copper Vessels;
• Corks;
• * Cotton, in bales;
• * Cotton Waste;
• Covers and Sieves;
• * Cranberries;
• * Cutlery;
• Deer Skins, in bundles;
• Doors;
• Dry Goods;
• Fancy Goods;
• * Figs, in boxes;
• Fire-arms;
• * Fish, fresh, pre-paid;
• Flour, in bags;
• Forks, hay and manure;
• * Fruits, fresh, pre-paid;
• * Game, pre-paid;
• Garden Seeds;
• Ginger;
• * Glass, in boxes;
• * Glass Ware, in boxes or casks;
• Glue;
• * Grapes, pre-paid;
• Gun Stocks, in boxes or bundles;
• Hair, in sacks;
• Hams, loose;
• Harness;
• Hides, dry;
• Hoe Handles;
• * Hollow Ware;
• * Honey;
• Hops, pressed;
• * Ice, pre-paid;
• Indigo;
• Ink;
• Iron Castings, light;
• Ivory;
• Japan Ware;
• Joiners Work;
• * Lemons, in boxes, canvassed;
• * Looking-glasses, well boxed;
• * Machinery, boxed, light;
• Marble, wrought, at owner’s risk of breakage;
• Mats;
• Mattrasses, double, at 150 pounds each;
• Mattrasses, single, at 100 pounds each;
• Mill Stuffs, in bags or casks;
• Measures;
• * Meat, fresh, pre-paid;
• Meat, in bulk, salted;
• Medicines;
• * Melons, pre-paid;
• Moss, in sacks;
• Nuts, in sacks or casks;
• * Oranges, in boxes, canvassed, pre-paid;
• * Oysters, in cans or kegs;
• Palm Leaf, in bales;
• Paper, brown wrapping and straw, (light);
• Paper Hangings;
• Pelts;
• * Porter, in glass;
• * Poultry, dressed, pre-paid;
• * Prunes;
• Rags, (see second class);
• * Raisins;
• Rake Handles;
• Rattan;
• Rugs;
• Saddle Trees;
• Saddlery;
• * Sash, in packages;
• Scale Beams;
• Scythe Snaths;
• Shoes;
• Shovel Handles;
• Soap, fancy;
• Soda;
• Spices;
• * Spirits Turpentine;
• Stationery;
• Straw Goods;
• Teas, (see third class);
• Tin Ware, in crates or hhds.;
• Toys;
• Trunks, empty, 80 pounds each;
• Tubs;
• Turners’ Work;
• * Vegetables, pre-paid;
• Veneering;
• Wadding;
• Warp, on beams;
• Warp Beams;
• Waste, woollen;
• Wax;
• Whalebone;
• Wheelbarrows;
• Whips;
• Wicking;
• * Wines, in baskets or boxes;
• * Wooden Ware;
• Wool;
• Woollens.

• Alcoholic Liquors;
• * Ale, in casks;
• Apples, dried;
• Alum;
• Anchors;
• Anvils;
• Ashes, pot or pearl;
• Axes, in boxes;
• Axles, iron;
• Bacon, packed;
• Bagging;
• Barilla;
• Bark, tanner’s, 1¼ cord per ton;
• Beans;
• * Beef, in casks or boxes;
• Beer, in casks;
• Bleaching Salts;
• Bones;
• * Bottles, packed, (empty);
• Brimstone;
• Burr Blocks;
• Burlaps, in original packages;
• * Butter, in firkins;
• * Candles, in boxes;
• Cannon;
• Canvas;
• Castings, heavy;
• Cement;
• Chains;
• Chalk;
• Chair and turned Stuff in bales or bdls.;
• Cider, in casks;
• Cheese, in boxes or casks;
• Clay, Coal, and Coke, in casks or boxes;
• Clover Seed;
• Coffee, in sacks;
• Copperas;
• Cordage;
• Crockery Ware, well packed;
• Domestics, in original packages;
• Dye Stuffs, in woods;
• Earthen Ware, well packed;
• * Fire Brick;
• Fish, dried or salted;
• Flax Seed;
• Flocks;
• Floor Cloth, painted;
• Flour, in barrels, 20 barrels or less;
• Furnaces;
• Grain, of all kinds;
• * Grindstones;
• Groceries, generally heavy, not otherwise specified;
• Gunnies, in bales;
• Hoes;
• Hams, shoulders or sides, in casks or boxes;
• Hardware, except Cutlery;
• * Hemp, in bales;
• Hemp Seed;
• * Hides, green;
• * High Wines;
• Hoops, shaved or split, 3,000 pounds per cord;
• India Rubber;
• Iron, pig, bloom, boiler, rod, and bar;
• Iron, hoop, sheet, or bolts;
• Iron, nuts, rivets, and spikes;
• Junk;
• Lard, in barrels or casks;
• Lead, sheet, pig, or pipe;
• Leather;
• Liquors, in barrels or casks;
• Lime, in barrels or casks;
• Marble, unwrought, at owner’s risk of breakage;
• Meal, in bags or casks;
• Molasses;
• Moss, pressed;
• Nails, in kegs;
• Oakum, in bales;
• Oil, owner’s risk of leakage;
• Oil Cake,
• Oil Cloth;
• * Oysters, in shell;
• Paints, dry or in oil;
• Paper, (white,) in boxes or bundles;
• Paper, (heavy brown and hardware);
• Pasteboard;
• Pepper;
• Peaches, dried;
• Peas, in sacks or casks;
• Pickles, in casks;
• * Pipes, in boxes;
• Pitch;
• Plaster, in casks or barrels;
• Ploughs;
• Pork, packed;
• * Porter, in casks;
• Potatoes, in casks or sacks;
• Rags, foreign, pressed;
• Rakes;
• Railroad Chairs and Spikes;
• Rice;
• Rope;
• Rosin;
• Saleratus;
• Salt, in bags or casks;
• Saltpetre;
• Scales, in boxes;
• Scythes, in bundles;
• Scythe Stones;
• Shot, in bags;
• Shovels and Spades;
• Sizing;
• Slate;
• Soap, (common,) in boxes;
• Soda:
• Spelter and Zinc;
• Spikes, in kegs;
• Spirits, domestic;
• Starch;
• Steel, in boxes or bundles;
• Steel Springs;
• Stone;
• * Stone Ware, well packed;
• Sugar;
• Sumac;
• Tallow, owner’s risk of heat;
• Tar;
• Tiles;
• Tin, metal and plate;
• Tobacco, in bales, boxes, or hhds.;
• Tow, pressed, (in bales,) owner’s risk of fire;
• Twine, in bales;
• Vegetable Roots, in sacks or casks;
• * Vinegar;
• Water, Mineral;
• Whiskey, in casks;
• White Lead;
• Whiting;
• * Wine, in casks;
• Wire, in rolls and casks;
• Woods, in shape, unfinished;
• Woods, of value, namely, Mahogany, Lignum Vitæ, Rosewood, Cherry, Cedar, Walnut, etc.;
• Wool, foreign, pressed, in bales;
• Yam, pressed;
• Zinc and Spelter.

Includes the following articles in quantities of 8,000 pounds, and less than 16,000 pounds, in any one shipment from one consignor to one consignee. Same articles shipped in like manner, in quantities of 16,000 pounds and upwards, will be taken at special rates.

• Anchors;
• Anvils;
• Ashes, pot and pearl, in casks;
• Axes, iron;
• Bacon, packed;
• Bark, tanner’s, 1¼ cord per ton;
• Beans, in sacks or casks;
• Beef, packed;
• Burr Blocks;
• Cannon;
• Cement, in barrels or casks;
• Chain Cable;
• Cider;
• Clay;
• Coffee;
• Copper, in boxes;
• Flaxseed, in sacks or casks;
• Flour, in barrels;
• Grain, of all kinds;
• Grindstones;
• Hams, packed;
• High Wines;
• Iron, pig, bar, bloom, sheet, hoop, or rod;
• Iron Castings, heavy;
• Lard, in casks or barrels;
• Lead, sheet, pig, or pipe;
• Lime, in barrels;
• Marble, unwrought, at owner’s risk of breakage;
• Molasses;
• Nails, in kegs;
• Plaster, in barrels;
• Pork, packed;
• Potatoes, in sacks or casks;
• Railroad Iron, Chairs and Spikes;
• Salt, in sacks and barrels;
• Shot;
• Slate;
• Spikes, in kegs;
• Sugar, in casks;
• Teas;
• Tobacco, in boxes or hhds.;
• Vinegar, in barrels;
• Whiskey, in barrels.

Besides the above regular articles, are the following special objects of transport:—

• Stores;
• Cabinet Ware;
• Brick;
• Charcoal;
• Pressed Hay;
• Broom Corn;
• Boxes of Cigars;
• Barrels;
• Bags;
• Corn in the Ear;
• Poultry;
• Looking-glasses;
• Trees and Shrubbery;
• Safes;
• Mill-stones;
• Steam-engines;
• Machinery;
• Agricultural Implements;
• Lumber;
• Live-Stock;
• Carriages;
• Coal and Coke.

TIME TABLES.

Fig. 158, (see end of volume).

419. The most complete graphic solution of an engineering problem, is doubtless the time table of S. S. Post, Esq., chief engineer of the New York and Erie Railroad. Let the vertical lines represent time in spaces of ten minutes each, and the horizontals, distances, the heavy lines representing the several way stations. Suppose now that we leave station A at six, A. M., and wish to arrive at K at two, P. M., stopping ten minutes at each station; the number of way stations being eight, the whole time consumed in stops will be 10 × 8 = 80 minutes. From two, P. M., and on the line K, go back eighty minutes or to M, and from A draw A B, in the direction A M, which cuts the line B B at B, which is four miles, or thirteen minutes from A. Now, as we wait ten minutes, pass along on the line B B one division (ten minutes) to B′ and start again parallel to A B, arriving at C at one and a half hours from starting. Proceeding thus, we arrive at K at the required time. The inclination of the line shows the speed. Thus, if it passes twenty horizontal spaces in six vertical divisions, we have twenty miles in sixty minutes, or twenty miles per hour.

Suppose now we would start an express train at eight, A. M., from A to arrive at K at one, P. M., (see line 8 F,) it will pass the first train at station F, and will run at the rate of seventeen miles per hour from A to F, at the same rate from F to G, and at thirteen miles per hour from G to 1.

Suppose also that we start a train from K at six, A. M., to arrive at A at eleven, A. M., we pass the before-mentioned trains at E and D.

Also a freight train which is required to pass the above named trains, leaving K at eight, A. M., and arriving at A at one, P. M., will stop ten minutes at G, ten minutes at M, pass the first train at L, wait ten minutes on a siding at two and a half miles from L, and run to A at nearly a uniform rate of speed.

So also may the motion of any train be laid down and traced through the hours of the day upon the table. By plotting the profile of the road upon the line A K, the places are shown at which grades will oblige us to use a less speed. Curves also may be shown by increasing the steepness of the grades; or by making a grade on the profile when the road is level, steep enough to involve an amount of power equal to that consumed by the curve.

LOCOMOTIVE REGISTERS.

420. American railroad reports are, as a general thing, quite destitute of detailed accounts of the performance of the power. Some of the large roads, indeed, are of late improving in this respect.

That fares and tolls may be properly applied to the different articles of transport, the cost of moving each article should be known.

Such items as the salaries of employees, and repairs of machinery, are easily distributed to the proper heads; but the correct amount of fuel, oil, and waste, to be charged to any department, is not so evident. What we require is, the exact amount of fuel, oil, and waste used, and work done by each engine; to obtain which, some system of registering these quantities must be adopted.

The following five blanks being filled, we have all that is required:—

Number 1 is the engineer’s weekly return to the master of machinery, and gives, as seen, the times of arriving at, and departing from, each station. The fuel should always be ready at each station for delivery, in cords and half cords, or in tons and fractions, when coal or coke. It may be delivered either from a small car placed on a pair of rails at right angles to the track, or from a box hung upon a crane, which may be at once swung over and lowered into the tender; the box which is already in, being first removed. The latter method gives the most correct results, as whatever fuel is left at the station may be credited to the engine. The whole operation of wooding would not take longer than it does to describe it, and would lead to a systematic and economical method of working.

The tanks and pumps being charged to construction, we may, without material error, charge the cost of the water supply to the trains according to their mileage.

Number 2 is the wood register, showing the amount of fuel delivered to the several engines from the different stations, and should be weekly signed and returned by the station wood master to the fuel agent. The engineer’s fuel receipts (No. 1) check these reports.

Number 3 is the conductor’s mileage account, giving the exact weight left at, and taken from, each station; and, consequently, the load carried between stations, which is checked by the station master’s return.

Number 4 is the monthly account of the performance of engines, compiled from the weekly return by the superintendent of machinery, and reported to the superintendent.

Number 5 gives the annual performance of each and all of the engines upon the road, and is obtained from the monthly reports, and from those of the repair and transportation departments.

The work done by different classes of cars should be registered in like manner.

Knowing the amount of material used, and also the work done, it is easy to find the cost per mile of moving any article of transport, regard of course being had to the character of the parts of the road traversed by the several engines. An engine working a sixty feet grade should be allowed more fuel than one which works a level only.

A. and B. Railroad. Report of amount of material consumed, and of work done by Engine No. 50, during the week ending July 4, 1856.

And the same for each day of the week.