[ [7] The late Member for West Wolverhampton, in comparing the rates for Coke between Staveley and Northamptonshire and Staveley and Wolverhampton, practically advocated mileage rates, although, probably, not intending to do so. (See debate on the second reading of the Railway and Canal Traffic Bill, May 6th, 1886.)
[ [8] If an engine and tender weighing together 56 tons is capable of drawing a maximum load of say forty loaded wagons weighing 560 tons at 25 miles per hour on the level, it will only take the following loads over the gradients named below, and, in addition to the reduction in the load, the speed would also be considerably reduced.
| Level. | 40 wagons weighing 560 tons. | |
| Incline | 1 in 100 | 20 ” ” 280 ” |
| ” | 1 ” 50 | 10 ” ” 140 ” |
| ” | 1 ” 30 | 6 ” ” 84 ” |
See also Spon’s Dictionary of Engineering; Encyclopedia Britannica “Railways,” and the elaborate work Des Pentes Economiques en Chemins, par M. Charles de Freycinet.
[ [9] Before Mr. Cardwell’s Committee (23rd February, 1853) the late Mr. Robert Stephenson, the eminent engineer, gave the following illustration, which is not yet antiquated:—
“I referred to that in order to shew the Committee the great impropriety of attempting anything like an equal mileage rate on railways. I can elucidate that in a very remarkable manner, and shew the injustice that the carrying out of the principle would inflict upon some railway companies, especially where goods are concerned. I will take the case of the Great North of England Railway, from Newcastle coal-field towards York, and towards the rivers Tees and Tyne. In one direction there were 5,450,000 tons of coals carried over one mile, which was equal to 320,588 over one mile for each engine; there having been employed by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Company for the performance of that duty 17 engines. Towards York, where the distance was greater, and the gradients were better, and the loads heavier, and the work more uniform, 13 engines took 14,435,000 tons over one mile, which was equal to 1,110,000 tons for each engine over a mile; in the other case, the duty that one engine performed was carrying 320,588 tons over a mile; therefore in this case one engine has done 3·466 more work than the other engine, so that on the first line it cost the Company nearly four times as much as it cost them for doing the same duty on the other line. On the one line there are a number of collieries; the engines have to stop and pick up the traffic, and the railway wagons do not average perhaps more than seven or eight miles per day, whereas in the other case they work for hours continuously, and with heavier loads and no stoppages.”
[ [10] See preface to Smiles’ Life of Stephenson, and, as to the provisioning of Paris by means of railways, interesting details in La Transformation Des Moyens de Transport, par Alfred de Foville, Chef de Bureau au Ministère des Finances, p. 256.
[ [11] About thirty years ago, when the iron works at Westbury in Wiltshire were constructed, it was anticipated that fuel would be obtained from the Badstock district, about 14 miles distant. But after sinking collieries it was found that the coke was not suitable; so that it has now to be obtained from South Wales, a distance of about 130 miles. The pig iron is sent to South Wales in the return coke wagons, and also to South Staffordshire, a distance of 140 miles. The coke and pig iron are carried at special low rates below those in force for traffic to intermediate places. Without such special rates, or if mileage rates were charged, the works would have to be closed.
[ [12] An American writer points out that the following would be the result of applying the principle of equal mileage rates, or of basing rates on cost of service:—
1. “There would be little or no classification of freights. Grain, lumber, coal, iron, shoes, dry goods, groceries, drugs and chemicals, would all have to pay near about the same rate per 100 pounds per mile, and that rate would have to be something like an average of the present rates charged upon the different classes of freight. The higher classes of freight would be a good deal lowered, and the lower classes would be materially raised. The result would be that cheap and heavy products could be no longer transported over the distances that are now carried.