Square miles of surface for each mile of railway.
| Massachusetts | 7 |
| New-Jersey | 22 |
| New-York | 28 |
| Maryland | 31 |
| Ohio | 58 |
| Georgia | 76 |
When it is considered that the railways in this country have cost upon an average about 40,000l. per mile, the comparatively low cost of the American railways will doubtless appear extraordinary.
This circumstance, however, is explained partly by the general character of the country, partly by the mode of constructing the railways, and partly by the manner of working them. With certain exceptions, few in number, the tracts of country over which these lines are carried, is nearly a dead level. Of earthwork there is but little; of works of art, such as viaducts and tunnels, commonly none. Where the railways are carried over streams or rivers, bridges are constructed in a rude but substantial manner of timber supplied from the roadside forest, at no greater cost than that of hewing it. The station houses, booking offices, and other buildings, are likewise slight and cheaply constructed of timber. On some of the best lines in the more populous States the timber bridges are constructed with stone pillars and abutments, supporting arches of trusswork, the cost of such bridges varying from 46s. per foot, for 60 feet span, to 6l. 10s. per foot for 200 feet span, for a single line, the cost on a double line being 50 per cent. more.
When the railways strike the course of rivers such as the Hudson, Delaware, or Susquehanna—too wide to be crossed by bridges—the traffic is carried by steam ferries. The management of these ferries is deserving of notice. It is generally so arranged that the time of crossing them corresponds with a meal of the passengers. A platform is constructed level with the line of railway and carried to the water's edge. Upon this platform rails are laid by which the wagons which bear the passengers' luggage and other matters of light and rapid transport are rolled directly upon the upper deck of the ferry boat, the passengers meanwhile going under a covered way to the lower deck. The whole operation is accomplished in five minutes. While the boat is crossing the spacious river the passengers are supplied with their breakfasts, dinner, or supper, as the case may be. On arriving at the opposite bank the upper deck comes in contact with a like platform, bearing a railway upon which the luggage wagons are rolled; the passengers ascend, as they descended, under a covered way, and, resuming their places in the railway carriages, the train proceeds.
But the prudent Americans have availed themselves of other sources of economy by adopting a mode of construction adapted to the expected traffic. Formed to carry a limited commerce the railways are generally single lines, sidings being provided at convenient situations. Collision is impossible, for the first train that arrives at a siding must enter it and remain there until the following train arrives. This arrangement would be attended with inconvenience with a crowded traffic like that of many lines on the English railways, but even on the principal American lines the trains seldom pass in each direction more than twice a day, and their time and place of meeting is perfectly regulated. In the structure of the roads, also, principles have been adopted which have been attended with great economy compared with the English lines. The engineers, for example, do not impose on themselves the difficult and expensive condition of excluding all curves but those of large radius, and all gradients exceeding a certain small limit of steepness. Curves of 500 feet radius, and even less, are frequent, and acclivities rising at the rate of 1 foot in 100 are considered a moderate ascent, while there are not less than 50 lines laid down with gradients varying from 1 in 100 to 1 in 75, nevertheless these lines are worked with facility by locomotives, without the expedient, even, of assistant or stationary engines. The consequences of this have been to reduce in an immense proportion the cost of earthwork, bridges, and viaducts, even in parts of the country where the character of the surface is least favorable. But the chief source of economy has arisen from the structure of the line itself. In many cases where the traffic is lightest the rails consist of flat bars of iron, 2-1/2 inches broad and 6-10ths of an inch thick, nailed and spiked to planks of timber laid longitudinally on the road in parallel lines, so as to form what are called continuous bearings. Some of the most profitable American railways, and those of which the maintenance has proved least expensive, have been constructed in this manner. The road structure, however, varies according to the traffic. Rails are sometimes laid weighing only from 25lb. to 30lb. per yard. In some cases of great traffic they are supported on transverse sleepers of wood like the European railways, but in consequence of the comparative cheapness of wood and the high price of iron, the strength necessary for the road is mostly obtained by reducing the distance between the sleepers so as to supersede the necessity of giving greater weight to the rails.
The same observance of the principles of economy is maintained with regard to their locomotive stock. The engines are strongly built, safe and powerful, but are destitute of much of that elegance of exterior and beauty of workmanship which has excited so much admiration, in the machines exhibited in the Crystal Palace. The fuel is generally wood, but on certain lines near the coal districts coal is used. The use of coke is nowhere resorted to. Its expense would make it inadmissible, and in a country so thinly inhabited the smoke proceeding from coal is not objected to. The ordinary speed, stoppages included, is from 14 to 16 miles an hour. Independently of other considerations, the light structure of many of the roads would not allow a greater velocity without danger; nevertheless we have frequently travelled on some of the better constructed lines at the ordinary speed of the English railways, say 30 miles an hour and upwards.
Notwithstanding the apparently feeble and unsubstantial structure of many of the lines, accidents to passenger trains are scarcely ever heard of. It appears by returns now before us that of 9,355,474 passengers booked in 1850 on the crowded railways of Massachusetts, each passenger making an average trip of 18 miles, there were only 15 who sustained accidents fatal to life or limb. It follows from this, by the common principles explained by us in a former article, that when a passenger travels one mile on these railways the chances against an accident producing personal injury, even of the slightest kind, are 11,226,568 to 1, and of course in a journey of 100 miles the chances against such accident are 112,266 to 1. We have shown in a former article that the chances against accident on an English railway, under like circumstances, are 85,125 to 1. The American railways are, therefore, safer than the English in the ratio of 112 to 85.
The great line of communication is established, 400 miles in length, between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, on the left bank of the Ohio, composed partly of railway and partly of canal. The section from Philadelphia to Columbia (82 miles) is railway; the line is then continued by canal for 172 miles to Holidaysburg; it is then carried by railway 37 miles to Johnstown, whence it is continued 104 miles further to Pittsburg by canal. The traffic on this mixed line of transport is conducted so as to avoid the expense and inconvenience of transhipment of goods and passengers at the successive points where the railway and canals unite. The merchandise is loaded and the passengers accommodated in the boats adapted to the canals at the dépôt in Market-street, Philadelphia. These boats, which are of considerable magnitude and length, are divided into segments by partitions made transversely and at right angles to their length, so that such boat can be, as it were, broken into three or more pieces. These several pieces are placed each on two railway trucks, which support it at the ends, a proper body being provided for the trucks adapted to the form of the bottom and keel of the boat. In this manner the boat is carried in pieces, with its load, along the railway. On arriving at the canal the pieces are united so as to form a continuous boat, which being launched, the transport is continued on the water. On arriving again at the railway the boat is once more resolved into its segments, which, as before, are transferred to the railway trucks and transported to the next canal station by locomotive engines. Between the dépôt in Market-street and the locomotive station which is situated in the suburbs of Philadelphia the segments of the boat are drawn by horses on railways conducted through the streets. At the locomotive station the trucks are formed into a continuous train and delivered over to the locomotive engine. As the body of the truck rests upon a pivot, under which it is supported by wheels, it is capable of revolving, and no difficulty is found in turning the shortest curves, and these enormous vehicles, with their contents of merchandise and passengers, are seen daily issuing from the gates of the dépôt in Market-street, and turning with facility the corners at the entrance of each successive street.
By a comparison of the returns published by Dr. Lardner, in his work already quoted, with the more recent results which we have already given, it will appear that within the last two years not less than 3,700 miles of railway have been opened for traffic in the United States. Among these are included several of the most important lines, among which are more especially to be noticed the great artery of railway communication extending across the State of New York to the shores of Lake Erie, the longest line which any single company has yet constructed in the United States, its length being 467 miles. The total cost of this line, including the working stock, has been 4,500,000l. sterling, being at the average rate of 9,642l. per mile—a rate of expense about 50 per cent. above the average cost of American railways taken collectively. This is explained by the fact that the line itself is one constructed for a large traffic between New York and the interior, and therefore built to meet a heavy traffic. Although it is but just opened, its average receipts have amounted to 11,000l. per week, which have given a net profit of 6-1/2 per cent. on the capital, the working expenses being taken at 50 per cent. of the gross receipts. One of the great lines in a forward state, and likely to be opened by the close of the present year, connects New York with Albany, following the valley of the Hudson. It will no doubt create surprise, considering the immense facility of water transport afforded by this river, that a railway should be constructed on its bank, but it must be remembered that for a considerable interval during the winter the navigation of the Hudson is suspended from the frost.