Narrow Gauge Railways Congressional Poker Players

In a report upon nnrrow gauge railroads, rend bfore the Britieh Association, by Mr. Faiilie, hesayg; "II ouulit. to be engraved upon the mind of avnry engineer, ihat ereiy inoh ndtlcd tu the width of a gsuge, btiyond what is abro'utely neeessary for the traffic, sil.ls to thu c;i?t of ooustruotion, noro&BCS the proportion ot' dond weiuht, inoreusrs of tho cost of working, and, in eoneetpiiMiee, iucreases tbc tarifls to the pubüe, and by o niueh reduoes the usoFulnesd of tlie railway." Hu further adds : "In mndorate, toroparate climates, gauges of two feet nix inohes will bo found ampie for any traffio in any part of the world, and will sustain a peed of thiriy miles an hour, wlnle ttiroo feet ia ufficient for eitlior yery hot or very oold elimate, and will snstiiin a speed of forty milos an hour." The autbor then went on to make a comparion betwoen fhc Nortb-Wewtern Railrond of Enland, the bof-t manngod road in the world, s it now is, a four feot eight and one-l.alf inch gaugo, and what it would have been had it been mado a threo feot gnuge, prov ng that there would be a saving of one-balf in the expeuM h of ruiming the road. I apply the same rensoning to Ameri oan railroads, both as to the uiaking and running of tliom. I take the three foot gaugo, both becaiise of' the Rcverity of our cliraato and hcoause the time that ean be mado on it compares favoiably with the time made cm our fasUst roads. The eilief diffioulty of building railriads is tbeir oost, and this diffioulty hindors tho mr.king of roads which wculd pay well if they weie built It is rarely that wo find a road being built and pquipped for lossthan $33,000 rr 34,000 per mile, a rato at which a road thirtj niilon long would oost $1,000,000, a large sum of mouey for a community to raise, and oapitnlists are iiot wout to invest such sums in an enterprise, whioh, taking two or thrco yeurs to complete, wi ! only, atter it ia running, brinir them at the most seven per cent interest. Uut if we can huild a road whioh has iqiüil c:ip;.city wilh nuy otber, both ■ for carrying freight oud passengrrs, opon which oijually fast tirno oan be made, foli six'y per cent. of the cost of the four tVet cight and ono-half inch gauge, and 'va construction sball be sucb that after it is built it ahall cost but half as much to run it, then tho diffieulty in raising money is in a great measure rouuoired. I will hIiow that the threo feet gauge will ninkii this reduotion in coat, and will do so in (ietüil. Thore is a ricooísity for oMy thrcefif'ths the amo'.mt of land i,ovv taketi for the right. of' wny The amount of cuttirip; an ment t nmki." the roau bed woulu be but three fif'ibs, while ilie location of the narrbw gnuge, by running sliarp curves, , will cut, down this, the great cost of oonitructton, in rough oounlries, acoording to English ongineers, to about , iweiitytive per cent. of the oost of the , four loüt eijjht nud ono-half inch gauge. ïhe width of the bridg'-s and oulrerts m;iy Ie diminishod in the proportiou of three to five'. Thu ties raáy be shortened. The rail will weigh but thirty soven ponida lo tbs rd, in place of seventy poundj, the rail now in uso. The thirty-seven pound rail is now used ou two narrow gaugo roads in Sweden. The loeotaoth'e may be mado to weigh between six and twenty tong, in pluce of the twenty to lorty tou locomotives i:ow in use. The cura not only may be but threefitths of the sizo of the. cara on the broader gauge, but they muy bo made lighter in cvery way. Thu buildings may be made much smaller, though tho reduction ia cost may not be as great as two-fiftl)R. Turn tables may be emsllor io the same proponion, The time required to build the road will be shorteoed two-fifths, and thus give a quicker return lor the money invested. The cot of supervisión will be less ín proportion. We have seen that on a rond of three fect gauge, the right of way, the eulvurts and brldgee, ties, rails and locomotivos, turn tables and cars, interest on the investment and cost of supervisión, would all be redueed twofifths; whilo in the cosl of earth raovcd thero would be a ru duotiou of three-fiflhs ; ths buildings would only be rcduccd perhapn oneüt'th ; ftiving iu all a saviug of two-fifths of! ba cost of the four feet eight and onc-half inch gauge. Esporience has proved the statement to be true. A Kuasian commission cortitíod to it. In Norwny two railroa'Js of three feet seven inch gaug weid constructed by Mr. Pliil ; ono at Storen, and the other at Hamr. The Hamur liue cost L3,000 per uiile, the Storen cbst L5,000 per mile. Duriog the building of these roads, and within a hundred miles of tliem, a road was built of the four feet eight and one half inch gauge, the rate ot wagee beiug the Ramo on the three lincs. The four feet eight and ouo-half i nok gauge road cóst L6,400 per mile, thus showing a saving in the oost of one of the, narrow gauge roads of L1,400 ($7,0005 Per lllll' and 'n ttie other L3,400 (117,000) per mile, on average Hiiving of two üfths in favor of a narrow gauge, which wus seven ioches broader than tho one we propose. Tho next poiiH to be Been is wüetüer we cnn maku good our statement thiU the thrce fooi gauge can curry u equul amount of fruight and passeugers with tho four foet eight aud nne-hitlf inch pango, and at the same epeed. The Fairlie engine upou tho Festiniog Rail road, in Wales, oo a gauge of only two feet, drew 500 tons on the level, and ovor tho road, round curvos of cnly 11G feet radius, and on a grndo of seveutyone icot to the mile, drew a load of 206 tons during a trial trip tnudo before the Russian coinmission. ïhe average weight of freight trains, including treight and locomotivo, on the New York Central, ia 360 ton, accordiüg to their report of 1SG8. The highust rate of spoed made on the two feet gaiige is thirty miio? an hour, but tho engineor saya he can makc forty milei wi'.h perfeot afoty. On the Ulinboid lload, in Sweden, a three feet "saven inoh gauge, thirty-tivo miles an bour has been run with a loooraotlve weighing twelve tona. The Brittsh Assooiatioa reports say that en a tlireo toet #auge foriy miles per hour his been ruu. On the Festinioji Railaoad, during iho yeur 1868, 120,000 ton of aoods, and 145,000 pnssengers weve oarried. This road is only thirty miles long. In the same yttar the Syrtiouse & Biughamton Railroad, whioh is eightyone milos long, oarriod 424,537 tons of freight, anc) 245,577 pasongera. The Black River & Utica Riilread, wiiich is eighty-H'.x milos long, carriad, in the samn yoar, 25,403 tuis of iïuight, aud 100,111 (lassongers. Tbe Ulinbord Railroad, in Sweden, wbioh is twenty-three unies long, of three feot seven inoh gftbgfe, roports u business of 100,000 passougors aud 150,000 tons of fiflight a year. Tho cost of ïuaintaining a road must dopend upon the amount ot woight the road bed ha to oarry, sinee tho oost of repniiiug it g, as oomptued with other repairs, nearly three lo ouo. The Now York Central roport, for 1868, gives tbe oost of koepin up the ptrm:inent woy as 83 000,000, to 81,000,000 for all utüor ropairs If we oan reduce tho woight thnt a road bed has to sustuin oue-h;ilf, nnd not reduco the amount of froight, aud at the saaie tiine iuorease the durability oí all th matenals oomposin the road, as well a the running maohincry, we hare eut duwn iho oost oí operating the road just (ine-hulf. The ordioary box freigbt oar of tho New York Ceutral weighs ten tons aud ottrries ton tons, tho a v trage uutaber of cars in a train i eighteen ; eighteen car weighinït ten tons oach and caeh carrying ten tons would give löad oï 860 tons as the average woight of a loadud tram ; of this 360 tons, 180 tons is noupnyiog woight. Tuking the nuuiber of cars that run half fuil, and tho number that run half of tho way erapty, mny we not estidiato thst tho Central carrios a proportion of two tong to r:OD-paying load lo ono of puying? The Festining Kailroad urps onrs weighing only one-half a ton, oarry'mg a load of throe tons, a proportion of eix ton of paying load to only one of nonpaying. John B. Jervis ha sbuilt oars weighing three tong, wiiich aai ry scven tons. The Norway roads built cars weighicg three tons wbioh carry six tons, In tlie cae of the Fostiuiog rond, the paying weight was as to the non. paying weight TL-liitively twelve times greater thao that of the New York Oeutrul, and in tho case of the other roads t was four timos that of the Central, ïo make as safe a calculation as i sible, we will say that cars oan be made t for the three feot gauge weiglting threo í tone, which can carry six tons, i ïhe total amount of freight or paying weight carried on tho New York tral, in 1868, was 1,846,000 ton. To carry this, assumiog that i lie oars ruu full both wayn, an equal amotint of paying tons (tlio weight of the cars) has to be drawn over the road. On the i row gauge roads, if tho same amount of freight was carried, only 923,000 tons of üon-payiug load would have to be drawn a saving of 923,000 tons, which tho New York Central lias to carry at a dead loss In faot, the log-) is twioo this, as the cars are not loaded for moro than i one-half the distanoe. Ab it costs the road 81 58 to transport n ton, the hauli;ig of the-e nou-paying 9-'3,ü00 tons cóslë the New York Central L1,458,340 a year. Tbero are other b'-nofits arising from the usa of small, light cars. Tbey can be handled with great ease. Frictiou, both of the rails and axles, inereases directly as to tho weight. Tho j?ir or blow whioh the car roceives from an nnevenness in the track, or want of uniformity in the wheels, is iucreasud by the woight, The decrease in strain on machinory irom baviog the pointa of support nearer together is immense. fc?o far we have been oonsidering freight cars ; the same rensoning applies to pas senger oars, whioh woigh on the Central, about eigliteen tons eaoh, and are made to carry fifty passengers, although the nverage nuuiber in each is about twentyfive. On the Norwny three foet road, the oars oarry twonty-eight passengers and weigh four tons, while on tbe four feet eight and ono-half iuch gauge, in the samo country, the cars carrying only the same number of passenger?, weigh six tons. Twenty-oight passengers iu a car weighing four tons, would give 300 pounds of car for each passenger. Giving 400 pounds of oar eight to eacli passenger, a car could be built to carry, on the three footgnuge, thirty passen gei-, and be but one-third the weight of tho Central cars. An eightcon tou oar, carrying fifty passengere, would give to each pangenger G20 pounds of weight of car, while in a six ton cnr, carrying thirty passeDgers the weight per person would only be 400 pounds, a saving of 320 pouuds por man, wbich, in a car carrying iifiy paswngors, would amount to 16,000 pouuds, which are like, it has been aptly naid, so many deadhead passengers that uevor get ouf. The great objection urged againt the construction of narrow gauge lailroids, is that as the main linos are four feet eiglit and one-half inch gauge, if the branch lines are of a narrow giiuge tho freight must al! be roRhipped at a largo cost. This is a disadvautage, but tho amount of cost of transferring freight is greatly over-estimatod. Tho engitiecr of the Ulinbord railway, in Bweden, found the cost of transfer ring to be but two cents per ton, since the labor was not great when cars were pfte.fld ftlóngride of one another. We rcad overy day of some fivo foet four feet eight and oBe-balf inohes, and perhaps as the worid iuiprovcs we sha!l se.c rnilrod compsnies cousuiiing their interests nnd changing to a three feet m An ed'stor in a towu down east, toben : tho thermometer is teo dqgreee helow ze ■ ro, wants the man who preditod a mik wiuter to soiid him two tous of coal. Since the Ufo of Charlea James Fox, tbe grent Engliah RtatesmaQ, of whom it is rolated that one night ho lost L80,000, and that when lus fricnd went to bis apartment ncxt moming, expecting to see hira with bis throat cut, ho iounü Fox ealmly reading the odes of Pindnr in tüe original Greek - since Fox'a day Öchenck ie the foremost of poker statesmen. He has been a bold player for forty years. He taught the game to tbe Emperor of Brazil, aud thoro wa9 noarl}- a reTolution in oonaíqueuoe at Rio, because Don Pedro wanted to rai-e the blind with the crown diamonds. In the army he sought the enemy like a brnve raau, but if tho enemy would not see him, he battled with tho drum major at s'ud-poker. John Logan was long a forocioue ker player, and tho smartest liauci witn a deck ff oards in tho world, but lis has expeviencod religión and reformad. The following scène oecurred soine time ugo, atter be had passed liis fu'l penotl of probation in the Methodist Church Enter to John a rati.er induivUed and worn publican and sinner, s'iying, before compsny : "Jack, I haitrt secn you einoe our came at draw poker, when jou won my little two hundrtd " "8-h-h-h !" said Logan. Tho publican ind sinner xvns mum. "1 havo beci," said Lot;rti), altor an nwkwurd puse, "recpivcd uto fullmeruborsíip n t!ie M. E. Church, and t'nough [ once did play games of ohanee, I dou't do it ny more." ".J;ick," said tho pubüoau and sinucr. "why watn'iyou received into í uil memberéhjp bofore you bagged my littlo two hundriul ? ■'