Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/244

Rh 226 RAILWAY practice to apply six wheels at least to all ordinary loco- motive stock. The earliest four-wheeled locomotive con- structed by Robert Stephenson and Co. as an article of regular manufacture weighed 9 tons in working order. The six-wheeled engines which followed weighed 1 1 J tons. In the course of business locomotives of greater power and greater weight were constructed ; and there are loco- motives of the present time which weigh 47 J tons in working order, and with the tender full of water and coal about 80 tons gross. There are other engines of special design with twelve wheels which weigh in working order, with fuel and water, 72 tons. The contrast is emphasized in the history of the old Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway, which was opened about the year 1829. The first engines of that line weighed from 8 to 9 tons. They had steam-cylinders 1 1 inches in diameter, and 4-f eet wheels of cast-iron, with a working pressure in the boiler of 50 K> per square inch. The " Garnkirk " engine used to take a train of three carriages, together Aveighing 7 tons gross, at the average speed of 16 miles per hour between Glasgow and Gartsherrie. "When the old line, 8 miles in length, was merged in the Caledonian Railway, now comprising a system of nearly 1000 miles in length, the power of the engines was greatly increased, and at this day (1885) there are express passenger engines working over the same ground having large cylinders of 17 or 18 inches in diameter, and wheels of 7 and 8 feet in diameter, weighing from 35 to 45 tons. These engines, with steam of 120 ft) pressure per square inch, take a gross load of 90 tons at a speed of from 40 to 50 miles per hour. STATISTICS. Length of Railways in the United Kingdom. The length of rail- ways open for traffic at the end of the year 1854, twenty-five years after the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, was 8053 miles (of which nearly one-fourth was single line of way), cost- ing about 35,500 per mile. In 1874 that mileage was doubled (16,449 miles, nearly one-half being only single line), costing about 37,000 per mile. According to the latest published return the length of railways open for traffic at the end of 1883 amounted to 18,681 miles, and the proportion of single line had decreased, being under 46 per cent. Whilst the mileage open was increased at the rate of 420 miles a year during the earlier period (1854-74), it was only increased by 248 miles a year during the later period (1874-83). But many miles of way in multiple have been laid for the working of traffic concentrated on main lines, 127 miles of triple line and 285 of quadruple. The largest share of multiple way belongs to the London and North- Western Railway Company, which owns 28 miles of triple way and no less than 114 of quad- ruple. The principal section of this railway, 80 miles in length, between London and Rugby, is entirely in quadruple, two lines for goods and two for passenger traffic. Table I. shows the dis- tribution of the 18,681 miles of railway open at the end of 1883 : Country. Double Line or more. Single Line. Total. England and Wales Miles. Per cent. 8,380 or 63-5 Miles. Per cent. 4,835 or 36-5 Miles. 13,215 Scotland 1,147 39 1,817 61 2,964 Ireland 578 23 1,924 77 2,502 Total... 10.105 ,, 54 8,576 46 18,681 The railways here represented were owned by 281 companies (206 in England and Wales, 31 in Scotland, and 44 in Ireland). But the whole property is worked by 123 companies. 1 The longest mileage of railway worked by one company is that of the Great Western Railway, which at the end of 1883 was 2268 miles. Next to this ranks the London and North-Western (1793), then the North-Eastern (1534), the Midland (1381), the North- British (1006), and the Caledonian (877). The three longest mile- ages in Ireland owned each by one company are those of the Great Northern (503), the Great Southern and Western (478), and the Midland Great Western (425). The four largest English com- panies, taken together, work nearly 7000 miles of railway, more than half of the whole length of railways in England and Wales. The two leading lines in Scotland, taken together, work nearly 1900, or two-thirds of the whole length of railways in Scotland. In 1 It would appear that less progress has been made in Ireland than in Great Britain in amalgamation and concentration of management. Miles Open. Capital. Per Mile 1883. Per Mile 1857. England and Wales 13,215 650,945,834 49 260 39,270 Scotland 2,964 98 531 315 33 240 28 230 Ireland 2,502 35,444 163 14 170 15 OCO 18,681 784,921,312 42,020 34,950 Ireland the three leading lines, taken together, work 1400, more than half of the whole length of railways in Ireland. Capital Invested, Expenditure per Mile, &c. The capital raised Oajii for the construction of railways at the end of the year 1883 inve; amounted to about 785,000,000, representing an expenditure of 42,000 per mile open. Some small portion of this cost belongs to lines in course of construction. The money has been raised in the following proportions : Ordinary share capital paid up 293,437,106 or 37'4 per cent. Guaranteed stock 94,672,823 12-1 ,, Preferential stock 200,888,198 25-6 Loans 15,323,505 1'9 Debenture stock 180,599,680 23- Total (say 785,000,000).... 784,921,312 lOO'O In 1857 the ordinary stock was 57 per cent., as against 37'4 per cent, in 1883 ; and the guaranteed and preferential stock together were but one-third of the ordinary share capital, while in 1883 they equalled it. The English railway system, so far as capital is con- cerned, has become adjusted to the rule of having rather less than 40 per cent, of the capital in "open stock." In 1845-46 the divi- dends of railways appear to have reached a maximum. The pre- cipitate influx of new lines during the four years from 1846 to 1850, contests before parliament, competition in various forms, ami other causes then came in to depress dividends, and reduced the average proportion of net receipts in 1849 to 2 '83 per cent, of the total capital and loans raised at that time. In 1857 the percentage of net receipts had risen again to 4 '06 per cent, of the total capital and loans ; and notwithstanding the accumulation of preference capital and loans, both taking precedence of ordinary capital, the available dividend on the latter increased from 1'88 per cent, to 3'6 per cent. Since that time the average dividend paid on ordinary capital has maintained its level at least, and it amounted for 1883 to 4 '68 per cent. The average cost per mile open at the end of 1883, calculated on the amount of capital raised, with that for 1857 added for comparison, was as follows (Table II.) : The marked increase in capital expenditure per mile is due to per- Cost manent improvements, station accommodation, reconstruction, and niile. multi plication of lines. Of the great cost of English railways, inde- pendently of the permanent improvements already noticed, part has been incurred in parliamentary warfare, while much of it is due to great and costly termini, and to the character of the earlier works of construction in England, where great expenditure was incurred for the sake of securing long levels and very easy gradi- ents, until Joseph Locke made a new departure, and constructed the Grand Junction Railway on economic principles by following in great part the contour of the surface. For tins line and the London and Birmingham line, for which Robert Stephenson was the engineer, Acts were passed in the same year (1833). The latter line was expensively laid out with tunnels, viaducts, and heavy cuttings and embankments, and cost in round numbers 53,600 per mile, as against 23,200 per mile for Locke's line. The cheaper line abounded in inclines of from 1 in 85 to 1 in 265, whilst the more expensive line was ruled by gradients not steeper than 1 in 330. Locke reckoned upon the sufficiency of the engine-power to take the trains up the inclines, and the famous Crewe engine was the outgrowth of the situation. The London and South-Western liail- way, which cost 26,800 per mile, was laid out by Locke to a ruling gradient of 1 in 250. There are other instances of econo- mical construction by the same engineer in the original Caledonian and Scottish Central Railways now amalgamated the former of which was made with long gradients of 1 in 75, 1 in 80, 1 in 100, and other steep slopes. Besides these there are other cheaply made railways in Scotland ; but there is only one Scottish railway of the monumental class, the Edinburgh and Glasgow, nearly dead level, with enormously expensive works. On the Metro- politan Railway system, 22 miles in length, upwards of 11,000,000 have been paid up, or about 500,000 per mile. The enormous cost of this line, as well as of the Metropolitan District system (18 miles long, costing 374,000 per mile) and the North London system (12 miles long, costing 325,000 per mile), is sufficiently explained by the place and conditions. The original London and Blackwall Railway, built, like the North London, for the most part on arches, cost 311,912 per mile. The original Birkenhead, Cheshire, and Lancashire Junction Railway, now vested in the neighbouring railway companies, cost upwards of 75,000 per mile, owing partly to the protracted contests in which it had been involved with the neighbouring railways, and partly to the costly works of construction joining the railway to the docks at Birkcn- head. Of railways in England, the original Carlisle and Silloth