5
it is scarcely appreciable. The difference between the perceptible in-jury td the road and cars, on a new and old road, is about 5 mills perton per mile. The rule then is,—
For old Hoads.
For every mile traveled by the engines, (passenger engines 25 andfreight engines 30 cents,) an average of 274 cents ; for every ton con-veyed one mile, 14 mills; for every passenger conveyed one mile, 7mills ; and for every mile of road, S 500.
If the principles and the values here offered be correct, they willstand the test of trial, and in order to make the test the strongest pos-sible, I will add, in a subsequent paper, an estimate of the probableresults on a road in active operation, and the subject of much specu-lation at the present time, the correctness of which estimate can beverified at the end of the year.
This rule, if applied to the business of a line in activity, will giveonly those expenses which are usually denominated “ordinary ex-penses.” In order to arrive at the true cost of maintenance we havet-o add, of course, the extraordinary expenses, which we can likewiseestimate with some, though not very great, accuracy, by data nowsupplied by the improvements of the country.
«Application of the formula to Active Works.
I shall apply this method of computation, in the first place, to arailroad in Georgia, 1474 miles long, with easy grades and little busi-ness; next, to one in Massachusetts , 156 miles long, with grades ofmore than 80 feet to the mile, on which the engines travel nearly fourhundred thousand miles per annum, and where the trade and travelare both great; I will then apply it to a short road in the State ofNew York , which carries no tonnage at all, but which derives itsrevenue entirely from passengers, and which has moderate grades,and a moderate business; next, I will make the application to a roadin Maryland 70 miles long, with grades of 84 feet, and which derivestwo-thirds of its revenue i'rom tonnage. Finally, I will apply it to aroad in Pennsylvania 56 miles long, with favorable grades and mod-erate business—and again to the same road the next year, when ex-tended 38 miles further, and having an increase of business.
The following table gives the length, grades and business of theseroads; and, in the two last columns,are placed, side by side, the actualand calculated expenses.
TABLE exhibiting the actual and computed cost of maintaining
New Roads, calculated from the formula,
— N + T -f- -L. P+300 h.100 1000 ^ 1000 T
t .i. r’.iJM-Uav- I™. >
Length.
mileF.
G’de.in ft.
M. trav-
eled byengines.
Thro’
tonn’e.
Thro’
travel.
Expenses.
Calculat’d
expenses.
Year.
Georgia Road,
1474
37
152,873
10,000
12,000'$! 09,819
$106,605
1842
156
83
397,295
40,000
53,000
256,619
256,187
1842
53
84,000
70,769
62,325
62,315
1842
Baltim’e & Susqueh’a.
70
84
128,349
23,000
16,500
75,224
74,379
1842
Reading Road,
56
19
83,717
24,000
31,453
62,635
61,318
1841
Reading Road,
94
198,055
65,000
33,720
138,900
152,911
1842