Atlantic Monthly | Page 8

the several divisions
strong in proportion to the resistance encountered upon these divisions,
one engine only is employed upon each; our mileage becomes,
B. to W. 44 by 1 or 44 W. to S. 541/2 by 1 or 541/2 S. to P. 52 by 1 or
52 P. to A. 49 by 1 or 491/2 _____ And the sum, 200 miles.
And the saving of miles run is therefore 660 less 200, or 460; and if
500 tons pass over the road daily, the annual saving of mileage
becomes 460 by 313, or 143,980, or 70 per cent. of the whole. The
actual cost for freight-locomotives per ton, per mile run, during the year
ending Sept. 30, 1855, was 384/1000 of a cent; and the above 143,980
miles saved, multiplied by this fraction, amounts to $55,288 per annum.
The actual expense of working the power will not of course show the

whole 70 per cent. of saving, as heavy and strong engines cost more at
first, and cost more to operate, than lighter ones; but the figures show
the effect of correct adaptation. If we call the saving 50 per cent. only
of the mileage, we have then (as the locomotive power consumes
30/100 of the whole cost of operating) 50/100 of 30/100, or 15/100, of
the whole cost of working the road, and this by simply knowing how to
adapt the machinery to the requirement.
So very slight are the points of difference between a good and a bad
engine, that they often escape the eye of those whose business it is to
deal with such works. It is not the brass and steel and bright metal and
elaborate painting that make the really good and serviceable
engine,--but the length, breadth, and depth of its furnace, the
knowledge of proportion shown in its design, and the mechanical skill
exhibited in the fitting of its parts. The apparently complex portions are
really very simple in action, while the apparently simple parts are those
where the greatest knowledge is required. Any man of ordinary
mechanical acquirements can design and arrange the general form,--the
whole mass of cranks, pistons, connecting-rods, pumps, and the various
levers for working the engine; but to find the correct dimensions of the
inner parts of the boiler, and of the valve-gearing, by which the
movements of the steam are governed, requires a very considerable
knowledge of the chemistry of combustion, of practical geometry, and
of the physical properties of steam. So nice, indeed, is the
valve-adjustment of the locomotive, as depending upon the work it has
to do, whether fast or slow, light or heavy, that a single eighth of an
inch too much or too little will so affect its power as to entirely unfit it
for doing its duty with any degree of economy.
When a single man takes the general charge of five hundred miles of
railroad, upon which the annual pay-roll is a million of dollars, and
which employs over two hundred locomotives and three thousand cars,
earning five million dollars a year,--a road which cost thirty-three
million, has five miles in length of bridges, and over four hundred
buildings,--it is plain that the system of operation must be somewhat
elaborate. And so it is. Indeed, so complete is the organization and
management of employees upon the New York and Erie Railroad, that

the General Superintendent at his office can at any moment tell within a
mile where each car or engine is, what it is doing, the contents of the
car, the consignor and consignee, the time at which it arrives and leaves
each station, (the actual time, not the time when it should arrive,) and is
thus able to correct all errors almost at the moment of commission, and
in reality to completely control the road.
The great regulator upon long lines of railroad is the electric telegraph,
which connects all parts of the road, and enables one person to keep, as
it were, his eye on the whole road at once.
A single-track railroad, says Mr. McCallum, may be rendered more
safe and efficient by a proper use of the telegraph than a double-track
railroad without,--as the double-tracks commonly obviate collisions
which occur between trains moving in opposite directions, whilst the
telegraph may be used effectually in preventing them between trains
moving either in opposite directions or in the same direction; and it is a
well-established fact, deduced from the history of railroads both in
Europe and in this country, that collisions from trains moving in the
same direction have proved by far the most fatal and disastrous, and
should be the most carefully guarded against.
From the admirable report of Mr. McCallum, above referred to, we take
the following:--Collisions between fast and slow trains moving in the
same direction are prevented