)

' cent.

AMERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL.

757

runs beside the Glasgow, Paisley and Green-
oclc railway, which is 23 miles long. The
steam boats have long afforded an excellent
mode of transport between Glasgow and
Greenock, the fares by boat before the rail-

yway opened being from Is to 2s, and the

time occupied was about two hours. Glas-
gow, with a population‘ of $370,000, was at
one end of the line, Gi'eeiiocl{, with a popu-
lation of 30,000, at the other end ofthc line,
and various summer watering place, he at
the mouth of the Clyde, below Gicenoclc.
On the line where Paisley (population 60,-
000) and Port Glasgoiv (popiilation 7,000.)
Between Glasgow and Paisley was a c-.iiial
on which there ivere passeiigei‘ boats drawn
by horses at a speed of six miles per hour.
These facilities gave rise to a‘gi'cat traflic
before the railway was openc-(.1-——tlie yearly
number travelling along the course of the
railway being l,1f‘5l'),13-110, and the average
fare is 4d. Notwitlistanding this, after the
railway was opened (in 1843) the numbers
travelling by all ‘means of conveyance were
found to exceed 2,000,000,or to haveincreas
ed 100 per c.ent., the average fare having in
the meantime fallen to 10d. This was the
gross result; but the fares of the railway
(originally 23 6d, first class and Is Gd, sec-
ond class for 23 miles) were varied from time
to time; and_asI closely observed the effects
of these variations, having caused an account
to be taken of the number travelling by
steam boat and canal as well asby railway,
it may be well to state the results of these
variations of fares :—-— '

“ First Alto-rail'lon.——-Iii I842, uncovered,
open, third class carriages, at :1 fare of (id
for the 23 miles, or about gut, per mile, were
introduced on the railway between Cl-lasgow
and G‘rreenocl{, where i.ipoii the iiniiual niim-
ber of railway passengers bi:-tween those
places increased 224,000; being an increase
of 3'2 per cent. of the total number travel-
ling, either by railway or steamboat. The
number‘ of first and second class fell oil” at
the same time 30 per cent, the passengers
having transferred themselves from the high-
er class carriagcs into the open third class
carriages, tempted by the difference of fares
between 4-5d per mile and },d per mile. The
gross receipts, however, increased simulta-
neously 15 per cent; the working expenses,
on the other hand, did not appreciably in-
crease, although the average number of pas-
sengers, per train, increased from 72 to 117.

Second Allemlion. The third class fares
were subsequently, in 1843, raised from (id to
Is, with the hope of increasing the revenue.
The whole number travelling by railway
and steamboat immediately fell off 18 per
The first and second class railway
passengers increased by 10 per cent, but the
gross receipts fell off more than 10 per cent.
The effect was also tried ofnialring the third
class carriages mo-re comfortable, by cover-
i_ng them in. This was found not to increase
the number travelling,but it did reduce the
number of first and second class 'p_asseng'ei's
by 16 per cent., and tli<‘)i‘efOl‘6 caused consid-
erable loss to the company. The same ex-
periment was repeated on the second class

carriages; they were made more comforta-
ble by inserting glass windows instead of
wooden shuttei's, and by carrying the interior
partition higlier. The,numbcr of first class
passciigms shortly fell off by 12 per cent,
but beyond this the second class passenger-s
did not i;ippi‘oci:_ihly iiici't-iise; this (‘.Xp(:‘I‘lml3l‘il,
ttiert-fori;, also rcsultcil in loss. The results
of lllt'”Sf) expi-i'iincnis were thcri—lst. 'l.‘hat
a rcductioii of fares to id per mile even from
so low a rate -3-,rl per mile increased the num-
ber ti'avcllii'i0' b it lH.‘itl'l it ii uaitcr of :2 mil
, mi 3_ Y, 1
lien, or by two-thirds of the whole popula-
tion of the district. As tlicse people were
gcncriilly of the less iiflluent classes, it up-
pl".i1l'S that they ivere actually drawn out of
the noisome Sl.i't_'()lS of l.Ji‘ll.1Sg'()\V to the north
of tlic Clyde,_l_iy the tcmpuitiuii ofa very
low turn, and iiiiineiliiitely that the lore was
raised they were driven hark zigiiiii into the
city. ‘lnil. That under the cii'cui‘ristiinccs ol
theline in yuestion chca) and riiiid travel-.
. . ’ n .
ling incereased the number ti'avellirig, but
i,]mproving the lower pI'1t:(}Ll,CtlI‘l‘lflg(3b did rypt,
owcver, appear to act in tie same way, in
merely tempted passengers from the higher
class carriagcs—those from the second class
into the third class carriages, and from the
first to the second class :—-0/’ course ll by no
v2i.ecms follows l/wit siiizi/mi‘ -‘results iooulil im-
ST!/C on d'l')l(3S in other locrrilrilim; ; crtuli (,'(t$C ritual
[in (,l(3l.{',-)'7}?,'l'7I.c(l In its .)et:'ILl’l(l/I‘ coiizlmo-us, 3d.
, . . J i .
l‘hat no limit can be assigiied to the nitro-
ber of travellers wliich- cheapcning and
quiclcciiing the means of coiivcyaiicc will
create. The introi‘li.ietion of the railway,
even where stcainboats alicadyall7ii'di:i.l a
most pleasant, rapid, and cheap couimi.iiiic:.i-
tion, increased, we see, the riuiriber travel
ling from ll0,000 to ‘2,000,0U0—-2,000,000
being five times the whole population of the
district. I doubt whether either ill, lioiiie or
abroad so large a proportion of triivellers
to the whole population is to be foiind.——
The traffic l)l.:l\V(§l‘t1 Liliisgriiv and .l’aisly is
probably the most rciiiarlriiblc iiistaucc on
record of the increase of travelliiiir caused
i r i ' 1 ii i“
by incroaset aci lll(fS. ii 18 < , tierc was
only one coach it week between Grlasgow
and Paisley, conveying about 2,000 passeii-
gers per annum: we multiply this by live,
to allow for the greater number of gigs and
private vehicles then in use, we only get
10,000 passengers per annum conveyed be-
tween the two places. In 1842, the num
ber tra,velling by public conveyance be-
tweentxlasgiuiv and Paisley, were upwards
of 900,000. Now as the population between
1814 and 1842, had only about duiibled it-
self, while the traffic, as we see, had multi-
plicd itself ninety fold, it follows that the
increased facilities of transport had increas-
ed the number travelling relatively to the
population forty-five" times, that is to say,
that for every journey which an inhabitant
of Grlasgow or Paisley took in 1814 he
took forty-live joiirnies in 1843. These o'e-
szilifs, I conceive, place ilbeyoiirl lb rloulit, that
we slioulrl -V2761-'I‘87t0 cyfort to make milwai_7/
limzellzivig c/leap and witlim the reach of all

classes.

“ Now,'there is only one true way of en-

couraging cheap travelling, and that is by
keeping down the original cost and the an-
nual expenses of railways. All the other
contrivances, which the public are inclined
to trust, such as legislative restriction on
profits, and so on, are mere quaclrery.—-—
E\7(?l’t competition is inapplicable to railways,
and is not to be relied on.” Mr. R.’ Stephen-
son, the engiiicer, put the whole case into
one scntrience when he said, to have combina-
tion is pr:icticiil.iie, competition is impossible.
The (:Xpt.‘|'lt3flCt3 of all railway honipctition
shows that this is true ; when, therefore,
uiidcr the plea of competition unnecessary
outlay is being iiici.ii'i‘cd, the public may rest
ttS:7lll'L'(_l that they will l'lll.lll’i~"tlt.¥l_V suffer for it
in the c.liargc they will have to pay.

“ Mr. Hill Williams, the actuary, has coni-
piled seine usefuH' tiililes, to show arithme-
;ic.ally ‘how far a 1‘t3ll'iunt.‘.l'i1llVB charge for
the conveyance of piisserigei's and goods on
railways is modified by the original cost, and
othrr Cll‘Cl1mSltti‘lCC$.

“‘ The following is an extract showing the
effect of iricrease cost of construction—-

“ Total yearly trafiic, nutnber of passen-
gers or tons of goods, 90,000.

Fizcerl cz’im',_<,>'c per mile on e?:ea:_'i/ Passenger
or ton of Goods requisite in onler to give
coiiimoii z'ntem'if,.5 per cemt, on the outlay.

0l'lgltl£tl Ctiifkl t)l',t20l‘.fil.l’l1t:llLll1 Fixed charge

per mile. per mile.

:5 0| 5,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-00d.
20,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 133
‘$5,000....   ..1'b'6
Il(l'll00 .. . . .. . . ..2'00

We see froni this that the fixed charge on ev.
ton of goods or ]'itLSSt’.‘ngt?l‘S must average 2d.
per mile to i'(j’.lllI'i'l common interest on a rail-
way costing £30,000, whereas. if the railway
cost £20,000 l«,',-d.‘ per mile would be sulfi-
ciirant. '

“ After -a series of tsiinilar investigation,
the author coriclinles as follows:———-’l‘he re-
rcsult of the preceding inquiry is, it appears
to me, on the whole satisfactory. The rail-
way system has doubled itself in the last
three years. Fiires have beengreatly reduc-
ed. Thircl class passengers have largely in-
ci'casi':d. The importance and value of the
traffic in goods and cattle relatively to the
passeiiger traffic, have bccoineinorc apparent.
The number of trains is greater and the
speed of some of the trains has been effected
withoutany falling offin the average receipts
on each mile of railway in working, but
with an increase probablysufficieiit to meet
the increase of the ivorlringexpenses atten-
dant on the increased accommodation now
afforded by railways; whatever falling offin
dividends there may have ban, is, therefore,
to be attributed, in a general view of the sub-
ject, to the capitalisation of loans and the cre-
ation of fictitious capital by the, purchase of
railways at premiums, and, therefore, at sums
beyond what they actually cost. These be-
ing profitable speculations when shares were
high, were pushed to such an extent as now
to press severely on the original share capital

*Evi'dence Select Committee on Rai'lway,'Act
Enactmeni:,1846. - ., ' »

1 Appendix N o. 7, Select Committee’ on «Railway

Act Eiiactmeiits, 1846,