chapter Q Transportation RAIL T RANSPORTATION (Series Q 1-152) Q 1 -11. Railroad and other domestic intercity freight traffic, Q 3 2. Freight service, ton-miles carried, 13 railroads, 1865- by type of transportation, 1939-1957. 1885. Source: 1 939-1954, Interstate Commerce Commission, Inter Source:. H V. and H. W. Poor, Manual of Railroads, New city Ton-Mile8, 1939-1954, Statement No. 568 (mimeographed), York City, 1888, p. XXVIII. 1956; 1955-1957, ICC, Annual Report, various issues. The r oads represented are 7 eastern roads (Pennsylvania; For d escription of estimates, see Statement No. 568. Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago ; New York Central ; Lake Q 12-14. Indexes of transportation output, 1889-1953. Shore; Michigan Central; Boston and Albany; New York, Lake Erie and Western) and 6 western roads (Illinois Central; Chi Source: 1 889-1946, Harold Barger, The Transportation In cago and Alton; Chicago and Rock Island; Chicago; Burlington dustries, 1889 to 1946, National Bureau of Economic Research, and Quincy; Chicago and Northwestern; Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, 1951; 1947-1953, National Bureau of Economic Re and St. Paul). search, unpublished estimates by John W. Kendrick. Sourcesf o figures and methods of computation are described Q 3 3-42. Railroad property investment, capital, income, and in Barger's book. The components of series Q 13, passenger expenses, 1850-1890. traffic, are airlines, intercity buslines, waterways, and steam Source: See source for series Q 15-31. railroads. For series Q 14, freight traffic, the components See also text for same series. are motor trucking, pipelines, waterways, and steam railroads. Q 4 3. Miles of railroad built, 1830-1925. Q 1 5-31. Railroad mileage, equipment, and passenger and Source: 1 830-1879, Tenth Census Reports, vol. IV, Report freight service, 1830-1890. on the Agencies of Transportation in the United States, p. 289; Source: I nterstate Commerce Commission, Railway Statistics 1893-1925, Railway Age, vol. 104, No. 1, Simmons-Boardman Before 1890, Statement No. 32151 (mimeographed), 1932. Publishing Corp., New York, January 1, 1938, p. 66. Before 1 890, the principal source of continuous information For a m ore detailed discussion of the problems of estimating on railroads is the annual Poor's Manual of Railroads. The miles of railroad built, see E. R. Wicker, "United States Rail figures in the Manual were revised in successive issues. The way Investment in the Pre-Civil War Period," and George R. Interstate Commerce Commission consulted the issues from Taylor, "Comments on E. R. Wicker's Paper," in Studies in Income and Wealth, Princeton University Press, vol. 24 (forth 1869 to 1900 and evidently took account of the revisions. Earnings and traffic figures are understatements of actual coming) . level; mileage covered is shown in the table below. Similar The T enth Census report (pp. 289-293, 300-375) contains but not identical figures, with the degree of coverage similarly materials on history of construction which includes figures on indicated in terms of mileage, appear in Bureau of the Census, mileage built and existent, by groups of States, for individual Report on Transportation Business in the United States at companies, annually from 1830 to 1880. Somewhat similar the Eleventh Census, 1890, part I. data appear in Bureau of the Census, Report on Transportation Business in the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890, Table I . Miles of Road Operated by Railroads part 1, pp. 3-5, 54-107. According t o the Bureau of the Census, information was re Roads r eporting ceived from every railroad known to exist in 1880. The letter Roads earnings Roads Year r eporting and Year r eporting of instructions from the Superintendent of the Census to the earnings 1 traffic earnings > railroads said: "In cases ... in which the records have been s tatistics lost, the officers of such companies and roads are requested 1890 158,087 167,976 1879 79,009 to obtain . this information in the best form possible. The 1889 1 53.945 1 53,689 1878 7 8,960 recollection of officers and employees long in the service of a 1888 145,387 145,341 1877 74,112 1887 137,028 136,986 1876 78,608 road may be used ... if more reliable data be not accessible." 1886 125,186 125,146 1875 71,759 The R ailway Age obtained its figures at annual intervals 1885 128,820 122,110 1874 6 9,278 1884 1 15,704 1 18,172 1878 66,237 from individual railroads and from State railroad commissions. 1883 110,414 106,938 1872 67,828 Its i not clear just when a mile of road would be reported as 1882 104,971 96,762 1871 44,614 1881 92,971 built. Construction of some lines extended over several years. 1880. 82,146 1861. 8,836 Each annual segment may have been reported when finished, 1 I ncludes elevated railways. or nothing may have been reported until the whole line was completed. The year of physical completion may have differed All f igures except those for series Q 15 and Q 17 are based from the year in which traffic was first carried. In such cases, on reports of individual railroads for fiscal years ending in the mileage may have been assigned to either year. the calendar year indicated. The period of time covered is The C ensus Bureau figures pertain only to miles in operation therefore not the same for all carriers included. Balance sheet in the census year. The figures for any year are, therefore, and equipment data pertain to the ends of such fiscal years. understatements to the extent that mileage constructed in that Data f or 1890 shown in these series do not agree with 1890 year may have been abandoned by June 1, 1880 (the date of data shown for series Q 44-72 because of different sources. the 1880 Census). 423 Q 4 4-152 TRANSPORTATION The c hange from year to year in miles operated (series Q 15) ICC, e ntitled Railway Statistical Terms, Statement No. 4119, or miles owned (series Q 16) is sometimes used as a measure June 1941. For financial terms, see ICC, Uniform System of of miles constructed. The annual change in miles operated, Accounts for Steam Railroads. however, is also affected by acquisitions of trackage rights, as Statistics o f mileage in existence and stocks of equipment, a result of which the same line may be counted in the opera and balance sheet items, pertain to the end of the year tion of two or more railroads. Both the change in miles indicated. operated and that in miles owned are affected by abandon ments during the year (regardless of when constructed). Q 4 4-72. Railroad mileage, equipment, and passenger traffic and r evenue, 1890-1957. Q 4 4-152. General note. Source: All series, except series Q 53-54, see general note The p rincipal sources of these series are various issues of for series Q 44-152. Series Q 53-54, American Railway Car two annual publications of the Interstate Commerce Commis Institute, Railroad Car Facts, New York, annual issues. sion: For 1954-1957, Transport Statistics of the United States, Q 4 5, mileage constructed. Miles on which operations were part 1; and for all years prior to 1954, Statistics of Railways begun during the year. Figures exclude relocated road or in the United States. road constructed to shorten distance without serving new No a ttempt has been made to adjust the figures for the effect territory. of changes in methods of accounting and reporting; hence, the Q 4 6, mileage abandoned. Miles on which operation was data for the various years are often only approximately com permanently abandoned during the year, the cost of which was parable. written out of the investment accounts or was scheduled to be Although r ailroads regulated by the ICC are still described written out at the end of the year. legally as "steam railways," most train and switching opera Q 4 9, track operated, first main track. Equivalent to miles tions are now performed by Diesel locomotives, and some of road operated. Figures exceed those for series Q 47, road divisions of the railways included are electrified. The Com owned, in some years because of two or more roads operating mission has also regulated a small and diminishing number of on same line under trackage agreements. railways of the interurban electric type which are not included Q 6 0, average tractive effort. Figures represent the force in the figures shown here. in pounds exerted by locomotives, measured at the rim of the Railway o perating companies are those whose officers direct driving wheels. the actual transportation service and whose books contain Q 6 1-63, passenger-train cars. Includes coaches and parlor, operating as well as financial accounts. Lessor companies sleeping, dining, club, lounge, observation, postal, baggage, ex maintain a separate legal existence, but their properties are press, and other cars, as well as cars serving a combination of operated by the lessees. Proprietary companies are also non- purposes. operating companies. Their outstanding capitalization is owned Q 6 4, freight-train cars. Includes cabooses as well as by other railway companies. The term "circular" refers to freight-carrying cars. roads (operating or nonoperating) for which brief circulars showing date of incorporation, mileage, and a few of the Q 7 1, passenger revenue. Excludes revenue from services such as handling of excess baggage or mail; sleeping and par facts were filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission. lor or chair car reservations; dining and buffet service on They include intrastate roads and roads under construction.