| Annual Report of the Memphis &
Charleston RR |
| as of July 1, 1861, |
| Chief Engineer's Report |
| |
| Chief Engineer's Report |
| |
| Sam Tate, Esq. |
| President Memphis & Charleston
Railroad |
| |
|
Sir,
|
| The following report of
expenditures and operations in the departments of Maintenance of Way
and Construction for the year ending June 30th, 1861, is respectfully
submitted: |
|
|
|
Construction Account for the Year Ending June 30th 1861:
|
| |
East'rn Div. |
West'n Div. |
Totals |
| For attorneys' fees and court costs |
|
29.95 |
29.95 |
| Permanent bridges |
16,415.35 |
7,183.48 |
23,598.83 |
| Cross-ties |
|
781.42 |
781.42 |
| Depot buildings, cotton platforms, &c |
12,398.15 |
23,628.18 |
36,026.33 |
| Division and tool houses |
74.87 |
174.53 |
249.40 |
| Engineering and contingencies |
|
4,200.55 |
4,200.55 |
| Florence branch |
3,031.11 |
|
3,031.11 |
| Fencing |
1,767.18 |
14.00 |
1,781.18 |
| Freight cars |
26,404.68 |
6,462.99 |
32,857.67 |
| Grading and masonry |
26,069.85 |
34,857.55 |
60,427.40 |
| Iron rails |
|
3,516.01 |
3,516.01 |
| Locomotives |
20,586.16 |
54,529.85 |
75,116.01 |
| Machine shops and engine houses |
1,668.26 |
376.50 |
2,044.76 |
| Machinery for shops |
1,341.27 |
1,660.00 |
3,001.27 |
| Passenger and baggage cars |
|
9,800.00 |
9,800.00 |
| Right of way |
680.00 |
250.00 |
930.00 |
| Road and hand cars |
139.67 |
|
139.67 |
| Real estate |
512.00 |
1,289.39 |
1,801.39 |
| Track laying |
363.36 |
727.17 |
1,090.53 |
| Wood and water stations |
6,651.44 |
4,892.94 |
11,544.38 |
| Total construction and equipment expenditures |
118,103.35 |
153,834.51 |
271,977.86 |
| Recapitulation |
| Construction proper |
69,631.57 |
81,421.67 |
151,053.24 |
| Equipment |
48,471.78 |
72,452.84 |
120,921.62 |
| Total |
118,103.35 |
153,873.00 |
271,977.86 |
|
|
|
|
These expenditures have been made for the following
purposes:
|
|
Western Division
|
| Under the head of permanent bridges |
7,183.48 |
| This covers the cost of 6 spans of
iron truss girder bridge, of 65 feet each, at Muddy Creek.
Also, roofing with tin, covering and painting bridges at Wolf
River and Grisom's Creek. Also, finishing Madison street
bridge, and building watch-houses, and miscellaneous work and
materials. |
|
| For depot-buildings, cotton-platforms, etc |
23,628.18 |
| New cotton-platform at Memphis, 800
by 350 feet; down-freight house, covered platform 400 by 30
feet; brick depots at Lafayette and Collierville;
freight-houses and platforms at Grand Junction; covered
platform and offices at Corinth; passenger-platforms and
shelter at Ridgeway and other points, and sundry other work
and materials. |
|
| Under head of grading and masonry is charged |
34,357.55 |
| This covers the completion of the
filling at Big Hill, Saulsbury, Spring Creek, and other large
trestles; grading at Memphis cotton yard, expense of quarrying
and hauling rock on train, and building 2,500 perches masonry
for bridges or culverts at Big Hatchie, Big Muddy, and Spring
Creek; No's 1 and 2, at 25 and 27 Mile Posts, near Buntyn's,
and at other points, etc., etc. |
|
| For iron rails |
3,516.01 |
| These rails were used principally
for new side-tracks at Chattanooga. |
|
| For real estate |
1,289.39 |
| The principal items under this head
are the amounts paid the Whitby estate for lands at Memphis
depot, for paving Adams and Union streets, taxes on real
estate, lands for division-houses in Tishomingo county, etc.,
etc., less three thousand dollars received for the sale of the
Lightfoot tract, near Bear Creek. |
|
| For wood and water stations |
4,892.94 |
| This covers the cost of completing
wood and water houses at White's, Pocahontas, LaGrange, and
Burns', securing wells with stone curbing, furnishing Memphis
cotton yard with pipes and hydrants, two stationary stream
engines for sawing and pumping, hoisting gear, saws, pumps,
tanks, hose, etc. The remaining items are small and
sufficiently explain themselves. |
|
| Eastern Division |
| Under the head of permanent bridges the amount
expended is shown to be |
16,415.35 |
| This includes the cost of the
following structures: Completion of Crow Creek Bridge, iron
bridges at Limestone and Piney creeks and sloughs, and 4
spans, 34 feet each, between Courtland and Decatur; covering,
tinning, and painting new bridges at Town Creek, Buzzard
Roost, Spring and Crow Creeks, and miscellaneous expenses |
|
| The amount charged to depot buildings is |
12,398.15 |
| This covers the cost of completing
and furnishing the passenger house and office at Huntsville,
brick depot at Scottsboro, material and labor for additional
depot facilities at Decatur and Florence in part, proportion
of cost of depot at Dickson, and sundries. |
|
| There is charged to Division-houses for sundries |
74.87 |
| Under head of Florence branch is charged |
3,031.11 |
| This amount was expended for
addition to freight-house, woodshed, and negro-quarters at
Florence, anchoring Tennessee river bridge, and miscellaneous
work. |
|
| The amount charged to grading and masonry is |
26,069.85 |
| This has been expended for masonry
at Bear Creek bottom, Dickson, Clear Creek, Indian Creek,
Brownsboro, Swan Lake and slough, Limestone and Piney Creeks,
and sundry culvert masonry, including foundations and cement;
filling trestle at Swan Lake and slough, Limestone, Piney, and
Beaver Dam, and sundries -- 1,964 feet trestle filled. |
|
| The amount charged to machine shops and engine
houses is |
1,668.26 |
| This amount was expended for
fencing and paving in and about Huntsville machine shop, cost
of Tuscumbia turn-table in part, and cost of iron tank at
Huntsville machine shop. |
|
| There is charged to right of way |
680.00 |
| The amount charged to real estate is for town
lots at Florence, and plan, etc., of Huntsville property |
512.00 |
| The amount charged for track-laying for new
side-tracks at Huntsville is |
363.36 |
| To wood and water stations is charged |
6,651.44 |
| This amount covers total expense of
new wood and water stations at Timberlake's and Gurley's, cost
of completing stations at Trinity, Jonesboro, Barton, Iuka
tank, Walker's, and Burns'; also at Piney and Cane Creeks; the
cost of a machine for boring pump logs is also included, as
well as the cost of logs and boring same. |
|
| Items of Equipments
for Both Divisions |
| Locomotives stand charged with |
75,116.01 |
| This amount includes the cost of
two first class passenger engines, and six freight engines,
less $6,000 charged to running expenses for total loss of the
engine Cherokee by explosion. |
|
| The amount charged to passenger and baggage cars
is |
9,800.00 |
| Covering the cost of four first
class passenger cars. |
|
| To freight cars is charged |
32,867.67 |
| Covering the cost of twenty box
cars bought of the Miss. Cent. Railroad Railroad, and eighteen
box and forty-one platform cars built in the shops of the
Company at Huntsville and Memphis, less $16,000 charged to
running expenses for cars broken up and condemned. |
|
| Machinery for shops |
3,001.27 |
| Includes the cost of a hydrostatic
wheel press, a punching machine, a mortising machine, and an
upright drill; also, feed attachment to a planing machine,
additional shafting, belting, etc, |
|
|
|
The work done during the year is of the most substantial
character, and adds greatly to the permanency and value of the road,
Much of it has been done by company forces, and by this policy a great
saving in cost has been effected, and work of a better character
secured.
|
|
During the year the filling of Big Hill trestle and the
three high trestles near Saulsbury, hitherto so much dreaded by the
operatives of the road and by passengers, have been completed The
insecure trestles in the vicinity of Tennessee river have also been
filled. A tabular statement, showing the present condition of bridges
and trestles on the entire road, is herewith submitted. A comparison
of this with a similar statement, given in the seventh annual report,
(1857) shows that the aggregate length of permanent bridges has been
increased 2,181 feet, (exclusive of the Tennessee bridge, on the
Florence branch, 2,230 feet,) and that the aggregate length of
trestles has been diminished from 31,663 feet to 12,621 feet. Most of
these improvements have been made within the last two years, and it is
believed that the value of the Company's property has been increased
thereby to an amount far greater than their cost. The increasing
business of the road has demanded greater facilities at Memphis; these
have been furnished by the construction of a cotton platform of
upwards of seven acres in extent, and by the addition of six thousand
seven hundred and thirty-six feet of side tracks.
|
|
The side tracks at Huntsville have been increased two
thousand and eighty-eight feet.
|
|
The total increase of side tracks upon the entire road
during the year is two miles and seventeen hundred and twenty-six
feet.
|
|
New brick depots have been erected at Collierville,
Lafayette and Scottsboro.
|
|
The system of wood sheds and water houses commenced
during the last year has been progressed with, and nearly every
important wood and water station is now under shelter. In consequence
of the unsettled condition of the country much work that was in
contemplation at the commencement of the year has been deferred, and
there is now no work under contract. Small forces of masons and of
bridge builders in the employ of the Company are still kept at work
finishing structures that are looked upon as necessary for the
successful running of the road through the winter; and it is not
deemed advisable that any new work should be started, or the Company's
force increased until the affairs of the country are permanently
settled. On this account, I submit no estimate of work that should be
progressed with during the current year. The entire road is now in
excellent condition, and, by slightly greater expenses of repairs, it
can be kept so without much increase of the construction account. The
masonry built by the company forces has been under the charge of Mr.
L. C. Watson, and I take great pleasure in reporting that he has
managed his work with good judgment and economy, effecting a saving in
the cost of a t least thirty-three and a third per cent. over similar
work done by contractors.
|
|
Equal credit is also due Messrs. A. W. Drew and J. H.
Riffle, in charge, respectively, of carpenter work and bridge
construction.
|
|
An inspection of statement A, shows the total cost of
road and equipment to be $7,106,625.03. For this expenditure the
Company have property as follows:
|
| 271 |
miles of first class railroad, Memphis to
Stevenson |
| 6 |
miles of first class railroad, Florence branch |
| 13 |
miles of first class railroad, Somerville branch |
| 21 1/4 |
miles Side Track |
| 2 |
Brick Passenger and Office Houses |
| 12 |
Brick Warehouses |
| 25 |
Frame Warehouses |
| 2 |
Large Machine shops, Engine Houses and Machinery |
| 2 |
Large Car Shops |
| 1 |
Foundry |
| 15 |
Large Wood Sheds |
| 34 |
Water Stations |
| 25 |
Division Houses |
| 16 |
Portable Houses |
| 9 |
Stationary Steam Engines |
| 50 |
Locomotives |
| 32 |
First Class Passenger Cars |
| 20 |
First Class Mail and Baggage Cars |
| 2 |
Pay Cars |
| 1 |
Large Boarding Car |
| 324 |
Box Freight Cars |
| 289 |
Platform Cars |
| 25 |
Stock Cars |
| 36 |
Gravel Cars |
| 76 |
Road and Hand Cars |
|
Full Equipment of Tools in every department |
| 3,960 |
acres of Wood Land |
| 4 |
Acres of Land corner Beale and Orleans streets,
Memphis |
|
City Lots in Huntsville |
|
|
|
| Maintenance of Way
Expenses M. & C. Railroad for Year Ending July 1, 1861 |
| |
West'n Div. |
Eastern Div. |
Total, 1861 |
| Chairs, spikes, switches, &c. |
5,096.13 |
4,295.60 |
9,391.73 |
| Cross-ties |
25,788.63 |
51,469.42 |
77,258.05 |
| Incidentals |
1,935.30 |
4,066.07 |
6,001.37 |
| Iron rails |
6,492.86 |
7,814.83 |
14,307.69 |
| Labor on track |
49,274.53 |
59,910.64 |
109,185.17 |
| Repairs of division houses |
73.70 |
78.78 |
150.48 |
| Bridges and trestles |
9,815.87 |
14,085.80 |
23,901.67 |
| Road cars |
400.96 |
704.94 |
1,105.90 |
| Tools and repairs of tools |
816.72 |
922.13 |
1,738.35 |
| Supervision |
1,100.00 |
2,016.63 |
3,116.63 |
| |
$100,794.70 |
$145,364.84 |
$246,159.54 |
|
| Total expenditures for the year 1860 and 1861 |
$246,159.54 |
| Against expenditures for the year 1859 and 1860 |
$275,522.84 |
| Showing a saving for the present year of |
19,363.30 |
|
|
A comparison of the details of expenditures of the year
just closed with those of the previous year, shows an increase and
decrease as follows:
|
| Chairs and Switches |
$4,760.91 |
Increase |
|
| Cross Ties |
24,442.98 |
|
|
| Incidentals |
4,008.85 |
|
|
| Iron Rails |
780.19 |
|
|
| Labor on Track |
|
Decrease |
$13,290.69 |
| Repairs of Division Houses |
|
|
116.01 |
| Bridges and Trestles |
|
|
59,942.52 |
| Road Cars |
|
|
1,537.99 |
| Tools and Repairs of |
|
|
199.00 |
| Supervisors |
|
|
270.02 |
|
|
It will be observed that the increased expenditures are
principally for materials, and that very great savings have been made
in the items for work.
|
|
It must be expected that as the road grows older the
expenditure for chairs, switches and rails will increase, and it is
probable the increase will be greater hereafter than it has been.
|
|
The number of rails taken out of the main track during
the year is 209. They have generally been replaced by rails taken from
the sidings. Two hundred and fifty tons of new rails have been
purchased of the Atlanta rolling mills, and have also been laid down
in the main track, with the improved double-lipped chair, two feet
long. This chair has been in use upon the road for upwards of a year,
and I still think it to be the best joint now in use.
|
|
A new iron bridge, of Fink's patent, consisting of six
spans of sixty-five feet each, has been built at Swan lake; the entire
cost of which, $4,842.53, has been charged to maintenance of way
expenses. The cost of a large amount of filling of trestles and
raising embankments, has also been charged to same.
|
|
There has been laid during the past year on the entire
road 150,554 cross ties, and there are now on hand 76,027. This
accounts for the large increase in expenditures charged to cross ties.
|
|
The road being now so well supplied, it is probable that
the amount to be paid for ties during the present year will be much
reduced.
|
|
An armed guard has been kept at all the principal bridges
on the road since the breaking out of the war. The arms, ammunition
and pay of the men composing the guard have been charged to
incidentals. This accounts for the increase under that head.
|
|
The items upon which the principal saving have been
effected are labor on track, $13,290.69, and repairs of bridges and
trestles, $59,942.52. This shows clearly that the policy pursued by
the Company of investing money in the permanent improvement of road
bed and bridges is most judicious, and it is believed that the
expenses under these headings will be still reduced during the present
year. The road has been remarkably exempt from accident during the
year, no detention of importance having occurred to trains by reason
of failure in the road bed. A culvert was washed out in August last
near Dickson, but a temporary trestle was quickly erected, and but one
train was detained. Stone abutments have since been built, and an iron
bridge is now ready.
|
|
In January the heaviest freshet occurred that has taken
place since the construction of the road. By it several trestles were
moved and rendered unsafe for crossing for three days. These trestles
have been replaced by masonry and permanent bridges, believed to be
secure against any freshet likely to occur.
|
|
The policy of ballasting portions of the road bed
composed of bad material has been continued, and track to the amount
of about seven miles has been thus improved during the year by the
road hands, and charged to maintenance of way.
|
|
In conclusion, I beg leave to bear testimony first to the
efficiency and worth of Mr. John Gramps, late Road Master of the
Western Division, who died suddenly, on the 26th day of May, at his
home, in LaGrange. To his activity, energy and promptness, in
emergency, is due the successful maintenance of the road bed and track
on the Western Division. His successor, Mr. J. H. Riffle, late Bridge
Master, is attending to his duties in a highly satisfactory manner.
|
|
I take pleasure in testifying further to the fidelity and
good management of Messrs. McIntosh and Jordan, Road Masters upon the
Eastern Division, under whose watchful care the permanent way has been
kept at all times fully equal to all the demands of a heavy
transportation.
|
|
I further acknowledge the efficient assistance of Mr.
Charles S. Williams, Civil Engineer, who was associated with me in
charge of the department of maintenance of way and construction until
the first of June, at which time he received the appointment of
Assistant Superintendent, in charge of the Western Division.
|
|
I cannot close this report without adverting to the
universal kind feeling and harmony that has prevailed between the
different departments and throughout the entire road, and I would beg
leave to express my hearty acknowledgments to the President and
General Superintendent, for the frankness, cordiality and kindness
which has characterized their intercourse with me.
|
|
Respectfully submitted,
|
|
M. B. Prichard
|
|
Chief Engineer
|
|