| Annual Report of the Nashville &
Chattanooga RR |
| as of July 1, 1861 |
| Superintendent's Report |
| |
| Superintendent's Report |
| |
| Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad
Company |
|
Superintendent's Office
|
| Nashville, September 12, 1861 |
| |
|
Colonel V. K. Stevenson
|
| President |
| |
|
Sir,
|
| The close of the fiscal year
having been changed from 30th November to 30th June, I beg leave to
present the following report of the operations connected with the
department under my charge, for the seven months from 1st December,
1860, to June 30th, 1861: |
| Gross earnings |
|
|
$500,792.13 |
| Total amount of operating expenses for the same
period, (for details see tables in treasurer's report) |
|
|
250,521.13 |
| Net earnings |
|
|
250,271.00 |
| Fifty per cent. of net
earnings to fifty per cent. of expenses |
|
| These operations compared with the
operations of the same months of last year show as follows: |
1860 |
1861 |
Increase |
| Receipts |
$131,735.57 |
$500,792.13 |
$69,056.56 |
| Expenses |
231,591.30 |
250,521.13 |
18,929.83 |
|
200,144.27 |
250,271.00 |
|
|
|
200,144.27 |
|
| Increase of net earnings |
|
50,126.73 |
or 25 per cent. |
| Increase in gross earnings about 6
1/2 per cent. |
|
|
|
| Increase in net earnings about 25
per cent. |
|
|
|
| These results are
gratifying, when considered in connection with the many
disadvantages attending the operations since last report. |
| Increase in freight |
|
|
$115,754.18 |
| Decrease in passage |
|
$39,389.67 |
|
| Decrease in rent of machinery |
|
6,835.05 |
|
| Decrease in extra baggage |
|
472.90 |
46,697.62 |
| Increase in gross earnings |
|
|
69,056.56 |
| Increase in operating expenses |
|
|
18,929.83 |
| Increase in net earnings |
|
|
50,126.73 |
|
| This shows a handsome
increase in the freight business -- $115,754.18; but a large falling
off from passenger receipts -- $39,389.67. Had the passenger business
held up with the receipts for same months of last year, the increase
in net earnings would have been about $80,000 for the seven months. |
|
Freight The travel being light and the freight
very heavy, one passenger train was taken off temporarily on the 1st
of February, and the three locomotives in the service of that train
were transferred to the freight department, and every exertion made to
prevent a blockade of freights at Nashville. Our trains were run night
and day, our men often performing, uncomplainingly, the extraordinary
labor of working thirty-six hours out of forty-eight. And,
notwithstanding the tremendous rush made by planters and speculators
in sending produce south from the west, in anticipation of a blockade
by the federal government, Nashville might have been kept open but for
the unusual freshet which swept over East Tennessee and Cherokee
Georgia, causing a small slide on your road on Raccoon mountain, which
stopped our trains from running through but for one day. But it swept
from the Western & Atlantic railroad (our connection at
Chattanooga) several bridges, and in other respects so damaged that
road, that no freight train passed over it from Chattanooga for a week
or more, during which time a very large quantity of freight had
accumulated at Nashville, which had to be stored with commission
merchants, after all of the depositories of the company had been
filled; in the reshipments of which we had much trouble and a slight
increase in the expenses of forwarding. But our balance sheet shows no
loss on account of detention or damage.
|
| In my last report reference
was made to the unequal division of freights east and west. The same
remarks are applicable with still greater force to the business of the
last several months. The through freights east to Memphis &
Charleston railroad, Chattanooga, and roads beyond, amount to eighteen
hundred per cent. more than the amount of freight from the same points
to Nashville. Through freights east, $219,432.53. Through freights
west, $12,005.02. Any additional back of freights would have gone to
swell the net earnings. |
| The government blockade at
Cairo in May, and that at Louisville in June, stopped the shipment of
produce south, since which time receipts from the freight department
have fallen off very rapidly, and at present we are carrying but
little through freights, either east or west. |
| In Tennessee, this season, we
have, in all probability, the largest wheat crop ever grown in the
State, but the States south of us having a large supply of breadstuffs
on hand, with good crops, prices rule law, and there seems to be no
disposition to ship, and but little is moving. But we expect, as the
season advances, that the demand will increase and our receipts from
that service improve. |
| Until the restoration of
peace by the acknowledgment of our independence by the federal
government, we may calculate upon a falling off in receipts. But the
future promises much for your road. It being a connecting link between
the grain-growing West and the grain-consuming South, large quantities
of produce must of necessity pass over it, from which service for the
last seven months the largest amount of revenue has been derived; and
to which may be added, at the close of the war, and after the
independence of the South has been established, a large business in
the carrying of dry goods. For, with the liberal tariff policy of the
confederate government, we may reasonably suppose that Charleston,
Savannah, and Norfolk will become the great importing cities for the
slave States; and that, for the heavy dry goods trade of Nashville,
and probably Louisville, with numerous interior towns in Tennessee and
Kentucky, your road will have no competition; and after the completion
of the Nashville & Northwestern railroad, the nearest route from
the seaboard cities of the south to St. Louis will be by your road,
and the dry goods for the metropolitan city of the west may be found
passing over your road, which would add greatly to its profits. |
|
Receipts from the freight department foot up as follows:
|
| Through freights, east |
$249,032.53 |
| Through freights, west |
12,005.02 |
| Local freights, east |
60,456.27 |
| Local freights, west |
31,130.17 |
| Total |
322,323.99 |
|
| Passage The second
passenger train was replaced on the 1st of May, since which time
receipts from this department have increased, but are not yet so good
as they were for the same months of last year. The receipts from
passengers show as follows: |
| Through travel |
$43,086.35 |
| Toll from Memphis & Charleston Railroad
Company on travel between Stevenson and Chattanooga |
19,695.00 |
| From the transportation of troops |
29,585.03 |
| Local travel, (proper) |
67,162.08 |
| For seven months ending June 30 |
159,528.46 |
|
| Machinery The last
season's business drew heavily upon our machinery, but at the close of
the season we find our locomotives in as good, if not better condition
than at the commencement. Passenger cars have been improved, while the
condition of freight cars has been about maintained, except light
damages to weather-boarding lately, caused by transportation of
troops, which may not be repaired until that service ceases, or until
needed for the transportation of freight. |
| The good condition of our
machinery is the result of close inspection and faithful attention to
repairs. |
| In addition to the cars
rebuilt at the company's repair shops, to take the place of those
condemned, one first-class passenger car, and twenty (box) freight
cars have been purchased from Messrs. Vannoy, Turbiville & Co.,
and placed upon the road. |
| Miles run by passenger engines |
117,483 |
| Miles run by freight engines |
216,981 |
| Miles run by gravel and switch |
51,380 |
| Miles run by all the locomotives |
385,844 |
|
| Being exclusive of those
running upon the McMinnville & Manchester railroad, being 43,540
miles more than were run by locomotives during the same months of last
year. |
| Total earnings about |
$1.30 |
per mile run |
| Total expenses about |
.65 |
per mile run |
| Leaving for net earnings |
.65 |
per mile run |
| Receipts from passenger trains about |
$1.35 |
per mile run |
| Receipts from freight trains about |
1.48 1/2 |
per mile run |
|
| Stock in locomotives and
cars, reported and classified, as follows: |
| Freight engines used on main line |
21 |
| Passenger engines used on main line |
7 |
| Light engines, used on branches, for road
repairs, switching and other light work |
9 |
| Box cars |
225 |
| Stock cars |
31 |
| Platform cars |
51 |
| Coal cars |
26 |
| Gravel cars |
16 |
| Camp cars |
8 |
| First-class, passenger cars |
9 |
| Second-class, passenger cars |
8 |
| Mail and baggage cars |
6 |
|
| For service performed, and
present condition of locomotives, and for expenses for labor and
materials chargeable to each, I request you to tabular statement
herewith, headed locomotives. |
| Running of trains
Since last report, your trains, both freight and passenger, have been
run with great regularity and safety. The only accident worthy of note
occurred to the night passenger train coming west, on the evening of
the 15th of December, about one-half mile east of the tunnel on
Raccoon mountain, by the locomotive of the gravel train, which was
being flagged, running against the rear car in the passenger train
while that train was taking wood. But one person was hurt by the
casualty, Mr. Lindsley, of Lincoln county, who, I am sorry to say,
received fatal injuries, from which he died the next day.
Unfortunately he was at the time standing, in disregard of the rules
of the road, upon the platform of the car. He fell and was caught
between the platforms of the two passenger cars. Had he been seated,
with the other passengers, he might, like them, have escaped injury.
The responsibility being somewhat divided between the employes -- the
engine-runners of both trains and the conductor of the gravel train --
they were at once discharged from the company's service. |
| Tables are added showing the
passenger and freight business in detail. |
| The repeated failures in
crops continue to affect the receipts from the McMinnville &
Manchester railroad, that road being dependent upon local business
entirely for its revenue. The most rigid economy is observed in its
working. |
| The receipts and expenses of
that road for the seven months ending June 20, 1861, foot up as
follows: |
| From passage |
$4,604.88 |
| From freight |
4,709.52 |
| From mail service |
1,020.81 |
| Total receipts |
10,335.21 |
| Expenses |
5,112.41 |
| Leaving for net earnings |
5,222.80 |
|
| It is gratifying for me to be
able to again testify to the prompt and satisfactory manner in which
agents, clerks, conductors, engine-runners, and other employes, (with
rare exceptions,) have performed their respective duties. Much credit
is due them for the alacrity with which they went through the heavy
business of last season |
| Respectfully submitted by
your obedient servant, |
| E. W. Cole |
| Superintendent |
|