| Annual Report of the Wilmington & Weldon RR |
| as of October 1, 1864, |
| Superintendent's Report |
| |
| Report of the Chief Engineer and
Superintendent |
| Wilmington & Weldon Rail Road Company |
| Office Chief Engineer and Superintendent |
| Wilmington, October 1st, 1864 |
| |
| S. D. Wallace, Esq., President |
| |
| Sir, |
|
I have the honor to submit my tenth Annual Report of the operations of
this Road, as required by regulations, for the fiscal year which
terminated on the 30th of September last. |
|
Receipts and Expenditures |
| Receipts |
|
The gross earnings and receipts for
the fiscal year have been as follows: |
| Receipts from Through Passengers |
$784,870.24 |
|
| Receipts from Way Passengers |
688,051.27 |
|
| Receipts from Freights |
1,434,378.68 |
|
| Receipts from Mails |
25,308.25 |
|
| Receipts from Miscellaneous sources |
77,431.53 |
|
| Gross receipts for 1864 |
|
$3,010,039.97 |
| Gross receipts for 1863 |
|
1,402,831.60 |
| Increase for 1864 |
|
$1,607,208.37 |
| The receipts from the Branch to Tarboro' are
included in this statement. |
|
|
| Expenditures --
Department of Road Repairs |
| Maintenance of Permanent Way -- |
|
|
| Cost of ordinary repairs of track |
$302,560.50 |
|
| Cost of extraordinary repairs to track |
10,000.00 |
|
| Cost of repairs of Bridges and rebuilding Price
George Bridge |
34,500.00 |
$47,060.50 |
| Department of
Transportation |
| Rolling Stock -- Cost of repairs of
Locomotive Engines and materials on hand for repairs |
$336,166.27 |
|
| Cost of repairs of Passenger Cars and materials
on hand for repairs |
80,225.50 |
|
| Cost of repairs of Freight Cars and materials on
hand for repairs |
100,340.16 |
516,731.93 |
| Train Expenses -- Pay of Conductors,
Engineers, Baggage Masters, Train Hands and Firemen |
140,643.57 |
|
| Cost of fuel for Engines, Cars and Stations |
111,510.55 |
|
| Cost of Oil, Tallow, Grease and Waste |
104,846.14 |
|
| Miscellaneous expenses of trains |
350.20 |
357,350.46 |
| Station Expenses -- Cost of Wood and
Water Stations, Buildings |
55,031.12 |
|
| Cost of Printing Blanks, Ticket Books, Annual
Reports, &c |
9,500.00 |
|
| Pay of Hospital Physician, Nurse, Station Agents
and Warehouse Hands |
18,150.00 |
|
| Miscellaneous expenses of Stations |
2,500.00 |
85,181.12 |
| General Expenses |
| Cost of new Locomotives, &c. |
nothing |
|
| Cost of new Freight and Passenger Cars |
$25,965.42 |
|
| Cost of Subsistence, Clothing and Medical Stores |
357,730.48 |
|
| Loss and damage |
36,566.43 |
|
| Half cost of Steam Ferry |
3,500.00 |
|
| Salaries of Officers |
22,860.03 |
|
| Miscellaneous and office expenses |
24,791.98 |
471,414.34 |
| Total cost of operating |
|
$1,777,738.35 |
| Leaving net receipts for 1864 |
1,232,301 |
|
| Net receipts for 1863 |
809,652.67 |
|
| Increased net receipts for 1864 |
$422,648.95 |
|
|
|
The item of Tax paid the Confederate
States of $86,486.00 appears with "incidental" expenses in the table
of cost of operating, which does not pertain to the cost of operating
the Road, and is therefore rejected from this statement. |
|
From the foregoing statement we have the net receipts for
this year considerably larger than for any previous year of the
Company's existence, but when we take into consideration the value of
a dollar of currency as compared with the legal standard of value,
(and this statement is given in currency,) we are reminded of the very
poor exhibit we make. In fact, the net increase thus viewed is the
smallest that has been made in several years. |
|
For the same reasons the cost of operating has been out
of the usual proportion to the receipts -- for while the company pays
nearly specie value for all materials and supplies consumed -- and for
services rendered about half specie value -- a much lower standard has
ruled in the compensation received for transportation, and especially
so in all cases of Government transportation. And when we consider
that nine-tenths of all the transportation performed during the year
has been for the Government, we are at no loss to account for the
unusual discrepancy between the receipts and expenditures. |
|
At the beginning of this conflict the
Railroads represented in convention at Montgomery pledged themselves
to work for the government at half rates. This was a generous
offer, but one that they could well afford to make in view of the
increased amount of business that it would give to all the principal
lines. |
|
Could this principle have continued to rule in the
payments for services rendered the Government, no one would have just
cause to complain. But what do we see now, in comparing the present
rates of compensation with those for 1861? |
|
Let us examine -- In April, 1861, the compensation for
transporting troops was two cents (2) per mile per man; in April,
1864, the rate was two and a half cents (2 1/2) per man per mile,
though in May following the rate was doubled and made3 five cents (5)
per man per mile, which is the present rate. |
|
In April, 1861, our best machinists were in receipt of (
2.50) two and a half dollars per day; the board of mechanics was about
eighteen to twenty dollars per month; Flour six dollars per barrel,
meat ten to twelve cents per pound, and a suit of clothes cost not
over fifty dollars. |
|
In April, 1864, our best machinists are in receipt of
twelve (and today it is twenty) dollars per day; their board is from
ten to twelve dollars per day, or from $300 to $350 per month; Flour
($350) three hundred and fifty dollars per barrel; meat five to six
dollars per pound, and a suit of clothes from one thousand to fifteen
hundred dollars. |
|
In 1861, oil cost but one dollar per gallon, now it is
worth fifty. Iron but four cents per pound is now worth two to three
dollars, nails four cents per pound, are now worth as many dollars. |
|
Yet with all this enormous increase in the cost of living
the compensation by Government has at best only been doubled. |
|
How then, with all this increase in the cost of operating
this line of Railroad, can the owners expect to maintain it in working
order at the present rates for government service! I think it cannot
be done, and it behooves the managers of the work to take immediate
steps to apply a remedy. |
|
There are two methods which suggest themselves by which
this can be effected. First to ask the government to pay, as in 1861,
one half local rates -- say ten cents per mile for troops and
freight, in a similar ration to private rates, or continue the present
rates and let Government supply the roads with materials and
provisions at Government prices. |
|
The first method it has been said would destroy the
currency by the great increase it would require, but the second is
practicable and would improve the currency -- without doubt. |
|
All the difficulty, or course results from a depreciated
currency, and the depreciation is recognized by every department of
the Government, Legislative and Executive. Congress recognizes it in
tax and currency laws, and the head of the exchequer in fixing the
price of bonds to be paid for in currency -- and yet no allowance is
made for this depreciation when payments are made to Railroad for
services rendered. |
|
Department of Transportation |
|
The aggregate mileage made by all trains has been 465,000
miles, carrying 155,347 through, and 225,335 way passengers, yielding
an income of $1,472,921.51, while the receipts from freight are
$1,434,378.68, the mail pay is $25,308.25, making the gross receipts
from the working of this department $2,932,608.44. |
|
The amount of work done by the department is considerably
in advance of that for any previous year, and very greatly so, if we
except the last preceding year. The officers of the Quartermasters
Department stationed at the principal points on the road, and at its
terminii have borne unanimous testimony to the fidelity and
energy that has characterized the operations of this department since
the beginning of this war, so far as the Government transportation is
concerned. |
|
Permanent Way |
|
The road bed and superstructure are in quite as good
condition for another year's service as they were at the beginning of
the fiscal year just closed, with the exception of rails. The
number of sleepers or cross-ties placed on the track during the year
has been considerably larger than it was the previous year, and if no
unforeseen cause prevents, the number will be increased during the
current year. |
|
Rails cannot so readily be obtained, and we now need at
least 1,000 tons of new ones for repairs. |
|
We are repairing by welding up and splicing our old rails
in the furnaces in Wilmington, as usual, and without which the track
could not now be in working order. Yet there is a limit to our
operations in this way, as only about one-half of the rails can be
repaired, and each year the quantity diminishes; therefore new rails
must be supplied to aid in maintaining a good track. |
|
Bridges |
|
All our bridges, including trestles, are in good order --
much better than they were last year, in consequence of a larger and
better force having been applied to this work. |
|
A new truss bridge now spans Prince George Creek
{about 10 miles north of Wilmington},
which removes all doubt about the safety of that crossing. |
|
The temporary trestle bridges now constructed over the
Neuse and Tar Rivers, to replace those destroyed by the
enemy, stand remarkably well, and are, unquestionably, the best
bridges to be used in the face of a hostile army. |
|
Their destruction is much more difficult than with more
permanent bridges, and the time required in their construction cannot
materially impede the movements of our own troops. |
|
With our present facilities, not more than one week will
be necessary to rebuild any of them. |
|
Improvements in Track, Machinery, Machine Shops, &c. |
|
I beg to call your attention to the remarks contained in
my last Annual Report on this subject. They are as applicable now as
they were then, and I cannot think the subject an unimportant one. |
|
I have, in a special communication to the Board, on the
subject of renewal, estimated that one half, at least, of the
whole of the main stem should be laid with new rails, whenever it
shall be possible to procure iron for the purpose. I would recommend
that all new rails to be supplied shall not be of lighter weight than
fifty-six, nor heavier than sixty pounds to the yard. |
|
The reason for the increase of weight is obvious to all
engineers or practical Railroad officers. Rails should bear a certain
relative proportion in weight per foot to the weight of the load they
have to sustain and the blows falling upon them -- which are composed
of the weight and speed of engines; -- and though much may be done by
improving the quality of rails, and by increasing the number of
supports or ties, to make a light rail do duty in a track traversed by
heavy machinery at high speed, yet all experience has shown that we
cannot safely depart from certain laws of proportion. Rails of much
less weight than sixty pounds to the yard have been found here to be
too light for engines of twenty-five or thirty tons weight. |
|
'Tis true the lighter the rail the more thoroughly will
the iron of which it is composed be worked, and hence the lighter the
rail, within the limits of due proportion, the better will be the
track we shall obtain. |
|
Many experiments have been made in England and America to
test the quality of rails, and obtain the very best of rails without
regard to cost. |
|
From my own experience, and what I have been able to
gather from reading the results of numerous experiments made on both
sides of the Atlantic, I am fully persuaded that the road should be
laid over as soon as practicable with a sixty pound rail. |
|
I respectfully recommend, that as soon as practicable, a
contract be made with some American or English manufactory of Railroad
iron to make 10,000 tons of Rails of the best quality --
specifications to be carefully drawn; the rails to be submitted to the
most through tests before being received. -- Our own State
should supply them |
|
In this way the road may be relaid in such a matter as to
be of great durability, and in point of economy of repair, beyond
anything known in this country. |
|
With such rails, and with joint fastenings of the most
approved kinds, a track may be obtained upon which such a speed may be
attained within limits of safety, as will defy all competition -- so
that the distance between Wilmington and Weldon can be made with great
ease in five and a half hours, and at this speed with as much safety
as the route by way of Danville & Greensboro' can be run at a rate of
twenty miles per hour. |
|
In connection with this, let the Cape Fear be spanned by
a substantial bridge, the route South to Kingsville be put in good
condition, and we shall not feel any drain of our passenger business
by the opening of the much dreaded "Piedmont" route. |
|
Joint Fastenings |
|
The double lipped rolled chairs which was adopted by the
board in 1860, has been of great service to our track, and had these
chairs been a few pounds heavier, (and which I strongly urged at the
time,) they would be of much more value today, as they would have been
vastly more durable. |
|
In relaying the track, let the chairs be of not less than
fifteen to eighteen pounds weight, and rest on two consecutive
cross-ties, with joint of rails between, and we shall have a track
that will not injure the machinery, and itself be of the greatest
possible durability, and hence of the most economical description. |
|
Improvements in Machinery |
|
Should the war terminate during the present fiscal year,
we should be in a condition to procure, as we should probably be in
need of, ten locomotive engines of the best quality, and most approved
descriptions; one hundred freight cars, and from fifteen to twenty
passenger cars. |
|
The entire reconstruction of the warehouses, tracks and
repair shops at Wilmington, according to a plan heretofore submitted,
should be made, 8nless a better one can be suggested. |
|
To that end materials are now being accumulated, and with
ordinary energy, during the year, in collecting means, all these
improvements may be made without effecting a reasonable and healthy
dividend to the stockholders. |
|
I refer to the great delay in loading and unloading
freight here, and (until this year,) at Weldon; the great loss of
labor in making repairs, from the crowded condition of the repair
shops and yard, and for the want of proper housing and shelters for
engines and cars; the want of small repair shops at some other proper
points on the line of the road, together with the want of a complete
system of warehouses and passenger houses at all the stations -- and
last, tho' not least, the almost entire absence of masonry on the line
of the road, except at the principal streams. It is quite time now
that the whole road should be completed and finished in the best and
most durable manner, and that we may look forward to that object, and
accumulate means and materials for that purpose, I call your attention
to it now. |
|
New Buildings |
|
A new passenger station house, nearly completed at the
beginning of the fiscal year, was, during the winter, destroyed by
fire, undoubtedly the work of an incendiary. Another has been
contracted for at that place, and its construction will soon be
commenced and completed. |
|
A new passenger station house has been erected at
Tarboro', in place of the one destroyed by the enemy in July, 1863. An
engine and car house has been completed at Tarboro.' |
|
A large warehouse has been erected at Weldon, which
removes much of the cause of delay there in loading and unloading
trains. This building was to be the joint property of the Government,
Petersburg and Wilmington & Weldon Rail Road Companies. The account
will be ready for presentation very soon. |
|
New warehouses are now fully completed, in addition to
the above, at Whitaker's, Rocky Mount, Dudley, Mount Olive, Warsaw and
Leesburg. |
|
One at Tarboro,' in course of construction, will be done
before Christmas. |
|
We are preparing materials for warehouses at Nahunta,
Pikeville, Burgaw and Rocky Point, with a ticket office, passenger
room and fire place in each. |
|
Masonry |
|
If practicable, an attempt will be made during this year
to put in some culverts. |
|
One million of good bricks have been purchased and paid
for, and as opportunity offers they will be hauled and distributed at
points on the line of the road where they are to be used. |
|
The stone quarry has been worked with only a small force.
Some 500 to 600 cubic yards of stone are ready, and a track has been
laid to the quarry from the main stem. |
|
A new warehouse of bricks will be constructed at Wilson,
at as early a day as practicable. |
|
Tables, Inventory, &c. |
|
The accompanying tables and inventory of Company's
property will supply all needful information as to the condition of
machinery and tools, and the value of property represented by the
capital stock. |
|
Conclusion |
|
In conclusion, I must again ask your attention to the
compensation of the officers, agents and employees of the company. |
|
The cost of living in the town of Wilmington is believed
to be greater than at any other town in the Confederacy, in provisions
and house rent. Dwellings that had rented last year for four or five
hundred dollars, are now rented for double as many thousands. |
|
I suggest that rations of subsistence be issued regularly
to each employee, if he desires it, not to exceed one to each man,
with the privilege of buying one more at cost, if he has a family. |
|
I command this subject to your favorable consideration. |
|
I am, respectfully, your ob't serv't, |
|
S. L. Fremont |
|
Chief Engineer and Superintendent |
|