STATE OF NEW YORK. No. 66. IN ASSEMBLY, Maech 2, 1880. SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT RELATING TO THE ELEVATED RAILROADS OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. To the Honorable the Assembly of the State of New York: The undersigned, the committee appointed in pursuance of the reso- lutions adopted February 28th, March 12th and March 27th, 1879, " to investigate the abuses alleged to exist in the management of the rail- roads chartered by this State, and to inquire into and report concerning their powers, contracts and obligations" have the honor to submit a supplemental report, relating to the elevated railroads of the city of New York. The investigation of these roads was commenced before the full committee, but pressure of time, and the necessity of preparing the report relating to the general subject of inquiry necessitated the ap- pointment of a snb-committee to complete this branch of the investi- gation. Accordingly Messrs. Baker, Duguid and Noyes were duly appointed for that purpose. They subsequently met in the city of New York, and continued the particular subject of inquiry referred to them, assisted by Hon. F. J. Fithian, in the examination of witnesses. Through the courtesy of Hon! Horatio Seymour, Jr., State Engi- neer and Surveyor, Mr. E. Sweet, Jr., was assigned to aid the com- mittee as an expert engineer, the result of whose examinations into the elevated railroads, their construction, operation and management is embraced in his able and exhaustive report addressed to Mr. Baker, chairman of the sub-committee, hereto annexed, and respectfully sub- mitted as part of this supplemental report. The interests of the several elevated railroad companies were repre- sented by John J. McCook, Esq., of New York, their counsel. The [Assem. Doc. No. 66.] 1 ft. 2 elevated railroads in New York, namely: "Metropolitan Elevated Bailway Company " and " New York Elevated Railroad Company " are operated by the " Manhattan Railroad Company." The " New York Elevated Railroad Company " was organized Dec. 5th, 1871, with a capital stock as by charter of $10,000,000. The " Metropolitan Elevated Railway Company " was incorporated under the name of the " Gilbert Elevated Railway Company " by act of the legislature in 1872 (the present name having been authorized by an order of the supreme court, dated June 6, 1878), with a capital stock as by charter of $3,500,000. The "Manhattan Railway Company " was organized, as appears by the articles of association, dated November 10, 1875, and filed in the office of the Secretary of State, December 29, 1875, with a capital stock as by articles of association of $2,000,000, of which $100,000 only has ever been paid in. The last-named company became, under leases fiated May 20, 1879, the lessee of the other two companies, and under said leases and a tri- partite agreement of the same date (see exhibits, pp. 285 to 309 of tes- timony), assumed the management and operation of said com- panies and their respective roads, and agreed among other things, to pay after the date specified, namely, January 31, 1879: 1. The principal of and interest on the outstanding bonds of the respective companies lessors, being of each company $8,500,000, or in the aggregate $17,000,000. 2. To guarantee and pay to the New York Company an annual dividend of ten per cent upon its capital stock of $6,500,000, in quar- ter-yearly payments, the first to be paid January 1, 1880 (see exhibit at pp. 298 and 299 of testimony). 3. To guarantee and pay to the Metropolitan Company, dividends to the same amount, upon an equal amount of stock, and at the same dates as specified with the New York Company. 4. To pay also to each of said companies an annual rental of $10 , 000, in the aggregate $20,000, in equal semi-annual installments on the first day of January and July in each year during the terms of the respective leases — that is for nine hundred and ninety-nine years ; and 5. Said Manhattan Company, as further consideration for the said leases, also agreed to, and did subsequently issue to each of said other companies its bond for $6,500,000, payable on demand to a trustee named in each bond, for the stockholders of the respective companies "with authority to the trustees respectively to use the same, if they " see fit, in payment for stock of the Manhattan Company at par," which bonds were so exchanged. This transaction apparently increased the capital stock of the Manhattan Company (then $2,000,000 with $100,000 thereof paid in by just the amount of said bonds, aggregat- ing $15,000,000). Thus, by a stroke of the pen, is the burden of vitalizing this $13,- 000,000 of Manhattan stock imposed upon the public — the public from whom the valuable franchises of these roads and their right of way through the streets of the city were derived ; derived without compensation other than the stipulated payment of two per cent of earnings into the city treasury. Here is an organization, a railroad company, having existence upon paper only — not owning or operating a rod of road, never having set a post, driven a spike or moved a shovel- full of dirt — leasing two contiguous roads, and, by the leases, giving these roads the maximum 'net income which the law allows, and,, in addition, giving thirteen millions of bonds to these roads, convertible into stock ; thirteen millions of the clearest water imaginable ! If this transaction is a legal one, then there is nothing to prevent the managers of the N. Y. O. & H. R. R. Company from organizing themselves into a railroad corporation under any name and with any named capital, and then leasing the N. Y. Central and Hudson River road, and guaranteeing the payment of all the bonds and obligations thereof, and to its stockholders a ten per cent dividend, and issuing to them in addition a hundred millions of dollars, or any other sum, in bonds of the fiew company, convertible into stock of the new com- pany at their option. If such transactions are legal, then there can be no protection for stockholders against stock-watering, until the leasing of railroads is carefully and properly guarded. If the leases and agreements in ques- tion can be sustained, it must be in pursuance of some statute and not upon any principle of law or public policy. And the legislature should, as speedily as may be, render impossible similar transactions in the future. In our opinion the facts brought out in the investigation of the affairs of the New York elevated railroads illustrates most forcibly the necessity for the several acts, and amendments to existing statutes re- commended by us in our report, dated January 22, 1880, and now under consideration by your honorable body. " The New York Loan and Improvement Company" has played an important part in affording to the public the present system of rapid transit. The last-named company was organized and chartered by chapter 689 of the Laws of 1870, as amended by chapter 440, Laws of 1871, and by chapter 755, Laws of 1872. It is officered by substantially the same gentlemen who control and manage these several companies, and has a capital now of $3,000,000. In the case of the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad Company, all its stocks and bonds were transferred to the Loan and Improvement Com- 4 pany, and the latter in consideration thereof 'agreed to, and did (under sub-contracts let by it) build the road for the former company, re- ceiving therefor of stock of the Metropolitan Company $6,500,000, and of bonds of said company, $8,500,000. (See Testimony, Mr. Gar- rison, pp. 8 and 9, and copy agreement, pp. 323 to 326.) In addition to the stock of Manhattan Company, $6,500,000, in the aggregate $21,500,008, which aggregate amount of stock and bonds cost the Loan and Improvement Company, according to the testimony of Mr. Sweet (see p. 28 of his report annexed), $9,639,147.69, leaving as the " margin" the difference of $11,860,852.31. The stock and bonds of the New York Elevated Koad are the same as of the Metropolitan, namely : Stock $6,500,000 Bonds 8,500,000 Total $15,000,000 The actual cost of construction, according to the testimony of Mr. Sweet (p. 15 of his report annexed), is $8,719,038.26, leaving a "mar- gin" of $6,280,961.74; adding the $6,500,000 derived of Manhattan stock, shows the total sum of $12,780,961.74, outside of actual con- struction ; adding now the above item of $11,860,852.31, we have the grand total of $24,641,814.05, which has not entered in the actual construction of either of these roads. Of this grand total, which seems to be " water," the companies claim that a considerable portion is covered by legitimate discounts on securities, and by other proper items — but the principal item being discount on bonds, went into the hands of the stockholders themselves. Mr. Brewster in his testimony (pp. 69 to 77) explains how bonds were discounted, and it is fair?to presume that no considerable discounts on bonds were allowed to get away from the gentlemen, who had all along furnished, not only the brains, but the money to carry into successful operation these roads. In order that a better understanding of the situation may be had, your committee submit the following figures, etc., by way of recapitu- lation : Metropolitan Elevated. Date of Charter, 1872. Capital stock paid in Bonds assumed by Manhattan $6,500,000 00 8.500,000 00 Total Actual cost of road $15,000,000 00 9,639,147 69 Water, dis. on bonds, etc $5,360,852 31 5 N. Y. Elevated Road. Date of Charter, December 5, 1871. Capital stock paid in $6,500,000 00 Bonds assumed by Manhattan 8,500,000 00 Total 815,000,000 00 Actual cost of road 8,719,038 26 Water, dis. on bonds, etc $6,280,961 74 Manhattan Railroad Company. Date of Charter, December 29, 1875. Capital stock $13,000,000 00 All water. We have the three companies capitalized as follows : Metropolitan Elevated $15,000,000 00 N. Y. Elevated 15,000,000 00 Manhattan 13 , 000 , 000 00 Total $43,000,000 00 Metropolitan's* actual cost of construction, etc., is found by Mr. Sweet to be $9, 639, 147 69 N. Y. Elevated Company's actual cost is found by Mr. Sweet to be 8,719,038 26 Total actual cost of roads, etc., is $18,358,185 95 Water, Manhattan $13,000,000 00 Water, etc., Metropolitan Elevated 5,360,852 31 Water, etc., N. Y. Elevated 6,280,961 74 Total water, etc., is $24,641,814 05 Cost 18,358,185 95 $43,000,000 00 Fares. The rates of fare charged by the elevated railroad companies is fixed during certain hours at five cents, that is, during the hours from 5:30 to 7:30 a. M., and 5 to 7 o'clock p. m. ; during the other hours, the rate is uniformly ten cents. 6 The'companiesjstate that the aggregate receipts are about equally divided between the two rates, about fifty per cent of the whole being derived from each rate of fare ; as a result of such arrangement the number of passengers carried at five cent fares is very large. The original intent and object of the schemes to secure rapid tran- sit in New York were to afford quick transportation for residents of the upper part of the island and Westchester county, from their homes to the business portions of the city, at the lowest possible rates. The large and profitable traffic of the lower part of the island with the short haul was to compensate for the smaller traffic and larger haul from the upper part of the island ; we believe that a uniform five cent fare will produce an adequate and liberal remuneration upon the actual cost of construction. Your committee therefore recommend that the legislature limit by proper enactment the fares chargeable by said com- panies to the uniform rate of five cents. It is believed by your committee that the accompanying bill will prevent the abuses shown to exist in relation to railroad leases. Dated March 1, 1880. A. B. HEPBURN, J. W. HUSTED, ' HENRY L. DUGLTD, JAMES LOW, J. W. WADSWORTH, GEORGE L. TERRY, W. L. NOYES, THOS. F. GRADY, CHARLES S. BAKER. An Act in relation to leases by Railroad Corporations. The People of the Slate of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : Section 1. No railroad corporation shall become the lessee of any railroad, unless it is, at the time of becoming a party to such lease, the owner of a contiguous line of railroad, actually operated by such corporation over the whole or a part of its length. And it shall not be lawful for any railroad corporation, being the lessee of any railroad, to issue to the railroad corporation being the lessor, or to the stock- holders thereof, or to any person or persons in their behalf, any of its capital stock, or any bonds or other evidence of indebtedness, as a consideration for, or in connection with such lease. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. REPORT. Hon. Ch^s. S. Baker, Chairman of Sub-committee on Elevated Roads of the Committee of the Assembly, to investigate Railroad Affairs: Sir — Having completed, so far as the time at my disposal permitted, the examination of the affairs and management of the elevated roads in New York city, directed by you, I have the honor to submit the following REPORT. I have examined all the contracts for the construction work of both the New York Elevated and the Metropolitan Elevated companies, veri- fied the agreement therewith of the payments charged for the work done under them, and by a protracted examination of the construction books and vouchers, have tested the correctness of the pro forma statements furnished me by the officers of the respective companies purporting to show the total cost of constructing and equipping their lines. I have also made a somewhat extended investigation of the struc- tures from the working drawings, and the work itself, to determine the measure of security afforded by the distribution of materials and the connections adopted with the loads under which these structures are actually worked, and have given some attention to the details of their operation, both as to the method and cost, believing accurate informa- , tion on all these points to be essential to the formation of just conclusions .as to the value of the service rendered and the measure of security and comfort afforded by these companies to the public. The New York Elevated Railroad Co. This company is the successor of the " West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway Company," which made the first attempt to realize rapid transit in New York by an elevated road. The latter company was incorporated under the Elevated Railway Act of 1SGG, and was authorized to construct an elevated road to be borne on iron columns placed on the curb lines, and to be operated by stationary engines transmitting power to the cars by ropes or cables. a Amendatory statutes passed in 1867 and 1868 authorized the con- struction by this company of an experimental section half a^mile long on Greenwich street ; provided for commissioners empowered to ex- amine and decide upon the acceptability of the experimental section, and fixed (in the event of the experimental section being approved and accepted by the commissioners) the route for the road from Battery place along Greenwich street to Ninth avenue, and along Ninth avenue or streets west of Ninth avenue to the Harlem river. It further em- powered the commissioners to permit a change from stationary to loco- motive power, if on due investigation they found it expedient. The experimental section of half a mile 'on the south end of Green- wich street was completed and accepted by the commissioners in 1869, and a single track line was completed from Battery place on Green- wich street and Ninth avenue to 30th street in 1870. The method of operating by stationary power proved a failure, and the road remained quite idle until the spring of 1871, when the fail- ing enterprise buried under two millions of debt, was taken possession of by the bondholders. In the meantime the commissioners created by the charter had authorized the use of locomotive power for its operation, and from the 20th of April, 1871, when the trustee for these bondholders began to run a dummy engine and three cars upon it, this line has been in un- interrupted and successful operation. During the summer of 1871, the three mortgages on this road were foreclosed, the trustees under them bidding the property in for the bondholders. In October of the same year The New York Elevated Railroad Co. was organized under the general railroad law by the principal bondholders under the foreclosed mortgages. As the route of this new company, they named the route of the West Side and Yonkers, and two others from Battery place to Putnam county, and about thirty across New York and Westchester counties, and immediately acquired all the franchises and property of that company by the issue of New York Elevated stock to the amount of $801,825. This purchase constitutes the first item in the New York Elevated Company's construction account. It is impossible now to determine the actual cost of the old st ruc- ture, but it probably exceeded the amount at which it is charged in the accounts of the new company. From the time of acquiring this property until 1875, some improvements were made in the way of strengthening the structure, and increasing station accommodations, and adding a few engines and cars to the equipment, and about a 9 fourth of a mile to the main track, and about half a mile to the turnouts. All the structure thus far built proved too light and flexible for the present service, and is now being taken down and removed, and the rolling stock used upon it discarded. No other extension of their road was undertaken by this company until after the passage of the act of 1875, confirming this company in the possession of the franchises of the West Side and Yonkers Ky. Co., giving wider latitude as to their style of construction and extend- ing the time to construct until 1880, and of the passage of the Rapid Transit Act of 1875, and of the proceedings of the commission ap- pointed under it. The latter act and the proceedings under it insured a certain and rapid solution of the quick transit question in New York, by fixing so small a number of routes as to make them valuable, and by making the enjoyment of these routes by the companies upon which they were conferred, dependent upon immediate development. They created for both the Metropolitan and the New York Ele- vated Companies the possibility of the success which they have now realized. Under the section of the act empowering the commissioners to provide all regulations as to plans of constructing, and mode of operating any rapid transit line, covered by an unexpired charter, they cured the vital defect in the Metropolitan act of incorporation by which it was committed to an impracticable mode of construction, and under the same section empowering them to locate connecting routes for any existing elevated road, they vastly enhanced the value of the New York Elevated franchise by conferring upon it the route from Battery place to South Ferry, and from South Ferry by the way of Pearl street, the Bowery and Third avenue to the Harlem river, with branches to all the railroad depots and ferries. ' With this improved phase of its affairs, this company rapidly for- warded the work of construction, opening the extension of the Ninth avenue to Fifty-ninth street early in 1876, the same line from Battery place to South Ferry, in April, 1877, and the East Side Line from South Ferry via Pearl street, the Bowery and Third avenue to Forty-second street, in August, 1878, and to One Hundred and Twenty-ninth street in December, 1878. During 1879 extensive shops were built at Ninety-eighth street and Third avenue, and a branch from Third avenue to Thirty-fourth street ferry. Many new stations have been built, and nearly all the old ones enlarged and improved, and a large amount of work done in rebuilding the Ninth avenue line, and extending the Chatham Square branch. 10 In May, 1879, this company joined the Metropolitan Elevated Company, in making a contract with the Manhattan Railway Com- pany, (which* was incorporated by the rapid transit commissioners in 1875, for the purpose of constructing and operating an elevated road on the routes conferred upon the New York Elevated aud Metropolitan companies, in the event of default of the first-named companies to construct within the specified time) by which they leased their roads to the Manhattan Company. This lease was to take effect as of the 31st of January, 1879, and it stipulated that the Manhattan Company should assume all the charges for constructing and equipping the New York Elevated road after that date, and that for the purpose of providing for the completion of such construction and equipment, the New York Elevated should pay to the Manhattan Company the fixed sum of $3,000,000. The New York Elevated Company continued the construction work for the Manhattan Company from January 31st, until September 30th, 1879, during which time they expended on account of the latter com- pany, the sum of $1,583,753.73, of the above $3,000,000 ; since Sep- tember 30th, Manhattan Company have prosecuted construction work for themselves. Cost of Construction. As stated above, the old part of this road from Battery place to Thirtieth street was acquired by purchase. The extensions of the West Side line, to the South Ferry and to Fifty-ninth street, were paid for partly in cash, and partly in bonds and stocks, but all are charged in the construction account at cost in securities ; i. e., construction work, or material paid for in cash, is charged with the discount suffered in the negotiation of the securities to provide for its payment. All the work done since September, 1877, has been by contract or day's labor for cash and so entered in the conr struction accounts ; all the work done during the latter period, con- sisting of building the east line, from South Ferry to One Hun- dred and Twenty-ninth street, building an additional track most of the way from South Ferry to Fifty-ninth street, on the West Side line, and extending the latter line from Fifty-ninth to Eighty-third street, has been done at very low prices, the average cost of the iron structure manufactured and erected averaging less than 3-f cents per pound. The following statement, derived from the company's books, shows the cost of this road to September 30th, 1879 : 11 Statement No. 1. Pro forma statement of cost of building and equipping the rail- roads of this company, together with shops and machinery, real estate, tools, furniture, fixtures, etc., up to September 30th, 1879: Foundations $1,559,925 73 Structure 4,239,020 71 Track superstructure 922,574 06 Stations 638,448 77 Shops and machinery 298,661 06 Real estate 226,431 95 292 cars 700,170 64 8 service cars , 3,200 00 131 engines 476,926 80 Tools, furniture and fixtures 27,588 32 $9,092,948 04 This statement includes the sum of $2,674,430.60 charged for the old "Ninth avenue road and its extensions prior to October 1st, 1877, none of which is stated at actual cost, and the further sum of 6521,- 589.87 made up of miscellaneous items, some of which do not appear to be legitimafely chargeable to construction. The following state- ment gives the items of which these two sums are made up : Statement No. 2. Showing distribution of expenditures for old Ninth avenue road and its extensions prior to October 1st, 1877, and above items miscella- neous expenses, both beiag distributed pro rata among the first four items of statement No. 1 : For purchase of old road $801,825 00 Foundations 457,272 54 Structure 1,097,454 10 Track superstructure 274,363 53 For stations 43,515 43 $2,674,430 60 Miscellaneous Items. Legal expenses $130,739 97 Engineering 114,544 45 Interest 210,424 09 Material on hand 39,561 91 12 General construction $25,538 12 Sundries 781 83 $521,589 87 $3,196,020 47 I also present a table (Table No. 1), showing the fiscal condition of this company and the progress of its construction, which furnishes a statistical history of the enterprise, and what amount of construc- tion is represented by this charge of $2,674,430.60. Table No. 1, This table shows that on the 1st of October, 1872, nearly a year after the organization of this company, and its purchase of the West Side and Yonkers road, the amount of capital paid in was $350,000. This, according to Mr. Cowing's testimony, represents the purchase of the old road, and $70,000 in money, used in improving the property, which fixes the price of the old road at $280,000. The sum of $524,- 000, one-half in bonds and one-half in stock, appears by Mr. Cowing's testimony to have been issued for the building ef the road from Battery place to South Ferry. This was a three-track ro ad, a trifle over a quarter of a mile in length, and its actual cost sh ould not exceed $100,000. The rest of the work covered by this charge (consisting of the im- provements made upon the old line and its extension to Fifty-ninth street), was paid for in cash provided by issues of bonds sold at a discount of 40 percent, making the cash cost of this portion of the work about $815,000, and the whole cost of the property, exclusive of equip- ment, to October 1st, 1877, $1,265,000.00. Of the miscellaneous items in statement No. 2, those for interest ($210,424.09), and for materials on hand, $39,561.91, are not legiti- mately chargeable to construction, for obvious reasons; the former being interest on the constructive indebtedness created by issuing bonds at 87-J- per cent discount to stockholders, and the latter charge- able to projected construction, not covered by this statement. Of the item of $130,739. 97 for legal expenses it is impossible to de- termine how much was incurred in the solution of legal difficulties attending the construction of the road, and how much for the pro- tection of stockholders. The other miscellaneous items are properly charged. The following statement (No. 3) shows the cost of the construction work performed from October 1st, 1877, to October 1st, 1879, and of the 13 i 4 4 ii H -ri £ri iiiiijjl 3 3 3 3 3 3 333 ease a a f a 1 •SIT?0 22 8 ■puapiAtd §5§ a g 5 g B I III i §SS2 ^ g 3 3 £ s ' 5 ' s " § 1 M i I i § 1 v ' V DC ft e $ S ill 5 8 § 1 •m pn?j IIIS 8 S SI p'ss i i n •paquDsqns mum 'HY3LI 14 whole equipment, arranged as in statement No. 1, except 'that the miscellaneous expenditures are separately stated, and also the approxi- mate cost of the old road and its improvements and extensions prior to October 1st, 187? : Statement No. 3. Cost of construction performed October, 1877, to October, 1879 : 3867 foundation $831,941 86 11.3 miles iron structure 2,382,388 38 " track superstructure 488,741 51 49 stations 460,877 05 Shop and machinery 298,661 06 Eeal estate . 226,431 95 131 engines 476,926 80 292 cars 700,170 64 8 service cars 3,200 00 Tools, furniture and fixtures 27,588 32 Engineering 114,544 45 General construction 25,538 12 Sundries 781 83 $6,037,791 97 Expended prior to October 1st, 1877: Cost of old road and improvements in 1872 $350,000 00 Extensions and improvements, 1872 to 1877 815,000 00 Extension from Battery place to South Ferry 100,000 00 1,265,000 00 Total cost $7,302,791 97 To complete the construction and equipment of these lines, this company have paid to the Manhattan Company under the contract heretofore described $1,583,753.73 disbursed for construction, between January 31st and September 30, 1879, which is included in the above statement of total cost, and the further sum of $1,416,246.27 for com- pleting the construction and equipment, the two making up the stipu- lated payment of $3,000,000. The aggregate cash cost to the New York Elevated of its roads completed may therefore be stated as follows : 15 Cost prior to Sept. 30, '79 $7,302,791 97 Paid Manhattan Company for completing construc- tion and equipment 1,416,246 27 Total $8,719,038 26 The following estimate of Mr. Katte, the chief engineer of the New York Elevated Railroad, shows that the allowance to the Manhattan Company for completing this road is a liberal one. New York, Dec. 24, 1879. E. Sweet, Jr., Esq. : Dear Sir — Herewith please find approximate data as per your request of 20th inst. : Iron superstructure $290,650 00 Station, etc., tank, switch, cabins 555,769 00 Foundations 24,200 00 Track, etc 93,830 00 Shops, etc., coal water stations 67,750 00 Sundries 39,150 00 Total $1,071,349 00 The above amounts include all work now contemplated and under contract, required to finish the Ninth and Third avenue and Green- wich street lines, " City Hall," and " Thirty-fourth street " branches, Respectfully yours, WALTER KATTE, Ch ief Engineer. This would indicate a probable surplus in the hands of the Man- hattan Company after completion of $344,897.27, and a total cost for the present line of the New York Elevated Road completed, of $8,374,- 140.97. The Structures. The general type of road structure adopted by this company consists of longitudinal trusses built of wrought-angle irons 3 1-2 ft. in height and from 44 to 57 it. in length, placed one under each line of rails and borne upon wrought-iron columns about 15 inches square at the base, and spread laterally at the top to receive the road trusses. These columns are built of two channel bars, trussed together by triangular systems of flat bars riveted to their flanges. About three-fourths of these columns are arranged in pairs about twenty feet apart, equi-distanfc from the center line of the street, and connected at the top by transverse girders. The remainder are placed on the curb-line without lateral support, being dependent for lateral stability upon their foundation connections. The most of the transverse connections are made by arched plate girders, the remainder being straight triangular trusses. The only modification in this general type is the substitution of plate and angle girders for triangular trusses, on about a mile and one-half of single track on the West Side line. The standard foundation consists of a block of brick masonry, six feet squared at the base, four feet square on top, and four feet high- placed on two flat stones six inches thick, and about four feet square, which are embedded in concrete, with their upper surfaces six feet below the surface of the street. The brick masonry is surmounted by a cast-iron base forty inches square at the bottom, and twenty-eight inches high, cored out to re ceive the channel bars of the columns, and anchored through the masonry by four two-inch bolts. Into these cores the columns are fitted with water-tight joints, and fastened by six steel keys, one and a half inch in diameter. Almost infi- nite modifications of this standard type have been required, on account of interference with the sewer, water and gas systems of the city — private constructions under the streets and of yielding materials. All these difficulties appear by the detailed foundation plans to have been met and overcome skillfully and thoroughly. The floor system consists of five-inch by six-inch yellow pine ties, seven and three-fourths feet long, laid upon the upper flanges of the trusses, with four longitudinal stringers of yellow pine, of 5x8 inch section placed one on each side of each line of rails, the whole clamped to the upper flanges of the truss by clip bolts passing through both stringers and ties. The stringers are spliced and bolted together, rendering the floor system continuous. This arrangement of the floor system, besides its primary office of lessening the danger of derailment, diminishes by its elasticity the resilient effect upon the trusses of the moving load, and by its continuity relieves the columns in a great measure from the forces transferred to the structure in stopping and starting trains. The workmanship of these structures bears evidence of reason- able care and skill. The longitudinal girders, appear to have been designed to carry, in addition to their own weight, a uniform moving load of 1,500 lbs. per linear foot of single track, without producing a greater stress in the chords than 8,000 lbs. per square 17 inch, in the web of 5,000 lbs. or in the rivets G,000 lbs. per square inch, and without a greater deflection than y-gVs" °f their length. The trains of the New York Elevated, drawn by the heaviest loco- motives of that company, though they do not bring upon these struc- tures a greater average weight than 1,500 lbs. per foot they so con- centrate their weight, as to produce considerably higher strains in the web, the rivets, and the upper chord of the longitudinal girders. The maximum of these strains, however, in the case of all the types of which drawings have been furnished me, fall just within the limits prescribed by the rapid transit commission, viz.: 9,000 lbs. per sq. inch in tension and compression, and 7,500 lbs. per sq. inch, for shearing stress, except in the riveted connections near the end. The vertical shear on these rivets, on the assumption that the strains are axial, and neglecting the effect of transverse loading of the upper chord between panel points, approach within -4 or 5 per cent of this limit. The exigencies of simple construction make the riveted web joints extend one-fourth of a panel length, which with the transverse action of the inter-panel load develop moments of flexure, greatly increasing the stress on the rivets. Some portion of these structures, are the joint property of the New York and the Metropolitan Companies. The locomotives of the latter company are considerably heavier than those of the former. The maximum upper chord and rivet stress produced by the heaviest Metropolitan trams in the longitudinal girders of this joint structure, exceed those permitted by the above requirements of the commission nearly ten per cent. This duty is not severe enough to arouse apprehensions of immediate danger, but it has not the sanction of high authority, or good usage under similar conditions of small dead weight and suddenly applied moving load. There probably do not exist iron railway viaducts so uninterruptedly worked as these. Their spans and consequent static loads and mass of individual members are small, intensifying the resilient effect of the moving load — ail elements that point to perfect connections and small unit strains as the essential conditions of security and permanence. The design and distribution of materials for the transverse girders and of the laterally supported columns, appear to fulfill these condi- tions. There seems to me an element of insecurity in the single- column structure of this road, especially on those portions built on curves of short radius. Their safe moment of resistance to lateral motion is exceeded by a horizontal force of less than 10,000 lbs. applied 25 feet from the base, while a sudden shock of small intensity 18 would threaten their stability, owing to the low modulus of fragility of their cast-iron bases. In the ordinary operation of the road, the continuity of the floor system affords ample security, but derailment or other serious accident on a curve would be much more dangerous on the single than on the double column. The track superstructure is incomplete. The frequency with which trains follow one another make it impossible for a man to pass from one station to the next in the interval between trains, and in the present condition of the superstructure, a man on the track must, on the passage of a train, step out upon a narrow iron beam, often cov- ered with snow or ice, drop down between 'the ties or be run over. Oftentimes the proper inspection and needed repair of the tracks must be omitted or life hazarded, and track inspection and repair is at all times dangerous. A moderate expenditure would provide suitable railed foot-ways along these tracks. Stations. The stations are, as far as practicable, of iron. They are artistically designed and well and substantially built. I am convinced, however, that the security of the public requires railings in front of the platforms, with gates for passage to and from trains. A glance at the statistics of accidents on this road shows that the want of these safeguards has already cost several human lives, and the occurrence of a panic on a crowded ^platform is liable at any moment to precipitate a lamentable catastrophe. Shops. This company have built extensive shops at Ninety-eighth street and Third avenue, fitted with all the tools and appliances likely to be required for the repair and maintenance of all the equipment of both roads. They are unfortunately located, being on a steep grade, and too remote from the northern terminus, to which all the conditions of the case point as the proper place for making up, supplying and dispatching trains. The temporary use of the end of the track, as a terminus without terminal facilities with its attendant car cleaning, etc., doubtless gives considerable annoyance to property owners at Harlem. Equipment. The equipment consists of one hundred and thirty-one engines varying from 23,200 lbs. to 38,000 lbs. in weight, and two hundred and ninety-two cars of which thirty-nine are the discarded coaches of the old 9th avenue line, and the rest are eight wheeled cars, eight 19 feet wide and thirty-eight feet long, with longitudinal seats accom- modating forty-six passengers. The locomotives are effective and well built machines, but the cars are too narrow and indicate that economy, rather than the comfort of passengers were consulted in their construction. The best known means have probably been applied for arresting sparks, but there are two annoyances attending the movement of trains that are avoidable, they are the noise of exhaust steam which can be muffled, and the drippings of condensation which can readily be collected. Characteristics of the Eoad. The length of the road, converting its proportion of the joint lines into equivalent double track, is 14.57 miles. There are no curves on the 9th avenue line of less than 400 feet radius, except at the South Ferry terminus, nor any of less radius than 300 feet on the 3d avenue line except at that terminus and at Coenties' slip, where there is a reversed curve of 125 feet radius. The grades of the 9th avenue line nowhere exceed 52 feet per mile, except between 43d street and 58th street, where the steepest grade is 103 feet per mile. On the 3d avenue line there are four summits overcome by grades varying from 62 to 105 feet per m>le. The Metropolitan Elevated Road. Tins road was incorporated under the name of the " Gilbert Ele- vated Railway Company" by an act of the State legislature passed in eighteen hundred and seventy-two (the name having been changed to the '' Metropolitan Elevated Railway Company" by an order of court dated June 6th, 1878). The corporation was empowered to construct and operate an elevated railway in such streets of New York as should be designated by a com- mission named in the bill on the plan known as the " Gilbert Improved Elevated Railway." This plan provided for tubular roadways suspended above the street by gothic arches springing from the curb lines through which cars were to be propelled by atmospheric or other motive power. The company were to complete their road to Forty-second street in a year and a half, to Eighty-sixth street in two years and a half, and to the Harlem river in thre^ years. An amendatory act in 1873 prohibited the company from using any part of Broadway south of Thirty-fourth street, and another in 1874 confirmed the location of the route by the commissioners, and extended the time for construction about three years. The general conviction that the plans to which the company was committed by its charter were extravagantly expensive if not im- 20 practicable, together with the financial depression of the country, ren- dered abortive every effort to set this enterprise in motion until the commissioners appointed by the mayor to carry out the provisions of the Eapid Transit law of 1875, under the powers conferred upon them by that act, confirmed this company in possession of its valuable route, and permitted it to adopt simple and economical plans of construction. The route thus confirmed to them in September, 1875, began at King's bridge on the Harlem river, thence by Eiver street, Eighth avenue, One Hundred and Tenth street, Ninth avenue, Fifty- third street, Sixth avenue, Amity street, South Fifth avenue, West Broadway, College Place, Murray street, Church street and New Church street to Morris street, and thence through private property and Bow- ling Green to Beaver street, thence by Beaver and Pearl streets, the New Bowery, Division street, Allen street, First avenue, Twenty- third street, Second avenue and River street, to the first named line at the corner of River street and Eighth avenue ; also a connecting line along Chambers street and Chatham street and a branch on Sixth avenue from Fifty-third street to Fifty-ninth street. These conces- sions and this valuable route placed the enterprise in an enviable posi- tion, and its promoters immediately set about devising ways and means for developing it. The instrument employed for this purpose was the New York Loan and Improvement Company, incorporated by a statute of 1870, and empowered to transact banking, contracting and brokerage business. Its ample powers had, however, lain dor- mant from its organization in 1871 until invoked by the promoters of this enterprise in 1876. A contract was made March 13th, 1S7G, be- tween the Gilbert Elevated Railway Company and the Loan and Im- provement Company, by which the latter agreed to completely con- struct and equip the road covered by the charter of the former company in conformity with the requirements of the Rapid Transit commission : for $500,000 in the stock, $750,000 in the first mortgage bonds, and $750,000 in the second mortgage bonds of the railway company for each completed mile of double tracked road. The contract specifically provided for building on these conditions the section of the road from Morris street to Fifty-ninth street, via Sixth avenue, but reserved to the Loan and Improvement Company the right of cancellation after completing that section. It also lim- ited the amount of the mortgages so as to exactly suffice for the pay- ments to the Loan and Improvement Company and prohibited any increase of the stock of the railway company until by the operation of the contract the former company should obtain the control of the railway organization. Soon after the execution of this contract the Loan and Improvement Company began the work of construction by sub-letting to the Edgemoor Iron Company building of the permanent way of the section from Morris street to Fifty-ninth street. Work was begun under this contract in the spring of 1876, but was interrupted by legal proceedings begun by property owners and surface railroad companies, which culminated in an injunction, which effected a can- cellation of the Edgemoor contract and a stoppage of all construction work until the decision of the Court of Appeals, in November, 1877, removed the injunction and permitted the work to proceed. The time remaining to complete the first section of the road, in accordance with the requirements of the Rapid Transit Commission- ers, being very short, the Loan and Improvement Company immedi- ately divided the contracts for construction between the Edgemoor Iron Company, the Keystone Bridge Company and Clark, Reeves & Company, who completed the double tracked structure from Morris street to Fifty-ninth street in April, 1878. Stations and equipment were soon after provided and this section of the road went into opera- tion June 6, 1878. Under sub-contracts with the Edgemoor Iron Company, Messrs. Clark, Reeves & Company, and others, the Loan and Improvement Company continued to actively prosecute the work of constructing this road, until September 30, 1879, when the Manhattan Company assumed control of the work under the contract, leasing the New York and Metropolitan roads, which I have described. The Loan and Improvement Company had then nearly completed the west side line to the Harlem river (upon which trains have been running to One Hundred and Fifty-fifth street several months) ; the Metropoli- • tan's share of the Chatham Square branch, and constructed the foundations and about half the iron structure of the east side line, from Division street via Second avenue to One Hundred and Twenty- ninth street. Since September 30th the Manhattan Company have prosecuted the work under the sub-contracts made by the Loan and Improvement Company, and will probably have the incomplete lines above mentioned in operation during the coming summer. Cost of Construction. The entire work of constructing these roads prior to September 30th, 1879, having been paid for by the Loan and Improvement Com- pany, its cost must be sought from the accounts of that company. The following statement (No. 4) shows the balance to each clasfl ->f expenditures, charged to construction in the books of the Loan and Improvement Company. 22 Statement No. 4. Amount expended by the New York Loan and Improvement Com- pany in the construction of the Metropolitan Elevated Railway up to the 30th of September, 1879 : ACCOUNTS UNDER WHICH PAYMENTS WERE MADE. Contingent fund ! $1,043 54 Office salaries and expenses 55,696 69 Taxes and insurance 15,568 41 Office furniture 3,131 80 Printing and stationery 17,809 89 Engineering 92,269 75 Right of way 3,177 36 Tools and machinery 25,432 89 Incidental damages 9,214 70 Legal expenses 375,272 61 Directors' meetings 1,435 00 Interest, etc 426,328 12 Contingent expenses „ • 173.107 25 Bond negotiation account, etc 415, 5Q0 00 Noise experiments 13,970 77 Engineers' equipment 1,991 12 Equipment locomotives and passenger cars 853,392 64 Structure 1,478,301 55 Superstructure 251,770 70 Stations 372,493 91 Electric signals 31,668 71* Improvement 71 Broad way.. 20,845 67 Building 69 Greenwich street 52,795 42 Church street and B. G. section 10,527 62 Beaver street section 323 00 East side line ■ 2.063,843 27 East side survey 10,860 54 East side sundries 77,992 58 Fifty-third street section 241,412 56 Ninth avenue section 757,974 35 One Hundred and Tenth street section 102,164 63 Eighth avenue section 1,455,240 73 Chambers street section 156 34 Joint Ninth avenue section , . . , 155,837 60 Chatham Square joint section 35,333 32 Real estate less bond and mortgages 693,832 83 ♦ 23 Experimental span $8,773 44 (Pullman's P. C. Co.) Equipment 102,635 42 (J. F. Navarro) office salary and expenses 105,000 00 Thos. A. Edison 500 00 Mills & Ambrose 46,334 43 East side lumber 69,456 62 West side lumber 62,200 37 Foundation stone E. & W 6,344 26 Thirty-fourth street offices 6,194 11 Harlem river survey 3,824 11 Track furniture H." Ent 32,264 03 Sundry reserve account. 88,539 94 Total $10,829,790 50 An intelligent discussion of this account requires a classification of its items. This, by the aid of the books and vouchers of the Loan and Improvement company, I have endeavered to do, treating separately the portion of the west side line south of Eighty-third street and the Chatham square branch, which were built under the contract of the Loan and Improvement company. The rest of the construction work was done on # account of the Manhattan company under the agree- ment before referred to, and is treated of as the " incomplete lines," in statement Nos. 5 and 6. I have classified the expenditures on each of these subdivisions as far as is possible by my data, to foundations, road structure, track superstructure, stations, real estate and equipment, and have added such miscellaneous items of the account as can not readily be distribu- ted into these classifications, but seem fairly chargeable to the section they are assigned to. Statement No. 5. Cost of west side Metropolitan line from Morris street to Eighty- third street. Foundations (1601) $367,791 08 Iron structure 6. 12 miles 1 , 413 , 846 48 Track superstructure 6.12 m 307,836 22 Stations (17) 410,343 54 Real estate, No. 69 Greenwich St . . . 52 , 795 42 Tools and machinery 25,432 89 $2,578,045 63 3 24 Engines (12) : . $54, 774 62 Passenger cars (48) 208,386 25 $263,160 87 Miscellaneous, being proportions of items from statement No. 7, chargeable to this line 217,317 84 Total $3,058,524 34 Statement No. 6. Amounts charged to account of the incomplete lines of the Metropol- itan company, being the west side line from Eighty-third street to the Harlem river, via Ninth avenue and Eighth avenue and the east side line, from Chatham square to One hundred and twenty-ninth street, via Second avenue, to September 30, 1879. Foundations (3,000) $1,786 695 85 Iron structure 2,610,109 47 Track superstructure 177,251 54 Stations 57,004 05 $4,631,060 91 Equipment • 524,866 52 Surveys 15,163 99 Sundries 94,714 31 Miscellaneous, being proportions of items from table No. 7, chargeable to these lines 217,317 85 Total., $5,483,123 58 In Statement No. 7 I have included all the items of the account that were incurred on account of both sections. Some of these ex- penditures are of so general a character as to be chargeable to the sec- tions in proportion to mileage, while others are in greater part chargeable to the completed section. I think their aggregate amount may justly be divided equally between the two sections, and have so entered it in Statements 5 and 6. Statement No. 7. Items of miscellaneous expenses represented by vouchers or directed to be paid by resolution of the board of directors, chargeable in vary- ing proportions to the complete and incomplete lines. 25 Contingent expenses $173,107 25 fund 1,043 54 Office salaries and expenses 55,696 69 Electric signals 31,668 71 Engineering 92,269 75 Right of way 3,177 36 Incidental damages 9,214 70 Directors' meetings 1,435 00 Engineer's equipments 1 , 091 12 Noise experiments 13,970 77 Improvement, 71 Broadway 20,845 67 Printing and stationery 17,809 89 Experimental span 8,773 44 T. A. Edison 500 00 Total $434,635 69 These three statements account for all the charges for construction contained in Statement No. 4, except those in the following list, num- bered Statement No. 8, some of which are not at all chargeable to con- struction, and none of them wholly so. Statement No. 8. Items not chargeable to construction. . , Taxes and insurance $15,568 41 Amounts charged for work upon engines and cars after completion 168,000 67 Interest account 426,328 12 Bond discount. . . ! 415,500 00 Legal expenses ! 375,272 61 Keal estate 693,832 83 Sundry reverse accounts 88,539 94 J. F.Navarro , 105,000 00 Total $2,288,042 58 Of these items the charge of $15,568.41 for taxes and insurance accruing after the opening of the road, and that of $168,000.67 for work done upon cars and locomotives after being fitted with air- brakes, paper wheels, and heating apparatus and brought into use be- long in the operating account. About two-thirds of the sum of $426.- 26 328.12 charged to interest account is credited to stockholders as inter- est on their payments for stock, and the rest is made up of interest allowed contractors on deferred payments and discounts of commercial paper. The $415,000 charged to bond discount represents the loss on $3,605,000 in bonds of the Metropolitan company sold to Kohn, Loeb & Co., $1,000,000 at 85 per cent, and the rest at 90 per cent from December 31, 1878, to September 19, 1879. The rate at which these bonds may have been sold is evidently not an element of the construction account. The expenses incurred in over- coming the legal difficulties encountered in building the road are proper charges upon construction, but they mnst have been less than were involved in maintaining the life and enhancing the value of its fran- chises before construction was begun, and in organizing, setting in motion, and directing the machinery by which this enterprise was de- veloped. Not more than ten per cent of the real estate charged at $093,832.83 is needed or available for the purposes of this railroad on account of the consolidation with the New York Elevated railroad. The remainder constitutes an independent asset. The item of $88,539.94 charged to "sundry reserve account," I understand to represent percentage retained on pending contracts lor construction, all which are assumed by the Manhattan company. I fail to see any thing to connect the credit of $105,000 to Mr. Navarro for " office salary and expenses" with construction. Comparing the cost of this road according to the above statements derived from the books and vouchers of the Loan & Improvement Com- pany, with that of the New York Elevated road, it will be seen that nearly every item except the road structure cost much more than like construction on the latter road. In the case of stations, equipment and track superstructure this difference is in a great measure explic- able from the greater completeness and better quality of these classes of property on the Metropolitan line, but the difference in the cost of foundations does not appear susceptible of such explanation. The cost of the foundations built by the Loan & Improvement Com- pany, as stated in their accounts, and covered by their vouchers, averages $468 each, while the average cost of all the materials enter- ing their construction, according to the details furnished by chief engi- neer Shunk, is less than $135 or 29 per cent of the whole cost. The 1,600 foundations built by days' labor (as were all those on the Metropolitan line) on the New York Elevated road cost $201 each and the materials of which they were built cost $91.50 each or 45 per cent of their whole cost. 27 The contract known as the tripartite agreement made between the New York Elevated, the Metropolitan, and the Manhattan companies at the time the roads were leased to the latter, provided for the can- cellation of the Loan and Improvement company's contract for con- struction, and that the Manhattan company should be chargeable with all work done and property received by the Metropolitan company after January 31, 1879, and reimburse it for all expenditures made on the West Side line north of Eighty-third street, and for all expendi- tures on the East Side line, and should assume all the sub-contracts of the Loan and Improvement company except that for building the iron structure on the west side from Eighty-third street to the Har- lem river, for which it was to pay nine-tenths of a cent per pound (amounting to about 8300,000) more than the contract price. To provide for the expenditures then assumed, it was stipulated that the Manhattan company should receive from the Metropolitan company 86,000,000— 12,600,000 in first mortgage bonds, and the rest in money. By a contract of even date between the Metropolitan comanpy and the Loan and Improvement company the latter company agreed to cancel its contract for building the road of the former company and the second mortgage bonds issued to it under that contract, and to assume the payment of 86,000,000, provided to be made as above, to the Manhat- tan company, on the following conditions : 1st. That the Metropolitan company shoulS 70 Stipulated payment to Manhattan company 6,000,000 00 Total $9,639,147 69 A very considerable expenditure will be required on the part of the Manhattan company to finish the incomplete Metropolitan lines. The estimated cost of this completion from September 22d, 1879, when the construction account of the Loan and Improvement company was closed, was stated by Mr. Shunk, chief engineer of the Manhattan company, as follows : 29 For foundation structure, track stations and sundries. . . $2,803,261 Yards, shops, etc., at termini 1,000,000 $3,803,201 To which should be added for pending equipment con- tract 220,000 $4,023,261 The tripartite agreement provides that if the sum of 86,000,000 stipulated to be paid to the Manhattan company for the completion of the Metropolitan lines proves insufficient the Metropolitan com- pany should issue its first mortgage bonds in sufficient amount to make up such deficiency, not however to exceed the limit expressed in the mortgage of $600,000 per mile. If, in the settlement between the Metropolitan and Manhattan com- panies, the whole construction account of the Loan and Improvement Company be allowed, the latter company will be entitled to re-payment by the Manhattan company of nearly half a million dollars, which will swell the deficiency to be supplied by further issues of bonds by that amount. The total mileage of the Metropolitan lines finished and under construction, converting the joint portion into equivalent double track is 18.11 miles, which, at $600,000 per mile, authorizes the issue of $10,866,000 fn bonds, or $2,366,000 in excess of the amount assigned to the Loan and Improvement Company, but about $2,000,000 less than will be required to meet the deficiency indicated by Mr. Shunk's esti- mate and the Loan and Improvement Company's account. The east side line and a portion of the west side line are being built partly with three and partly with four tracks, which, if convertible into equivalent miles of double track, would increase the mileage suf- ficiently to provide for any probable deficiency. The Structure. Various types of road structure have been built by this company, the most prevalent consisting of rivetted triangular trusses under the tracks, similar to those of the New York Elevated, carried by straight transverse girders and borne by two wrought iron columns of the Phoenix model. In wide streets these columns are placed about twelve feet each side the center line of the street, and in narrow streets on the curb lines. They are founded in a similar manner to those of the New York Elevated road heretofore described. The most notable deviations from this type are on South Fifth avenue and a consider- able part of Sixth avenue, where the columns are of rectangular sec- 30 tion built of channel bars and plates. The trusses are pin-connected and attached directly to the upper part of the columns. The tracks are borne about midway between the top and bottom chords by trans- verse plate-beams attached to the columns and panel-posts. The floor system adopted on this road differs from that on the New York Elevated, only in being about fifteen per cent heavier. This applies to the steel rails as well as to the timber, the rails of this road weigh from fifty-six to sixty-three pounds per yard, while on the New York Elevated they weigh but fifty pounds. The workman- ship is quite equal in quality to that of the other road. All the iron road structure of the east side line appears by the de- tailed drawings furnished me to be so designed and constructed as to carry the heaviest trains of this company without greater stresses, than 8,000 pounds per square inch, in the chords or 6,000 pounds on the web and rivets. All the transverse girders on the west side line and all the longitudinal trusses, except the pin-connected ones above mentioned, carry these trains without exceeding the limits of stress fixed by the Rapid Transit commissioners, viz.: 9,000 pounds per square inch in the chords, and 7,500 pounds per inch in the web and rivets. The pin-connected trusses on South Fifth avenue, and Sixth avenue, covering nearly two miles of the road, possess very serious defects. Like all the earlier structures for these roads, they were designed for a uniform moving load of 1,500 pounds per foot of single track, in the belief that the rolling stock to be used upon them would thus be amply provided for. A short trial of light locomotives proved that with the frequent stops, incident to this traffic, rapid transit, could only be secured by powerful machines, and locomotives were in- troduced weighing 42,000 pounds, concentrating a weight of 34,000 pounds upon a rigid wheel base of five feet. The fact that these engines with their attendant trains do not in any position bring upon two consecutive spans so great a load as 1,500 pounds per foot, and that the upper flanges and web members of the rivetted trusses, which experience their worst effect, were designed with high factors of safety saves the transverse girders and the longitudinal trusses of the latter class from injurious strains from this concentration of load. It is otherwise with the inclined ties and iron floor system of the pin-con- • nected structure. The ties are subjected to a stress of over 10,000 pounds per square inch, and the flanges of both the floor beams and track stringers, over 12,000 pounds per square inch. Part of the floor beams of this type of structure have continuous plate webs, while in the rest the web between the two tracks consists of single inter-secting angle bars attached to the flanges by single three-quarter inch rivets. 31 These web connections being fully strained every time a train passes v one of the beams without meeting another train upon it, were so enormously overworked as to soon show signs of suffering, and are being reinforced by attaching channel bars to the flanges between the tracks, and introducing an additional system of braces. The flanges, however, are not reinforced beyond their points of maximum stress. It is true that only three-fourths the maximum strain is felt in these beams when but one track is loaded, yet in view of their compound structure, the suddenness with which the load is applied and the fre- quent recurrence of meeting trains, they appear to me too heavily worked to insure permanent security. A considerable part of the track super-structure is provided with footways outside the tracks, but additional facilities for track inspec- tion and repairs are needed. Stations. The stations are similar in their general character to those of the New York Elevated, but are more commodious and more highly finished. Their platforms are alike in need of railings and gates to prevent accidents. Equipment. The equipment of the Metropolitan company consists of 55 locomo- tives and 175 passenger cars. The engines are powerful, well built and highly-finished. They have been fitted with every available device for increasing their efficiency and to lessen the annoyances of noise and cinders. The cars are well built, comfortably arranged and finished and tastefully decorated. The Operation of the Elevated Roads. The operations of both these roads have thus far been embarrassed by the want of terminal and shop facilities. The losses resulting from a lack of these facilities and those inci- dent to the experimental phase of their development, render the finan- cial results thus far attained an uncertain guide in estimating the results of future operations. Being pioneers in the field of elevated railway transportation, we cannot elsewhere find conditions sufficiently analogous to throw light upon such an inquiry. The business of these roads, from the starting of the New York Elevated on its widened basis in 1877, and from the opening of the Metropolitan, June 5th, 187S, may be summarized as follows : 32 Business of the New York Elevated Road. Year Ending October 30, 1878. Year ending October 30, 1879. 4 months ending January 5, 1880. Miles of road operated. . . Passengers carried Mileage of trains Operating expenses .... Business of the 7 miles. 4,916,322 not known. $429,988.35 250,727.56 179,260.79 Metro polii 13 miles. 29,875,912 2,679,666 $2,239,489 08 1,171,339 78 1,068,149 30 "an Elevated 14 miles. $922,121 02 291,400 01 640,721 01 Road. Four months, ending October 1, 1878. Year ending October 1. 1879. 2 months ending December 1, 1879. Miles of road operated. . . Passengers carried Mileage of trains Gross receipts Operating expenses 5 miles. 4,320,348 not known. $351,272.82 124,072.64 227,200.18 7 miles. 16,069,489 1,620,408 $1,285,980 09 709,524 47 576,455 62 11 miles. $589,260 40 185,836 48 303,423 92 The income of the New York Elevated for the year ending October 1st, 1878, was nearly all derived from the 9th avenue and Greenwich street line, as the east side road was only opened to 42d street in Au- gust of that year. The 9th avenue line has been run as a single track road nearly all the time; the re-building of the old structure, now nearly completed, having been begun soon after the second track was finished. Not- withstanding this fact, and the want of proper facilities for economi- cal operation, the net earnings for the year ending October 30th, 1879, were 15 per cent of the total cost to that time, including the large expenditures for construction made during that year. The Metropolitan road, from its opening, June 5th, to October 30th, 1878, 'less than four months, had made $227,000 net, or 7 per cent of all the cost to that time, nearly all which had been expended during that year. During the next year, with only about a third of its road completed, and utterly without shops or terminal facilities, its net earn- ings were nearly seven per cent on the amount expended for construc- tion, though two-thirds of this sum was represented by incomplete and unproductive property. The earnings for the last four months show a large increase in earnings, and operating expenses reduced to thirty- one per cent. The great volume and rapid increase of this business, with the addition that must come to it from the con tributary suburbs 33 and unimproved portions of the city, insure a brilliant future to these enterprises, and make it probable that when completed and thoroughly organized and equipped in every department, they will, under their present tariff, make gross earning of over $6,000,000 per annum, and net earnings of $4,000,000. There are, however, problems growing out of the peculiar conditions surrounding this method of transportation ; such as the life of the track and track superstructure under the heavy work of constant use and frequent stops on a rigid structure ; the cost of maintaining the structure itself and the probable average length of haul, t. e., the ratio of the number of fares to train miles, when the lines arc completed,' which render any present estimate of net earnings somewhat uncertain. The greatest danger attending the frequent movement of trains arises from the possibility of trains colliding at switches, or moving trains running into those at rest in darkness, storms or fogs. The former are increased by the lack of yard room at termini, and demand — after the elimination of all dispensable switches — the best switch devices and untiring vigilance in their care and use, while the latter can only be guarded against by a perfect signal system or high illu- mination of the roadway. To provide the mechanical devices and the methods of organization and management required to move the great tide of human travel that will soon crowd these lines, with the greatest dispatch, comfort and safety, and with the least injury to private rights and public uses in the streets they occupy, demand the highest resources of human inge- nuity and administrative ability. My acknowledgments are due to the officers of these companies for the assistance they have rendered and the facilities they have afforded me in the prosecution of these inquiries. Respectfully submitted, E. SWEET, Jr. Albany, January 21th, 1880. Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library