PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
FETC.O. 882
4 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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No. 8.
GOVERNOR THE HON. SIB A. H. GORDON, G.C.M.G., to the RIGHT HON. THE EARL GRANVILLE, K.G. (Received August 23, 1886.)
No. 284.
MY LORD,
The Pavilion, Kandy, Ceylon, July 27, 1886.
In continuation of my Despatch, No. 259, of the 23rd ultimo, I have the honour to enclose the copy of a report by the Chief Resident Engineer, Nanu Oya Railway, on the letter of Mr. Prestage, to which I have referred in the above-mentioned despatch.
The Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G.,
&c.
&c.
&c.
Enclosure in No. 8.
I have, &c. (Signed)
A. GORDON.
From the CHIEF Resident Engineer, Nanu Oya Railway, to the COLOnial Secretary.
No. 118.
SIR,
Dimbula, Kotagala, July 13, 1886.
1. I HAVE the honour to return here with Mr. Prestage's letter of the 9th April last, sent to me for report with your communication, No. 48, of the 26th ultimo, and beg to submit the following remarks thereon.
2. In the first place it is to be observed that Mr. Prestage's offer, as contained in the fourth paragraph of his letter, is based upon the supposition (see paragraph 15 of his letter) that the new engine, the "Climber," designed for the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, which it will be noted was, when he wrote, not yet at work, will be found equal to perform the duty expected from it, and it is also made subject to the condition that the loads to be conveyed on the Haputale Extension are to be " equally dense as rice or
grain."
LE
3. With regard to the anticipated performances of the " Climber," it is a matter of every day experience that but little refiance can be placed upon the practical efficiency and economy of any machine until it has been subjected to the rough and crucial test of actual experience in working it; without, therefore, in any way attempting to decry the mechanical skill and ingenuity displayed in the design of the "Climber," a fall description of which is given in Enclosure No. 3 to Mr. Prestage's letter, and which, therefore, I need not reproduce bere, I consider that I am fully justified in a matter of so much importance, and I feel that in this I shall be supported by every practical man, in putting aside all arguments and figures based upon the anticipated performances of a necessarily somewhat complicated engine, departing in many respects greatly from the ordinary type, and in confining myself to figures and calculations founded upon results actually obtained in working the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. The statistics relating to that line, as derived from the Official Administration Report upon Indian Railways for 1884, are fully analysed in my memorandum of the 17th April last, and to that memo- randum, therefore, I may have to make frequent references as I proceed.
4. Before going further, however, one statement of Mr. Prestage's in connexion with the "Climber" at once demands attention, and is quite irrespective of its practical efficiency in working. In paragraph 15 of his letter Mr Prestage says that that engine has "
more than double the power of adhesion of the locomotives that are working on "the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway," that is to say (for the adhesion of such an engine is entirely dependent upon its weight, or rather upon that portion of its weight which is carried by the driving wheels, coupled or single), that it is more than double the weight of the engines at present in use on that line. I admit that the weight of the "Climber' is carried (according to the printed description of it) by six pairs of coupled wheels, which is probably a much greater number than the existing engines have, but notwith- standing this, it remains to be seen, and only experience can determine the point, how,
• No. 5.
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admitting the "Climber" to be a mechanical success, the comparatively light permanent way in use on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway will behave under this enormous increase in the weight of the engines passing over it; if, as is probable, or at any rate very possible, the use of so heavy an engine should result in an increase in the cost of working expenses under the sub-heading of "Maintenance of Ways, &c.," this increased expense might go far to balance any saving effected under the sub-head of "Locomotive
power."
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5. With regard to Mr. Prestage's condition, on which his offer to lay down the permanent way on a gauge of 2 feet, and to provide station accommodation, and equipment and rolling stock sufficient to carry 50 tons each way per diem for the lump sum of 2,6501. per mile, is based, namely, that the load carried is to be equally dense as rice or grain, I would point out that upon the Haputale Extension it cannot be complied with.
In the first place, the bulk of the up traffic will probably be rice, but the down traffic will wainly consist of coffee, tea, and cinchona.
The weight of rice appears to be about 65 lbs, per bushel.
The weight of a bushel of parchment coffee is about 37 lbs.
A chest of tea measuring outside 24 inches by 20 inches by 18 inches, equal to 5 cubic
feet or 3-897 bushels, appears to weigh about 129 lbs., giving a weight per bushel of about 33 lbs.
While a bushel of cinchona bark, not hydraulically pressed, but packed tightly into the measure by coolies' hands or feet, as it usually is, into the bags, when carried by rail appears to weigh from 20 to 25 lbs., according as to whether branch bark or shavings are dealt with.*
It will thus be noticed that the articles forming the bulk of the down traffic have a density varying only from about half to one-third that of rice. In the second place the estimated traffic on the Haputale Extension is more than equal to 50 tons each way per diem.
Thus the goods traffic of 26,820 tons per annum is equal to 73 tons daily, including See Sessiozal Sundays, and this, it will be noted, does not include any tea.
Paper XI. of
I have in paragraph 25 of my memorandum of the 17th April last estimated the 1885, page 5. passenger traffic at 4,889 persons per mile per annum, equal on 25 miles of railway to Ibid, page 3.
a total annual number of 124,670 passengers, these at Mr. Prestage's figures of
10 passengers to a ton equal 12,467 tons, or 34 tons daily; thus giving, with the goods, a total traffic equal to 107 tons per diem.
In the third place, the disparity between the up and down goods traffic, the former being three times the tonuage of the latter, might render additional rolling stock necessary beyond that which would have been required had the traffic in both directions been equal. In view of Mr. Prestage's conditions thus not being fulfilled, his offer to do the work he proposes for 2,6501. per mile would, of course, fall through, and the Colony would certainly have to pay the additional sum named of 8501. per mile, if, indeed, he could not justly claim the larger additional sum of 1,7001. per mile. The payment to him would thus become 3,500l. per mile, if, indeed, it did not actually amount to 4,3501, per mile.
6. Assuming Mr. Prestage's offer to be in £ sterling, the sum of 2,6501. is equivalent at 18. 6d. per rupee, approximately the present current rate of exchange to Rs. 35,333. 33. Now the cost per mile of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, on which the traffic is much under 50 tons each way per diem, and which is also made upon a common cart road, is stated to have been Rs. 53,109 per mile, allowing Rs. 10,000 of this sum to have been See Table spent in improving the road, and in deviation therefrom where the curves were too sharp IV. attached to be followed by the railway, the remainder, viz., Rs. 48,109 per inile, will exactly to Memo- represent the cost of the work upon that line, which Mr. Prestage offers to do in Ceylon 17th April for Rs. 35,333. 33. It would thus seem that his offer is very nearly Rs. 8,000 per mile last, pro gressive too low.
randum of
7. In the third clause of his offer Mr. Prestage gurantees "that the cost of hauling number 7. per ton per mile of paying load shall not exceed three annas," per
am not quite clear whether by the words in italios Mr, Prestage means the cost of working expenses, but I presume that he does.
If so, from calculations founded strictly upon the figures given in the Official See Men Administration Report for 1884 above mentioned, it appears that upon the Darjeeling randum o
last, para 12. Himalayan Railway in that year 16,730 tons of goods were carried to an average distance 17th Apri of 36-55 miles, and 31,177 passengers equal (by Mr. Prestage's own figures of
Ibid, para 9.
• Tea and cinchona bark are not usually measured by the bushel, but to compare them with the rice I have reduced them to the same unit of measurement.
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