216 POWER DISTRIBUTION FOR ELECTRIC RAILROADS.
Railroads have left these regions untouched because
a route elsewhere would pay better, or would give pros-
pects of traffic sufficient to float a heavier capitalization
without creating undue suspicion.
There are, of course, plenty of cases in which an ordi-
nary railroad, even a branch, would not pay and conse-
quently is not built, while the prospects of traffic are yet
quite near the paying point. A railroad is a rather in-
flexible thing at best. It requires a nearly level track,
must avoid severe curves, has often to acquire an expen-
sive right of way and is in general subject to restrictions
and limitations in such wise as to render construction and
operation somewhat too costly for many places that are
yet in the aggregate of considerable importance. Espec-
ially in the agricultural regions there is much rather scat-
tered freight traffic which cannot be easily handled by an
ordinary road at paying rates, but could be profitably
gathered and increased by roads built with this specific
object in view.
Abroad much has been done in the way of building
light railways especially for the purpose of developing
agricultural districts. Most of them are narrow gauge, be-
tween two and three feet, although a few conform to the
existing standard gauges for convenience in exchanging
and transmitting cars. In Belgium and Prussia especially
this class of service is very considerable in amount, although
there are roads of this kind all over the Continent and not
a few in England and English colonies. Owing to foreign
habits of railway construction most such lines are from
our standpoint too expensive, costing in general from a
minimum of $7500 to $15,000 or more per mile to build
and equip.
In this country there was fifteen or twenty years ago
an epidemic of narrow gauge construction, generally re-
sulting in a change tostandard gauge.
The truth is that while these light, narrow gauge rail-
roads can be built and equipped quite cheaply, often for
half the cost of standard comstruction, they are seldom