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