226 POWER DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC RAILROADS.
As in the bicycle railway, very little grading is nec-
essary—none under favorable conditions—the rails serve
admirably as conductors, and the supporting structure is
cheap and simple. In the experimental road storage bat-
teries were used, thereby throwing away one of the essen-
tial advantages in the conductivity of the rails and adding
unnecessary weight to the car. For cross country work-
ing such a system should be a decided success since it
could be carried high enough to be out of the way at cross-
ings and takes up singularly little room.
Either the bicycle or the saddleback road can be in-
stalled even more cheaply than the narrow gauge line just
discussed, owing to the practical abolition of grading, free-
dom from an overhead trolley construction and full utiliza-
tion of the rails as conductors. These roads too are much
less liable to trouble from snow and bad weather than the
narrow gauge and are equally efficient for the purpose in
hand. Under favorable conditions they could be built and
equipped for the same service as the narrow gauge for a
sum scarcely, if at all, exceeding $5000 per mile for a ten
mile line. At a pinch any one of these roads could get
along with one man per train exclusive of the men at the
power house, thereby giving an electric railway, of which
the necessary expenses would be hardly more than $4000
per year, and which would pay fairly on gross receipts as
small as $7500 to $8ooco per year. ‘The possibilities of such
roads for opening up the country are self evident.
Throughout the estimates just given it will be noticed
that nothing is included for franchise and right of way.
This omission is for the very good reason that in the
regions to be benefited by such roads, franchise and way
would always gladly be given, with not infrequently a sub-
stantial bonus in some form or other.
Built for cash and operated for profit, such roads offer
good prospects for excellent returns on the investment, and
their economic value to the country can hardly be over-
estimated. Almost nothing has yet been done in this line,
but the field is a most promising one.
