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6
CAR EARNINGS, AS SHOWN BY THE MacRAE SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS
The Western & Atlantic Railroad
seems to take the lead in ideas which
are of practical benefit to railroads as
well as the general public. There
have been many instances sustaining
this statement, and we now bring to
our readers another which is conclusive
within itself.
The Western & Atlantic Railroad
Company has just recently issued, for
the information of railroad experts as
well as others interested, a series of
tables which are the result of several
years careful keeping of accounts un
der what we have termed the “Macßae
System.”
This system of keeping individual
accounts with all the cars in the ser-1
PREFACE.
Previous to year 1881 the W. & A. R. R. Co. was without
a regular Car Accountant Department. In winter of 1880
our late General Manager, General William Macßae, realiz
ing the importance of such a department, instructed Mr.
Jos. M. Brown to put into operation a system, suggested by
General Macßae, which would furnish results such as are
contained in this report.
Although inexperienced in this department, in a brief
time Mr. Brown had arranged the details and put into suc
cessful operation a system which, not only gave prompt and
perfect satisfaction to the current demands of the manage
mint, but also furnished a complete and itemized history of
each car from the time built until returned to shops to be
torn down. After one year in this department, Mr. Brown
was promoted toposition of General Freight Agent. I was
selected as his successor, and have endeavored to carry out
his plans and continue the operation of this system.
The mileage made by W. & A. R. R. cars was not esti
mated, but was obtained from the “daily interchange of
movements and mileage reports,” which system was in vogue
in the South at that time. These reports contained move
ment and mileage made by each car (taken directly from
Conductor’s Train Report), and were interchanged daily by
all Southern roads. By entering these reports in the local
record, we had a complete record of W. & A. cars on foreign
roads, as well as on our own road. This system enabled us
to detect omissions in mileage, diversions of cars or detentions
at stations, and at end of each month record gave actual
mileage made by each car over W. A A. and foreign roads.
TABLE NO. 1.
Showing Average Mileage Made by W. & A. Box Cars of Various
Ages, Also Repairs Made, thus Giving Average Revenue, Ex
pense and Net Loss or Profit earned by Cars, with Per Cent,
of Profit or Loss for One Year.
W. & A. BOX CARS IN GENERAL SERVICE.
O <u O <l>
. .pH .pid
• . qd st> •+-'
<l> . tn O
Age. g g -g p. og a °o«
= o g- t -g £O.O £>no
I £ £ W Ph Ph
1 Year.. 13,149 $ 98 62 $ 958 $ 89 04 17 |
2 Years 13,478 101 08 38 13 62 95 12 f
3 “ 10,475 78 56 48 24 30 32 6
4 “ 9,847 73 85 45 85 28 00 5 f
5 “ 9,881 74 11 57 31 16 80 3%
6 “ 9,349 70 12 70 74 62 /o
7 “ ' 8,968 67 26 60 74 652 1%
8 “ 9,250 69 37 55 49 13 88 2 i
9 “ 9,295 69 71 49 80 19 91 4
10 “ 7,656 57 42 53 67 375 ft
11 “ 7,864 58 98 43 03 15 95 3 |
12 “
13 “
14 “ 6,249 46 87 53 08 621 1 £
15 “ 6,400 48 00 47 02 98 -ft
16 “ 7,470 56 02 82 19 26 17 5 |
You will note profit gradually decreases on car as age increases until it reaches
6th year, then owing to heavy repairs done car is greatly improved and strength
ened, and makes a small profit each year, until it arrives at 10th year, after which
it is again a net loss to company.
vice was originated by the late Gen
eral William Mac Rae, who was for
nine years General Manager of the
Western & Atlantic Railroad, and who
was universally conceded to be one of
the most brilliant men of the day.
We have extracted from the report
of the car accountant, Mr. Eugene C.
Spalding, several tables in this valua
ble publication, as well as the preface
which accompanies it. We submit
these to our readers with the assurance
that they will find therein some facts
of substantial and practical value which
none of them have ever known in the
past, and which a great majority of
them have probably not even had def
inite ideas about.
THE KENNESAW* GAZETTE.
The preceding table, No. 1, was evolved from the record of our en
tire equipment during the year. In arriving at these figures!. i not
discard old cars, which a majority of their time were
condition that they spent the greater part of it on side tracks or repair
tracks, but included them in with the ba ance. These cars, of co use,
greatly decreased the profits on o'd cars, but as we were anxious to ob
tain the exact per cent. of profit or loss on the entire equipment, they
were included, whether they made 13,0-0 miles or only 500 miles per
year. An investigation of this subject cannot fail to be interesting, and
we find some valuable suggestions embodied in the tables.
Taking the value of (he car as the basis, its mileage as revenue, and re
pairs as expense, we are astonished at the vastness of the interest in
volved. A box car will cost SSOO. A road owning 1 000 cars will have a
$500,000 investment A road owning 10,000 cars will expend $5,000 000
in her equipment. These cars are then “turned loose upon the country,
and are expected to earn a reasonable profit on investment.
TABLE NO. 3.
Showing Number of Days 100 W. A A Cars Were on W. AA.
R. R., Number Days Off Line, Number Days in Transit, and
Number Days Detained at Stations During Months October,
November and December.
~ ' s- c • C C c • 8-1
VO < a> O .60 32 ° § I
MONTHS. a£ • g£ O § g& g 2 £.S £ »
k * 6 £
October 1,340 1,760 1,108 1,992 6,200
November 658 2,342 1,184 1,816 6,000
December 956 1 2,144 1,062 2,038 6,200
Totals 2,9546,246 3,354 5,846 *18,400
TABLE NO. 4.
Mileage Made by Above 100 Car's During October, November and
December Over W. AA. R. R. and Foreign Roads. Mileage
for 3 Months.
Mileage Over Mileage Over Mileage Over
months. W. A A. Foreign Both or
R. R. Roads. Total.
October 35,258 69,301 104,559
November 27,491 97,883 125,374
December 31,030 91,623 122,653
93,779 258,807352,586
TABLE NO. 5.
Average Mileage Made by Above 100 Cars Per Car Per Month
and Per Car Per Day. Average Mileage for One Month Per
Car and One Day Per Car.
October.... 1,045 Miles per Car per month 33j Miles per Car per Day
Nov 1,253 Miles per Car per Month 41| Miles per Car per Day
Dec 1,226 Miles per Car per Month 391 Miles per Car per Day
•October and December 31 days, November 30 days.
1 select 100 box cars for three months as basis of my'calculations, al
though figures were obtained from a much larger number of cars and
through a longer period of time, but the figures held good and are taken
as an average. You will note that these cars w’ere in transit only 36 per
cent, of the time, and were detained at stut ons 64 per cent, of the time,
and yet they averaged 1,175 miles per month, or 38 miles per day. This
suggests how r easily the mileage of cars could be greatly increased if the
unnecessa»y detentions were decreased. Suppose the ratio is reversed
and cars are in transit 61 p-r cent, of the time and are detained at sta
tions 36 per cent, of the time, we would have cars earning 2,340 miles per
month, or 76 miles per day. This would double our revenue from mile
age. Private car companies appreciate these facts and, by owning spe
cial cars that are in great demand and are not detained an unreasonable
time at stations, they are able to earn a much better profit on cars than
railroads.
TABLE NO. 6.
Average Miles Made and Money Earned by Cars Various Ages
per Car per Day.
BOX CARS. 648 CARS.
AGE - Miles. Money.
J. Year
2 Years 37 28
3 Years 29 oo
? Years."""""l 27 20
5 Years 27 20
® Years 26 ]9
7 Years
8 Years ok 7 q
9 Year5.7777777’ *5 7
10 Years 91 A
11 Years 99
12 Year577777777’" 17
13 Years7777’
14 Years i? i’A
i« Years..I::::::::::::::::::::: 20 It
