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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