1. There are in the United States 150,600 miles of railway - about half the mileage of the world. 2. The estimated cost is $9,000,000,000. 3. The number of people employed by American railways is more than 1,000,000. 4. The fastest time made by a train is 422 6-10 miles in 7 hours, 23 minutes (443 minutes), one mile being made in 47 11-29 seconds, on the West Shore Railroad, New York. 5. The cost of a high-class eight- wheel passenger locomotive is $8,500. 6. The longest mileage operated by a single system is about 8,000 miles. 7. The cost of a palace sleeping car is about $15,000 or $17,000 if "vestibuled." 8. The longest railway bridge span in the United States is the Cantilever span in Poughkeepsie bridge - 548 feet. 9. The highest railroad bridge in the United States is the Kinzua viaduct on the Erie road - 305 feet high. 10.

The first locomotive in the United States was built by Peter Cooper. 11. The road carrying the largest number of passengers is the Manhattan Elevated Railroad, New York-525,000 a day, or 191,625,000 yearly. 12. The average daily earning of an American locomotive is about $100. 13. The longest American railway tunnel is the Hoosac, on the Fitchburg railway- 4 3/4 miles. 14. The average cost of constructing a mile of railroad at the present time is about $30,000. 15. The first sleeping-car was used upon the Cumberland Valley Railroad of Pennsylvania; from 1836 to 1848. 16. The chances of fatal accident in railway travel are very slight - one killed in ten million. Statistics show more are killed by falling out of windows than in railway accidents. 17. The line of railway extending farthest east and west is the Canadian Pacific, running from Quebec to the Pacific Ocean. 18. A steel rail, with average wear, lasts about eighteen years. 19. The road carrying the largest number of commuters is the Illinois Central at Chicago - 4,828,128 commutation fares in 1887. 20. The fastest time made between Jersey City and San Francisco is 3 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes and 16 seconds.

Special theatrical train, June, 1876.

Note

Twenty-hour regular train service was established between New York and Chicago, May 28, 1893. Average speed throughout, 51 miles.