the United States of America. Strikes are unknown, and there is no ever-rising
schedule of wage. The result is that the cost of the necessities remains the same.
Generally speaking, the workingmen and women of Mexico are a less turbulent, less
restless and more contented people than those similarly situated in almost any other
country. But that is another story. The advantages offered the working force by
the tramways system of the City of Mexico are such that few, if any, companies in
the United States may boast of, and are indicative of a more thoughtful humanity
in dealing with the semi-professional laboring element.
EDITOR OVERLAND MONTHLY.
WHILE THE underlying prin- The first street railway in Mexico was
ciples of street railroad op- established in the year 1856, the system
eration give us many points at that time consisting of two or three cars
of similarity in practically drawn by mules, which were operated from
all parts of the world, conditions in for- the central portion of the city through the
eign countries necessitate, at times, radi- business and residential sections, the en-
cal departures from established customs tire round trip requiring about twenty
of companies operating in this country. minutes. Gradually, as the growth of the
We have, in our previous issues, ex- city warranted, additional lines were
plained street railroad practice in Oriental placed in operation. These properties
countries, and the object of the present ar- were independent concerns, and in the
tide is to give to our readers the system year 1883 a consolidation of all street car
of our southerly sister nation, Mexico, interests was effected, and a new company
especially applying to the magnificent organized, which was called "Ferrocarriles
street railway system in the capital of the del Distrito Federal," which, translated,
Southern Republic. means "Federal District Kailways." This
24
OVERLAND MONTHLY.
company made several extensions and ob-
tained from the Government a new conces-
sion giving it the right to operate street
cars in the Federal District for 99 years.
In the year 1900 all the rights that this
company possessed were acquired by a cor-
poration organized in Great Britain and
known as the "Mexican Electric Tramways
Company." The new company immedi-
ately proceeded to reconstruct various
lines, install power houses, etc., and change
operations from mule to electric traction.
A number of new lines were built, and
extensions also made to existing lines so
as to reach the outlying districts and keep
pace with the growth of the city.
Jn the early part of 1907 the interests
of this company passed to a Canadian cor-
poration, at the head of which was F. S.
Pearson, Dr. Sc. This new corporation
was called the "Mexican Tramways Com-
pany," and under this administration, the
growth of the system has been remarkable.
New lines have been constructed, reaching
out to every part of the Federal District.
A contract was entered into between the
company and the Mexican Light and
Power Company, whereby the latter con-
cern furnishes power, generated from its
hydro-electric plant at Necaxa, to the for-
mer company. This necessitated the es-
tablishment of sub-stations by the Tram-
ways Company, which were erected in
various parts of the city so as to assure
an adequate system for the distribution of
electrical energy. At the present time the
company has seven of these sub-stations,
three of which are located in the city
proper and four in the suburban districts,
namely: one at Churubusco, another at
Mixcoac, a third at Xochimilco, and the
fourth at Tlalnepantla. Also there is a
portable power station, established in a
car which can be moved from point to
point in accordance with the necessities
of travel or demands for power upon any
particular district. The capacity of the
sub-stations is 10,000 kilowatts. In ad-
dition to these substations, the company
ha? located at Indianilla an auxiliary
steam -plant, with a kilowatt capacity of
3250 kilowatt hours, which is only used
in case of necessity or extraordinary de-
mands. In addition to these plants there
is a storage battery located at Indianilla
as a reserve source of power for the opera-
tion of tire pumps in connection with a
very elaborate fire sprinkling system in-
stalled in all of the company's buildings.
The main offices, depots, etc., of the
company are located at Indianilla, a short
distance from the center of Mexico City.
The property of the company at this point
covers upwards of 15 acres and the car
barns have a capacity of about 500 cars.
The shops of the company are also lo-
cated at this point, and are one of the
most complete on the North American
Continent; they are thoroughly equipped
for the construction of all kinds of cars
used in passenger, freight, funeral and
other services of the company. They are
in charge of a skilled master mechanic
and a trained corps of assistants. A force
of upwards of 500 men are employed, all
of whom are Mexicans, with the exception
of the master mechanic and his assistant,
and the class of the work turned out of
this shop will compare very favorably with
that of the best car building companies of
this country.
In addition to this main " depot, the
company has another depot at San An-
tonio Abad, where 200 additional cars
may be stored. This latter property is
used principally for the operation of
freight service. The main store-rooms of
the company are also located at Indianilla.
In addition thereto, however, they have a
large property covering about six acres,
located at about one mile from Indianilla,
where all heavy material is stored.
In track construction the company has
adopted as a standard for city work 90 Ib.
and 114 Ib. steel rails, with steel ties laid
on a concrete bed, reinforced by expanded
metal, the lighter rail being used on lines
where the traffic is not very heavy, while
on all principal streets and lines over
which large suburban trains are operated
the 114 Ib. steel is used, with curves and
switches correspondingly heavy. All sub-
urban lines are constructed with 70 Ib.
steel, A. S. C. E. section laid on creosoted
wooden ties with bearing plates and bal-
las f ed with rock.
For the purpose of securing a constant
and cheap supply of rock for its various
building purposes, and also for track bal-
last the company owns and operates a
large stone quarry, located at a conven-
ient suburban point called Santa Ursula,
TRAMWAY AND POWER SYSTEM IN MEXICO CITY.
Don Licenciado Rafael Reyes Spindola,
editor of the ''Impartial" Mr. Spin-
dola is one of the leaders of thought in
Mexico. His daily newspaper is energeti-
cally managed and withmit the stain of
yellowness.
the rock being a lava composition caused
by an eruption of Mount Ajusco some
thousand or more years ago.
The number of men employed in the
track and building departments varies
quite naturally in accordance with the
amount of construction work the company
is doing. On account of the large amount
of construction work that they are doing
at present, the company is employing about
1500 men.
In the city, overhead line construction
consists of steel poles and 000 wire, and
suburban lines are constructed with creo-
soted pine poles, the size of the wire be-
ing the same.
At the present time the company uses
in its various services 617 cars, which are
divided as follows: 250 electric passenger
motors; 85 passenger trail cars; 68 pas-
senger mule cars; 71 funeral cars; 135
freight cars, and 8 special cars.
The company has in operation 159
miles of electric track, equipped with elec-
tric trolleys, and 23 miles of track with
animal traction, making a total of 182
miles, exclusive of freight sidings into
quarries, factories, etc.
The plans of the company for the pres-
ent year call for the construction of one
or two extensions to existing city lines, in
order to furnish additional transportation
facilities to parts of the city that have
quite recently developed considerably, and
at this time show prospects of such future
growth as to warrant that they have better
service than heretofore. These extensions
will probably add five or six miles to the
mileage above given for electric traction.
The operating system of the company is
composed of 40 different lines or routes,
of which 35 are electric traction and 5 are
mule lines. The latter are operated from
a point at which the electric line termi-
nates and extends to districts which, until
quite recently, had not shown sufficient de-
velopment to warrant the extension of the
electric lines, but now that the financial
situation has improved considerably and
building operations are extensive in all
parts of the city, these sections are show-
ing a very favorable increase, and it is
the intention of the company to convert
these to electricity within the next
eighteen months.
With very few exceptions the city lines
use one street on outbound trips and an-
other parallel to it on inbound trips. Sub-
urban and interurban lines are operated
over a private, fenced-in right of way for,
the entire distance of each line. This
private right of way now amounts to 46
miles.
Located in the heart of the business
section of the city is a central plaza or
park, called the Zocalo, the correct name
of which, however, is Constitutional
Plaza. It covers an area of about six
acres, on the east side of which is the
National Palace, while on the north side
is the world-renowned cathedral, and on
the south the Municipal buildings. On
each of the four sides of this plaza the
company has laid its tracks and practi-
cally all lines of cars start from this
central point and radiate in every direc-
tion throughout the business and residen-
tial sections of the city and outlying dis-
tricts, and from their outer terminals re-
turn again to this central starting point.
This system is especially gratifying to the
tourists, of whom there are always a large
OVERLAND MONTHLY.
number in the city, as they seem to make
it a practice to become acquainted with
the location of the Plaza and use it as
a landmark in order to find their way
around the city.
Mexico is attracting considerable at-
tention from the tourist at the present,
and owing to the equable climate of the
capital, the mean temperature varying
very little the entire year, the hotels are
always filled with travelers who leave their
homes in order to escape the extremes of
northern climatic changes, for despite the
fact that Mexico is in the tropics, there
is never any excessive heat in the City of
Mexico; the days are warm, not hot, and
the nights are always cool.
The intervals between cars during the
greater part of the day on the different city
lines vary from three to six minutes, de-
pending on the amount of travel on the re-
spective lines. These headways are main-
tained from 7:30 a. m. to 8 p. m., after
which hour the schedule gradually length-
ens no owl cars are operated, but on
nearly all the city lines service is kept up
until 2 a. m % On suburban and interur-
ban lines the service is less frequent, al-
though some are operated on as close a
schedule as six minutes, more at ten min-
utes, and others at 20 minutes, 40 minutes
and one hour, depending on the distance
and travel. Service is kept up on most
pf these lines, until 1:30 a. m., and the
first car from the outer terminal starts
at 5 a. m. For the convenience of its em-
ployees who resident some distance from
the depot special early morning cars are
operated.
On all city lines a special type of double
truck car, seating 36 passengers, is used.
These cars are equipped with two G. E.
70 motors and type K. 11 H controller.
The fare on these lines is 6 cents, Mexican
currency. The service on suburban and
interurban lines consists of a first-class
motor car pulling a second class trail car.
The seating capacity of the motor is 56
passengers. It is 48 feet 6 inches, over
all, has four G. E. 87 motors and type M
multiple unit control. The second class
trail car is 43 feet 8 in. over all; is
equipped with longitudinal seats, and in
the front part of the car is an apartment
for parcels and express matter. The fare
prices on first clas? cars vary from 10
cents to 40 cents, Mexican currency, being
at the rate of two cents per kilometer, de-
pending on the distance from the center,
and on a second class car it is usually about
60 per cent of the first-class fare for the
same distance. In the compartment of the
second class car, where packages, parcels
and express matter are carried, a charge
is made tor packages depending upon the
size of the package, and is based upon the
second class fare for the distance.
In order to build up and encourage the
growth of the suburban towns, the com-
pany, some years ago, established a sys-
tem of monthly tickets which they call
"abonos." These entitle the holder to
make five trips a day between the center
of the city and the point to which the
ticket is valid. There are first class month-
ly tickets and second class monthly tickets
which entitles the holder to ride in either
first or second class cars, with the advan-
tage to holders of first class monthly
tickets that they have the privilege of rid-
ing in either first or second class cars ac-
cording to their desires. The price at
which these tickets are sold varies in ac-
cordance with the distance from the city,
and ranges, for first class monthly tickets,
from $4.50 to $10 Mexican currency, while
the second class monthly tickets are sold
at prices ranging from $2.50 to $6.50
Mexican currency. They are good only
for the month for which they are issued,
and can only be used by the person whose
name is written on the face of the ticket.
On nearly all suburban lines, express
trains are operated in addition to the regu-
lar schedule trains. These trains make
regular morning trips, leaving the outer
terminals at such hours as will allow resi-
dents of suburban towns to arrive at their
offices before opening hours. They also
make outbound trips from the center, leav-
ing the principal plaza at 1 p. m. and a
few minutes thereafter, so as to permit
of the suburban resident going to his
home for dinner. Return trips are like-
wise made so as to arrive at the plaza
shortly before 3 p. m., and outbound trips
are again made . in the evening just at
closing hours.
These trains stop only at certain adver-
tised stations, and a speed of 40 miles an
hour is maintained. No extra fare is
charged on these trains, and the regular
TRAMWAY AND POWER SYSTEM IN MEXICO CITY.
monthly tickets are accepted for passage
provided they are valid on the line. This
system of express train service and month-
ly tickets is, more than anything else, the
cause of the building up and rapid growth
of the suburban sections around the City
of Mexico, as by means of these great ad-
vantages a business man can reside at a
considerable distance from the business
section and be enabled to go to or from his
home as quickly, if not more quickly, than
a person living in the residential section
of the city, and generally at a cost slightly
less than the outlay required on the city
lines for the same number of trips. It
seems to be the policy of the company to
accommodate as much as possible subur-
ban residents and encourage the growth
and building up of suburban districts.
The conditions of travel in Mexico are
radically different from what we are ac-
customed to in the United States, for,
whereas here we have but two business
rushes, one in the morning, the other at
night, they have four : one in the morning,
two at noon, and one -at night. The City
of Mexico is in the tropics, and its inhabi-
tants, like all tropical peoples, like their
noon hour rest (called there "siesta") and
all business ceases from 1 to 3 p. m. This
quite naturally creates additional business
for the railroad company, and is also, inci-
dentally, the reason for maintaining a
short headway on all lines during the
greater part of the day. Contrary to ex-
pectation, the heaviest riding months of
the year are those of the rainy season, or,
say, June, July, August and September.
During these months it is usually pleasant
in the morning, and, as a rule, rainy in
the afternoon and evenings.
The company has found by experience
that fare registers are not practical in so
far as their system is concerned, and con-
sequently no registers are used, but in
place of these they have established a
ticket system whereby the conductor, upon
payment of the fare, hands the passenger
a ticket showing the line upon which it is
issued, the point to which it is valid and
the amount of fare paid ; each ticket is
numbered consecutively in accordance with
fare prices. In addition to the conductor,
each car has an inspector or car auditor,
who rides over the greater part of the line
with the car, and it is his duty to check
each ticket, see that it is properly punched,
is correct as to fare price, and also that no
attempt is made to ride beyond the desti-
nation marked thereon without the con-
ductor collecting for the additional dis-
tance.
The operating system of the company
is divided into four divisions, each of
which is directly in charge of a division
superintendent, and he has as his assist-
ants two men who have the title of "chief
of division.*' The division superintend-
ents are held responsible for the operation
of their respective divisions: they must
see that schedules are maintained, that
the service is efficient, that subordinates
are performing their duties, and such
other duties as naturally pertain to their
position.
The most important branch of the com-
pany's business outside of its passenger
service is its freight department, at the
head of which is a superintendent, This
department was established a few years
ago for the purpose of carrying rock from
the quarries to such places as it might be
required, and has gradually developed un-
til at the present time the company has
in this service 40 per cent ot as many
cars as they are using in the passenger ser-
vice. Most of the business is carried on
in carload lots, and besides rock from the
quarries they are now hauling sand from
the various sand mines located throughout
the Federal District, brick from the brick
factories, wood pulp from steam railroad
stations to factories, paper from paper
factories, to consumers and railroad sta-
tions, and, in fact, every kind of arti-
cle that is possible to think of in conjunc-
tion with a freight business, is receiving
the attention of the company, and every
effort is being made to extend the business
wherever possible. Sidings have been
placed in all of the steam railroad freight
yards centering in the City of Mexico ; also
into all stone quarries, sand mines, fac-
tories and any other point where it is pos-
sible for the company to obtain business.
Possibly in no city on the North American
Continent is the freight service of an elec-
tric railroad carried on to the extent tnat
it is operated by the Tramways Company
of Mexico.
Another service which originated with
the Tramways Company is the operation
OVERLAND MONTHLY.
of funeral cars. The tracks of the com-
pany reach every cemetery in and around
the Federal District, and they are pre-
pared to handle any class of a funeral ser-
vice that may be required, from the most
humble to the most elaborate service that
it i? possible to conceive. For this service
special cars have been constructed with
a catafalque for carrying the body, and
leaving a sufficient space on either side for
flowers, wreaths, etc. The car that carries
the body is called a "carroza," and prices
are based on the distance to be carried,
varying from the very cheapest service
furnished by the company, $3.75 Mexican
currency, to the magnificent palace fun-
eral cars at $150. The prices are based on
20 kilometers, and should the distance be
more a corresponding increase is made for
each additional kilometer. A kilometer is
about five-eighths of a mile. This, like
the freight department, is also a special
department of the company, and is in
charge of an employee who devotes all of
his time to this particular branch of the
company's business.
Owing to the immense amount of print-
ing that tlje company requires for its vari-
ous purposes tickets alone amounting to
upwards of ten millions per month they
concluded some three years ago that they
would operate a special printing depart-
ment, where all tickets, passes, monthly
tickets, forms and every other kind of
printing matter used in the various de-
partments of the company's business, could
be executed. This department is now as
complete as any printing office of its size
in the United States, and the work turned
out would be a credit to any professional
printer.
In the main building of the company
there is a private telephone exchange hav-
ing connection to all the offices, despatchers
and important points throughout the sys-
tem. This switch board has in use up-
wards of three hundred drops.
For the convenience of employees, the
company has established in its main build-
ing at Indianilla a club room, where they
have located a library, gymnasium, baths,
dormitories, a restaurant and barber shops.
No charge is made for the use of any of
these conveniences except for the restau-
rant, where eatables are dispensed at cost.
In the library, besides books, periodicals,
magazines, etc., they have the phono-
graph, checkers, chess boards, dominoes,
etc., so that the men while off-duty may
amuse themselves in such manner as they
desire.
Traffic regulations in the City of Mex-
ico are strictly enforced. All cars are re-
quired to stop at the near crossing for the
purpose of receiving or discharging pas-
sengers. Passengers boarding the car
must do so by way of the rear platform
and leave by way of the front.
The growth of the system during the
last ten years is best shown by a compari-
son of the number of passengers carried
for each year.
Figures for the year 1900 to 1909 are as
follows :
1900, 26,669,888; 1901, 26,709,225;
1902, 31,132,030; 1903, 36,482.784; 1904,
42,602,094; 1905, 47,757,440; 1906,
54,562,725: 1907, 64,623,567; 1908, 70,-
357,661; 1909, 71,973,390.
The showing of the company for the
last two years has been remarkable when
we take into consideration that the finan-
cial crisis in the United States in the lat-
ter part of 1907 was of such world-wide
importance as to make itself felt in all
financial centers, and it follows, naturally,
that a country so dependent upon foreign
capital for the development of its great
varied resource? should have received a
very substantial check to its progress
through the tightening of the purse strings
in these centers. The wonderful growth of
this country in recent years under the wise
administration of President Diaz has been
a revelation to business men throughout
the world, and immense amounts of for-
eign capital, principally from the United
States, Canada, Great Britain, France,
Germany and Belgium, have found their
way to profitable investments in the estab-
lishment of various industries in this
country. The prospects at the present
time are very bright, and capital is again
finding its way to this wonderful country
for the purpose of investment.
A relative comparison for the year 1909
of the first and second class passengers car-
.ried shows: 52,766,646 first class passen-
gers; 19,206,744 second-class passengers.
As before stated, second-class passen-
gers are carried only on suburban and in-
terurban lines.
HOW TO SEE MEXICO.
The President of the Company, F. S.
Pearson, Dr. Sc., is a capitalist of inter-
national influence, having been for many
years identified with Tramway and Power
Companies, and is one of the most import-
ant personalities in the development of
modern Mexico. Dr. Pearson's interest?
in Mexico are numerous. Besides being
President of the Tramways Company, he
is also president, of the Mexican Light and
Power Company, the Mexico Northwest-
ern Railroad, and the moving spirit in the
Mexican Steel and Chemical Company.
In addition to his Mexican interests, Dr.
Pearson is also president of the Rio Jan-
eiro Light, Power and Tramways Co., the
Sao Paulo Tramway, Light & Power Co.,
Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is connected with
many other enterprises of that country.
The executive and operating officers of
the Mexico Tramways Company follow: