Annual report of the Virginia Central Railroad.
We have received the annual report of the President of the Virginia Central Railroad. The gross receipts of the road for the fiscal year were $1,522,967 77, and the expenses $768,283 59. Of the earnings of the road $926,407 was for passenger fare, $428,961 for freight, and $147, 748 for express freight. The total liabilities of the company are $946,552. The company has twenty-nine locomotives, which can all be used or so repaired as to be useful, and 204 cars. The road committee make the following report:‘ The bridge across the Cow pasture river, burnt by the enemy, will be rebuilt and ready for the trains early next year, so there will be a thorough line of travel to Jackson's river, as that across Wilson's creek, which was washed away by a flood in that stream, has been already replaced.
’ That part of the road lying west of the Blue Ridge is in fine condition for the running of the trains, although very little labor has been spent on it during the past year, the obvious reason for which is that it was ballasted soon after the track was laid, which kept the road-bed dry and prevented the cross-ties from being depressed by the weight of the trains.
On the east side of the Blue Ridge, in nearly all the cuts which are wet, the track is rough and uneven, and the iron is very much worn from the sinking of the cross-ties into the soft road bed, because most of them are without ballast, and the small force which the road master could obtain is entirely inadequate to keep the ditches open, put in cross-ties, and level up the track.
One hundred thousand cross-ties will be needed for the road during the winter and the next summer, and unless a very large additional force can be put on it, if the winter should prove wet, it will be impossible to keep it in a condition to meet the demands of public travel, and also to transport supplies for the army and freight for private citizens.
The timbers placed under the Rivanna bridge as guards against the breaking down of the iron, of which the bridge is built, are decayed, and must be replaced at an early day; or, what would be better, build a bridge of timber, and use the iron of the old bridge for other purposes, as it is much needed in the shops.
