Like the Baltimore & Ohio and the Erie, the Reading has benefited largely from the favorable business conditions of the last decade. The combined income of the three Reading companies has grown from $48,422,971 in 1898 to $95,715,088 in 1907.[283] Earnings on the Philadelphia & Reading Railway alone are now nearly as great as the combined income of the three companies at the earlier date. Net receipts were $13,586,710 in 1898 and $29,190,316 in 1907; and the surplus over all payments rose from $1,376,420 to $8,741,454 between those years. It is important to notice that this showing does not depend primarily upon the anthracite business. Not only has the carriage of general merchandise increased until it affords to the railway a return almost equal to the earnings on coal, but in the coal business itself bituminous has assumed an importance nearly as great as that of its harder rival. The Coal & Iron Company still concerns itself almost entirely with anthracite, and has accordingly been more affected by special causes. The strike of the miners in September and October, 1900, and again from May to October, 1902, checked the growth in production for a time; but the increased demand for domestic consumption has made possible an increase in output from 4,849,002 tons in 1897 to 10,034,713 in 1907. Increasing business has stimulated improvements. Over $15,300,000 have been withdrawn from income by the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company for this purpose between 1896 and 1907; and over $10,000,000 have been invested from earnings by the Coal & Iron Company during the same time in colliery improvements alone. Maintenance charges have been ample. Whereas $1300 to $1500 per mile of single main track are sufficient for normal repairs upon a trunk line, the Philadelphia & Reading Railway has spent over $2600 per mile of line for the last seven years, and over $1700 for the three years preceding. As much as $73 has been spent in a single year for average maintenance per freight car, $609 in maintenance per passenger car, and $3244 in maintenance per locomotive. In consequence of these repairs and of renewals upon a considerable scale, the average value of all locomotives has increased between December 1, 1896, and June 30, 1906, from $4906 to $8393; the average value of freight cars producing revenue from $383 to $622; the average value of steam colliers and tugs from $41,533 to $55,451; and the average value of barges from $7930 to $21,074. The average freight train load was 194 tons in 1897 and 403 tons in 1907. Ton-mileage has increased during the period 159 per cent and freight train mileage only 27 per cent.