The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2687, 27 September 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1871.

Now that it is resolved upon that main lines of railway shall be constructed, every discovery tending to cheapen them and to extend their utility should be adopted. The public mind is only

beginning to understand their advantages. But very few are prepared for the changes that must take place in a very few years, through their adoption as modes of transit of goods and passengers. They have hitherto been looked upon as substitutes for stagecoaches, carriers’ waggons, and canal boats, involving in the first instance hea\y outlay, and useless excepting with the help of costly engines. It is said by men of science that experience must precede correct theory; and so far as the mercantile principles that ought to guide us in railway construction are concerned, this has proved .to be eminently true. The object sought has been to draw the heaviest loads at the highest safe rates of speed. In order to this heavy* engines were esteemed necessary. They proved effective so far as mechanical power was concerned, but then they involved such an excessive outlay of capital that the profit was eaten up in expenses. This is very easily understood when it is considered that heavy engines required heavy rails and wore them away rapidly, and that everything must be in proportion—so that railways that might have been profitably worked if constructed at a moderate cost returned no dividends. We do not say they were of no benefit to the country through which they passed that is quite a different affair. Some day, not very distant, railways or tramways will be constructed on the principle now followed in making metalled roads, and districts will be looked upon as isolated and not fit for settling in, without a rail or tram-road. It is therefore necessary that the principles that should guide us in making them should be understood. The mistake of using heavy engines is shown in a report by Major A. F. Sears, to the Directors of the Pennsylvania and Sodus Bay Bailway. He points out that “ on the “local passenger lines for. every ton “ of paying weight there are fifteen “ tons of dead weight; while even On “ such passenger lines as the New York “ Central and the Erie, the dead “ weight was respectively equivalent to “ a ton and a-half and three tons and “ a-half for each passenger, and this “ exclusive of luggage.” We quote from the Mechanics' Magazine. That is to say in order to draw a man of ten or twelve stone weight from place to place, on one line fifteen tons weight had to be drawn along with him, on another, a ton and a-half, and on a third three tons and a-half. This points to one direction in which saving may be effected, and this is now the object sought—reduce the weight of engine, carriages, and luggage waggons, and ■ not only will the first cost be less, but the working expenses too : for we need not point out that less fuel is needed to draw a train of fifty tons weight at a given rate of speed than one of one hundred and fifty tons, and that the wear and tear of engines, carriages, and roads will be less. Bearing these principles in view, every suggestion tending in . that direction is worthy of careful examination. It is not every man who can form a correct opinion on matters involving questions of mechanics and physical science. The world is, therefore, very properly inclined to leave the determination of such matters to experts. But here we are met with a difficulty—they do not agree, and the ultimate decision is commonly left to men of business : it is lucky in such cases when they happen to be capable of thoroughly investigating the evidence laid before them. Amongst recent inventions, which may have important consequences in the cheapening and consequent utilisation of railroads, is the introduction of the India-rubber tire for carriage-wheels. There are some important advantages claimed for it by the patentees. Amongst them is the power of ascending gradients impracticable to engines with iron tires, because of the grip upon the rail; next we are told that, because of there being no sliding, neither the rail nor the tire wears away, and thus a great saving is effected in the use of the machinery ; and that lastly, because of the elasticity of the India-rubber, a great part of the weight of the carriages can be done away with: for.no springs are needed to either carriage or engine. It is said also that the motion of carnages with India-rubber tires is so smooth and noiseless that persons riding in them are scarcely conscious of motion, and are altogether free frem disagreeable oscillations and joltings. If these statements be true—and at anyrate they are worthy of investigation and experiment—some of the chief points of the problem of railway construction will be solved, and the sum of five thousand pounds a mile instead ©f being thought a. low figure will be capable of considerable reduction. In fact there is no saying how low the cost of railroads can be ' brought if we do not wilfully close our eyes to the investigations going on by men of science at Home and in America, There is a conservatism of ignorance in art and science as well as politics, and it is this that requires to be broken in upon. If clodocrat

cannot see liis way to a better mode of laying out his money than on a district road, he will ultimately have to give way to men who can. better comprehend pounds, shillings, and pence. We have heard it said that these Indiarubber tires can be used on wooden rails without injuring them. If so, the mode of constructing cheap feeders to our main lines capable of connecting them with even every farm, is at once made clear. We, like the public, without some palpable evidence cannot judge of the truth or falsehood of these assertions, but it ought to be ascertained, for it is of the utmost importance to the success of our schemes that any system .. should be adopted that will enable us to make three miles of railway when otherwise we could only make two.