Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 441, 24 January 1857, Page 4

Extracts.

_ . \ ' ROADS. .. , . (From the " Sydney Morning Herald.") Captain Freeling, R.E., the Surveyor-General of South Australia, has just issued a" report containing his views on" the relative merits of macadamised roads,'^raniroads; and railroads,, as . supplied to the circumstances of that colony. Like most professional, engineers he decides in favour of locomotive railroads, and deprecates the. adoption of any.intermediate style of road as being cheap in'appearimce only, and as entailing ultimately, an increase of cost. This is a matter on which"so much professional knowledge or practical acquaintance with tfhe working of railroads is requisite in order to be able to srive an opinion, that we cannot pretend to dogmatise on it. We can do. little more than give the reasonings, on which such an opinion is based, and offer such criticisms as are suggested by common sense. The attempts which have hitherto been made to construct railroads in these colonies have proved so expensive that the public 'stands aghast at the prospect of extending the system. 'A r the same time the common roa.ds are so unsatisfactory that the question universally arises whether some intermediate contrivance is not possible. The reply to this" question is one of the most important practical subjects which can occupy the attention of Australian .statesmen. In this colony it has recently been-avowed by tbe Government that locomotive railroads, cannr.t be extended beyond the limits,of the county of Cumberland, and that some- less expensive kind of road must be adopted ,to open up the interior. -What sort of road is it to he—and .where is the saving to be effected ? The merits of .different sorts of roads, must, be estimated by comparing.!their cost of con-; their cost of maintenance, and their respective conveniences and inconveniences. • Respecting the macadamised road, Captain Freeling says:— "Its advantages are that.it can be travelled by the horseman as well as by every description of wheeled vehicles, meeting, or passing.it; it requires no establishment to regulate the depar-' rare and- arrival of the traffic, or r for providing motive power or carriages. ■ . j' Its disadvantages are-the difficulty of collecting tolls from those who use it, except atgreat charge on the income so obtained, and the cost of maintenance*. .--■-., "" The cost of a macadamised road made com-, plete, 18 feet wide, 9 inches of limestone he-. »eath, 6 inches of hard stone broken to a 2-|-' inch gauge on the top, and blinded, the'whole formed and drained, varies according to locality,' r,iicl under ordinarily favourable -circumstances, from £1,800 to £2,000 per mile. Its mainter .nance may be assumed at £150 per mile- per rvnnum." „ •< *. The cost as stated here is considerably under hat has been the- experience of the past few years. Since the discovery of .gold and the consequent rise in the price of labour, very-few miles of- macadamised road have been' made in • ■f.his colony or in Victoria for less than £3,000. Things may, however, be somewhat better in Sonth Australia. - -■'■•' Tramroads, properly so called, have never been constructed in these colonies, nor is there any reason to suppose that they will-be,-as they possess no special adaptation to the wants "of ihe country. The preference- lies between the - lommon road and the edge rail. The term »ramroad, however, is very commonly applied to ii horse-power railroad as distinguished from a locomotive railroad, and is so used by Captain Freeling. This is a variation from the European use of the word, but it is convenient- as a distinction. Understanding:, then, by atramroad, an edge railroad adapted for animal power, the merits and demerits of this special kind of road form the n'i"stion to be decided. It is to tramroads that many are confidently looking to solve the diffi'-'Tlt problem of internal transit. Is this kind o" ro-*d so superior to the common road as to j'ji'-ify its increased cost; and is it so much «he p'-,'- ;han a railroad as to make it preferable? • CVp ..;{• Freeling thinks not. In the first place he r-r.-jftr ''.~.f hat as theedgerail requires the wheels of :-li vr'-:.Hej travelling on it to have a fh-nge, j>r-'lii^i / .rarriages cannot pnss over it, and the ex.,'.-;-'.; oi' v, set of carriages specially adapted for fh'; <-«rvice is involved as completely as if

the motive power were steam. Then, also, as the traffic could not be promiscuously carried on, a special management, with all its attendant expense for officials, is as necessary as-in the case of the railroad. There is also little if any increase of speed to be obtained. Two miles and a-half for heavy goods, and ten miles an hour for passengers, is the utmost speed that can be guarranteed on a tiramroad, and this,may be obtained on a good macadamised road. The great advantage of the tram is the saving in haulage power, but this, says Captain Freeling, is its one solitary advantage over a common road. .There are many cases^where this advantage is sufficient; in those cases, namely, "where the traffic is all terminal, and not local, as between the .mouth of the coal-pit and thfe shoots, or from the'head of the navigation of one river to the head of navigation of another. But is the tram suitable for an ordinary highway ? For a short line probably not, as the charge of carriage .neutralises the benefit; but for a long line into the interior it might, as the saving in- haulage power would rapidly increase when multiplied by each mile. Compared with railroads, the ostensible ad-; vantages of trararoads are exhibited most distinctly in the cost of construction. The cost of maintaining the former, though decidedly greater than the cost of- maintaining the latter, is not so much so as to present any serious difficulty. The relative cost of working the two depends on the amount of traffic. Where that is small, the use of animal power would be the cheapest, but where it is large, steam is by far the most economical. The" attractiveness of tram lies in its alleged cheapness of construction. On this point, which is the essential point of the discussion, we subjoin Captain Freeling's remarks in full.

"Thesaving in the!cost of construction'having been alluded to, it will be well to see in what that saying consists. As horses are unable to exert the force or attain the speed of a locomotive, the ballast may be of less thickness, the timber for the support of the rails slighter, the rails of less weight, the gradients steeper, the curves of a smaller "radius, and the earthwork less than would he. requisite for a |jlocomotive. These are the sevei'al items forming what. is termed the "Permanent Way,'.' and in which the cost of construction will be reduced,'together perhaps with a certain, small saving in the expense of the buildings necessary for shedding and stations. This latter saving is not likely to be of any amount if the stations and sheds for a locomotive line,are built with a view to economy and not for show, particularly as the expensive machinery for the repairs of locomotives has already been procured and housed, and is available for additional lines- in connection with the Port and Gawler railways. v "Assuming, then, that the cost of stations, sheds, stables, and rolling stock is practically the same,both for, animal and steam power railroads, and therefore; omitting those items in the following Cfdculations, together with the cost of motive power, which is subsequently alluded to, I estimate the cost of the permanent way of a mile of tramway on the natural surface, properly fenced and drained, with rails 35 lbs. to the yard, laid on cross sleepers, with a centre track .metalled for horses, at- £2696 . per mile (if with horse traks on both sides the cost would be £2842), and with teds of. ballast under the sleepers, £3282. . For- £4533, or about £1220 a mile more, the permanent way of a line, can be laid with rails 56 lbs. to the yard, suitable in its gradient for steam power.'? Assuming £500 per mile as. the cost of earthwork, which is about that of the cutting and embanking on the Gawler line, and with ballast beds under cross sleepers, is it, therefore, desirable for" a saving in the original copt of about £1250 a mile to construct tramways for animal power Avhich will be found unavailable for the locomotive when the traffic has .increased so as to render the latter a. more economical mode of haulage than horse power ? The prudence of constructing the line in the first instance with gradients and curves—with rails and ballast, sui aile for locomotives ~ can scarcely be questioned. "It may be taken as an axiom that, as traffic and population ' increase, the locomotive will supersede.every other.motive power, except, perhaps, on very short lines. How woidd the case then stand, if tramroads, solely contemplated for the use of' animal power, were t spread over the country ? The facilities for the conveyance o? goodo, which a tramroad constructed between any two places affords,- would doubtless attract

the greater part of'the traffic of the district to it. This traffic would increase rapidly, for experience proves this has always been-the case when, easy locomotion is provided. After a time steam power is felt to be an absolute necessity;' the gradients, curves, and permanent way are, however, unsuitable for a locomotive; and there .then .remain, three expedients, all equally destructive. The first to continue, working the line with horse power when that power is not only insufficient for the traffic but more expensive than steam power: the second, to construct an entirely new line, at .vast expense, so as not to * interfere with "the traffic which is being r carried on the tramroad, in which case the former expenditure is utterly thrown away; the third, to adopt, if possible, the line of tramroad, in order to avoid the cost of the purchase of additional land, and by lengthening curves, easy gradients, and renewing the whole of the permanent way, make the line fit for a locomotive. If thisJatter course is adopted, the traffic along the line must necessarily be stopped during the alterations; and would have to resort, with very great injury to trade, to the district roads, which from' their use haying-been superseded by the tramroad, it is natural to suppose would have had no expenditure incurred on them, and would be out of repair. -Inconveniences such as those alluded to have already been felt in this, country • the superintendent of the Port Elliott and Goolwa horse tramway has stated that the traffic would be more economically and satisfactorily worked by steam, even' on that short line of seven miles, than by the present animal power. That officer has accordingly .applied" for Jocomotive power. Unfortunately, the. gradients on the line are almost, if not quite, impracticable for steam— a steep rising gradient occurring at the very •starting point from Port Elliott/ A little more expense incurred in the original formation of the line would have obviated the inconvenience and obstruction to trade that is now likely to be felt, on the one hand, by continuing insufficient motive power; on the other, by stopping the traffic for months, whilst the line is being altered. There can be but one opinion, but that the latter alternative would be most ruinous to the Murray trade. Such results as these lead me. most strongly "to recommend that, whatever be the means of-locomotion.intended to be'made use of on iron rails, a proper foresight may be exercised by laying the permanent way in the first instance with a view to eventual locomotive traffic. If this is done, vast sums will in the end be saved to the country that will otherwise be frittered away in taking up and relaying, altering, and patching tramways, to render them, fit for loconotives; and the result, as in all cases of patching, will be most unsatisfactory.'. " That the locomotive will rapidly supersede horse traction, on any line of railway where the traffic justifies aline at all; is readily.proved; for instance, in the case of a railway between Adelaide and the Burra, a distance (say) 105 miles, an engine such as those used on the Port line would readily move 100 tons net weight of goods the whole distance in one day. The ascertained cost of locomotive haulage on the Port line, including wages, fuel, and repairs, is 4s. 6"d. per mile. This would' give a daily expense of £23 125.. '6d: which, per annum of 313 days, is £7,394' 12s. 6d. for the haulage of 31,300 tons. " jp" Quoting from page 57 of the second Report ' of the Commissioners appointed to consider and recommend a General System of Railways for Ireland, it appears that ' the most favourable pace for a draught horse is two miles and'a half an hour. At this rate, a horse of ordinary power will draw with a force of 100 lbs., and continue his work at a distance of 15 miles i day for six days in the week. Such a horse would, therefore, draw on a railway, the friction being 1-280, a gross load 0f.28,000 lbs.,, or about 12| tons ; or two such horses 25 tons', which is equivalent to 15f tons net load.' Tne cost of two horses and a driver in this country may be i estimated at 17s'. 6d.' a day;' and for' a yearly cost of £7,638 (nearly'the same amount as the , locomotive haulage)'oiily (36% tons a "day, or ] 20,896 tons per annum, could be moved' by animal power between Adelaide and the Burra. , " If, therefore, the mere goods traffic oh the I line amounted to 66 tons a day, drawn the I whole distance, it would be cheaper to use steam than-animal power; aud, for every ton I above the 66 up to 100, the assumed limit of 1 the" power of the locomotive, the advantage would be still greater,in favour of steam. This \ calculation, however, is only for heavy gcod*

taken on the tramroad at two and a half miles per hour ; but for passenger traffic, with animal power, which should be at tlio rate of 10 miles an hour, the cost becomes four times as great (vide Report of Commissioners on Irish Railroads), and, consequently, the comparison of "haulage expense is much more favourable for the locomotive. For an animal-power train, to run-with passengers once a day, from Adelaide to the Burra, at .10 miles per hour, the yearly cost—assuming that a horse can travel 10 miles a day at that .rate' —would be (at 17s. 6d. a-day for a team of two horses and a driver) £2,788 155.; therefore the cost of moving 66 tons a day at two arid a- half miles an hour, and one .passenger "train at 10, would be £10,456 —a servicewhich could be performed by the locomotive in less time for £7,324. As, therefore, a certain amount of traffic is necessary to make the use of a locomotive profitable, and as the tendency of lines of; railway —presuming always that they are laid through well-selected districts —is to increase that traffic to such an extraordinary degree that a line which, at its first opening, will barely pay for the use of animal power, will almost certainly in a short time create business enough for a locomotive; therefore, I conceive the wisest policy is to lay down a line, in the first instance,, fitted for steam power, leaving the introduction of the locomotive to the period when the traffic requires it. In aid of this opinion, I would quote the following paragraph from a report from the Commissioners appointed by her Majesty to consider and recommend a general system of railways for Ireland, to which great weight must necessarily be attached, emanating as it does from, such eminent persons as the Under Secretary of State for Ireland, T. Drummond, Esq., Sir John Burgoyne,.Peter Barlow, and Richard Griffiths, Esqs. 'On a mixed line of traffic, when the passenger accommodation requires only one or two coaches per day, it may be possible to work most economically with horses, particularly on short branch lines. In coming to this conclusion, we must guard against being misunderstood. We do not thence intend to infer that in any case it would" be advisable to construct a railway with a view' to its being permanently worked with horses (at least as part of the general system); all that we are desirous to enforce is, that where there is a fair prospect that increased facilities will lead to increased traffic, it will be more economical in some cases to commence with horse power, till that increase be such as to call for the more powerful aid of the locomotive engine.'

As to the cost of purchasing land to improve a tramway into a railroad, it would be quite possible, when the original survey was made, to survey two lines, one suited for horse power, and the other for locomotives; and to reserve ground wherever the latter deviated from the former. Where the line runs over tolerably level ground, the difference of cost between laying down a permanent way for a tramroad and for a railroad, may not be greater than is stated by Captain Ereeling; but where viaducts, cuttings, embankments, or tunnels are necessary to secure suitable' gradients for locomotives, it is obvious that the former must be very much the cheapest. No general rule can be laid down which will be true of all individual cases. There may be some instances where it is cheaper to make a finished railroad at once in view of prospective traffic, although at the time of construction it was in advance of the real wants of the district. But there are others where it would be more advisable to begin with the sim-plest-style of work, and to improve as the increase of traffic justified it. Every case must be considered on its own merits. With regard to any particular line of railroad that may be projected, it is is a matter of simple calculation to ascertain what course will be the cheapest, if accurate data can be given as to the cost of construction in each case, and the existing and prospective traffic in each case can be computed with such approximation to accuracy as to be reliable. Where the first cost would be very difficult, and the lapse of time to allow the traffic to fetch up yery considerable,, the rapid rate at which the interest on the sunken unproductive capital would accumulate, Avould make the, cheaper plan preferable. Where the difference in the -first cost is comparatively slight, and the traffic Eromi ses to pick up rapidly, the more substantial ?tyle.of construction would be the most economical. It i s eaS y enough to make the calculation; we difficulty is to get the data. The

cost of construction andr the probable traffic are not very easily determined with accuracy. Engineers' estimates are proverbially untrustworthy. There is ' hardly a mile of railway in Australia which has not scandalously exceeded the professional estimate. The traffic depends on many contingent circumstances—on the increase of population, the prosperity of the country, tjhe state of trade, the condition of neighbouring countries, &c. In some cases the traffic on a railway has exceeded everything that could possibly have been anticipated;, in others it has fallen short of very modest expectations. It is very desirable, however, that practice should be substituted for theory. One fair trial of a tramroad would do more to prove or disprove its adaptability to the circumstances of the colony than folios of logic. We have specimens of railroads, and we have specimens of common roads, we know what they cost, and what amount of convenience they render. But we have no specimen of ahorse-power railroad. As a mere matter of experiment it would be worth while to construct one at once, in soma district that would offer a fair test of its value, say, for instance, from Parramatta to the Hawkesbury. One such example would yield invaluable data on which to base schemes for general railway extension throughout the colony.