RAILWAYS WITH STEEP GRADIENTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 167, 15 July 1872, Page 2

RAILWAYS WITH STEEP GRADIENTS.

To THE EOITOE. OF THE NELSON EvENIJ? G- MAIL Sik, — Seeing in the Nelson Examiner, a letter headed as above, and not knowing ia what consists the merit of the invention therein alluded to, I take the liberty of furnishing the Evening Mail with an original notion which has occasionally, during several years, occupied my thoughts, but being no engineer, or even mechanic, I have hitherto abstained from putting it on paper. Accompanying this, you have a rough diagram for the inspection — if not too much trouble to you — of anyone, — you will at. once see the difference between the old and this, I believe, new plan. By the old pkn — the Dun Mountain rail for instance — the cortacfc of the wheel and rail is simply fiat, and therefore they can have no hold on each other. By this new (?) plan pf mine, the driving wheels have each two obtuse points of contact, one on each side of a right-angled raiJ. You will perceive that tlie grip or hold of the wheel and tbe rail to each other is perfect. I imagine then that the locomotive must, with sufficient power, and not too great a drag behind, ascend a much' steeper gradient than by the present old plan. Should any practical man see any tiling in this worth acting upon, I should be pleased to witness it initiated in the best abused place in the colony. Yours, &c, Pjjo Bono Publico. Nelson, July 25, 1872.