The Westport Times. AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1872.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 933, 29 February 1872, Page 2

The Westport Times. AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1872.

Eveetthing connected with railways —and especially those which can be couslructedeconomically—has so much interest at the present moment that we give a short account, of the latest attempts iu America, which is said to surpass previous similar attempts in that country. The Hue in progress is a length of thirty miles ia the State of Missouri, of which one mile is finished. The cost of this line laid with T rails has been £I3OO and the co3t of the entire thirty miles ia estimated at £53,000, allowing £3OOO, for culverts, bridges, &c. The road-bed is sis feet wide at the top, following tho rise and fall of the ground where it does not exceed seveuty feet to the mile, and winding round .high hills and steep grades in curves of two hundred feet radius, less than one-third of those required for the ordinary gauge. We likewise add from a paper recently read before the Civil and Mechanical Engineers Society, England, on the construction of light railways—short branch lines, feeders not, suckers of mam lines. A short line of this description has been laid for the Duke of Buckingham from Wotton to the Aylesbury and Buckingham liailway, at Quainton. The gauge is tho usual 4 feet Si iuches, aud six miles j the work is constructed ia the lightest

maimer consistent with desirability. There are no bridges, all roads being crossed oa tho level. The rails used weigh but 301bs per yard, and are secured to longitudinal creoaoted (Brail's patent) timbers 6 inches by 6 inches, by means of long bolts ; there are tonsons 4 inches by 4 inches, at every 12 feet, kept in position by \vrou»ht-iron tie-rods i-ineh. diameter. The ballast is 10 feet wide, and from 6 inches to 9 inches under the timbers, and was constructed ata verv low cost, by Mr W. Lavvford, C.E.,"who estimates that lines of a similar character might be constructed for £3OOO or £3500 per mile. It is calculated that five tons could be carried on each pair of wheels.