ON THE ADVANTAGES OF RAIL ROADS. 221, 



XIII. 



On the Practicability and Advantages of a general Syfiem of Hail 

 Roads, and the Means of carrying the fame into Effedl. In * 

 Letter from Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Efq. 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 S I R, 



ANY years ago I formed the project of laying iron rail- The public ad- 

 ways for baggage waggons on the great roads of England ; vanta f e of ra »l 



L. /u • A. j r 1 c r- J L • roads long ago 



but having coniulted leveral of my friends, who were eminent ft ate d by the 

 mechanics, fo many objections were Itarted, that I for fome au thor, 

 time defpaired of fuccefs. One great objection arofe from the 

 vaft expence of maflive rail-ways, and the continual colt of 

 repairs. To obviate this difficulty, it occurred to me to di- 

 vide the weight that is ufually carried upon a nngle waggon 

 into four or five portions, and to place them upon four or five 

 fmall carriages; thefe carriages linked together would be as 

 eafily drawn as the fame load upon one waggon. In purfu-wlth models, 

 anceofthis idea, about the year 1768 I prefented models of*£ to J h ^. 

 three fuch carriages to the Society for the Encouragement of viz. in 1768* 

 Arts and Manufactures, who for this and other inventions in 

 mechanics, honoured me with their gold medal ; the date of 

 which, and the journal of the Society may afcertain the early 

 claim which I have to this invention. In 1 7 S8 I conltr.icted Experiment m 

 four carriages with call iron wheels, truly turned and fup- I 7 88 * 

 ported upon friction rollers; thefe were fnewn to feveral emi- 

 nent perfons, and were employed upon a temporary moveable 

 wooden rail- way for a considerable time, in carrying lime- 

 fione for the improvement of land. A variety of accurate ex- 

 periments, and fome ufeful improvements in this mode of 

 carriage were made with thefe machines, which it would take 

 up too much of your valuable work to detail. I flia.ll mention 

 only one idea, which appears to me fo practicable, that I beg 

 a place for it in your Journal, which will fecure to it the moft 

 extenflve circulation here, and on the Continent. 



I propofe, that by way of experiment iron rail-ways fiiould Plan for the 

 be laid on one of the great roads, to the diftance of ten or € T ine " c . erae, ; t . 



, ° : of a public rail- 



twelve miles from the metropolis, upon fomething like the fol- way. four « 



lowing roads » two f( * 



