MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 35 



feet per mile. An incline on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway 

 of Hindostan rises to the height of 2,027 feet above the sea, hav- 

 ing its own altitude 1,831 feet, and its length 15,85 miles ; but the 

 length is broken by short, flat slopes, so that the steepest gradient 

 is 142 feet per mile. 



"The intended summit of Mt. Cenis Railroad is 5.815 feet. In 

 the contemplated railway from Vera Cruz to Mexico, the eleva- 

 tion to be reached is 8,400 feet, which must be climbed in a dis- 

 tance of 150 miles ; the gradient is for great distances as much as 

 1 in 25, and this with many and short curves. The highest eleva- 

 tion in Great Britian, the Caledonian, is only one-fifth of the Mex- 

 ican. U. S. Railway Times, 1867. 



LOCOMOTIVES AND WAYS FOR STEEP GRADIENTS. 







In a recent patent obtained by Mr. Thomas Page, an English 

 engineer, a tractive power for locomotives used for steep gra- 

 dients, exceeding that of ordinary locomotives, is thus obtained. 

 In addition to the ordinary rails, he places on the inside or out- 

 side broad tramways of stone or wood, roughened or serrated, to 

 afford the bite required for the driving-wheels of the locomotive. 

 These driving-wheels are made with peripheries of iron, wood-, or 

 other material adapted to hold or bite the tram, and are serrated 

 for the purpose. To keep the engine on the track, flanged or 

 guide wheels are used, disposed at an angle of 45 degrees, and 

 bearing on the inner edges of the rails ; these support none of the 

 weight of the engine. By this means, on average ground, as on 

 turnpike roads, he thus dispenses almost entirely with cutting 

 and embanking. For a cheap line, properly seasoned and creo- 

 soted wood, 10 to 12 inches wide, and 6 inches deep, is a good 

 material for the trams ; on the inner edge of these trams are fixed 

 flat iron or steel rails, on which the passenger and freight trains 

 travel. The periphery of the wheels, though roughened, should 

 be truly cylindrical ; sniall' s diamond-poin,ted projections of slight 

 elevation are a good form of roughening. 



EAST INDIAN MOUNTAIN RAILWAY. 



When the British government determined to construct a net- 

 work of railways throughout India, considerable discussion took 

 place as to the best means of connecting Bombay with Calcutta 

 and Madras ; for, as there was no break in the Western Ghauts, 

 the idea of constructing a railway across them seemed utterly im- 

 possible. However, surveys were made, and at length it was 

 determined to build the railway as it now exists ; that is, run 

 from Bombay to Callian, a distance of 30 miles inland, and 

 there it forks into two branches, one going north-east to Agra, 

 where it joins the East Indian Railway leading from Agra to Cal- 

 cutta, and the other going in a south-easterly direction towards 

 Poona and Madras. The first of these crosses the Thell Ghaut, 

 a mountain rising 1,912 feet above the level of the sea, and the lat- 

 ter crosses another mountain, called the Bhore Ghaut, which rises 

 to the height of 2,037 feet above the sea. The difficulties which 



