160 MB. WILLIAM FAIRBAIEN ON THE 



such circumstances would be required, is not to be com- 

 pared to the dead weight of the enormously increased out- 

 lay in the first instance, which, in many cases, has been 

 incnrred for the purpose of attaining easy gradients, and 

 which, if properly and judiciously applied, would more than 

 supply the motive power in perpetuity for working the 

 whole of the line. 



In addition to the experiments on the Hunt's Bank and 

 Halifax inclines, a laborious series of experiments were 

 instituted on the Accrington incline, by Mr. Perring, the 

 talented engineer of the East Lancashire Railway Com- 

 pany; and to that gentleman I am indebted for the follow- 

 ing important results.*'^ 



These experiments have been conducted with great care, 

 and occupied a period of three months, from the 4th of 

 February 1850 to the 2nd of May, in the worst time of 

 the year. 



They become the more interesting, from the circumstance 

 that they are taken from the company's register of the duty 

 performed by each engine, the precise condition under 

 which the ascents of the gradients were made, the weight 

 carried, and the time occupied by each train from the time 

 of starting from the bottom till its arrival at the top of the 

 incline. Another circumstance which renders the expe- 

 riments valuable, is the fact of them being records of the 

 regular working duty of the engines for three consecutive 

 months, and the great advantages derived from a regular 

 system of working both goods and passenger trains on one 

 of the most difficult inclines in the kingdom. The goods 

 trainSi it will be observed, are worked under different cir- 



* The Accrington incline is t^o miles long, having gradients as follow :— 



Bottom 1 in 40, 90 chains'] 



Middle,.... 1 „ 38, 48 „ ^ = 160 chains, or 2 miles. 



Top 1 ,,47,22 „ 



on a mean incline of 1 in 41'6. 



