30 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



at various mills in this country and in England. No conclusions 

 are yet warranted by the short trial of these rails. 



There is a jrrowino: feelin": auions^ enjrineers and steel-makers 

 that the compound rail, made wlioUy or partly of steel, will 

 prove more safe aftd economical than anj^ solid rail, and that the 

 defects of the old compound iron rail, largely used in this State 

 some years since, may be avoided, since th(;se defects were 

 chietly'due to the nature of the material. The experiments in 

 this direction will be watched with great interest by railway 

 managers, for if the same durability of track can be obtained 

 with a steel cap as with an all-steel rail, the first cost will be 

 greatly decreased. A rail made in two or three continuous parts, 

 breaking joints, is also a practical insurance against disaster from 

 broken rails. — State Engineer''s Report on Railroads. 



NARROW GAUGE RAILWAY. 



The Portraadoc and Festiniog Railway, Wales, is now attract- 

 ing much attention from railroad men. This is a little line in 

 North Wales, which was originally constructed for the purpose 

 of acting as a tramway for slate and stone from the hills of 

 Merionethshire to the sea-shore. It is now being used as a 

 regular goods and passenger line. The chief peculiarity in its 

 construction is that the gauge is only two feet broad. Hence, 

 though the line runs through a very difficult country, the expen- 

 ses of construction and working are so small that the traffic j'ields 

 the enormous revenue of 30 per cent. The reason is simple 

 enough. It is' because the proportion between the dead weight 

 and paying w^eight is so much less than upon other railways. 

 The engine and tender upon this line weigh about 10 tons, 

 against 40 tons upon the wider gauge of other lines. Instead of 

 a first-class carriage, weighing 7i tons, to carry 32 passengers, 

 and representing nearly 5 cwt. of dead weight for each passen- 

 ger, the carriages on the Festiniog weigh only 30 cwt. for 

 12 passengers, or two and a half cwt. for each person carried. 



STEEL RAILS. — THEIR DURABILITY. 



The annual report of the State Engineer of New York, prepared 

 by S. II. Sweet, Deputy Engineer, contains the following regard- 

 iuir steel rails : '* Bessemer steel rails have been in regular and 

 extensive use abroad over 10 years. For some 5 years large 

 trial lots have been laid on various American roads having heavy 

 traffic, and during the last two years importations have largelj'^ 

 increased. The manufacture of steel rails has also been com- 

 menced at four large establishments in this countr}', and some 

 7,000 tons of home manufacture have been produced and laid 

 down. It is estimated that from 40,000 to 50,000 tons of steel rails 

 are in use on our various railways. Among the users of steel 

 rails are the Hudson River, Erie, and PtMinsylvania Railway, — 

 10,000 tons or more each ; the Lehigh and Susquehannah (entirely 



