48 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



motion and of a transverse undulatory motion combined; and it appeared, so 

 far as we could depend upon observation, that less of one Jescr ption of motion 

 existed on the Great Western Railway, and more of tkc other, than upon the 

 ordinary railways; it therefore became necessary, and of some importance, to 

 measure and dctenninc each of llicse motions distinct from the other, not 

 merely for idle curiosity, but for the purpose of ascertaininfr the causes of each, 

 and having done so, to attain the first step towards accomplishing a remedy. 

 Ai\ this appliQS to the compound action of the rails and the carriages ; and it 

 will be seen that such a complication of motions required not only lime but 

 extreme labour and attention to investigate. 



We now come to, perhaps, the most important consideration, that of the 

 construction of the railway ; this"is tlio substitution of longitudinal continuous 

 bearings of timber, with piling-, instead of isolated stone blocks, or transverse 

 timber sleepers, or, indeed, continuous timber beaiings without piling. 



The investigation of this part of the subject, according to the principles laid 

 flown in this inquiry, was attended with extreme difficulty. 



The first subject for investigation was, the relative firmness or solidity of 

 base exhibited by the continuous bearings of timber with piling, and compaied 

 with stone blocks, or continuous bearings without piling ; to determine this, 

 1 had an instrument, or dellcctonieter, made, which being placed underneath 

 the rail, measured the amount of deflection when the trains or known weights 

 passed over, and the more accurately to determine the precise action of the 

 load in passing over the rails, I employed three deflectometers at the same time. 

 The motion of one with the other was effected by a rod between each instru- 

 ment, one was placed underneath each of the supports or transomes opposite 

 the piles, and one in the middle of the rail ; and i)y a similar contrivance to 

 that employed in the instrument for measuring the oscillation of the carriages, 

 ! got a tracing of the deflection of the rails recorded upon paper, and thus 

 obtained correct diagr.ams of the deflection at each of the places at the same 

 moment of time. 



By subjecting the rails with piling in all their varieties, and also continuous 

 bearings of the same scantling of timber without piling, to the deflectometer, I 

 obtained a measure of the relative firmness or solidity of base of these two 

 varieties of construction ; and by likewise employing the same instruments to 

 measure the deflection of the rails and depression of the blocks, or cross 

 sleepers, on other railways, I thus obtained the relative firmness of base of 

 all these different modes of construction, and these diagrams being cappble of 

 being transferred to, and embodied in a report, and measured with undoubted 

 accuracy, will enable any one to pass their own judgment upon the relative 

 firmness of base of those different plans. It will at once, however, be seen, 

 that admitting we have obtained the relative firmness of base of the existing 

 plan of construction of the Great Western Railway compared with that of 

 known plans of construction of other railways, the degree of stifl'iiess developed 

 by the former, comprehends both the section of the timbers, and that of the 

 rails ; and that such a plan of continuous bearings, cither with or without 

 piling, does not necessarily imply the use of that particular form of iron rail ; 

 it was therefore necessary to determine what part of the deflection was due 

 to the timbers and what to the particular form of rail. To accomplish this, I 

 purpose having these rails removed, and the same rails which were subjected 

 to experiment on olher railways, where stone blocks or cross sleepers were 

 used, substituted; when the deflection will be again measured. By a combina- 

 tion of these experiments in all their varieties, I expect to arrive at results 

 which, not being matter of opinion, but facts, deduced from carefully-conducted 

 and self-recordinf; experiments, cannot fail of producing the most important if 

 not conclusive results. 



Independently of those csperiments, to elucidate all the minutitc of action 

 of the different parts of the system of railway mechanism, and others, which it 

 is not necessary at this time to enumerate, I subjected to experiment, so far as 

 the means and circumstances afforded me, the resistance and friction presented 

 by the Great Western Rails to the passage of the carriages and engines along 

 them ; and by pursuing a similar course of experiments on other railways, we 

 shall thus have valuable corroborative evidence to that of the experiments made 

 with the engines, of the relative resistance of the Great Western Railway, 

 compared with that of railways of the ordinary width. 



With the exception of some experiments on the London and Birmingham 

 Railway, made on my survey, and which were not sufliciently varied or 

 sufficiently numerous to afford conclusive results, we still require further 

 evidence of the resistance of the carriages and engines on other railways, to 

 compare with those made on the Great Western Railway, in order to arrive at 

 conclusive results, or indeed to enable me fully to comply with my instructions 

 for this inquiry. 



REPORT OF JOHN IIAAVKSHAW, ESQ. 

 To the Direct, rs of the Great Western Jlaitwa)/, 



Gentlemen, — Your instructions of the 5th September are to the following 

 effect : — That you are desirous of obtaining my assistance in ccmiing to a 

 sound and practical conclusion as as to your future proceedings, directing' my 

 attention to those points which may be said to constitute the peculiar features 

 of your railway, as contrasted with others, including the construction and 

 efficiency of your engines, as well as every matter connected with the loco- 

 motive department. 



My attention is also called to the bridge at Maidenhead, as to its construc- 

 tion generally, and as to the means proposed to remedy an existing defect in 

 one of the arches. To arrive at an opinion, I am desired to undertake an 

 examination of that portion of the line now completed, and investigate the 

 result of the whole system which lias been adopted. 



To come to a proper conclusion, it appeared to me to be necessary that I 



should make myself acquainted with the gener.tl character of the whole line, 

 and consequently I have been over its whole length to Bristol. It seemed 

 also desirable that I should inform myself, as accurately as po.ssible, as to the 

 tratfic to be expected upon it generally, and in the aggregate, for this certainly 

 forms one of the most essential features of all lines. 



The question seems also to require a still more extended view than this; 

 the district into which it goes has to be glanced at ; the area and extent of 

 population, which may be looked to for collateral tratfie, has to be seen ; and 

 these have to be compared with districts through which olher lines have been 

 made, and where olher line? are at work. 



The necessity of such a view of the question became apparent to me, 

 because, on coining first upon your road, that which immediately strikes is, 

 the enlarged capacity of all things, engines, carriages, and road. And the 

 existence of such an arrangement pre-supposes, in my view, an equally en- 

 larged traffic ; trains of much greater weight, and of a greater number of 

 passengers than elsewhere. In short, though not to an equal degree, the 

 difference between your arrangements and those of other railway companies, 

 is something like tiie difference between a canal for barges and a canal for 

 ships; and this comparison will not be extraordinary, should it appear that, 

 taking your gradients into the question, your locomotives have twice the power 

 of those on other lines ; and the contrast will not have been useless, should 

 it be shown that it would be a parallel case to build a ship of 200 tons 

 burtlien, when there was no probability of ever obtaining a cargo of half 

 the weight. 



Further, I may extend these preliminary remarks by observing, that the 

 object which I presume you to have in view is, (after paying a due regard to 

 to the accommodation and convenience of the public,) to carry out your mea- 

 sure in such a manner as shall be most conducive to the interests of those 

 who have invested their pro|erly in it. That this should be your object 

 there can be no doubt, and I wish to place it here as thf desiiJeratiim, because 

 it is one thing to design that which sliall be pleasing in outline, and grand in 

 dimensions, and it is altogether anolber thing to design that which, under all 

 the circumstances, shall best answer the end in view ; one of those ei.ds 

 being to obtain a return for the capital invested. 



I am desirous that it should not be thought that I am here pre-judging the 

 question. To all questions there are conditions, and I only wish it to be 

 clearly understood what are the conditions of the question, which, as I under- 

 stand it, this rcpirt professes to consider. And they may be repeated, that in 

 carrying out the measure, there is to be the fulJest regard to the wants and con- 

 veniences of the public ; but also a constant regard to the prospects and ex- 

 pectations of the shareholders. 



No»v, it will not be difficult to show, that the legitimate interests of these 

 two parties are one. 



Tlie profits of a railway are determined by the ratio of the proceeds to the 

 cost; if the latter be greatly increased, it becomes almost imperative on the 

 proprietary to increase the former, either by curtailing the accommodation, or 

 by increasing the charge to the public. The public, therefore, is interested 

 as much in the economy of railroads, as in the economy of ma- 

 uufiictures ; in the one case, if it be in fabrics, it will cause a 

 reduction of the price per yard ; in the other case it will cause a 

 reduction in the rate per mile. And if the public, in the extended sense of 

 the word, is to be benefited by economy being exercised in the construction 

 of a railv^'ay, the public, in a more limited sense of the word, or the more 

 immediate district through which the line passes, will derive still greater 

 advantage. 



Suppose, for instance, that the problem to be solved was, to give the great- 

 est impetus to the trade, and the greatest advantage to the town of Bristol. 

 The way to solve this problem, I think, would be, to connect it with the me- 

 tropolis by a road on which parties could be carried for the smallest sum, and 

 at a velocity not inferior to that at which they can be carried in any other 

 direction. Now the cost at which a parly can be carried will be as the in- 

 terest on the capital expended added to the cost of working the road. 



For instance, call the gross revenue of a road paying 10 per cent., 100; 

 and call the cost of working SO per cent. ; 50 will then be left to pay 10 per 

 cent, on a capital of 500 ; double the capital, and it reduces the piofit to 5 

 per cent. 



The capital ought not to be doubled, advisedly, therefore, unless one of 

 these two things is to be accomplished by it ; either that the cost of working 

 be reduced to nothing, or that the gross proceeds to be doubled. Should the 

 capital be increased without effecting any material reduction in the cost of 

 working, the consequence will be, that, to increase the proceeds, the rates 

 must be raised ; and this may or may not be effectual ; for an increase of 

 charge beyond a certain limit will not increase the proceeds. If it should not 

 be effectual, the shareholders will suffer. If it should be effectual, the public 

 will suffer, by having to pay the higher rates. 



If, supposing in the case of a railway only partially constructed, it should 

 turn out that the traffic bad been as much under-rated as the cost of the line 

 had been increased, and that still a profit of ten per cent, would accrue, yet it 

 proves only this, that though iu the one case, by good fortune, a piofit of 10 

 per cent, will be obtained, in the other case a profit of 20 per cent, would 

 have been secured. 



I would not apply this species of illustration to cases where the cost is in- 

 creased of necessity ; I would only apply it to cases where the increased ex- 

 penditure is for some sjiccijic object ; such as the attainment of much Hatter 

 gradients, or of very high velocities, or of much greater dimensions; wliieh 

 may or may not be desirable, according to the result when tried by this ndc. 



Now supposing this species of test be applied to one great object which you 

 appear to have in view— the reduction of a great portion of jour line to a 



