672 



RAILROADS. 



REFORMED CHURCHES. 



country from ocean to ocean is already very 

 large, and on the increase, notwithstanding all 

 the delays, discomforts, and terrors of a sea 

 voyage via Panama, etc. 



It now requires from twenty to twenty-three 

 days to make the journey from New York to 

 San Francisco via, Panama; but when this line 

 is completed the trip will be made within seven 

 days, ami then, in connection with the line of 

 steamships already running regularly between 

 San Francisco and Hong Kong, the trip can be 

 made from New York to Hong Kong in less 

 than thirty-five days. 



The Mont Cenis Summit Railway. Trains 

 have passed over this line of railway, by means 

 of which the system of French railways, ter- 

 minating at St. Michel, in Savoy, connect with 

 the railways which commence at Susa, at the 

 southern or Italian foot of the Pass, and which 

 now connect together, and extend either di- 

 rectly or circuitously to all the leading places 

 and cities of Italy. The length of this railway 

 system is at present 3,040 miles, and there is 

 every prospect of about 250 miles being opened 

 for traffic in the course of this or next year. 

 The railway is upon a portion of the road-bed 

 of the Mont Cenis Pass, the total length of 

 which is 49 miles; the gauge of the railway is 

 2 feet 7 inches, and a width of carriage-way 

 is left for road-traffic of at least 16 feet. For 

 the purpose of increasing adhesion without in- 

 creasing weight of engine, Mr. Fell has in- 

 vented and patented a form of centre rail, 

 parallel with and exactly in the centre be- 

 tween the two ordinary rails, 9 inches above, 

 and in order to obtain adhesion to the centre 

 rail, the engine has, in addition to the ordinary 

 perpendicular wheels, 4 horizontal wheels, 2 on 

 each side of the engine, which are made to 

 rotate along the sides of the centre rail by 

 identically the same steam from the cylinder 

 that operates upon the perpendicular wheels. 

 The effect of this rotation of the horizontal 

 wheels upon the sides of the centre rail is to 

 increase its adhesion. The amount of this in- 

 creased adhesion was proved last year : an en- 

 gine ascended an incline of 1 in 12, equal to 400 

 in the mile, with the steam acting only upon 

 the horizontal wheels. The weight drawn 

 was 7 tons. With steam applied to both the 

 perpendicular and the horizontal, the weight 

 drawn was 24 tons. In this fact is con- 

 tained the whole secret of the extraordinary 

 development and marvellous increase of power 

 obtained by the introduction of the centre rail 

 combined with the action of the horizontal 

 wheels upon it. There is no curve on the 

 Mont Cenis Railway of greater radius than 44 

 yards, and the engines and trains go round 

 them without the slightest apparent difficulty 

 or additional strain, and with a total ab- 

 sence of that grinding which is invariably 

 heard by passengers in an ordinary train 

 going round curves. The passage of the 

 mountain may be divided into two nearly 

 equal parts that from St. Michel to Lansle- 



bourg, little less than 25 miles, and that from 

 Lanslebourg to Susa, a little more than 24 miles. 

 St. Michel is 2,493 feet above the level of the 

 sea. From thence to Lanslebourg the rise is 

 only 1,994 English feet, or at the average rate 

 of nearly 80 feet to the mile. At Lanslebourg 

 the real work of climbing commences. From 

 here to the summit, exactly 6^ miles, the 

 ascent is 2,214 feet, or at the rate of 350 to the 

 mile, with several curves, the radii of which 

 are only 44 yards. The whole distance was 

 traversed by the first excursion train in pre- 

 cisely 47 minutes, or at the rate of 8 miles an 

 hour. At La Grande Croix, nearly 5 miles 

 from the summit, the descent of the mountain 

 commences. The brakesmen having received 

 proper instructions (for they had never pre- 

 viously seen or been upon the line), the train 

 started, and it was at once seen that for 6J miles 

 to Mollavetta the gradient is 1 in 14, or 376-J 

 feet in the mile, and from Mollavetta to 6 miles 

 it is not much better, being 1 in 15, or 350 feet 

 in the mile. From the admirable arrange- 

 ments of the break-power, the train is as 

 completely under subjection as if running upon 

 a nearly level rail. 



The use of two outside rails and one central 

 adhesion rail was patented many years ago, in 

 this" country, by Mr. G. E. Sellers, and its use 

 was advocated by Mr. Trautwine, the engineer 

 of the Panama Railroad. The engines were so 

 built, but the engineer who succeeded him con- 

 cluded to cut down the road and use com- 

 mon engines. An engine, weighing 1,100 

 pounds, was run in New York on this plan, 

 which was capable of drawing 30 pounds up 

 a grade of 250 feet to the mile with ease. The 

 plan on which they were constructed was bet- 

 ter than that at present used in Europe, as 

 they were so made that the whole weight of 

 the train should act in producing adhesion, so 

 that the heavier the load the harder the grip 

 on the central rail. 



REFORMED CHURCHES. I. THE "RE- 

 FORMED CHTJKCII IN AMEEICA." This is the new 

 name of the former Dutch Reformed Church. 



The long-discussed movement in the Church 

 for a change of the official name of this Church 

 from " Dutch Reformed Church " to " Reformed 

 Church of America ." was brought to a close in 

 1867. The General Synod, at its meeting at 

 Geneva, N. Y., in June, declared in favor of 

 the change by a vote of 102 yeas against 7 

 nays. The question being then submitted to 

 the vote of the classes, 25 recorded themselves 

 in favor of it, and 6 against it. Those voting 

 in favor of the change were : Holland, Albany, 

 Paramus, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Hudson, Sara- 

 toga, Greene, Scheuectady, Long Island (South), 

 Montgomery, Cayuga, Kingston, Geneva, Pas- 

 saic, Michigan, Monmouth, Raritan, Illinois, 

 Poughkeepsie, South New York, Westchester, 

 South Bergen, Philadelphia, Orange. Those 

 voting against were : Bergen, Wisconsin, New 

 York, New Brunswick, North Long Island, 

 Ulster. In a total of 681 votes cast, the ma- 



