RAILWAYS 



557 



line ordinary coaches placed on suitable wheels 

 were used for the small passenger business which 

 was encouraged, and until comparatively recent 

 years the coach was the model for railway-carriage 

 Duilders. Third-class passengers were accommo- 

 dated in open wagons, with or without seats. So 

 late as 1845 many of these vehicles had no windows, 

 slight ventilation being provided by Venetian 

 blinds. On several of the lines no lamps were 

 supplied in third-class carriages even for the night 

 journeys. The first-class passengers booked their 

 tickets as in coaching days, ana 

 their luggage was packed on the 

 roof of the carriage to which they 

 were allotted. As the passenger 

 traffic increased the public De- 

 came more exacting in their 

 demands, and gradually more at- 

 tention was given to the comfort 

 of travellers, and the tendency 

 of modern management is to add 

 to the luxurionsness of the car- 

 riages, especially in long-distance 

 trains. On account of the gradual 

 decrease of second-class passengers, many of the 

 principal companies abolished that class ; but, 

 owing to the companies who still retain it lowering 

 the rates nearly to the level of third class, the 

 numbers have considerably increased again in 

 1896-97. Composite carriages for first and third 

 class in most express trains are fitted with lavato- 

 ries and every comfort for both classes. Drawing- 

 room, luncheon, and dining cars are also provided 

 for day expresses ; and sleeping-cars for night 

 trains are fitted with all the luxury of a first-class 

 hotel. There were in 1897 of locomotives in Eng- 

 land 16,600, in Scotland 2092, in Ireland 787 total, 

 19,479; of carriages: England 51,294, Scotland 

 7163, Ireland 2954 total, 61,411 ; of wagons : Eng- 

 land 493,428, Scotland 136,017, Ireland 18,030 

 total, 647,475. 



The cost of the passenger express locomotive 

 may be put at from 2500 to 3500; the more 

 powerful engines, if made by locomotive builders, 

 would cost from 4000 to 4500, but, like most of 

 the carriages and wagons, they are usually built 

 by the companies themselves. A goods-engine 

 M'H-II as that illustrated would cost 1800 to 2200, 

 and a tank-engine (without tender) 1500 to 

 2000. The cost of a Pullman carriage is from 

 2000 to 3500 ; of an ordinary first-class carriage, 

 550 to 700 ; second, 450 to 600 ; third, 350 

 to 450 ; of a coal wagon carrying eight tons, 60 

 to 70 ; a wagon carrying ten tons, 70 to 90. 



Brake*. The supply of brake-power has been 

 the subject of many ingenious patents, and is 

 dealt with in a separate article in this work. The 

 use of continuous brakes of some approved form 

 on all passenger-trains in the United kingdom was 

 made compulsory by the Railway Regulations Act 

 of 1889. See the article BRAKES. 



Railway C'rmxtrttrtirm. The cost of constructing 

 railways w dependent on many conditions, such as 

 cost of labour, the nature of the district traversed, 

 and value of the land required. In England the 

 last-named item has been a very serious one, and 

 heavy parliamentary expenses have also added 

 largely to the cost per mile, which, including equip- 

 ment, averages 44,710 for the United Kingdom. 

 The most expensive railway system in the world 

 is the underground system known as the ' Inner 

 Cirdt;' line of London. A circular railway of this 

 description was recommended by a parliamentary 

 committee in 1864. The scheme has been carried 

 out by two companies, the Metropolitan arid the 

 Metropolitan District, which have since extended 

 their respective systems into the suburbs. This 

 circle, including the purchase of land, which was 



the heaviest item, has cost from 600,000 to nearly 

 1,000,000 per mile. The Metropolitan line from 

 Bishop's Road to Farringdon Street was opened on 

 10th January 1863, but the circle, owing to financial 

 and other difficulties, was not completed until 

 October 1884. Another very costly section of rail- 

 way is that of the South-Eastern between Charing 

 Cross and Cannon Street, London, which includes 

 two large stations with hotels and two bridges over 

 the Thames in its length of two miles. The cost 

 of this short piece of line has been over 1,000,000 



Fig. 8. The Lartigue Railway. 



per mile. In other countries the land acquired has 

 been of much less value, and in many cases has 

 been given by the government. Moreover, the 

 traffic has not been so heavy, and consequently 

 lighter works have sufficed than those which the 

 Board of Trade require in Great Britain. The 

 average cost of railways in the United States is 

 thus under 12,000 per mile, and in Western Aus- 

 tralia the railways nave been built and equipped 

 at about 4400 per mile. In flat tracts, such as the 

 prairies, where the traffic is light, the rails can be 

 laid with but little prepared roadway ; but this is 

 an exceptionally favourable condition, engineers in 

 most cases having to span rivers (see BRIDGES), 

 pierce hills or mountains (see TUNNELS), cut 

 through elevations, and carry the line over low- 

 lying ground on embankments. In an ordinary 

 clay soil the cost of cutting and embankment 

 may be taken at from Is. to Is. 3d. per yard, 

 with about 2d. extra for trimming slopes, &c. In 

 the case of chalk, hard rock, or sand the cost 

 would naturally be much higher ; and the length 

 of cartage is also another important item. The 

 roadway having been completed, a substantial 

 bedding of gravel, burned clay, or other suitable 

 material is laid, and in this are imbedded the 

 'sleepers,' to which the rails are fixed. A good 

 navvy will dig and throw out into a barrow in a 

 day of ten hours in common ground from 8 to 10 

 cubic yards, in stiff clay or firm gravel about 6 

 cubic yards, and in hard ground, where picking is 

 required, from 3 to 5 cubic yards. The 'steam 

 navvy ' is now largely employed in railway work, 

 and does in one day the work of from seventy to 

 eighty men ( see EXCAVATOR ). 



In laying out a line it is of great importance that 

 heavy gradients and sharp curves should be avoided, 

 as the former add to the cost of working and the 

 latter interfere with speed. Some of the sharpest 

 railway curves in the United Kingdom are on the 

 narrow gauge Festiniog line, where there are curves 

 as sharp as the sweep of Oxford Circus of but 1 16 

 feet radius for short lengths. This line runs to 

 a point 700 feet above Portmadoc in less than 12 

 miles, giving an average gradient of one in 92, and 

 a maximum gradient of one in 80. On the Sleaford 

 and Bourne section of the Great Northern Railway 

 the line, on the other hand, is practically level, the 

 gradients averaging al>out one in 400. The advan- 

 tage of an easy gradient will be seen from the 

 following calculation : If an engine and tender, 

 weighing together 56 tons, is capable of drawing a 

 maximum load of, say, 40 loaded wagons, weighing 

 560 tons, at 25 miles per hour on the level, it wifl 



