ENGINEERING. 



321 



LARTIGUE RAILWAY. 



it may be well to state what the system has 

 actually accomplished. At the Ria mines, in 

 the Pyrenees-Orientales, there is a line nearly 

 seven miles long over which iron-ore is trans- 

 ported by means of a Siemens motor. The 

 loaded trains in running down generate enough 

 electricity to haul the empty trains up. In 

 Algeria a line more than sixty miles long is in 

 successful operation, and another similar line is 

 authorized in the same neighborhood. These 

 lines are intended to meet the requirements of 

 the esparto-grass industry, and are peculiarly 

 adapted to it, since, 

 when one region has 

 been stripped of es- 

 parto, the line can 

 readily be shifted to 

 another. In Russia 

 numerous experi- 

 ments were made at 

 the camp of the Im- 

 perial Guard, near 

 St. Petersburg, with 

 the most satisfac- 

 tory results. Spe- 

 cial rolling - stock 

 adapted for military 

 purposes was used 

 in these experi- 

 ments. Cars were 

 arranged carrying 

 three men on each side of the trestle, and am- 

 bulances carrying two stretchers on each side. 

 The line constructed in London is intended for 

 suburban traffic, and it is understood that a 

 similar line will be used at the Paris Exposi- 

 tion of 1889. The principal framework of the 

 cars is a solid wrought-iron bar bent so as to 

 VOL. xxvi. 21 A 



END ELEVATIONS ENGINE AND CAR. 



conform to the shape of the trestle, having due 

 regard to the disposition of bearing and side 

 wheels. This bar is further adapted to receive 

 the flooring, seats, and other necessary ap- 

 pendages. The engine has two boilers, vertical 

 or horizontal, one on each side of the trestle- 

 rail. It ascends a grade of 1 in 10 with a train 

 of several loaded cars, and without using the 

 cogged drivers provided for very steep gra- 

 dients. The advantages of this system of con- 

 struction are many and obvious. In practice 

 it was found that eight men could lay about a 

 mile of road in one day. With a large and 

 well- officered force, therefore, a battalion of 

 trained track-layers could almost keep up with 

 the advance of an army, or could at least es- 

 tablish communication 

 with permanent rail- 

 way lines within a few 

 hours. The impor- 

 tance of such a readily 

 established means of 

 transportation for men 

 and material in mod- 

 ern warfare can hardly 

 be overestimated ; but 

 its importance as an 

 auxiliary to permanent 

 railways in time of 

 peace is vastly greater. 

 The ease with which 

 it ascends steep gradients, turns sharp curves, 

 and adapts itself to the ordinary irregulari- 

 ties of an average country, does away with a 

 very large percentage of the expense attend- 

 ant upon ordinary railway construction. It is 

 not impeded by snow, nor is it likely to be 

 interrupted by wash-outs. For mining pur- 



