550 RAIL-ROADS. 



impracticable or unadvisable to construct the railway 

 within the above limits, two or more such sections are 

 connected by an inclined plane, and this united plan of 

 travelling sections and inclined planes where stationary 

 power is used may be continued over any obstacles and 

 in any direction. 



When the traffic is all one way as at coal mines, and 

 the steep planes descending in that direction, the loaded 

 carriages in their progress draw up those which are 

 empty, by gravitation, and the planes are called self-act- 

 ing. When the plane is ascending in the direction of 

 the traffic an extra moving power is then required ; and 

 this is generally, from effect and economy, the steam en- 

 gine. A continuous or endless chain is stretched over 

 rollers, to one of which the engine power is communi- 

 cated, and the carriages being hooked on to the chain 

 are easily conveyed up or down. It is evident that sev- 

 eral engines may act in succession on the same plane, 

 and the planes are, therefore, sometimes a mile in length 

 and may be repeated when requisite. There is also no 

 limit to the angle of acclivity, except the inconvenience 

 of preserving the load, and where the situation admits 

 the carriages may even be raised perpendicularly. 



At Quebec there is an inclined plane from the top of 

 Cape Diamond to the St Lawrence, 500 feet long, and 

 at an angle of fortyfive degrees. A steam engine at the 

 bottom works an endless chain, and stone', cannon, &c, 

 are readily conveyed on carriages at that angle. It waa 

 at first worked by horses at the top. 



Of the power of the inclined plane there is no rea- 

 sonable limit, where velocity is not an object. Thus 

 merchant vessels are now drawn entirely out of the wa- 

 ter in an hour or two, upon an inclined plane or marine 

 railway, by a set of capstans, and ships of war, by a 

 common steam engine, in the same time. 



THE CARRIAGE. 



The simple car upon four wooden wheels was at first 

 the vehicle used upon the railway. This, being heavily 

 laden, was slowly drawn by a horse. About the tim 



