The River Trains 87 



The piles are of no ordinary type, for 

 they are called upon to take a load, estimated 

 at 80 tons per pile. There must be no 

 movement nor subsidence, and they are 

 therefore sunk in solid concrete to a con- 

 siderable depth. 



At first it was thought that some sta- 

 tionary or motive power on the land would 

 have to do the work of taking the river 

 train round the loop which circumvented 

 the rapids, but the inventor came to the 

 conclusion that this method was not only 

 unnecessary, but would largely destroy the 

 economic working which was his prime 

 objective. 



He, therefore, planned the tug on the 

 double-hulled system also and divided his 

 power unit in two. Thus, there is a 150 

 horse-power engine in each section of the 

 hull. Each engine drives its own screw 

 when the boat is water-borne, and when it 

 begins its climb out of the water to negotiate 

 the land loop, the screw is disconnected 

 and the power of the engine transmitted to 

 the wheels by means of coupled transmission 



