756 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 12 



irainf — we also overtook two long trains laden 

 wall produce and merchandise. According to 

 the last report of the canal commissioners, this 

 road yielded 5 per cent, while the canals oi" the 

 fita'e yielded only 3 per cent on their cost, nnd in 

 addition to this tjie engines on ii cleared ^20,000 

 in 12 months. 



It is worthy of note, that a locomotive manufac- 

 tured by Morris of Philadelphia, ascended the in- 

 clined plane near the Schuylkill. 



Lancaster and Harrishurg Railroad. 



This road is 36 miles long, and, as its name in- 

 dicates, leaves the Columbia railroad in the vicini- 

 ty of Lancaster, and strikes the Susquehanna at 

 Harrisburg. It is remarkable only for its tuime! 

 near Elizabethtown, which is 900 feet long, and 

 intended only for one track. This tunnel has only 

 one shaft, which is 90 feet deep. It passes through 

 a soft red sandstone, and is arched with brick and 

 stone its whole length. There is evidence of 

 much carelessness in its construction. The su- 

 perstructure of this road consists of sills, bedded 5 

 leet apart, with rails of pme and oak, measurinor9 

 by 5 inches. The iron plate is ^ inch thick. The 

 whole road is much out of order. 



In going from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, the 

 traveller passes through the finest, and most high- 

 ly cultivated portion of Pennsylvania. The fer- 

 tile fields, and large substantial barns, bear mutual 

 evidence ofthe annual use and convenience of the 

 one, and great productiveness of the other. 

 Stonington Railroad. 



Stonington is hardly known in the south, and 

 was but little talked of, until the projection of its 

 railroad. It is a beautiful village, containing more 

 than 3000 inhabitants, and situated nearly in the 

 south-eastern corner of Connecticut, on the sound 

 opposite the eastern extremity of Long Island, 

 and is distant 120 miles from New York. Its 

 situation is highly pleasing. Fisher's Island is in 

 sight to the south, and to the south-east is seen the 

 " ocean's wide expanse." The coast is completely 

 rock-bound, and hence the name of Stonington. 



The traveller from New York to Boston has 

 the choice of two routes. He may either take the 

 steamboat for Providence, in which case he dou- 

 bles point Judith, and encounters the roughness 

 of sea peculiar to that promontory, or he may take 

 the steamboat for Stoninjjton, and thence go by 

 the Stonington railroad to Providence, and thus 

 avoid all the disagreeables of Point Judith. From 

 Stonington to Providence the distance is 4S miles. 

 Only one track is down, thouurh the grading was 

 done with a view to two. There are no laroje 

 structures, though many small bridges. For twen- 

 ty miles, the road passes over rocky barrens or un- 

 cultivated marshes. The country, however, im- 

 proves, and thence to Providence, presents the 

 appearance of being moderately well cultivated ; 

 the soil being light and sandy, without much 

 scenery that is very interesting. The grading, 

 after passing through the rocky country near 

 Stonington, is light until the road approaches Pro- 

 vidence. This is a new road, and the superstruc- 

 ture is in excellent order. It consists of (he T 

 rail, supported every three feet on wooden sills. 

 The cross section of the rail presents a base 4 

 inches wide — the rail is 3 inches high. 



Probably the stock of no railroad in our country 

 is more variable than that of the Stonington road. 



Boston and Providence Railroad. 



This road receives all the travel both from 

 the Stonington road and from the New York 

 and Providence bouts. Large passenger trains 

 pass each way three times every day, and the 

 stork is considered a permanently good one — if is 

 paying noiv 12 per cent. This road is 41 miles 

 long, with one track, laid on the same plan as the 

 Stonington road. The chair on which the rail 

 rests is a flat piece of iron 5| by 8 inches, and the 

 rail is let into it 3-8 of an inch and confined by 4 

 spikes, 2 on each side. Both these roads are free 

 from bold curvature, and no pains are spared to 

 keep them well drained. Besides the longitudi- 

 nal drains on the sides, there are little cross grips 

 every 15 or 20 feet. Besides the wooden bridge 

 across the Pavvtucket near Providence, and a 

 stone one about 14 miles fi-om Boston, there is no 

 other structure of moment. The grading is 

 light, through a soil generally sandy. I passed 

 from Stonington to Boston, 89 miles, in four and a 

 half hours, and never travelled more smoothly. 

 The railway throughout is in the finest order. 

 After leaving Providence, the country continues 

 uninteresting, until near Boston, elegant country 

 houses and fine gardens are seen all around. 



Boston and Lowell Railroad. 



The Massachusetts railroads are decidedly the 

 finest in this country. The necessity of obviating 

 the ill effects of the severe frosts, causes them to 

 be built in the heaviest and most permanent man- 

 ner. Like all the other railroads leaving Boston, 

 this crosses the marsh, which makes Boston so 

 nearly an island, by means of long trestle work. 

 From Boston to Lowell, tlie distance is 26 miles, 

 and there are two tracks nearly all the way. Both 

 the T and fish-bellied rail is in use ; the former 

 preferred. The rail rests on stone sills, firmly 

 bedded, 3 feet apart. These sills or sleepers are 8 

 to 10 inches wide, and at the joints of rails as much 

 as 12 inches, and in some cases, rest on parallel 

 walls of masonry, sunk sufficiently low not to be 

 afi'ecled by the frost. The sleepers sometimes 

 alternate with cubes of stone, hut not oflen. 

 When the fish-bellied rail is used, it rests in chairs 

 on every sill, like those used on the Philadelphia 

 and Columbia railway. TheT rail is let into the 

 stone sill 3-8 of an inch, and confined by spikes. 

 Between the chair and stone, thin slips of wood 

 have been introduced, but this does not prevent 

 the disagreeable jarring which seems incidental 

 to all stone and iron roads. All the road bridges 

 across this road, as well as the Stonington and 

 Providence roads, have expensive abutments of 

 masonry. There is no viaduct or other structure 

 of moment. The grades are very gentle, proba- 

 bly in no case exceeding 10 feet to the mile. 



The income of this road is derived from travel, 

 and fi-om the transportation of the raw material 

 to, and of the manufactures from Lowell. An 

 idea of the business of this road will be best form- 

 ed from the statistics of Lowell. 



Lowell is a new looking town, with unpaved 

 streets, whicti has sprung up on the banks of the 

 Merrimack, to the water-power of which it owes 

 its origin, as well as its rapidly increasing popula- 

 tion. Its manufactures are so extensive that it has 

 been termed the " Manchester of America." 



