LOCOMOTION BY RIVER AND RAILWAY. 



tation, and through these the vehicles just described move with 

 the utmost facility. This is accomplished by a simple and effectual 

 arrangement. Each end of this oblong caravan is supported on a 

 small four-wheeled railway truck, on which it rests on a pivot ; 

 exactly similar to the expedient by which the forewheels of a 

 carriage sustain the perch. These railway carriages have in fact 

 two perches, one at each end; but instead of resting on two 

 wheels, each of them rests on four. The vehicle has therefore the 

 facility of changing the direction of its motion at each end ; and 

 in moving through a curve, one of the trucks will be in one part 

 of the curve while the other is at another, the length of the body 

 of the carriage forming the chord of the intermediate arc ! For the 

 purposes they are designed to answer, these carriages present many 

 advantages. The simplicity of the structure renders the expense 

 of their construction incomparably less than that of any class of 

 carriage on an European railway. But a still greater source of 

 saving is apparent in their operation. The proportion of the dead 

 weight to the profitable load is far less than in the first or second- 

 class carriages, or even than in the third-class on the English 

 railways. It is quite true that these carriages do not offer to the 

 wealthy passenger all the luxurious accommodation which he finds 

 in our best first-class carriages ; but they afford every necessary 

 convenience and comfort. 



AMERICAN RAILWAY CARRIAGE. EXTET.10E. 



43 



