FARMERS' REGISTER— RAIL ROADS AND CANALS. 



57 



rowest, shallowest, aiid most curved Canal in 

 Scotland, viz : the Ardrossan or Paisley canal, con- 

 necting the city of Glasgow with the town of Pais- 

 ley and ^ illage of Johnstone, a distance of twelve 

 miles. The result has disproved every previous 

 theory as to the difficulty and expense of attaining 

 great velocities on canals ; and as to the danger of 

 damage to the banks of canals by great velocity in 

 moving vessels along them. 



"The ordinary speed for the conveyance of pas ■ 

 sengers on the Ardrossan canal, has for nearly two 

 years been from nine to ten miles an hour, and al- 

 though thgre are fourteen journies along the Ca- 

 nal per day, at this rapid speed, the banks of the 

 Canal have sustained no injury, indeed injury is 

 impossible, as there is no surge. The boats are 

 formed seventy feet in length, about five feet six 

 inches broad, and, but for the extreme narrowness 

 of the canal, might be m.ade broader; they carry 

 easily from seventy to eighty passengers, and 

 when required, can, and have carried, upwards of 

 110 passengers. The entire cost of a boat and 

 fittings up, is about £ 125. The hulls are formed 

 of light iron plates and ribs, and the covering is 

 of wood and light oiled cloth. They are more 

 airy, light and comfortable than any coach, they 

 perjiiit the passengers to move about from the ou- 

 ter to the inner cabin, and the fores per mile are 

 one penny in the first, and three farthings in the 

 second Cabin. The passengers are all carried un- 

 der cover, having the privilege also of an unco- 

 vered space. These boats are drawn by tAvo hor- 

 ses, (the prices of which may be from £ 50 to £ GO 

 per pair) in stages of four miles in length, which 

 are done iri from twenty-two to twenty -five min- 

 utes including stoppages to let out and take in 

 passengers, each set of horses doing three or four 

 stages alternately each day. In fact, the boats 

 are drawn through this narrow and shallow canal, 

 at a velocity which many celebrated engineers 

 had demonstrated, and which the public believed 

 to be impossible. 



"The entire amount of the whole expenses of at- 

 tendants and horses, and of running one of these 

 boats four trips of twelve miles each, (the length 

 of the canal,) or forty-eight miles daily, including 

 interest on the capital, and twenty per cent, laid 

 aside annually for replacement of the boats, or 

 loss on the capital therein invested, and a considera- 

 ble sum laid aside for accidents, and replacement of 

 the horses, is £700 some odd shillings, or taking 

 the number of working days to be 312 annually, 

 something under £ 2 4s. 3d. per day, or about elev- 

 en pence per mile. The actual cost of carrying 

 from eighty to one hundred persons a distance of 

 thirty miles (the length of the Liverpool Railway,) 

 at a velocity of nearly ten miles an hour, on the 

 Paisley Canal, one of the most curved, narrow, 

 and shallow Canals in Britain, is therefore just 

 £ 1 7s. 6d. sterling. Such are the facts, and incre- 

 dible as they may appear, they are facts which no 

 one who inquires, can possibly doubt. 



"As respects Railways, the experiment of high 

 velocities has been made, and the result ascertained 

 on the best finished, and finest line of Railway in 

 Britain, connecting the two great towns of Liver- 

 pool and Manchester, without a single curve, 

 from end to end, and with only two short ascents. 

 "The result of this experiment on the Liverpool 

 Railway has been somewhat different from that 

 on the Ardrossan Canal. On the Railway, in- 

 VoL. I.-8 



deed, the expected velocities have been fully at- 

 tained, and the calculations of the engineer, in this 

 respect, satisfactorily demonstrated as possible and 

 correct ; but unluckily one very important matter 

 had not been admitted into the calculation, or ra- 

 ther had not been supposed to exist, viz — the pro- 

 bability, or rather certainty, of a great increase 

 of expense, consequent on increased speed. The 

 geometrical ratio of increased resistance on increa- 

 sing the speed on Canals, has been transferred to 

 the increase of expense on increasing the speed on 

 Railways, with this addition, that the increase of 

 expense affects not merely the moving power, or 

 locomotive engine, but the coaches, wagons and 

 roadway. The ordinary speedof conveyance on 

 the Liverpool Railway, is from ten to twenty 

 miles an hour, and depends much on the weather 

 and the weight dragged. The Railway engine, 

 with its tender for carrying coke and water, costs 

 about £ 1000, and drags after it a train of eight 

 coaches, the cost of each of which, if the same as 

 in the estimate for the London and Birmingham 

 Railway, should be £200; or a train of first-class 

 coaches with accompanying engine and tender, 

 costs £ 2600. The coaches accommodate one hun- 

 di-ed and twenty passengers. There are other 

 coaches, and also uncovered wagons, which tra- 

 vel at an inferior speed, and which v/ill cost less. 

 The fares are various ; seven shillings, or nearly 

 three pence per mile, for each passenger, in the 

 common coaches, of what is called the 'first train,' 

 being just double and triple the boat fares ; and 

 four shillings in the coaches, and three shillings 

 and sixpence in the uncovered wagons in what is 

 called the ' second train,' which move at a lower 

 velocity. The lowest Railway fare to the travel- 

 ler is therefore three half-pence per mile, in an 

 open, uncovered wagon, moving at an inferior 

 speed, exposed to wind and rain, and the steam 

 and smoke of the engine — or double the fare on 

 the Paisley Canal, for being carried in a comfort- 

 able cabin vmder cover." 



"The Paisley Canal boats have now been at 

 work plying on that Canal, since the autimin of 

 1S30, and it is found that tlicy are as easily and 

 safely drawn at the high velocities before men- 

 tioned, during the night as during the day. The 

 accidents on the Liverpool Raihvay have been so 

 frequent and so serious, as to require the notice of 

 the Directors in the Reports ; whilst not even the 

 semblance of an accident has happened with the 

 Paisley boats." 



"Although I have principally confined myself 

 to the article of passengers, yet all I have stated 

 applies equally to the light goods noAv sent by the 

 road wagons and vans. 



"With two horses it has been sliOAvn, that a 

 weight equal to nearly eight tons in passengers, 

 may be conveyed along a narrow and shalloAV Ca- 

 nal, at a rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and at 

 an expense of 11</. a mile, including every outlay, 

 with interest and replacement of capital, being 

 less than one-third of the bare cost for conveyance 

 of a similar weight on a Railway. 



\_Note B — jUppcndix.'] 

 The entire trade contemplated by the Directors, 

 previous to the Railway being opened, and for 

 which they wished to provide means of convey- 

 ance between Liverpool and Manchester, was 

 1,248,000 tons; but the entire amount obtained in 

 the year 1831, was 88,099 tons, of which 62,224 



