FARiMERS' REGISTER— SAFETY ON RAILWAYS. 



465 



There appears lo us to be something extremely 

 feasible in this plan ; and being one which can be 

 tested by actual experiment, no extraordinary cre- 

 dulity is involved in giving a serious consideration 

 to its practical applicability. It rests upon one of 

 the simplest laws of nature, which is within the 

 daily experience of almost every individual, but 

 heightened, by the facilities of the railway into a 

 greater efficiency of operation. We all know that 

 a wheeled vehicle, or any other body, moving free- 

 ly down a declivity, accumulates a degree of ve- 

 locity within itself which will propel it a certain 

 distance after it has ceased to be acted upon by the 

 descent of the road. This momentum will be 

 greater in proportion to the greater weight of the 

 body, which is all in favor of the object to wliich 

 Mr. Badnall purposes to apply it. In order to dis- 

 cover how far the impetus acquired in fullingdown 

 one slope of an undulating railway would be avail- 

 able in impelling a train of carriages over the 

 next, the experiment is very simple: a certain de- 

 gree of velocity being given to a load at the foot of 

 an ascent, sufficient to carry it to the summit, we 

 have only to ascertain whether an equal degree of 

 velocity could be given to the load by its own pas- 

 sage down a plane of the sante inclination. For 

 this purpose it is only necessary to allow the load 

 to traverse the plane in a reverse direction, and as- 

 certain the velocity with which it again passes the 

 foot of the ascent. The experiments made upon 

 the Sutton inclined plane have fully borne out the 

 correctness of this test, and the result has been so 

 clear and uniform as to leave no doubt as to the 

 soundness of the principle. 



Admitting the possibility that the use of steam 

 may be ultimately superseded by this plan, the im- 

 mense saving which would be accomplished in fuel, 

 carriages, machinery, &c. fills an amazing space 

 in the contemplation, and would be sufficient to 

 counterbalance many attendant disadvantages. — 

 Among the principal of these would undoubtedly 

 be the additional capital and labor required for the 

 peculiar construction of such a line of railway, in 

 which a level tract of country, so important a de- 

 sideratum under the present method, would pre- 

 sent one of the most formidable obstacles. We 

 trust, however, that the subject will meet with 

 that serious attention which it unquestionably 

 merits, and in the meantime we publish, with Mr. 

 Badnall's authority, the result of his experiments 

 on Wednesday last. 



The following engineers were present, viz. Mr. 

 R. Stephenson, senior, the Messrs. Dixons, Mr. 

 Daglish, and Mr. Badnall, who agreed that the 

 truth and validity of the principle would be effec- 

 tually determined by the following test : 



As great a velocity as possil)Ie being attained by 

 the engine before reaching a given point on the in- 

 clined plane, the time was to be accurately ascer- 

 tained which the train occupied in ascending from 

 that point to a state of rest. The power being then 

 reversed, the time was to be accurately measured 

 w hich the train occupied in descending from a state 

 of rest to the point from Avhich it had previously 

 ascended. Hence it was obvious, that if the de- 

 scent was made in less time than the ascent, the 

 velocity generated at the foot of the plane would 

 be proportionably greater than the velocity of the 

 ascending train at (he same point, and consequent- 

 ly, the demonstration would be clear, that the en- 

 gine and train would not only have ascended to an 



Vol. I.— 59 



elevation equal to that from whence it fell, but to i 

 greater one, the extent of which would be in pro- 

 portion to the velocity attained. 



Experiment 1. — The Liver engine, and a load of 

 13 wagons, (weighing in all about 72^ tons,) after 

 traversing a distance of threie fourths of a mile id 

 acquire a sufficient velocity, ran up the inclined 

 plane 278 yards ; the time occupied in performing 

 the latter distance being 90 seconds. 



Experiment 2. — The power being revefsddi tlifi 

 engine and train descended 278 yards ; the time oc- 

 cupied in the descent, viz. from a state of rest to 

 the point from wliich the time of ascent had been 

 calculated, being only 50 seconds. 



Experiment 3. — The engine and train having 

 traversed three fourths of a mile to generate a 

 sufficient velocity, ascended 278 yards in 75 se- 

 conds. 



Experiment 4. — -The powef being reversed, the" 

 descent of 278 yards was accomplished in 40 se- 

 conds. 



Experiment 5. — The ascent of 278 yards was? 

 made in SO seconds. 



Experiment 6. — The descent of 278 yards was 

 made in 49 seconds. 



Total, 834 



139 



46h 



Average, 278 



It is almost needless to add that these experi- 

 ments have most fully confirmed the undulating 

 principle, and proved, beyond all doubt, that a lo^ 

 comotive engine and load can traverse a curve or 

 undulation whose two summits are of equal altitude 

 with much greater rapidity, and consequently, with 

 far greater economy of time and power, than a le- 

 vel road of proportionate length. 



Mr. B.idnall having intimated his opinion, that 

 if a velocity of twenty miles an hour were attained 

 at the foot of the plane by two engines, it would 

 be proved by experiment that an engine could 

 move from one summit of an undulation to anoth- 

 er summit, nearly, if not quite, double the load 

 which that engine was capable of moving on a le- 

 vel, it was determined by the gentlemen present to 

 decide this important question in the course of a 

 few days. 



IXCREASED SAFETY ON RAILWAYS. 



From the Philadelphia Gazette. 



We understand from a gentlemen who has just 

 passed over the Camden and Amboy Rail Road, 

 that by a very simple contrivance, adopted since 



