FARMERS' REGISTER— ON RAILWAYS, &c. 



538 



be adjudged to possess advantages over the Compa- 

 ny's engines ; and that the Company shall purchase 

 such engine at a fair valuation. 



Every facility should be given to the candidates, 

 previous to the trial, to prove their engines on the 

 line, either with or without loads, subject to the 

 convenience and rules of the Company. Twelve 

 months should elapse between the publication of 

 the challenge and conditions, and the day on which 

 the competitors shall enter the lists. 



I have recommended the Liverpool and Man- 

 chester Company the more especially to institute 

 this trial, as their railway is in full operation, and 

 consequently they would the sooner reap the ad- 

 vantages of those results, which cannot but prove 

 important to them. But the scheme applies with 

 equal ibrce to all Railways, and, were a combat of 

 this nature to take place on the opening of a new 

 line, and periodically on different lines, the whole 

 engineering talent of the country would feel its 

 stimulus, and be pressed into the service of Rail- 

 ways. 



In furtherance of this design — viz. that of exci- 

 ting the mechanical world to the improvement of 

 Locomotive Engines, and of Railway conveyance 

 generally — too great publicity cannot be given to 

 all facts tending to illustrate the excellencies and 

 defects of the existing system. A register should 

 be kept and periodically published of the duty done 

 by the engines. In one table might be presented 

 a list of the engines in the em[)loy of a company ; 

 the makers' names ; the date of their use ; the con- 

 struction of the boiler; specifying whether with 

 or without tubes ; the diameter of the cylinders, 

 and length of stroke ; whether placed horizontally, 

 vertically, or inclined ; whether working on a 

 cranked axle or otherwise ; whether actuating two, 

 or all four wheels, and their size, &c. ; the pressure 

 of the steam, the kind and weight of fuel burnt ; 

 the nature and amount of worlc done; the injuries 

 sustained, and from what causes; the number of 

 hours actually worked in a week, &c. &c. Such 

 are the data which ought to be collected and ana- 

 lysed by the judicious engineer before he decides 

 on his plans and executes an engine ; but these facts 

 are obtained with difficulty. It is, indeed, imprac- 

 ticable for any other than the mechanic residing 

 contiguous to a Railway, to acquire that precise in- 

 formation on the respective merits of the various 

 forms of locomotive engines in actual use, which 

 can alone instruct him how to remedy the defects, 

 and by what means to diminish the wear and tear 

 of these costly machines. 



A concise summary of the principal properties 

 of a variety of engines, accom])anied by a notice of 

 their performance; of the casualties to which they 

 have been subjected ; of the parts which have need- 

 ed repair or been renewed ; arranged in a tabular 

 form, and published monthly, would give to the en- 

 gineer, at one glance, more exact and valuable 

 knowledge than could be acquu'ed by him were he 

 to pass his whole time on a Railway. It would 

 stimulate the engine-men to be cleanly and dili- 

 gent, as their reputation would be thus identified 

 with that of their engines. They would become 

 more observant of incipient imperfections, such as 

 leakages, the loosening of bolts, the want of oil to 

 the wearing parts, the waste of water in the boilers, 

 the stoppage of the pumps, &c. &c. and they wouhl 

 be more sedulous in preventing gross repairs, by 



timely precautions, Avere their too-often culpable 

 negligence made notorious. 



Of the efficacy of publicity in promoting a rapid 

 advance towards perfection in thc-ai!?e of Steam 

 Power, wc have a case in point, from the effects 

 produced by the printed monthly reports of the duty 

 done by the pumping-engines in Cornwall. An in- 

 spection of the summary table for a series of years, 

 given in Mr. John Taylor's "Records of Mining," 

 will convince the most sceptical of the advantages 

 which have accrued to the miner from this system. 

 He will there learn thata bushel of coals, which, a 

 few years since, raised only seventeen millions of 

 pounds weight of water one foot in height, is now 

 made to raise eighty millions of pounds to the same 

 height. This immense increase in the effective 

 performance of the pumping-engine is chiefly at- 

 tributed to the publicity given to the construction 

 of various engines, and to the modes of applying 

 their power. The same instrument, the Press, is 

 now working a similar miracle, in the mining dis- 

 tricts of North Wales; and it may be rendered 

 equally as effectual an agent in accelerating the 

 perfection of Locomotive Engines and of Railway 

 conveyance. 



Facts of a still more interesting nature to the 

 public might also be periodically communicated, 

 not only without detriment to the proprietors of 

 Railways, but to their manifest advantage. I re- 

 fer to the accidents occurring, from time to time, 

 to those employed or travelling on these roads. In 

 the want of an authentic record of such casualties, 

 (excepting in the event of loss of life,) any ill-in- 

 formed gossip, or penny-a-line man, becomes the 

 bearer of his version of "a dreadful accident on the 

 Railway" to a newspaper editor, which goes the 

 round of the journals, and "frights the isle from its 

 propriety." Be such tale true or false, correct or 

 exaggerated, the reputation of the Railway equal- 

 ly sutlers. An antidote should be instantly applied, 

 and this antidote would be found in a simple un- 

 varnished statement of the case emanating from the 

 Directors, and published by their authority. I 

 could quote numerous instances illustrative of the 

 truth of these remarks, and am acquainted with 

 many persons whose natural timidity has been so 

 excited by such garbled reports of accidents, as to 

 deter them from venturing on a Railway. But 

 were a full ;\nil explicit statement published of ev- 

 ery occurrence of this nature worthy of note, ac- 

 companied by a proper explanation of its origin, 

 the public would not he unduly alarmed, precau- 

 tions would be enforced, and means would frequent- 

 ly be devised for removing some of those imper- 

 fections which still disfigure Railway conveyance ; 

 imperfections arising often from original bad con- 

 struction, often from mismanagement, and which 

 are the causes (though happily rare) ol disasters to 

 passengers. 



In the persuasion that you, sir, are ever ready 

 to lend your columns for the advancement of know- 

 ledge and the arts, I do not hesitate to request your 

 insertion of tliese hints and observations, should 

 you deem them suited to their object, and likely to 

 promote ihe perfection of a system of tra\elling, 

 of which the town of Birmingham is about to be- 

 come a centre. 



I am, sir, 



Your obedient servant, 



A CI\*It< ENGIKEER. 



