THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[January, 



REMARKS ON RAILWAYS, 



WITH REFERENCE TO THE POWEK, &C. EMPLOYED UPON THEM. 



Sir — Tills subject has ocpupied mv attention for some time past, 

 but I liave been more particularly led to address you by seeing the 

 description of Mr. Curtis's endless rope apparatus in the last number 

 of the Journal. 



It has often been a subject of surprize to me, that so few attempts 

 have been made to limit the enormous outlay of money in forming 

 modern railways. When almost every branch of^mechanics, manu- 

 factures and tlie arts are receiving the attention of scientific men, and 

 when patentees without number are enabling us to do that for six- 

 pence vidiich used to cost us a shilling, ought we to be satisfied with 

 expending all our ingenuity in examining the relative merits of brass 

 anil copper tubes, or in ascertaining the best form for rails and chairs, 

 I think not ; and though Messrs. Stephenson, who are unquestionably 

 the first railway engineers, may tell us, that without locomotive en- 

 gines, railways would be nothing, and though by this craft they have 

 their wealth, yet nothing daunted, I will give you my ideas on the 

 subject. We will suppose, for example sake, a railway is to be con- 

 structed from one town to another, say from Sheffield to Manchester, 

 where the country is so hillv as to require a summit of upwards of 

 900 feet, and a tunnel 3 miles long, where the inequalities of the 

 ground are such as to require embankments and cuttings in some 

 places of 9 ; or 100 fi^et, and in many of 40 or 50, in order to make it 

 at all suitable for locomotive engines to travel upon. We all of us 

 know, that under ordinary circumstances, 50 feet per mile require the 

 engines to be nearly three times as powerful as those which would be 

 required upon a level, consequently, three times the weight of coke 

 and fuel, as well as a great addition to the weight of the engine and 

 tender, therefore, it becomes a question of some importance to ascer- 

 tain whether a cheaper power cannot be adopted than locomotive 

 engines. About ten years ago, Messrs, Walker and Rastric gave it 

 as their opinion, that Mr. Thompson's plan of reciprocating ropes 

 would be found more economical for the Liverpool and Manchester 

 railway than locomotive engines. And be it remembered, this rail- 

 way is uncommonly favourable for locomotives, compared with nearly 

 all the others in England, with the exception of the two inclines. 

 The only advantage gained by locomot've engines over the stationary 

 system, since their report, is economy in the consumption of fuel, by 

 having tubes instead of a large flue, and though this is a very great 

 improvement, how is it that with a consumption of fuel not one- 

 fourth of what was anticipated, we are told they cannot aftbrd to 

 take goods so as to leave a reasonable profit. The only solution to 

 this problem is, that the expense incurred in levelling and forming 

 railways, so as to make them fit for locomotive engines, together witli 

 the original cost, wear, and tear of locomotive engines, tenders, and 

 rails, is such as to demand a larger toll upon the goods than can be 

 afforded. Not to weary your readers by going into calculations, I will 

 assert that the plan of endless ropes will be found in the case of the 

 Sheffield and .Manchester railway, or any other railway, with one con- 

 tinued rise to the smnmit of 35 feet rise to the mile, to be far more 

 economical and efficient than locomotive engines. If we reject loco- 

 motive engines, the f ice of the country will not want excavating or 

 embanking, exceplingina vervfcw cases, which will save probably one- 

 half of the original outlay, viz. i' 100,000., and the interest of this at 

 !> per cent., which is £ ;0,000. per annum, will be saved to the share- 

 holders ; other things being the same, and that other things are as fa- 

 vourable must be our next business to prove. Any person acquainted 

 with the country in question, will admit that reservoirs may be 

 f irmed and water collected to almost any quantity, (of course without 

 iajury to the mill owners,) at or near the level of the s\nnmit, for a 

 trifling expense, which will furnish us with sufficient power without 

 hiving recourse to locomotive engines. We will pass over the in- 

 termediate steps of engine-houses, water-wheels, &c. from an anxiety 

 to kee|) these remarks within reasonable limits, and not from an in- 

 ability to go into them. The principal objections to the reciprocat- 

 ing plan, or any other plan with ropes I have seen, are that the trains 

 must all arrive together, stop at the stations to be hooked on and ott", 

 and in some of them cross over to the other rails. We will not 

 dwell upon these objections, but provide the remedy, which is to 

 divide the line into lengths of one mile each, and to have a station 

 at the end of each mile, these will be divided into two kinds, the 

 first contain the engine, water-wheel, or whatever the power may be, 

 and are placed evi'ry other mile ; we will call them No. 1, 2, &c. 

 The second stations are, where the two drums, or large pulley wheels 

 are placed, and occur every other mile, being placed halfway between 

 the first mentioned, wo will call these A, B, &c. From one of these 

 stations to the other, extends an endless rope of two miles long, or 

 one mile from wheel to wheel ; one eed passing round one of the 

 whcL'ls at the numerical stations, and the other round one of the 



wheels at the alphabetical, there being two wheels at each station, 

 capable of working in concert, by means of which two endless ropes 

 can be worked by one engine in both directions. It is not intended to 

 work more than one at once by one engine, but onlv to give a signal to 

 the man at the station No. 2, that he must set the engine or water- 

 wheel going, and at the same time it is intended to couple them so as 

 to ensure a uniformity of speed between the two ropes, before the train 

 changes from one to the othf r, therefore one engine will be working 

 at each ena for a short time, there being two endless ropes coupled 

 together working between them. This system of signals to be ob- 

 served throughout the line ; the object of it is to prevent any jerking 

 or breaking of ropes, &c., as there are no stoppages at the stations, 

 the first endless rope being liberated and the second taken when the 

 train is at full speed. The way this is done is by a long iron bar 

 fixed obliquely in the gronnd near the rope, nearly in the same di- 

 rection, and as the first carriage passes over this bar, one side 

 of the claws or holders of the rope, slides along the bar and is forced 

 open, which liberates the rope ; the impetus of the train carries it 

 forward to the rope at the second station, (twenty or thirty yards 

 would be sufficient,) where another bar fixed in a manner similar to 

 the bar alreadv described, again opens the claws, and a fork likewise 

 fixed in the groimd under the rope by the same operation, throws the 

 rope between the claws, they close upon the rojie and the train 

 proceeds. The relative distance of claws, bars and rails being always 

 the same, this part of the machinery can never get out of order, 

 nor require anv superintendance. 



To elucidate the system proposed still farther, we wiU suppose a 

 train is about to leave one end, when none of the ropes are in motion, 

 it is first brought along the railway a little in advance of the station 

 No. 1, then a pair of claws fixed on the first carriage, (which open 

 by a lever and close by a strong spring,) grasp the ro^ie, but without 

 injuring it. The water-wheel or engine is then put in motion, and 

 along with it the drum or pulley-wheel, endless rope, and conse- 

 quently the train. The speed is got up to the maximum, and thus it 

 proceeds till it arrives within 2U0 yards of the station A, being the 

 first half-way station. The man at this station by a conical coupling, 

 spring coupling, or in any other manner, which will gradually elFect 

 the same, connects the pulley-wheel of the first endless rope, or the 

 one already described with the puUey-wheel of the second endless 

 rope. The second endless rope is set in motion, and by this signal, 

 viz. the moving of the rope, the man at the station No. 2, puts on the 

 power, and before the train has got to the second rope, the speed of 

 the rope is the same as that of the train. As soon as the man at the 

 station No. 1 judges the train has left the first rope, he takes off the 

 water or steam, and the first endless rope leaves olf running. It is 

 not needfu' to describe the trains' progress forward, for the same 

 thing occurs at every change. It is evident from the foregoing de- 

 scription, that the going train always keeps to one side, and the 

 coining train to the other, and as the rope is the propelli. g power, 

 or means of power, one carriage can never overtake another. A car- 

 riage to be taken up at any place on the line, may either be done in 

 the manner described by your corresjiondent, or by an incline, to set 

 the carriage in motion long enough to get up its speed before it is 

 fixed to the train. In conclusion, I will make a few general remarks; 

 upon considering the subject, two important facts force themselves 

 into view ; — the first, that almost any number of undulations may 

 occur in the line of the railway, provided there be no convex curves 

 in the section of the ground in the space of one mile, (concave curves 

 would not signify, for they would diminish the friction of the rope 

 rather than a^ld to it.) The second is, let the country be as moun- 

 tainous as the Simplon, railways may with advantage be made over 

 it, provided there be a considerable traffic. The first of these will 

 enable us to make railways at one-half the cost of the present system, 

 the other to choose our own ground, and not be obliged to go in a 

 particular direction or level, to suit locomotive engines, leaving large 

 towns entirely out of view. 



Here we can have a railway at one-half the expense of the other, 

 at one-half (he wear of rails, have no collisions between trains, and at 

 no greater annual expense, but we won't have it; — and why? because if 

 sncli a thing were attem])ted, Demetrius and the craftsmen, (and they 

 are a very powerful body,) wimld run about the share-market and 

 shout with a loud voice, " great is Diana of the Ephesians," and all 

 the directors and shareholders in the railways already made, would 

 stifle all argument with the cry of "great is Diana of the Ephesians," 

 and at last, like poor sil'y sheep going to the slaughter, the projectors 

 of and subsciibers to contemplated railways, would join in the cry, 

 and louder and fiercer than any shout "great is Diana of the Ephe- 

 sians — great is Diana of the Ephesians." 



Sk^Uld. Diogenes. 



(To be conlinucd.J 



