IS17.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



115 



istiag interests of canals, roads, land-owners, &c., which was only over- 

 come at enormous costs. Amongst the first of these may he mentioned 

 the London and Birmingham, the Grand Junction, the Great \l'estern, 

 Bristol and Exeter, Soutlianipton, Brigton, Dover, Leeds, York, and 

 others. The prejudices iigainst them have now vanished, and the mania 

 for new lines h'ls of late exceeded all former precedent. 1901 miles have 

 been already executed on the narrow gauge, 274 on tiie hrond gauge ; 614 

 miles are in progress of construction, and projects for 20,(iS7 miles were 

 actually introduced into parliament last session, representing a capital of 

 £350,000,000. Of these projects, ads of parliament have been passed 

 for 3573 miles, requiring a capital of £129,229,707. 



In most parts of Europe, railways have already been constructed, or 

 are in progress, or in contemplation, afier the plan of those executed in 

 this country. The following names must be borne in mind as associated 

 with the invention and propagation of the railway system, — Barnes, Bir- 

 kenshaw. Bidder, Blenkensop, Blackett, Booth, Braudrelli, Braithwaite, 

 Brunei, Butk, Buddie, Cubitt, Curr, Dodd, Ericson, Giles, Good, Hack- 

 worth, James, Jessop, Leather, Losh, Locke, Lanibourt, IM-is'eil, liaslrlck, 

 G. and J. Rennie, Reynolds, G. and IS. Stephenson, Treviihick, Vignolles, 

 Vivian, Watt, Walker, Wood, and many others. 



Steam Coaches, — Great efforts have been made to perfect steam- 

 coaches, so as to enable them to travel upon turnpike roads, but hitherto 

 without much success. The idea was suggested by Robison to Watt, m 

 1759, and \l alt patented it in 1784. Symington proposed it in 17S0. Tre- 

 vithick's patent of 1S02 was the first high pressure engine that was 

 actually made, and patents for improvements upon it have been numerous. 

 Bramah constructed a steam-coach in 1822 for Griliilhs, which was not 

 successful. Gordon tried one in 1824, and Gurney, vvlio was more suc- 

 cessful, constructed some wiih boilers, having very small tubes; he attained 

 a speed of 10 miles an hour on good turnpike roads, and ascended the 

 steepest hills near London; he went from London to Bath and back, in 

 1831, and his steam carriages ran for four months between Cheltenham and 

 Gloucester; but it was extremely difficult, and too expensive, to keep 

 them in order. Hancock constructed several with boilers composed of 

 thin metal chambers ; they ran for some time, with appai'ent success ; but 

 there were so many dilhculties that they did not get into use. Dance, 

 Field, Hill, Macerone, Russell, Cayley and others, also attempted it, with 

 varied success ; hut the system is inferior to that of radway travelling, 

 and it is now generally given up as hop»less. It has been proposed to 

 employ.highly compressed air in place of steam for propelling locomotive 

 engines, first by Medhurst, in 1799, and since by others, but without any 

 trials being made beyond mere models. 



Fast Canal Boats. 



Attempts were made by Grahame, and olhers, to accelerate the passage- 

 boats on canals ; the mode was extremely ingenious, and at one time was 

 brought into use on the canals in Scotland, the north of England, and 

 other places. The mode was as follows : — A beanifully constructed boat, 

 whose length was about ten times as great as the breadtn, and drawing 

 very little water, was drawn by two horses, conimencing at a trot, and 

 soon increasing their pace to a gallop; the boat once put in motion required 

 very little effort to maintain its speed, which was 10 miles an hour, and 

 formed a considerable improvement in canal navigation; increased expedi- 

 tion was also given to the boats for goods, and general speed and economy 

 of charges and improvement in management prevailed. All this, however, 

 came too late, for although it would have been readily acknowledged at an 

 earlier period, and might perhaps, for a while, have retarded liie railway 

 system, yet when once the latter was established, its superiority became 

 manifest, and its progress became irresistible. The railway system also 

 gave increased stimulus to improvement in steam-boats, which had been 

 previously in use, and which I shall presently notice more at length. 



Taken simply at the velocity of 2^ miles per hour, the resistance or fric- 

 tion oftered to the tractive power by a given load is in favour of the canal ; 

 but as this resistance increases with the velocity at a far greater ratio on 

 the canal than on the railway, the advantage with increased velocity 

 becomes decidedly in favour of the railway, and inasmuch as tht. value of 

 time in everything has become more important, so railways must necessa- 

 rily increase in superiority ; besides, as in any case having a large profit- 

 able traffic in passengers, which a canal cannot ha\e, the extra power for 

 conveying goods is compara'ively very little, so that the competition even 

 in heavy goods, in many cases, is in favour of the railway also. Some 

 canals are now being amalgamiled with, or converted into railways, being 

 Boable to withstand the competition with the railway, 



Stationary-Engine System. 



Of the numerous other systems or projects, in addition to locomotive 

 engines and horses, which have been suggested for propelling carriages 

 along railways, two only wortii mentioning have been brought into opera- 

 tion, viz , traction by ropes wound round drums or cylinders, worked by 

 stationary or fixed steam engines, and the more recently introduced atmo- 

 spheric system. Traction by ropes up steep planes had long been in use 

 at the collieries in the North, where what are termed self-acting planes 

 were established, upon whicU the descending loaded wagons attached to a 

 rope, passing round a pulley-wheel, drew up by their superior gravity the 

 empty wagons attached to the other end of the rope. 'I'lie same principle 

 was applied by Reynolds to transfer canal boats from one level to another, 

 n tl:ie case ol the Kelle; Planes, uo the Silirupshire canals in 1788, also in 



the subterranean portion of the Bridgewaler canal at Worsley, in 1797, 

 and at other places. The s; stem of rope-traction by stationary engines 

 was adopted in the collieries of the North, the steep undulating nature of 

 the country being well adapted for it. Thompson applied the reciprocating 

 system with great success to the Seahani and Durham Junction, and other 

 railways, the lines being a series of successive planes, extending over 8 or 

 10 miles, without interruption, having lixed engines with ropes actuated by 

 them, so that Ihe traffic was transleried from one plane to another, taking 

 advantage of gravity in the descents. Tiie rope and stationary engine 

 system was applied to work the steep planes on locomotive railways, 

 which were considered at the time too steep for the locomotives to travel 

 upon ; but recently locomotives have been so much improved, and rendered 

 so much more powerful, that they can ascend planes at considerable velo- 

 cities and vyith tolerable loads, where formerly it was considered imprac- 

 ticable. Examples of these may be inenlioned ;— the inclined planes of 

 Edge-hill and Rainhill on the Manchester and Liverpool railway, the 

 Lickey plane on the Gloucester and Birmingham, the Eustousquare in- 

 cline plane on the Birmingham railway, and other places. The most re- 

 markable and successful application of the rope system is the Blackwall 

 railway, by Stephenson and Bidder, in 1S4U. The line commences at 

 Fenchurch. street, and terminates at the East India Docks, Blackwall, 

 being about 3J miles long ; it is carried upon brick arches above the 

 streets, and at each end, or terminus, there are powerful fixed steam- 

 engines, turning large drums or cylinders, round which the ropes for draw- 

 ing the carriages are wound at the rate of 25 miles an hour. Each pair 

 of engines at the London terminus, built by Maudslay, is 224 horse power, 

 whilst each pair at the Blackwall end, built by Barnes, is only 140 horse' 

 power, the line descending all the way to Blaikwall. The phn of ac- 

 commodating the intermediate traffic is very simple and ingenious; it is 

 effected by attaching the carriages to the rope, by a clutch worked by a 

 lever ; this is readily detached by a man on the carriage, whilst the rope 

 is in motion, and answers perfectly. The planes between Fencliurch- 

 street and the Minories are worked by the momentum of the carriages one 

 way, and by gravity the other. This S3stem has its advantages and dis- 

 advantages, and is more particularly applicable when the load is regular 

 and constant, so that the full power of the engine may be employed to 

 advantage. The wear and tear of the ropes is very expensive, but has 

 latterly been much diminished, by the substitution of wire ropes for those 

 of hemp. 



Atmospheric Railways. 



The atmospheric system has been the subject of much discussion here 

 and elsewhere. It was first propo.-ed in 1824, by Vallance, of Brighton, 

 where a working model was constructed of sufficient dimensions for the 

 carriages to be introduced at one end of a tunnel, and the air being ex- 

 hausted by a steam-engine at the other, they were propelled forward, by 

 Ihe pressure of the atmosphere. It was even proposed to adopt the sys- 

 tem for tlie speedy transmission of letters ; the system, however, was 

 necessarily so imperfect, that except for the ingenuity of the idea, it was 

 of no practical utility. It was afterwards improved by Medhurst, in 1827, 

 and was brought forward by Pinkus, in a more complete form, in I834i 

 by making the carriages travel outside the lube ; and in 1839, it was fur- 

 ther improved and patented by Clegg; since that period it has been brought 

 into operation by Clegg and Samuda, who tried an experiment upon a 

 working scale, in 1840, for about a mile in length, at Wormwood Scrubbs. 

 This experiment showed that a load of tons could be propelled at a 

 velocity of 30 miles an hour, with an atmospheric tube only 9 inches dia- 

 meter, and induced the leading proprietors of the Dublin and Kingstown 

 railway, to adopt il, for extending that line to Dalkey, a distance of about 

 1| mile, where the country was difficult, and not well adapted for loco- 

 motives. That extension was opened in the latter end of 1843, and has 

 continued working ever since. The line is single; the rails, although 

 rather lighter, are laid upon the ordinary plan, and in the centre between 

 them there is a tube about 15 inches in diameter, having a slit or opening 

 at the top, which is closed by an elastic valve ; a piston, fitted to the fore- 

 most carriage of the train, is inserted into the tube, which is connected at 

 the upper end with an air-pump, worked by a steam engine, which ei- 

 hausts the air from the tube, and the piston attached to the foremost car- 

 riage is then urged along ihe tube by the pressure of the atmosphere, and 

 draws the train w ith a velocity in proportion to the perfection of the vacu- 

 um in the tube : as fast as the piston advances, the valve in the slit of the 

 tube is opened, and is closed again after the piston has passed, and is ren- 

 dered tight and impervious to air by a composition of fatty matter placed 

 in the groove into which the edge of the valve falls. The planes of this 

 line ate extremely steep, being in places 1 in 50, and the curves are very 

 sharp. The highest vacuum obtained has been 20 inches, with a speed of 

 35 miies an hour. The train returns from Dalkey by gravity alone. For 

 a first experiment, it has been tolerably successful. The system is being 

 tried upon a larger scale upon the Croydon and the South Devon railways; 

 a portion of the former has been opened, and a speed of 00 miles an hour 

 has been obtained, with a vacuum in the tube of 27 inches; and a train 

 consisting of 10 carriages, weighing 50 tons, has been propelled 5 miles in 

 8^ minutes, or at tlie rate of 35 miles an hour, the barometer indicatin<' a 

 vacuum of 25 to 28 inches. The engines are 3 miles apart, and a power 

 of 300 horses is employed for the whole distance. The tube is 15 inches 

 in diameter, and the air-pump feet 3 inches diameter ; theseepest plaug 

 is 1 in 50. The South Devon line has not yet been tried. 



Considering the rec«nt introductioa of tliis system, and the new eoa- 



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