1^0 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[May, 



at the same time wetted with a brusli. Tlie object of employing a 

 white cement is, that the veneer, if thin, is not sufficiently opaque 

 to hide the glue. An extremely tljiii sheet of brass is interposed 

 between the veneer and the beds, and also a thickness of paper 

 between that and the veneer; the angles are thereby better pro- 

 tected, and rendered sharper. Variations are produced in the 

 forms of the beds, to suit other subjects to be veneered, by the 

 application of paddings or filling pieces, to make up any or all of 

 the parts to the figure required, by which one set of beds may 

 suit a variety of designs of a nearly equal size. — I'atuut Journal. 



number of engines lighted, then — jj^ will express the average 



REVIEAV S. ' 



Railway Ecoiin/ni/. a Treatise on the JVew Art of Tran.iporl. By 

 UioNYsius Lahdnkr, D.C.L. London: Tavlor, Walton, and 

 Maberly, 1850. 



Dr. Lardner is commonly so happy in popularising any subject 

 which he takes uji, that he is the last man one would think of 

 blaming for writing a book; but liere we have book-making with 

 a vengeance. To those who know nothing ])ractically about 

 railways, the book will ])ass muster; and of those who do, many 

 will be deterred from objecting to it, because they are imposed 

 upon by its appearance of mathematical and statistical labour. 

 The mathematics put us very nnich in mind of the acquirements 

 of the redoubted Iludibras : 



" For he coulfl tell the lime o' the day, 

 The clock did strike, by algebra ;'* 



to sucli a degree is the foppery of symbols carried ; and tliere is a 

 formula for exerything. Thus at page fi5 : 



" To determine the average number of miles run by each engine 

 after such cleaning and lighting, it is only necessary to divide the 

 total mileage of the locomotive stock, or of each class of it, by 

 the total number of engines lighted ; the quotient will give the 

 distance run by each engine lighted. In general, if K" express the 



e -\- e' 



distance run by each engine lighted. 



"As examples of the application of this, we take, from the official 

 reports of the Belgian railways, the number of engines lighted 

 during 1H4.6 and 184-7. The number was 27,452 for 1H4.6. Divid- 

 ing this into the total mileage, 2,027,011., already given, the quo- 

 tient is 7.3'8, which is therefore the average number of miles run 

 by each engine cleaned and lighted. 



"In 1847 the inimber of engines lighted was .30,676. We have 

 already seen that the total mileage was 2,366,885. Dividing this 

 by the number of engines lighted, we find 77'G miles as the dis- 

 tance run by each engine lighted, being an improvement on the 

 performance of the previous year." 



The practical benefit of this in book-making is, first, the ignorant 

 reader is led to imagine he gets sometliing very good for his money; 

 and, next, by making an algebraic formula — first, for the common 

 operation of division, and by working it out arithmetically after- 

 wards, so much nuire text is made in an easy manner. The statis- 

 tics are of the same (juality, and of the same value. 



Althougli Dr. Lardner was employed some years ago in mathe- 

 matical investigations connected with railways, he shows himself 

 very ill-qualified for writing upon railway management. He 

 seems to have stopped so long abroad as to have become Frenchified 

 and un-Knglislied; and as he is without the practical experience, 

 so he wants the documentary evidence as to railway management. 

 His materials are tlie Knglish blue-books — worth nothing; tlie two 

 pamphlets of ('aptain Iluish, the Belgian blue-books, and some 

 J-'rench reports; and many French books: and he complains of the 

 want of Englisli statistics, whereas there is a whole body of 

 English railway literature, and, above all, an extensive railway 

 press. All the jioints Dr. Lardner opens, as lie tliinks, have been 

 already discussed and settled, so far as they admit of settlement, 

 by many able and ])racti(tal men; and tlie railway papers afford 

 invaluable data for the inquiries he has undertaken. Tlie reports 

 of the (y'onimittees of Investigation, in particular, afford most 

 valuable information, of which our .lutlior lias taken no advantage. 

 Our own Jonninl has given information on these subjects to India 

 and the United States; but it does not seem to have been of use 

 to Dr. Lardner. Even the title of Railway Economy has been 

 more successfully used by a Professm- (iordon. 



Inasmuch as the statistical results of English railway manage- 

 ment are more favourable than those of French or Belgian, who 

 are our pupils, it might have suggested itself to Dr. Lardner that 



our railway administrators are not so much in the dark as he 

 intimates. 



^VIlile tlie main body of the work is so unattractive, there 

 is a very interesting chapter on American steam navigation, which, 

 although much of it is trite, nevertheless contains some good 

 matter; but altogether we wish the author had, for his own sake, 

 been otherwise emiiloyed. 



The title of the book is the best part of it, and that is 'Railway 

 Economy,' which is very much sought after now: but no railway 

 manager can learn anything from the book; nor do we think any 

 shareludder can. ^Vherever a principle is sought to be established, 

 that principle is limited in its application; and where a discovery 

 is set forth, it is of something already known, and is working or tried, 

 and found inapplicable. The writer has, indeed, -missed the whole 

 gist of the subject, or he might, with his ])opularity as a writer, 

 have taken a very prominent and very useful jiart in the discussion 

 of railway economy. 



The history of railways has been one of progress; and to see it 

 in its true point, and in its future bearing, it must be looked upon 

 as of the same character. All is still new, and all will be inno- 

 vation. The locomotive begun as a rude engine. Trevithick 

 set it going with one cylinder : Stephenson strengthened it with 

 two. it was still only a beast of burden, when ^Ir. Booth en- 

 dowed it nith the speed of a race-horse. The contests between 

 the companies have called for an increase of speed; and this has 

 been attained chiefly by an increase of bulk in the engine, and 

 therefore of weight. It must not, however, be assumed that the 

 increase of speed has been attained wholly by increase of weight; 

 for it has been chiefly attained by improved mechanical arrange- 

 ments, so that an engine of the old prize weight would still have 

 increased speed and power of traction. 



With a speed beyond all expectation and all calculation, the 

 whole economy of railways has been altered; and a system has been 

 gradually developed, which, by its development, has ]>ointed out 

 the successful means for superseding it. How we stand now is 

 this: we have heavy engines, heavy rails, and, in continuation, 

 heavy trains, unfreipicnt trains, great and distant stations, and 

 great establishments. 



Originally, it was considered railway traffic would, in its con- 

 ditions, be like coach traffic — that there would be a succession of 

 coaches, as it were, and station accommodation, was not contem- 

 plated. A train arrives, and a large establishment is requisite to 

 attend to it, which establishment is empty-handed until the next 

 train. A passenger comes to a bye country station, and, as he 

 may have to wait some time, station accommodation must be pro- 

 vided for him. 



Dr. Lardner's great doctrine is, to get rid of the "empties,' 

 and he might have extended it to empty hands; but although 

 railway managers are (juite alive to this, they cannot, under the 

 existing system, carry it out; but rather, under the pressure of the 

 times, they are aggravating the present state of affairs by lessening 

 the number of trains — an economy which is attended by an injury 

 to the traffic. The station expenses are now the most untractable 

 items in the budget, and have been a heavy burden, particularly 

 on new branches with a thin traffic. 



In virtue of the progress of improvement, light engines and 

 iarht trains, with a good speed, are now feasible, and we believe 

 nothing stands in their way but tlie prejudices of tlie (dd locomotive 

 manufacturers. We have now long advocated the adoption of 

 the light system; and we are glad to see that its value is now 

 more generally acknowledged, though we do not believe its full 

 operatiion is adecpiately appreciated. In truth, the obstinate advo- 

 cacy of fewer trains, in the teeth of all past experience as to 

 traffic, is a proof of the carelessness even of those who are sup- 

 porters of the new system. Notwithstanding, this system has now 

 the assent of the whole body of the press devoted to railway 

 polemics, of many engineers, and of many administrators; and, as 

 it is already in practice, so must it go on to success. 



While heavy engines were essential, large trains were likewise 

 essential; and as these entailed a heavy permanent way, greater 

 expense in the locomotive department, enormous stations, and 

 large establishments, besides crippling and neutralising the 

 expansion of the traffic by reducing the number of stations and 

 departures, so do light engines allow of light trains, cheap perma- 

 nent way, economy in the locomotive and carrying departments, 

 a better distribution of plant and staff, cheaper stations, and more 

 of them. By more frequent trains the plant will be closer worked — 

 there will be fewer emjities, and the establishment of the electric 

 telegraph allows of a development of traffic which, ten years ago, 

 was impossible. 



