MECHANICAL AND USEFUL ARTS. 7^ 



(the portion written in 1S13), he says, at Wandsworth, "I felt re- 

 newed delight at witnessing the economy of horse labour on the 

 iron railway. Yet, a heavy sigh escaped me, as I thought of the 

 inconceivable millions which have been spent about Malta, four or five 

 of which might have been the means of extending double lines of iron 

 railways from London to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Holyhead, Milford, 

 Falmouth, Yarmouth, Dover, and Portsmouth ! A reward of a single 

 thousand would have supplied coaches, and other vehicles of various 

 speed, with the best tackle for readily turning out ; and we might, 

 ere this, have witnessed our mail coaches running at the rate of ten 

 miles an hour, drawn by a single horse, or impelled fifteen miles by 

 Blenkinsop's steam engine! Such would have been a legitimate motive 

 for overstepping the income of a nation, and the completion of so 

 great and useful a work would have afforded rational ground for 

 public triumph in general jubilee !" 



To this we may add, that the late Herbert Ingram (who lost his 

 life in the terrible steam-boat catastrophe on Lake Michigan, in 

 September last), more than once advocated in his journal, the 

 Illustrated London News, the introduction of horse trains in England 

 and its large towns. In the management of this journal also (which 

 Mr. Ingram, by his genius and enterprise, called into existence, and 

 established in world-wide favour), he gave unceasing encouragement 

 to the applications of mechanical science to the improvement of 

 printing machinery, in order to meet the large requirements of his 

 journal, as well as to show his appreciation of genius and enterprise 

 in others, and the interest he took in fostering inventive industry. 



Mr. Train has made application to the Westminster district 

 authorities to be allowed to extend his tramways to various 

 streets under their jurisdiction, such as Oxford-street, Regent-street, 

 Piccadilly, Coventry-street, and Pall-mall. Mr.H. Greaves applied to 

 be allowed to submit his plan for combining tramways with gas and 

 other pipes, the pipes to form the sleepers under the rail or train. 

 His gas-pipe sleepers are patented, and form, he says, one continuous 

 structure, so that gas could not escape, and each would bear 30 or 

 40 tons weight. By laying such pipes, he urges, the breaking up of 

 streets would be obviated, as also the contamination of the subsoil by 

 gas escape. Both projects were referred to the Works Committee 

 of the district for consideration. Mr. Train also applied to the 

 City Setters Commission for permission to construct railways in some 

 of the principal thoroughfares in the City. (These permissions have 

 not, however, been conceded.)* 



An inventor resident .in Manchester has patented a plan of what 

 he terms a "perambulating railway," the main features of which are 

 as follows : — He proposes to lay down his line perfectly level with the 

 roadway, each rail not exceeding 3 inches in width ; and in the centre 

 he places a grooved rail in which is to run what he terms the peram- 



• For an able view of the history and economy of this invention, see the 

 Treatise On the Coiixtruction of Horse Railways fur Branch Lines and fcr Street 

 TraJJic, by Charles Eurn, C.E. 



