CHAPTER XIII. 



PORTABLE RAILWAYS FOR FARMS AND ESTATE IMPROVEMENTS. 



As the steam-plough promises to supersede the common plough, there 

 is great reason to think that ere long an application of the railway 

 system will be got to work successfully in the carriage on farms and 

 general works on landed property ; and more especially, I think that a 

 system of farm - railways will be of great benefit where the land is 

 cultivated by steam. 



Mr Grant of Wester Hill, Linton, Staplehurst, Kent, has brought 

 out a system of portable farm-railway which seems to answer the 

 purpose remarkably well. We have been using it on this estate 

 for some years, and feel much satisfied with it. It is a good sub- 

 stitute for wheelbarrows in making roads, quarrying, removing soil, 

 and brickmaking ; and the expense is considerably less than where the 

 work is done by means of the wheelbarrow. From what I have seen 

 of it, I am of opinion that it can be worked to advantage in farming 

 operations, as in the case of removing manure to a field, &c. It is the 

 common practice to wait for frosty weather to remove farmyard manure 

 to the fields, which does not always come exactly as each farmer 

 wants it. Consequently the portable railway can be laid out, and set to 

 work in any sort of weather without injury to the soil ; and the removal 

 of grain crops and turnips can be carried FlQ 1Q 



on when the soil would be too wet for 

 horses and carts. 



The rails are constructed of wood and 

 iron, having a large bearing surface ; 

 the chief portion of the rail is wood, 

 being capped with a light iron rail on 

 the top, where the wheels of the 

 waggons run. The preceding sketch, fig. 1Q, will give an idea of 

 the form of the truck which I have had in use for removing soil, 

 gravel, &c. The truck tips to the side, clear of the rails. The rails 

 will lie on any garden walk, as they only occupy a breadth of sixteen 



