MF.MOIK OF DANIEL TBBADWEI.L. 



:) 



With the exception of a very small portion of the year, when it may ho co\> red with ,i ip 



snow, this structure is altogether beyond the reach of those changes which all t common 

 roads, canals, and rivers. The resistance to the moving of loads over if is at all times alike: 

 so that the load which an animal can draw upon it one day may he drawn on all other davs 



and this, being once known, may forever after he relied upon. As this system of coi [acting 

 transportation will necessarily bring large trains of carriages tog fcher, sufficient I ist 

 would always be at hand to remedy any ordinary disast r whi h might occur to the 1 Iway, r 



to a carriage. To allay all apprehension, it might even be ordered that one of the carriai; - 

 of every train should carry such pieces of machinery and tools as might by si p- ibility he 

 required to repair either the railway or carriages. Should a carriage be broken 1 pond the 



power of repair, its removal from the railway would, by the united labor of all the conductors, 



be immediately effected. The disabling of a horse would he of no serious cons* [uence, as his 

 load might be easily distributed amongst the other horses of the train. 



"To show the certainty with which journeys may he accomplished in given times, even upon 



common roads, the committee have only to call the attention of this Board i" the arrival of the 



United States mail at the various post-oilices. The failure of a mail from a distance of two 

 hundred miles is known to be a rare occurrence. When the roads are in good order, it may 



be said that it never happens; and yet the liability to hindram upon a CO] on road, in the 



best order, is much greater than upon a railway at any season, except immediaterj after a 



deep snow. . . . 



"With regard to the second objection, namely, the inconvenience that would ari from not 

 being permitted to commence a journey at any moment ; the commit ee cannot believe that any 

 one will, after a careful examination, consider it of much weight. All who travel by coach - 

 are now subject to the same inconvenience, if it be one ; for all coach - starl at fixed hours. 

 Yet we never Jiear it urged as an objection to the system of sta e-< h travelling that their 



departure is thus limited. 



"So on a railway, even if it were open at all times, the public coaches must necessarily 



depart at fixed periods, and the travelling must be performed in the public coaches; for who 

 would keep a private vehicle for this purpose ? . . . 



" It is proposed, in the Report of the Board of Directors of Internal Improvements, that, to 

 provide for swift carriages to pass those moving at a slow rate, cross rail- shall be laid at 

 distances of one eighth of a mile through the whole route from Boston to Albany, by which a 

 coach may pass from one set of "the main tracks to the other, and thus avoid any earriage 

 which may be moving in the same direction, but at a lower velocity. The committee are 

 acquainted with no method of providing for the passing of carriages, under the conditions here 

 stated, less objectionable than that thus proposed; and yet they apprehend that this will be 

 attended with vexations and danger. There is no mode, at least none known to your com- 

 mittee, by which sidclings or branches can be united to a main track so that considerable care 

 shall not be required, not only in passing from one to the other, but in passing along the main 

 track alone, at every point where a branch is united with it. To pass in safety, the ordinary 

 speed of coaches must be reduced, and in the night-time lights will be required. Now, as these 

 sidclings must be formed, according to the Commissioners' Report, at distance of one eighth 

 of a mile, no less than one thousand five hundred and eighty-four must be passed in the course 

 of a railway extending from this city to Albany. . . . 



" In closing their report, your committee will state that they are decidedly of opinion that 

 a single set of tracks, thus used, will offer greater facilities to transportation of every kind, and 



