TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 645 
to the truck of a railway train. Much of the work which was done by the steam 
crane is now done by the hydraulic crane, the first example of which, in a stationary 
form, was applied by Sir William Armstrong upon Newcastle Quay in 1846, 
speedily followed by hydraulic cranes and hoists at the Albert Dock, Liverpool. 
They were first applied to railway purposes at the Newcastle station of what is 
now the North-Eastern system, in 1848; and Mr. Brunel used hydraulic power 
three years later not only for cranes, but for the movement of turn-tables, 
trayersers, and capstans for hauling waggons at the Paddington station of the 
Great Western Railway; and now not only stationary, but portable hydraulic 
machinery is employed at most of the more important goods depdts throughout 
the kingdom. Hydraulic machinery has also been largely employed for opening 
and closing dock gates and suices, and for warping ships through the locks. 
A large dock is in course of construction at Hull, by Mr. Abernethy, called the 
Alexandra Dock, where almost every kind of machinery which can be used in 
work of that nature is being used by the contractors, Messrs. Lucas and Aird, to 
expedite the work. Two of Priestman’s steam grabs are employed, each capable 
of filling about 390 cubic yards a day, and are found very useful in opening out 
work for the steam navvies, six of which are employed, each being capable of filling 
‘600 cubic yardsaday. There are a number of steam cranes, steam pile-driving 
machines, and steam jiggers at work. But beside those moved by steam power, 
hydraulic power has here for the first time been applied to machinery for the 
‘construction of works. An hydraulic crane puts the stonework of the dock walls 
in place ; an hydraulic jigger raises the barrow-loads of soil from the bottom of the 
dock to the wall where it is shot to the back for filling. One of the six navvies is 
moved by hydraulic power; and there is an hydraulic pile-driving machine. The 
hydraulic machinery is found to work at least as quickly, as easily, and as 
economically as steam machinery, and it works almost without noise and quite 
‘without smoke. The trial of hydraulic machinery for these purposes has been 
quite successful, and where circumstances permit it will no doubt be used exten- 
sively in works of construction in future. For dock work much of the hydraulic 
machinery can be used permanently in the ordinary operations of loading and 
unloading, so that the loss by sale of such expensive plant, which a contractor has 
to take into account when making his tender, will be avoided, as it can be turned 
over to the dock company, with a reasonable deduction for wear and tear, at the 
end of the work. There are 2,800 men employed at this dock; and the work is 
carried on at night by the aid of the electric light. The mechanical navvies and 
grabs do the work of about 400 additional men. 
The working of railways by electricity has not advanced further than to justify 
merely a brief reference to it in this paper as among the possibilities, perhaps 
the probabilities, of the not distant future. A line of a mile anda half of tramway 
has been working successfully at Berlin for over two years without hitch or 
aecident of any kind. A line of narrow gauge railway is constructed from 
Portrush, the terminus of the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway, to Bush 
Mills, in the Bush Valley, a distance of six miles, which is now partially worked 
by electricity, and is to be wholly so worked as soon as the necessary plant is 
completed. As the generating power is that of the abundant streams of the 
neighbourhood, it will be economical; and if success should crown this practical 
experiment, it may lead to important results in regard to the employment of 
electricity under similar circumstances as a locomotive power. 
I have now passed rapidly in review some of the more striking mechanical 
improvements in the construction and working of railways and docks which have 
taken place chiefly within my own experience. Each of them has had an influence 
important, if unnoticed, in promoting the growth of our railway and dock 
systems. Precisely how far any single appliance has contributed to create these 
magnificent systems, of which this country may with just reason be proud, it would 
be difficult to say; and it would be as difficult to say which of them could be 
dispensed with without injury to the rest. They may be laid aside in course of 
time, one by one, as mechanical ingenuity devises new and better plans to take 
their place, and to meet the new and larger wants of other generations. But as 
