318 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. , \ 



a species of railway in which the rails furnished a flat surface provided with a 

 flange so that either ordinary carts and waggons or railway trucks could run on 

 it and be hauled by ordinary railway-engines. 



Before the same Society last February, Mr. John Alexander Brodie, the City 

 Engineer of Liverpool, advocated the general principle of the plateway, if 

 constructed in a manner suitable to modern requirements, giving as advantagea 

 of a modified plateway the following : (1) Greatest economy in construction ; 

 (2) Great economy in haulage; (3) Absence of terminal charges; (4) Suitability 

 for all classes of vehicles at present used for heavy traffic; and (5) The simplest 

 possible arrangements for connecting" up to mill, manufactory, or ship. 



I suggest that a motor-traffic road should consist essentially of eight 

 steel or iron ' runways ' (to use a term applied to the longitudinal stone tracks 

 used in some towns), each of sufficient breadth to ensure that all vehicles could 

 keep their wheels on these, the runways thus forming four definite tracks as on a 

 railway, and the intermediate part of the road being a dust-proof pavement, 

 such as asphaltic macadam or macadam tar-treated, which would give foothold for 

 horses and at the same time be sufficiently strong to bear the load of a vehicle 

 occasionally turning out to pass another vehicle. In order to secure the proper 

 working of traffic on this road it would be necessary to .confine slow vehicles 

 to two of the tracks and fast vehicles to the other two, and only to allow slow 

 vehicles to cross the fast tracks at given points, such as side road turnings, and 

 only to turn out into the fast tracks in order to pass slower traffic when there 

 was ample distance from any fast traffic coming along. 



Such runways would enable vehicles to be hauled with less than half the 

 frictional resistance of that which even good roads offer, and would give a 

 perfectly even surface similar in smoothness to a railway line. Consequently, 

 not only would economy be effected in the power required for haulage, but the 

 wear and tear of horse-flesh and of motors and other vehicles would bo enor- 

 mously lessened, and it would be possible to do away with the expense of 

 pneumatic or rubber tyres, save where these were required to ensure absolute 

 noiselessness in pleasure vehicles. Ordinary farm waggons, by a small alteration, 

 might be made capable of being drawn on this runway in trains hauled by motors. 

 As an outline type of motor-traffic road the foregoing may serve as a basis of 

 discussion or investigation. Whether the construction of such a type of road 

 would be beneficial to the country generally from the financial aspect requires 

 consideration. I venture to think that it woidd be. But if such motor-traffic 

 roads were advantageous, the following points would need investigation : — 



1. The limits of wheel-gauge desirable, i.e., as to the maximum and minimum 

 gauge which a track should be constructed to suit. The nearer these were to 

 coincidence, the less the cost of track construction would be. 



2. The cross-gradient and super-elevation at curves and the minimum radius 

 of curves. 



3. The allowable wheel-pressures and allowable dimensions and types of 

 wheel and tyre. 



4. The loading gauge of vehicles and clearances between passing vehicles of 

 fast and slow traffic. 



5. The limiting velocities of fast and slow traffic. 



6. The type of metal most suitable for the runways and the most suitable 

 form of construction of the road. 



The discussion on this Paper was opened by Professor Kendall, who was 

 followed by Mr. William Watts (Geological and Mining Society of Manchester), 

 who, speaking of the district around Wilmslow and Alderley Edge, Cheshire, said 

 it is not safe for a lady or gentleman neatly dressed to travel on the main roads 

 after a spell of fine weather for fear of getting their clothes covered with dust 

 raised by the motors so frequently passing that way, whilst on muddy roads one 

 runs the risk of getting splashed with dirty water settled in ruts, as some of the 

 drivers pay no regard to the comfort of the pedestrians on the footpaths. The 

 hedges and small trees are covered with dust, and doubtless their growth is 

 stunted in consequence of the pores in the leaves getting choked with it ; and for 

 some distance on both sides of the roads the herbage, cereal, and root crops are 

 damaged, and the land is much reduced in value and will not let for the building 



