TRANSACTIONS OF SECYION G. 893 
even if level crossings be allowed at public roads, special precautions will have to 
be taken. 
Much must then depend upon the regulations insisted upon by the Board of 
Trade. If, in consideration of a reduction in speed, relaxation of existing safe- 
guards are permitted, much may, no doubt, be effected by way of feeders to existing 
main lines. 
If, on the other hand, the branches are of narrower gauge, separate equipment 
will be necessary, and transhipment at junctions will involve both expense and 
delay. It is very doubtful whether the British farmer would benefit much from 
short railways of other than standard gauge. He must keep horses for other pur- 
poses, and he will probably still prefer to utilise them for carting his produce to the 
nearest railway station of the main line, or to the market town. 
The powers granted by the Light Railways Act, in the hands of the able 
Commissioners appointed under the Act, cannot, however, fail to be a public boon. 
Special Acts of Parliament will be unnecessary, facilities will be granted, 
procedure simplified, some Government aid rendered, and probably the heavy 
burden of a Parliamentary deposit will be removed. 
It would seem quite probable, that motor cars may offer one practical solution of 
the problem how best to place the farms of the country in commercial touch with 
the trunk railways, seaports, and market towns. They could use existing roads, 
could run to the farmyard or field, and receive or deliver produce at first hand. 
Such means of locomotion were frequently proposed towards the end of the 
last century, and in the early part of the present one, and it was not until the year 
1840, that the victory of the railway over steam upon common roads was assured, 
the tractive force required being then shown to be relatively as 1 to 7. 
The passing of the Act of 1896, superseding those of 1861 and 1865, will 
undoubtedly mark the commencement of a new era in mechanical road traction. 
The cars, at present constructed chiefly by German and French engineers, are 
certainly of crude design, and leave much to be desired. They are ugly in appear- 
ance, noisy, difficult to steer, and vibrate very much with the revolutions of their 
engines, rising as they do to 400 per minute; those driven by oil give out offensive 
odours, and cannot be readily started, so that the engine runs on during short 
stops. There would seem to be arising here an even more important opening for 
the skill of our mechanical engineers than in the case of bicycles, in which 
wonderful industry the early steps appear also to have been foreign. 
It is claimed for a motor car that it costs no more than carriage, horse, and 
harness, that the repairs are about the same, and that, whilst a horse, travelling 
20 miles per day, represents for fodder a cost of 2d. per mile, a motor car of 
2} horse-power will run the same distance at 3d. per mile. 
The highway authorities should certainly welcome the new comer, for it is 
estimated that two-thirds of the present wear and tear of roads is caused by 
horses, and one-third only by wheels. 
Perhaps no inyention has had so widespreading an influence on the construction 
of railways as the adoption of the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel rails. 
This has substituted a homogeneous crystalline structure, of great strength and 
uniformity, for the iron rails of former years, built up by bundles of bars, and 
therefore liable to lamination and defective welds. The price has been reduced 
from the 13/. per ton, which iron rails once reached, to 3/. 15s. as a minimum for 
steel. There are, however, not infrequently occurring, in the experience of rail- 
way companies, the cracking, and even fracture of steel rails, and the Government 
has lately appointed a Board of Trade Committee for the investigation, inciden- 
tally of this subject, but specially of the important question of the effect of fatigue 
_ upon the crystallisation, structure, and strength, of the rail. Experience proves, at 
any rate, that it is of great importance to remove an ample length of crop end, as 
fractures more frequently take place near the ends, aided by the weakening caused 
by bolt holes. Frequent examination by tapping, as in the case of tyres, seems, at 
present, the most effective safecuard. 
It is open to serious question, whether the great rigidity of the permanent way 
of the leading railways of this country is an advantage. Certainly the noise is 
