October 25, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



279 



present at an experimental trip over the road, made to test tJie re- 

 sults of some repairs to the track and road-bed, as well as to give 

 an idea of the workings of the system to a party of gentlemen in- 

 terested in railroad matters, among whom were a few from Europe. 

 The run over the road was fully up to the expectations of all 

 present, the train gliding along asosmoothly, and as free from jar 

 or oscillation, at the highest speed reached as at the slowest. 

 Even when rounding curves of short radius at high speed, where 

 cars are subject to the violent and disagreeable oscillations caused 

 by the difference in level of the rails combined with the centrifugal 

 force due to the swing around the curve, the Boynton car, on its 

 one-rail track, ran as smoothly and steadily as on a tangent. In 

 fact, the only thing to indicate that the car, when rounding a curve, 

 was not running on a straight stretch of track, was the slight in- 

 cline given the car by the guide-rail overhead to counteract the 

 centrifugal force caused by the rapid motion and curvilinear 

 course of the train. Inequalities in the track also, which make 

 themselves manifest by oscillations in ordinary railroad travelling, 

 merely caused a slight vertical motion of the car, softened, of 

 course, by the springs. To sum up the impressions produced by a 

 ride over the road, every thing seems to indicate that IVIr. Boynton's 

 theories are based on correct scientific principles, that his system 

 solves the problem of high speed combined with safety, and that 

 for a continuous speed greater than fifty miles, reaching perhaps a 

 hundred or more, — a speed urgently demanded by present busi- 

 ness methods as a natural sequence to telegraphic and telephonic 

 ■development, — Mr. Boynton's system, or some modification of it, 

 must necessarily be adopted. 



Our illustration shows a freight-engine of a type designed by 

 Mr. Boynton for the bicycle or single-rail system of railroad. 

 Though presenting many novel features, being intended for great 

 hauling power rather than high speed, it embodies the same gen- 

 eral principles as the high-speed locomotive illustrated and de- 

 scribed in our issue of last week. It carries two boilers, two 

 cylinders, and two sets of drivers. The two-story cab is located 

 midway between the boilers, so that one engineer and one fireman 

 control both parts of the engine. 



THE KONGO RAILWAY.^ 



In November, 1885, a syndicate of English capitalists, headed 

 by Sir William Mackinnon, was constituted with a view of obtain- 

 ing from the Kongo Stale the concession of the railway from the 

 Lower Kongo to the Stanley Pool. The time, however, had not 

 yet come for great enterprises on the Kongo. Stability was not 

 yet sufficiently secured. The political work was not sufficiently 

 advanced; so that capital, in order to insure -its security, was 

 obliged to demand powers which the Kongo was unable to grant, 

 so that the negotiations fell through, and the English syndicate was 

 dissolved. 



Shortly afterwards the affair was taken in hand, at my sugges- 

 tion, on a more modest scale, by the Compagnie du Congo pour 

 le Commerce et I'lndustrie, constituted with a capital of 1,000,000 

 francs, which sum was afterwards raised to 1,225,000 francs, with 

 the immediate object of studying in a practical and definitive fashion 

 the possibility of laying the railway. The statutes were drawn up, 

 however, in order to allow the Compagnie to become, by simply 

 increasing its capital, the company for laying and working the rail- 

 way. The Compagnie du Congo was definitely constituted on the 

 9th of February, 1887. By the 8th of the following month of May, 

 the first expedition of engineers left for the Kongo. On the loth 

 of June a second group sailed from Antwerp. At the end of July 

 the gangs, assembled at Matadi, were composed of one director of 

 survey, twelve engineers, and one physician. Those who had ar- 

 rived first determined the geographical position of Matadi, made 

 some soundings to satisfy themselves of vessels of a large draught 

 being able to land without considerable works, and reconnoitred 

 the environs. From the first days of August, work began. One 

 study-gang walked in advance, reconnoitring the country, and de- 

 termining rapidly, by means of the levelling-compass, the zone of 



' Paper read before the Geographical Sectic 

 Thys. 



of the British Association by Capt. 



the ground to be surveyed. Three gangs, each composed of three 

 engineers, followed, and drew with the tacheometer the plan of the 

 reconnoitred zone. Haussas, negroes of the Gold Coast, were 

 employed as staff-holders. The zone on which the operations with 

 the tacheometer were performed varied, according to circumstances, 

 from 50 to 200 metres on both sides of the likely axis of the way. 

 The progress of the work, which at the very beginning of the 

 operations was only from 300 to 500 hundred metres per brigade 

 and per day, on the difficult ground near Matadi and Palaballa, 

 soon increased to one or two kilometres, the expedition having 

 passed the mountainous region, and by way of exception was 

 raised to four or five kilometres per day, the maximum space be- 

 tween the stations of the instrument being 300 metres. The 

 operations on the ground continued in 1887 up to December, when 

 the study had been carried on as far as Lukunga. The work then 

 suffered an mterruption of four months on account of the rainy 

 season ; nevertheless a special gang continued working during 

 January and February, 1888, in order to execute near Matadi the 

 survey of an alteration made in that region to the first direction- 

 line. In May, 1888, the staff having again their full complement, 

 works were resumed. While the chiefs of the gangs went to rec- 

 onnoitre previously the region which extends between the Lukunga 

 and the Stanley Pool, the other engineers completed the works 

 around Matadi. At the beginning of July the whole staff resumed 

 the operations with the tacheometer. On the 4th of November, 

 1888, the level was set up for the last time at Stanley Pool, and the 

 engineers went back to Europe. 



The railway which is proposed to be laid in the cataract region, 

 according to the survey plans and estimates, will have a gauge of 

 75 centimetres, with steel rails weighing 23 kilos, steel sleepers at 

 equal distances of 80 centimetres, and weighing 23 kilos, the whole 

 of the line weighing 75 tons per kilometre. The total length of 

 the line will be 435 kilometres. The laying of the first 26 kilome- 

 tres only will offer some important difficulties, while the remainder 

 of the line will be laid under exceptionally easy circumstances, 

 either in plains by straight lines, or along the hillsides by 

 means of curves of great radius. The earthworks of the first 26 

 kilometres not only will be much more considerable, but a great 

 deal of it will have to be done by excavating the rock ; while farther 

 the cuttings can be proceeded with in argillaceous ground, and 

 nearly always in sandy and friable earth. 



If we except the first part, there will be few constructive works, 

 the most important of them being a bridge of too metres across 

 the Inkissi, two bridges of 80 metres across the Mpozo and the 

 Kwillu, and six bridges ranging between 40 and 60 metres. The 

 others will have a length of from 5 to 20 metres only in the clear. 

 The construction of the abutments of bridges will be everywhere 

 very easy, as firm soil is to be met with at no great depth from the 

 surface of the ground. Nearly everywhere, except on the first sec- 

 tion, the nature of the soil will admit of bricks being made ; and in 

 the valleys of the Luima, of the Unionzo, Kwillu, and Inkissi, lime- 

 stone is to be found in abundance. Fragments of quartzite and 

 sand, everywhere to be met with, will supply the ballast. 



The maximum of incline will be 46 millimetres per metre, and 

 will be reached three times during the first portion, where, as a 

 rule, steep inclines will be met with. Nevertheless it has been 

 possible to combine the slopes and horizontals so as to render 

 traction as easy as possible, and during the last 400 kilometres the 

 slopes and inclines are very infrequent and generally insignificant. 

 Likewise, in the first section, curves are rather numerous and of 

 short radius, although the latter will never be less than 50 metres. 

 Thus all the difficulties of laying and working accumulate at the 

 starting-point, — a most fortunate circumstance, as the first section 

 also offers greater facilities for laying ; and, on the other hand, by 

 establishing a twofold traction for the first 26 kilometres, and, re- 

 organizing the trains beyond Palaballa, it will be possible to work 

 the whole of the line under far greater economical conditions than 

 if the working difficulties had to be dealt with at some distance 

 from the starting-point. 



The locomotives, when loaded, will weigh 30 tons, and drag, 

 with the speed of 18 kilometres per hour, an average useful load of 

 50 tons. 



The starting-point of the railway on the Lower Kongo will be 



