i873-j Railways and their Future Development. 157 



working for eight hours. Having these data before us, it is 

 easy to compare the values of steam and horse-flesh : — 

 Suppose coals to cost in the midland districts 18s. 8d. a ton 

 only, or one-tenth of a penny per lb., and assuming that an 

 average locomotive engine will not consume more than 5 lbs. 

 of coal in the hour per horse-power, the cost of fuel per 

 horse-power will be a halfpenny per hour. Taking the 

 value of the horse's provender at is. 9d. a day only, and 

 supposing he works for six hours, that would cost 33-d. 

 an hour against a halfpenny in the case of steam, or, as 7 to I 

 in favour of steam ; and this result is obtained on the 

 supposition that the horse travels only at three miles an 

 hour. 



Now, to sum up the combined advantages, therefore, of 

 an engine on a level railway against a horse on a level 

 common road at 10 miles an hour, we shall find that the 

 former gives an economy over the latter of nearly 300 to 1 ; 

 at 5 miles an hour it would stand as 115 to 1 ; and at 

 2J miles an hour as 64 to 1. 



Such are the enormous advantages of steam and rails, and 

 with them does it not seem astonishing that better financial 

 results have not been obtained ? There must be something 

 wrong somewhere. As Artemus Ward says, " Why is this 

 thus, and what is the reason of this thusness ? " 



Speed is the delinquent, and the cause of the loss of the 

 great primary advantages : the vehicles on railways are pro- 

 pelled very fast ; hence they involve great strength in their 

 construction, and enormous weight in proportion to the 

 paying load carried. 



An old stage coach, according to Nicholas Wood, weighed 

 only 16 to 18 cwts., and would carry upwards of 2 tons 

 of paying passengers with their luggage, or about * ths of a 

 hundredweight of dead load to every hundredweight of 

 paying load. Now, a third-class carriage with four com- 

 partments would represent 2*8 cwts. of deadweight to every 

 1 cwt. of paying load. Therefore the stage coach has the 

 advantage over the third-class railway carriage of 6J to 1. 



It becomes impossible to institute any absolute comparison 

 between roads and railways at speeds above 10 miles an 

 hour, because such speeds are impossible on the former for 

 any considerable distance. Again, the question of gradient 

 has to be noticed, for in the preceding remarks a level road 

 and a level railway have only been considered. 



As has been explained, where steep gradients occur, the 

 resistance due to gravity so much outweighs that due to 

 friction that rails afford a comparatively insignificant 



