392 Lieut. Hutchinson's Report on the [May, 



pedient to publish the annexed extracts from the description of Palmer's Railway, 

 given in Hebert's Engineer's Cyclopedia, Vol. 2, pp. 425, &c. ' . 



" Instead of two lines of rail laid upon the ground, as heretofore, Mr. Palmer's 

 railway consists of only one, which is elevated upon pillars, and carried in a straight 

 line across the country, however undulating and rugged, over hills, valleys, brooks, 

 and rivers, the pillars being longer or shorter, to suit the height of the rail above 

 the surface of the ground, so as to preserve the line of the rail always straight, whether 

 the plane be horizontal or inclined. The waggons, or receptacles for the goods, 

 travel in pairs, one of a pair being suspended on one side of the rail, and the other 

 on the opposite side, like panniers from the back of a horse. By this arrangement 

 only two wheels are employed, instead of eight, to convey a pair of waggons ; these 

 two wheels are placed one before the other on the rail, and the axle-trees upon 

 which they revolve are made of sufficient length and strength to form extended arms of 

 support, to which are suspended the waggons or receptacles on each side of the 

 rail, the centre of gravity being always below the surface of the rail. The rods 

 by which the waggons are suspended are inflexible; hence, although the weights 

 on each side be not equal, they will, nevertheless, be in equilibrio ; as may be ob- 

 served in a ship, which, being unequally loaded, assumes such an angle with the 

 surface as preserves the equilibrium. Although an equal distribution of the load on 

 both sides is desirable, it is not necessary. A number of carriages are linked together, 

 and towed along the rail by a horse, as barges on a canal. Owing to the undulation of 

 the country, the horse will sometimes be much below the rail, in consequence of which 

 he is provided with a sufficient length of rope to preserve a proper angle of draught. 



" Provision is made for trains of carriages that are proceeding in opposite directions, 

 by means of "sidings" or passing places. With respect to loading, if both receptacles 

 be not loaded at the same time, that which is loaded first must be supported until 

 the second is full. Where there is a permanent loading-place, the carriage is brought 

 over a step or block; but when it is loaded promiscuously, it is provided with a 

 support connected to it, which is turned up when not in use. From the small height 

 of the carriage, the loading of those articles usually done by hand becomes less la- 

 borious. The unloading may be done in various ways, according to the substance 

 to be discharged, the receptacles being made to open either at the bottom, the ends, 

 or the sides. In some cases it may be desirable to suspend them by their ends, when, 

 turning on their own centres, they are easily discharged sideways. 



"Among the advantages contemplated by the patentee of this railway, may be 

 mentioned that of enabling the engineer, in most cases, to construct a railway on that 

 plane which is most effectual, and where the shape of the country would occasion 

 too great an expenditure on former plans — that of being maintained in a perfectly 

 straight line, and in the facility with which it may always be adjusted ; in being 

 unencumbered with extraneous substances lying upon it ; in receiving no interruption 

 from snow, as the little that may lodge on the rail is cleared off by merely fixing 

 a brush before the first carriage in the train ; in the facility with which the loads may 

 be transferred from the railway on to the carriages, by merely unhooking the re- 

 ceptacles, without displacing the goods, or from other carriages to the railway, by the 

 reverse operation ; in the preservation of the articles conveyed from being fractured, 

 owing to the more uniform gliding motion of the carnages; in occupying less land 



