96 C. O. BUKGE. 



ing power. If therefore we suppose a choice to be required 

 between two proposed lines which have to surmount 1,000 feet, 

 one 10,000 feet long with a rack grade of 1 in 10, and another 

 60,000 feet long with an adhesion grade of 1 in 60, the same load 

 to be taken up in the same time, in each case, the expenditure in 

 running, wages, and in consumption of fuel and water, will be 

 practically the same in each case. On the rack line the journal 

 and rail friction, apart from brake action, will be less, owing to 

 the lesser number of revolutions of the wheels and of the shorter 

 length of road, and the general maintenance of the road, apart 

 froui that caused by the rack, will be much less, but on the other 

 hand there are the extra repairs to the locomotive due to the 

 pinions and gear, the wear and tear due to extra braking, the 

 maintenance of the rack itself as well as the extra care required 

 in that of the whole road, due to the proper working of the rack 

 system, the cost of working the shunting stations at each end, 

 and the indefinable extra expense always to be looked for in deal- 

 ing with special apparatus inserted in the general ordinary system. 



On the whole, I should be inclined to think that the determining 

 factor must be mainly the comparative cost of construction of the 

 two lines, and the question of the method by which they are pro- 

 posed to be worked. It is clear that if the rack section is, or is 

 to be in the future, a link between two extensive railway systems, 

 one in the low and the other in the high country, different work- 

 ing conditions would arise from those which would exist if the 

 rack line was a branch one pure and simple, with little or no 

 possibility of extension beyond. 



In fact, the problem which would have to be solved in such an 

 alternative as that just referred to, would be one in which the 

 traffic and locomotive departments would have to be consulted 

 as well as the engineer. 



This paper might fitly conclude with the following extract from 

 a report by a Commission appointed by the Italian Public Works 

 Department, on this matter a few years ago, in which the leaning 

 evidently is towards the rack in the case of such an alternative: — 



