10 
MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
a return which is sufficient of itself to show the enormous 
development of the traffic between the two towns ; hut 
which, when analysed, exhibits the peculiar feature of a 
much greater extension of the passenger than of the goods 
traffic. 
This successful experiment on the part of the Manches¬ 
ter and Liverpool Company had the effect of stimulating 
others to follow their example; availing themselves of 
the experience which had been gained during the progress 
of the works at Liverpool, and of the daily improvements 
made in the machinery of the locomotives, and in all the 
other details of railway engineering, lines ware at once 
commenced from the metropolis towards every part of the 
country; and in 1855 the length executed amounted to 
8240 miles, at a cost of 291 millions. All this has been 
executed in about 25 years — so that about 800 miles of 
railway have been constructed annually, at a cost of about 
nine millions, or at the rate of about £30,000 per mile. 
It would be useless to go at any length into the details 
of the modifications and improvements which have been 
made in the construction of the locomotive engine, and in 
the arrangements which have been introduced for accom¬ 
modating tho different descriptions of traffic- It will be 
easily understood that the stimulus given to the mechanics 
of the whole world by tho introduction of locomotive 
power upon railways was not without its fruits. Altera¬ 
tions and improvements have been made, and are daily 
making, not only in tho construction of the engines, but 
in all the minor details of the railway. Most of these 
have for their object the development and extension of the 
peculiar advantages of steam traction—namolv, the in¬ 
crease of speed and of power, for the purpose of meeting 
the enormously increased amount of traffic. A few ex¬ 
amples will suffice to convey an idea of the naturo of 
these alterations. 
The locomotive which gained the prize of £500, offered 
by the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester. Kail- 
way, weighed *4 tons 5 cwt*, and the tender with water and 
coke, weighed 3 tons 4 cwt. The conditions of the expe¬ 
riment were that the engine should not weigh more than 
six tons; that if it weighed more than tons, it should 
rest upon six wheels ; that it should draw three times its 
own weight at a rate of ten miles per hour, and should 
not cost more than £550. In the experiment tho Rocket, 
built by Mr. Robert Stephenson* drew a gross load of 17 
tons, including its own weight, at tho average rate of 14 
miles per hour. When, however, engine power was prac- 
t icallv applied to railway purposes, it was soon found 
that the wheels of the engine were apt to slip an the raiL 
in wet weather with even an ordinary load, and in all 
weathers when the load was increased beyond a certain 
proportion to the weight of the engine. To remedy this, 
the engines were made heavier, so as to augment the fric¬ 
tion upon the rail, and the addition to the weight was 
accompanied by a corresponding increase of power and 
speed. 
These additions to weight and velocity involved altera¬ 
tions in the construction of the railway. The light rails 
used on the Liverpool and Manchester lino, which weighed 
35 lbs. per yard, were not, of course, strong enough to 
support the increased load brought upon them ; and rails 
weighing 45, 60, 75, and 90 lbs. per yard have gradually 
been introduced. The increased power of tho engine, and 
the hold oil the rail obtained by throwing additional 
weight on the driving wheels, enable the train to ascend 
gradients, which before were worked by stationary or 
auxiliary engines ; but, on the other hand' the increased 
velocity has made it advisable to pay greater attention to 
the plan of the road, the curves of which are described 
with a larger radius ; for when great speed is required, 
some sacrifices must he made, in order to secure a line as 
straight as possible. 
This is a brief sketch of what has taken place in 
England. The different stages in the scale of progression 
may be summed up as follows ;— 
1st. Muddy tracks. 
2nd. Turnpike roads. 
3rd. Tramroads of wood. 
4th. Ditto of iron. 
5th. Railroads, with, light rails, worked by locomotive 
engines, at low speed* 
0th. Railroads, with heavy rails, traversed by enrines 
of great weight and power, drawing loads of 150 tons, at 
a rate of from 25 to 50 miles per hour. 
It must not, however, he assumed that these changes 
were either general or simultaneous ; that the muddy lan© 
ceased to exist when the turnpike road was put in opera¬ 
tion ; or that these latter have been altogether banished 
by the railroad; on the contrary, every change had to ou- 
dergo the most determined opposition. At the first intro¬ 
duction of railways, the owners of property, who are now 
eagerly striving to get the lines as near them as possible, 
exerted al l their influence to keep them at a distance. It 
is only within the last fifteen years, that more enlightened 
ideas have prevailed, and that people have been made 
aware that every additional facility given to locomotion 
confers a most important benefit upon the country. It is 
true that in many instances the works of the railways 
have been executed at a cost which the returns have not 
justified, and the capital expended has yielded but a 
scanty return of interest; but this lias been principally 
duo to an unwholesome system of competition, which has 
induced an outlay upon works, where the amount of traf¬ 
fic, though sufficient to pay the expenses of working the 
line, and maintaining the road, is not adequate to the pay¬ 
ment of interest upon the capital laid out. 
The experiments which have been carried on for the last 
30 years, in various parts of the world, have been uniform 
in certain results, which, may, therefore, he safely laid 
down as general principles for our guidance in discussing 
the policy of adopting railroads as our principal means of 
internal communication. It has been shown that increased 
facilities of communication have an immediate tendency 
to .augment traffic. The augmentation, however, takes 
place bo a much greater extent in passengers than in goods; 
that increased facility of communication is in alt cases 
productive of economy. This, however, is shown more in 
the transit of goods than of passengers. In the case of 
the latter, though there is often an actual reduction in the 
cost of conveyance, yet the principal saving is in time. 
With regai-d to goods, the actual reduction in the cost of 
transport is enormous, while the benefit is still further 
enhanced by the certainty and rapidity with which they 
conveyed. A reference to the traffic returns of English 
railways will establish these facts beyond a doubt; and 
there is no question that, were we in possession of similar 
returns from other countries, the result would be the same. 
This^brief sketch of the introduction of the railway sys¬ 
tem in England, and of its extraordinary and rapid de¬ 
development, will not, I trust, be uninteresting; and it 
will be most useful if it should have the effect of intro¬ 
ducing a more close investigation of al l the causes which 
have had an influence in producing such a state of things, 
with a view to the application of the results of such an 
investigation to the circumstances of the colony. 
In carrying out an investigation of this kind, however, 
care luust^ be taken to keep constantly in view the yen' 
marked differences between the state of things in the 
colony and the mother country. 
In England th e population is densely packed together, 
and the manufacturing and agricultural interests are 
enormoushydeveloped. In this colony, on the contrary, 
the population is thinly scattered, and the agricultural 
and manufacturing interests are yet in their infancy. 
There is thus, instead of an analogy between the state 
of things in the two countries, a marked and striking dif¬ 
ference. We cannot, therefore, assume without proof, 
that because it has been found advisable in England to 
expend some three hundred millions in improving means 
of communication already comparatively excellent, it 
will be to our benefit to expend a tithe of that sum for ihe 
same purpose ; but that such an expenditure will be most 
beneficial I firmly believe. The very marked differences 
which exist between the mother country and this colony 
appear to me to strenghen rather than to weaken th© 
groundwork upon which this belief is basedand I trust, 
before I conclude, to be able to make you partakers of my 
convictions. In order to this, it will be necessary, in the 
first place, that a clear and definite idea should be formed 
