82 
MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
will be diminished to about 42 lbs., equal to a load of 
nearly iive tons, and taking the hours of labour at only 
six per day, the maximum of useful eil'eet is assigned 
by Judgol’d at 125 lbs. moving at the rate of 3 miles 
per hour, and regarding the expense of carriage in that 
case at unity, then 
Miles per hour. 
Proportional 
expense. 
Moving Force. 
lbs. 
2 
1.125 
166 
3 
1 
125 
3£ 
1.02 
104 
4 
1.125 
83 
4£ 
1.333 
624 
5 
1.8 
41* 
It follows, therefore, that on a railway to be worked 
by horses, the rate of travelling should not exceed 2£ 
or 3 miles an hour, if we desire to derive the greatest 
useful effect from his exertions. Now this rate, how¬ 
ever suitable it may be for the conveyance of heavy 
goods, is not so for passengers, with whom a speed of at 
least 10 or 12 miles an hour is usually required ; and 
this has been urged as the great objection to the em¬ 
ployment of horses on railways. 
In Older to obviate this on the American lines worked 
by horses, it is usual to divide the distance into short 
stages of 5 or G miles, and to urge the horse to his ut¬ 
most speed. In this manner we are informed by Mr. 
D. Stevenson that on the Mohawk and lludson railway 
ho was conveyed by horses a distance of 16 miles from 
Schenectady to Albany in 75 minutes, being at the as¬ 
tonishing rate of 15 miles an hour, stoppages included. 
The car carried 12 passengers, and was drawn by 2 
horses, which ran short stages of 5 miles. This method 
is one, however, which cannot be recommended to be 
put in practice in Australia, if only on the score of hu¬ 
manity, for where horses are employed for the high 
velocities of 15 or lGmilcs an hour, the consequence of 
urging them to their fuLl speed at once is most in¬ 
jurious. 
A simple method of employing the power of horses 
ou railways in such a manner that the greatest possible 
amount of useful effect may be obtained from his mus¬ 
cular power and weight combined, and at the same time 
a speed compatible with the exigencies of the passenger 
traffic, is still a desideratum in the science of engineer¬ 
ing ; and although various methods have been proposed 
in order to effect"this, yet none of them have hitherto 
heed put in practice. 
The writer has devised a method which will effectu¬ 
ally fulfil these conditions, so as to increase the ordinary 
speed of a horse to a maximum of 25 miles an hour, 
without the slightest distress to him, and by which his 
weight, which is the true source of his power, is brought 
fully into play. 
Now, as it has been ascertained that the resistance 
from friction on a level railway does not increase with 
an increase of speed, it follows that much . advantage 
might be obtained by an increase of velocity greatly 
exceeding that at which a horse could travel on the 
road, without exerting any power of traction, which 
ceases at a speed of 12 to 13 utiles an hour. 
A detailed description of tho method will form the 
subject of another paper. 
Thu next question is as to the cost of working a rail¬ 
way by horse-power. The daily cost of 2 horses and a 
driver may he estimated, in Australia, at 10 shillings 
per working day, or £3 per week, which is equivalent 
to £156 per annum. 
The work performed on a level railway Will bo dd£ 
tons carried dailv a distance of 20 miles, or per annum 
of 313 working days, 33£ tons carried a total distance 
of 6,260 miles, at a cost of £156, being at the rate of 
about 6d. per train per mile, or 24-33J farthings per 
ton per mile. 
By returns which have been furnished from different 
parts of the colonv, it appears that the cost of transport¬ 
ing goods varies front Is. Id. to 6s per ton per mile, on 
the ordinary roads of the colony. _ 
These facts are sufficient to shew the greatsnpenonty 
of the railroad over the common road, and on this point 
there can he no difference of opinion. 
On a common road the cost of conveyance is generally 
proportioned to the quantity of goods conveyed, and the 
same holds good with regard to canals or railways 
worked by horses ; but with the locomotive engine tins 
is not the case, as it is impossible to do business on a 
small scale, except indeed at a loss. 
If wc* take, for instance, a line similar to that of the 
Sydney and Parramatta railway* of 15 miles in extent, 
a single engine would be capable of making 4 trips in a 
day, and of transporting eacli time, and in each direc¬ 
tion, a gross load of 120 tons; that is, it would be 
capable of transferring 480 tons of goods from each end 
of the line in a day. But, unfortunately, the convey¬ 
ance of any less load than 120 tons at each tnp would 
be liable to tho same charge for conveyance as the- 
whole, so that if only 50 tons were earned in a day in 
4 trips, the expense would be the same as for 480 tons. 
But with horse-power this is not so, as in this case 50 
tons, or even 20 tons only per day* might be earned at 
the same expense per ton as 500 tons ; lor if there are 
more goods or passengers than can be conveyed by 2 
horses, 4 or more may be employed, tbe number being 
proportioned to tbe load, as well as the expense. 
.Another consideration in favour of lior-se-power is 
that in Australia homes are comparatively, cheap, and 
their employment on a railway would stimulate and 
encourage the breeding of horses, from which the agri¬ 
culturist would derive an immediate benefit, from the 
growth of the hay and corn required for their subsist- 
ence. , 
Again, in laying out railways to be worked by horses, 
a great saving could be effected l«r adapting steeper 
gradients tlian are commonly used for the locomotive 
engine. . 
A great saving could also be effected in the perma¬ 
nent way by using lighter rails, so that a line of horse 
railway could be driven through districts at a very 
slight expense, whereas tho construction of a steam rail¬ 
way would be incalculable. 
the nature of the country in Australia frequently 
presents great engineering difficulties only to be sur¬ 
mounted by the formation of tunnels, enttings, embank¬ 
ments, and bridges, of an expenditure so immense, as 
not to be justified by any well founded calculations of 
income to be derived from the expected traffic. 
All these considerations point to horse-power as that 
which, is most suitable to the circumstances and. wants 
of the colony, and we might take an example, in this 
case, from 'India, for the Prospectus appears in the 
Times , of February last, of the North of India Tram- 
road Company, with a capital of one million in £20 
shares. Tho'object is to furnish tho populous and fer¬ 
tile province of Bohilcund with cheat) roa«ls, and the 
first intention is to construct 25G miles from Futtey- 
ghurto Delhi. They are intended to be worked bv 
animal power, although capable of being made available 
for light locomotives. Some portions of the line are 
estimated to cost £5,000 per mile, and others only 
£2,500 per mile. 
These sums form a striking contrast to the expendi¬ 
ture on British and colonial railways, and when the 
discussion as to the superiority of one or other of the 
two systems takes place with reference to online of rail¬ 
way, which, bv its connection with a large district, as¬ 
sumes a certain character of nationality, the question 
evidently becomes one of great and pre-eminent im¬ 
portance", for roads of some sort we must have, unless 
we are content to make use for the next 20 years of the 
present mud-tracks mis-called roads. 
The objgct for which railways are wanted in Aus¬ 
tralia, is,' in one very important respect, different from 
that in Great Britain. They are -wanted not simply as 
