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On some lines of railway, as the London and Birmingham, engines on only four wheels, with circular fire-boxes, and the axle-bearings within the wheels, are still used; and some engines have been recently introduced on the Hull and Selby railway, in which an attempt is made to combine the advantages of inside and outside bearings, by throwing a great part of the weight on bearings within the central or driving-wheels, while steadiness of motion is insured by external bearings to the fore and hind wheels. Where increased adhesion is desirable, as for luggage engines, or such as are intended to ascend steep gradients, four, or even six wheels are coupled together by external cranks and connecting rods, such wheels being of course of equal diameter. Many of the American locomotives are arranged in a different manner from that described, with a view to greater facility in passing along curves; the forepart of the machine being supported on a four-wheeled truck, which is capable of adjusting itself to a curved track. It is a singular fact that while British engines have been sent to America for working several lines, an American manufacturer has competed successfully with those of England in building locomotives for the Birmingham and Gloucester railway.

answering the same purpose. The tender, and sometimes | worked alternately in both directions. The necessary sigthe engine itself, is supplied with powerful brakes, to nals are made by an electric telegraph, invented by Messrs. arrest the motion of the wheels when necessary. Some of Wheatstone and Cooke. This important appendage to a railthe carriages also have them, handles for working them way is described in the article TELEGRAPH. However debeing placed within reach of the guards. sirable rope-traction may be under the peculiar circumstances of the Blackwall line, it is attended with great expense from the wear of the ropes, which are very costly; and, notwithstanding every precaution, the noise of the numerous sheaves that support the rope is annoying. To obviate these objections is a principal object of the invention called the 'atmospheric railway,' which, within a few months past, has been successfully tried on a length of about half a mile on the West London (formerly called the Thames Junction) railway, at Wormholt Scrubbs. The apparatus consists of an iron pipe nine or ten inches diameter, extending along the middle of the track; in which a piston is caused to move with a velocity of from twenty to thirty miles an hour, by exhausting the tube in front of it, and admitting the air to press on the opposite side. A connection is formed between this piston and the carriages by a rod passing through an opening along the top of the tube, which is kept air-tight by a well-contrived valve that opens to allow the passage of the rod. The necessary vacuum is produced by air-pumps, worked by a stationary steam-engine. Though several similar propositions have been previously made, that of Mr. Pinkus being, except in the kind of continuous valve used, almost identical with the present, the credit of proving the practicability of the principle on a large scale is due to Messrs. Clegg and Samuda, who anticipate advantages from it which it would be premature here to enumerate. which applies alike to all plans of working with stationary engines, is the improbability of collision, as but one train can be moved upon the same engine length of railway at once; as a set-off to which there is the inconvenience that a casualty to one part of the apparatus deranges the working of the whole line.

Harrison's patent locomotive, though not extensively introduced, deserves mention for its bold departure from the established model, the boiler and engines being mounted on separate carriages. These have been built with ten-feet driving-wheels, and also with five-feet wheels, the velocity of which is made treble that of the cranked axle by the intervention of a toothed wheel and pinion. Hitherto no very striking advantage has been realised by these arrange

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When railways were first proposed for the purposes of general traffic, it appears to have been considered that competition in the supply of locomotive power and travelling accommodation might be advantageously encouraged: and consequently clauses were introduced in railway Acts to enable any person to run engines and carriages on the payment of certain specified tolls, and subject to such regulations as might be made by the company to whom the road belongs. Such powers have been very rarely put in practice, and it is obvious that they may be virtually nullified by the refusal, on the part of the company, to supply some necessary facilities. But if such were not the case, it is the deliberate opinion of the late Parliamentary Committee, founded on careful inquiry, that it is indispensable, both for the safety and convenience of passengers and the public, to prohibit, as far as locomotive power is concerned, the rivalry of competing parties on the same line of railway;' also

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Stationary Engines.-The heavy expenses attending the use of locomotive engines, from the rapid action of the working parts, the addition of their own weight to the load to be conveyed, and the injury they cause to the rails, lead some persons to conceive that stationary engine-power might be applied more advantageously. The working of stationary engines themselves is unquestionably the most economical, but the friction of ropes to convey their power to the carriages forms a serious drawback. Hitherto they have been little used except for steep inclined planes, which, as at Camden Town and Liverpool, are worked by an endless rope, conducted along both tracks by grooved pulleys or sheaves, to keep it off the ground, and passing at each end round a wheel fixed below the level of the road, the upper one of which is turned by the engine. A contrivance is added to keep the rope always at the requisite degree of tension. It has been proposed, in hilly countries, to use natural or artificial falls of water instead of steam-engines for such an apparatus. An-that railway companies using locomotive power possess a other mode of employing the power of stationary engines is by means of what are called tail-ropes, an ingenious application of which has been recently adopted on the London and Blackwall railway, and seems well adapted for working a railway in which numerous stations are required within a short distance. Very powerful engines are erected at London and at Blackwall, each of them turning a grooved wheel, to which a rope of nearly six miles and a half (double the length of the railway) is attached. A train starting from London is arranged with the Blackwall carriages foremost, and then those for the intermediate stations in such order that the vehicle required to stop first shall be last in the train. At a given signal, the Blackwall engine commences winding up the rope, by which the train is drawn forward at a speed of twenty to thirty miles per hour. On approaching the first station, the carriage intended to stop there is detached from the train by the guard, and stopped by means of a brake, the rest of the train proceeding without interruption; and, in like manner, vehicles are left behind at all the stations. In addition to drawing the train, the Blackwall engine unwinds the rope from the barrel of that at London, which is thereby prepared for moving the train back again when reloaded. In returning each carriage is attached to the rope, and the whole are drawn simultaneously, though on different parts of the line, towards the London terminus, where they arrive at different times, but in the proper order for another journey. This description applies to one track only, but the line has two, each having a similar apparatus, and being

practical monopoly for the conveyance of passengers on the several lines of railway; and that under existing circumstances this monopoly is inseparable, from the nature of their establishments, and from the conduct of their business, with due regard to the safety and convenience of the public. As far as regards the supply of locomotive power and the general control of the trains, a similar arrangement is essential in conducting the traffic in merchandise; but much difference of opinion exists as to the best system of managing this department of business. Some companies merely supply locomotive power and carriages, leaving the details of the business in the hands of the carriers; some have a complete monopoly of merchandise traffic, the companies acting as carriers themselves; and others combine the two systems, the companies being carriers, but conveying goods for private carriers also. On these and various other points much interesting and valuable information will be found in the Reports of the Select Committee on Railway Commu nication,' in the sessions of 1839 and 1840, with the voluminous evidence and appendices. These enter upon many sub jects that have been necessarily omitted here for want of space, one of which is the passenger-tax, which is levied under the Act 2 & 3 Will. IV., c. 120, and amounts to one-eighth of a penny per mile for every passenger carried. The Committee, in order to encourage railway companies to extend the benefit of their undertakings by low fares, recommended a graduated tax, to press very lightly on the lowest fares, and form an increasing per centage as they rise to the highest rate allowed. At the recommendation of this Committee,

an Act has been passed for the regulation of railways (3 & 4 Vict., c. 97), which requires that a month's notice shall be given to the Board of Trade before the opening of any railway, or portion of railway, for the conveyance of passengers or goods; and empowers the Board to call for returns from the railway companies of the amount of the various descriptions of traffic, of all accidents attended with personal injury, and of all tolls, rates, and charges levied on passengers, cattle, and goods. The Board of Trade are also allowed to appoint inspectors, who may enter upon and examine the works, stations, engines, carriages, &c. of any railway company; such inspectors not to be persons who have held any office of trust or profit under a railway company within one The Act further provides for year of their appointment. the prosecution at the public expense of companies who may not have complied with its provisions or those of any other Act under which they are regulated; and for the punishment, by fine or imprisonment, of the servants of railway companies, or any other persons wilfully, maliciously, or negligently endangering the safety of the works or carriages, or of the passengers conveyed, and of persons trespassing upon the line or stations. The power of arbitration in certain cases of dispute, and of confirming or disallowing any bye-laws of the companies, is also vested by this Act in the Board of Trade, whose new functions bid fair to be the means of collecting much important and interesting information on various points of railway economy. The conveyance of mails on railways is regulated by the Act 1 & 2 Vict., c. 98.

(Wood's Practical Treatise on Railroads, &c., 3rd edition, 1838; and Lecount's Treatise on Railways, reprinted from the new edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica,' are among the most generally useful works on the subject of this article.)

BRITISH RAILWAYS.

The railways laid down before the present century were mostly of very limited extent; and being for the use of private establishments, were usually formed without the authority of an act of parliament. The earliest railway Act that has come under the notice of the writer is a private act of the 31st Geo. II., 1758, respecting a waggon-way for the conveyance of coal to Leeds, an undertaking interesting from its having been worked for some years by Blenkinsop's patent locomotive engines, with toothed driving-wheels working into a rack-rail. Several of the early canal Acts contained clauses empowering the companies to lay railway branches or to make railways instead of canals in certain situations where difficult works or extensive lockage would otherwise occur. The first railway established in this country as a distinct undertaking, and intended for public use, was the Surrey iron railway, the company for which was incorporated in 1801.* In the following twenty years only twenty new railway companies were incorporated; but the Stockton and Darlington railway, the Act for which passed, after much opposition, in 1821, gave an impulse to this kind of enterprise. It was opened in 1825, and accomplished far more than any previous line had done in adapting railway communication to the purposes of ordinary commercial intercourse. The annexed table shows the number of undertakings in the ten years immediately succeeding this event to have been fifty-four, of which, though many were of minor importance, several were passenger railways, and adopted locomotive engines as the moving power. The years 1836 and 1837 added forty-four more to the list, most of which were extensive undertakings. Alterations in the mode of obtaining railway Acts, combined with other circumstances, have imposed such a check on new projects, that only five have been sanctioned since that time, although the number of Acts for alterations and extensions, and for raising additional capital, has been considerable. The following table shows the number of railway Acts passed from 1801 to 1840, distinguishing those for new undertakings from such as give amended or enlarged powers to companies previously incorporated. Acts empowering canal companies to lay railways are not included.

Tredgold, in his Practical Treatise on Railroads,' &c., 1825, mentions a railway Act of the year 1794, for making a tramway from Merthyr Tydvil to Cardiff. Such a railway, or part of it, was formed. and the experimental locomotives of Trevithick were tried upon it in 1805; but the Act, if such were really passed, has eluded the search of the compiler of the following tables, although his examination has extended back as far as 1771. The length of the line, which is chiefly used for iron-works near Merthyr, is vari ously stated from about nine miles to twenty-six and three-quarters. The difficulties arising from conflicting statements, as well as, in some cases, from the paucity of circumstantial information, will, it is hoped, form some excuse for emissions and minor errors in the tables.

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ment is near 3000 miles, of which a few have been either The total length of the lines sanctioned by acts of parliapartially or entirely abandoned. Omitting lines of little public interest, those intended for the conveyance of passengers and merchandise by steam-power amount to upwards of 2000 miles, of which more than 1100 miles are now in operation. The total amount of capital is 68,825,2937., of which near one-third is allowed to be raised by loan. Deducting the capital of lines not proceeded with, or of only private interest, and making ample allowance for sums authorised, but not required, it appears that about 60,000,000l. has been invested in this country alone, in the introduction of a system which, but a few years since, had to struggle into existence through opposition arising perhaps as much from incredulity and ignorance as from self-interest.

The prospects of success as commercial undertakings are very different, but railways have invariably been found greatly to increase the amount of travelling, and the receipts of those lines which have been longest in operation are truly surprising. On the 260 miles of railroad connecting London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and Preston, with the branch to Aylesbury, the gross receipts for the year ending June 30th, 1840, were 1,467,562l. 19s. 8d., or upwards of 5644l. per mile; and this astonishing amount of income seems likely to be materially exceeded in future.

The following tables contain every railway for which an act of parliament has been obtained since 1801, with the exception of eleven: the Anglesey, 1812; Berwick and Kelso, 1811; Dulais, 1826; Exeter and Crediton, 1832; Limerick and Waterford, 1826; Manchester and Oldham, 1826; Peak Forest, 1816; Rutherglen, 1831; Sheffield and Manchester, 1831; Usk, 1814; and West Lothian, 1825; none of which have been executed, or are likely to be so. There are some private undertakings, as the Stanhope and Tyne, Stockton and Hartlepool, &c., which are of more general interest than many contained in the table; but as it would be difficult to draw a line of separation, it has been considered better to exclude all for which parliamentary powers have not been procured; and, with the exceptions just named, to embrace all which have been so sanctioned. The number prefixed to each line is merely for convenience of reference. The date of opening, when not otherwise stated, is that of opening throughout, and where the precise period could not be ascertained, a dash is inserted to indicate that the line is completed. The length given is generally exclusive of branches. In the column of Original capital' the first line shows the amount of that in joint-stock, which usually indicates the estimated expense of the works; the second, the further sum allowed by loan or new shares; and the third, the total sum authorised by the act of incorporation. In the second column of capital the same arrangement is not maintained, because it is frequently optional with_companies to raise additional sums by loan or new shares. The sum in this column sometimes exceeds the outlay of the company, owing in some cases to the issue of shares at a sum considerably under their nominal value; and in others, to the company having taken powers for raising money to a greater extent than has proved necessary. Where the second column of capital is blank, it intimates that no powers for raising additional money have been obtained.

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(a) An Act was obtained in 1834 for raising additional capital, to convert the line into an edge-railway for locom, engines, but it has not been carried into effect

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(b) In addition to the parliamentary capital of 4,999,999., the directors have been authorised to raise 600,000%. on loan notes,

For passengers and general traffic. Gauge 4 f. 84 in. See note (c).

(e) An Act passed in 1839 empowers the Company to raise 208,000l. for making a branch of about a mile long, to connect with the Manchester and Leeds and Manchester and Bolton Railways, but it has not yet (November, 1840) been commen

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(in addition to the parliamentary capital of 5,500,000l., the directors have been wathorised to raise 250,000l. on loan notes. (The Company purpose constructing the railway from Manchester to Crewe and Macclesfield only, and have abandoned their works on the origina. main line to Chebsey. As now ntended, the length will be 384 miles from Manchester to Crewe, and the Macclesfield branch 11 miles.

Total One, to Catdown Horses.
25+ & Sutton Pool.

27.783

44,983

For minerals, &c.

The line

5,000

32,783

Fixed

5,000

Engines.

2,000

7,000

..

Horses.

30,000

10,000

40,000

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