644
'1b:l;EJtlilor of the Railroatl Journal: ' p j
I perceive, sir, in your Journal of the 3d
inst., areferencc to an improvement made
by Mr. Force, of--Baltimore, in the clone.
truction of “ RailI0,3d“\-X195-”
lgnmiaorstantl your description of it, the
/axle can be repaired when the journals be-
come worn, without removing the wheels,
and without putting the journal into the
fire. If this can be done, a very rvonsi~
derable expense will be saved to a company
which has many cars and carriages in use
, -—but there is some doubt in my mind as
to;tl1e feasibility of eifecting such repairs
in the manner proposed ; and I would call
to it the attention of practical men.
_ Yours, truly,
A STOGKHOLDER.
We shall’ endeavor to satisfy, not only

2hl?Ellil;i*l,liilAlN E€ihELE.«.it§.(l>.Ihhfit .M}l'J'A.L, AND

“half   to take in some of our party, the notes of the gentlemen who timed th

l

“A Stockholder,” but many stockholders,
of the facility with which the journals of
axles may be repaired in the manner pro-
posed.——[E1). R. R. J.l

THE BRISTOL AND GLOUCESTER._S{I1}1E
R_,;Lw,iy (from «Bristol to the great W est-
erleigh coal-field) was opened on thebth
inst. It is 9 miles long; and the cuttings
and embankments are supposed to be great-
erthan on any railway of similar exhtent
which has yet been formed. There is a
tunnel (under Staple ldill) .1,_54Q feet long,
1‘2wide,.and 161}, feet high; it 1s1na_ straight
line, 9 shaits by which the excavations
were carried on being left open _to admit
light. One of the enibanltmcnts 1s 56 feet
in height. The capital expended on the
undertaking is about 77,000l. The Act
was obtained in June, 1898-, and therworks
were commenced in June, 189.9. Mr.
Townsend is the engineer. '

 

THE RAILROAD FROM BRUSSELS TO I..’l.\-
LINES cost 1,924,100 francs, and produces,
immense profit to the Belgian Grovermncnt,
which established it. The receipts from
the 17th of May to the 1st of July last,
were 106,805.’. francs, paid by 163,482 pas-
sengers. The distance is4 ‘leagues, and
the journey is made in 35 m1nutes.—j—[PVa-
ris Advertisen] .

STEAM’ Cnnamons on Common Roms.-
Mr. WALTER HANCOCK performed a jour-
ney of '75 miles, from London to Marlbo-
rough, in his steam carriage, the Er2'n,—-
originally called and described in this jour-
nal as‘ the “ Em.” The time occupied was

’about twelve hours, seven. and a half of
‘which was running time, as will be seen
'-‘by the following account :~——

Joununv FROM LONDON 'ro ll’l_ARLl30ROUGII
‘IN Mn. WALTER HANoooit’s STEAM CAR-
RIAGE, THE “EnIN.”——Sir: The “ Erin ”
csteam carriage, which was built by Mr. W.
Hancock’ to run on the Pgaddington road,
and originally called the “ Era,” (dcscrjbed
in your a journal, No. 585) started from
Stratford on Tuesday morning last, at half.
past four, for Marlborough, with a party of
gentlemen.  Hancock had attached a
small tender to the carriage, containing
.:-.».’.-e and water sufficint to have lasted us

. to Reading; but the bar of wood, through
‘which the bolts ran that fixed the tender to
thpeicarriage, gave way in Cheapside, and

- we were obliged to leave the tender behind
‘us. ‘ l

and proceeded on to Reading, which we’
reached at 11 minutes past 11 o’clock. The_
company stopped there an hour and a hall
and dined; after which the journey was
resumed. . .

The carriage reached Marlborough by
half.past 6 o’clock, with no other accident‘
than the breaking of oneof the bands of
the blower. The total time on the road
was a minute or two short of 12 hours,

_ofwl1icl1 4.1, were occupied in stoppages,

leaving 7% liours for travelling the 75, being
at the rate of just 10 miles an hour. .
No one who has -not travelled by steam
carriages can imagine the inconvenience
and delay which results from the want of
regular and, ample supplies of water; the
carriage having to stop from 14 to 18 mi-
nutes every 10 or 1:2 miles to fill the tanks
by hand-buckets from pumps, with some-
times the additional inconvenience of hav-
ing to take the supply from some neighbor-

» Tllelclarriaj  reached Hyde Park corner

hvlsizt dgloc ,Where we remained-about ll

ing stream or pond. '\lv"liile the carriage is
stationary, the lire slnclcens in consequence
of the blower being stopped, and it requires
about two miles running to get it again
into full play. By observations which I
made on the road while timing the car-
riage, I found that the rate oftho first three
miles, after taking in water, averaged 7-1-
minutes a mile, "whilst the latter part of the
distance, till the carriage again stopped for
water, averaged one mile in live minutes.
Frequently the men were obliged to use

any kind of water they could get; some

being filled with duck-weed,-straw, and
filth of every description, which, of course’,
very much retarded the generation of steam.

The inconveniences arose in the present’
case chiefly from the loss of our tender,

which would have carried us to Reading

‘without any stoppage.

' 'All these delays would, of course,_,not
happen, if water stations, having tanks
with large hose, which might fill the car-
riuge in a minute, were provided.’ There
is no doubt, that had such arrarigeinents
been made for supplying thc.“Erin” on
the present journey, it would have per-
formed it, including stoppages, in 6 hours;
though the carriage was not built, I am
informed, nor intended for long journeys,
but for such short distances as between

London and Paddington.

Mr. Hancock started from 1Vlarlborough
to return to London on Friday at halt‘-past
five. The carriage accomplished the ascent
of Marlborough hill—-the steepest acclivity
on the Bristol road, being full one mile
long, and having a rise of about 1 in 7,
i116 minutes, with a stoppage of 4 minutes.
The “Erin” reached Reading by 10, and
stayed  hour for breakfast. After run-
ning through the town we continued our
journey, and reaclied London by half-past
five, being again 12 hours on the road, and
having lost nearly about the same time in
stoppages as on our journey down.

Our reception on the road was very cor-
dial; there was scarcely any manifesta-
tion of bad feeling throughout the journey ;
indeed, wherever we stopped to take in wa-
ter, we had every assistance given us by the
bystanders. We were particularly well re- d
ceived at Marlborough, where we stayed two
days. The carriage made a trip through
the town each day; and Mr. Hancock as.
tonished the inhabitants by the easy man.
ner in which he could turn, stop, or back
his carriage. Two gentlemen of Marl-
borough most. hospitably entertained the
steam travellers whilst they remained in
that town. .

Subjoined, I give a table of "the perform.
ances ofgthee steam carriage taken from

carriage.
And remain, yours truly,
London, August 10, 1835. '

R.

 

Messrs. Mxunsnnv AND FIELD performed
the same distance in five hours 4921- mi.
nutes, running time.

JOURNEY mom LONDON T0 MARLBOROUGH
BY Mnssns. MAUDSLEY AND FI‘ELD’s STEAM"
CARRIAGE.—-Tile journey from London to
Marlborough has been also recently per.
formed by the steam carriage constructed
by Messrs. Maudsley and Field for Sir
Charles Dance, Mr. Macneil, and other
gentlemen. We extract the following state-
ment of its performances from a letter of
Mr. Macneil to the newspapers. It will
be seen that the rate of speed realized was
nearly the same as in the case of Mr.
Ha_ncock’s “Erin ;” but the time occupied
in stoppages was less, owing, no doubt, ‘to
better arrangements having been made for
the supply of water :— .

“ Time on the road in going down 8 10 30
Deduct stoppages — - - - - - 2 21 4

._._..—.._

E49 26

._.._..____...

Wlliicli gives about 1286 miles per hour

Total time while moving - - -

whilst running.
Time returning - .. - - -
Deduct stoppages

-11232 0
420

 

Total time moving - - - - - 720 0

Which is rather more than 10 milesper
hour wlnlst running.”

' [From the London Mechanics’ lVlagazine.]

MR. G.A.LT’S SUBSTITUTE ron STEAM
PowI~:n.—-The following is an extract of
a letter addressed by ‘Mr. Galt,’ the cele-
brated novelist, to the Greenock Adver-
tiser:—-  . ’ .

“The fatal explosion of the Earl Grey
steamer has induced me to try if the princi-

'ple of my pressure-syphon could be applied

to propel vessels ; and the result has been
so perfectly satisfactory, that I find myself
actuated by humanity to make it public,
that others may test the experiment, the
simplicity of which is not the least of its
merits.

“Take -41. cylinder, and subjoin to the
bottom of it, in communication, a pipe——fil1
the pi e and the cylinder with water—in
the cyllinder place a piston, as in that of the
steam engine-——-and then with a Bramal1’s
press,‘ and a simple, obvious contrivance,
which the process will suggest, force the
water up the pipe, the pressure of which
will raise the piston. This is the demon-
stration of the first motion.

“Second—-when the piston is raised,
open a cock to discharge the water and
the piston will descend. This is the de-
monstration of the ‘second motion, and is
as complete as the motion of the piston in
the cylinder of the steam engine; and a
power as effectual as steam is obtained
without risk of explosion, without the cost
of fuel, capable of being applied to any
purpose in which steam is used, and to an
immeasurable extent. "

“ The preservation of the water may in
some cases be useful, and this may be done
by a simple contrivance, viz. by making the
cock discharge into a conductor, by which

the water may be conveyed back at every

stroke of the piston to the pipe, at the end
ofwliich the Bramah’s press acts. ‘

“ My condition does not allow me to do
more than to solicit that the experiment
may be tested. Although no mechanih, '1
yet believe myself mechanicianl enough U9
see the application of the principle.” ‘