The Express.
London, England, 1864-01-08 00:00:00

ALPINE RAILWAY riu I' ILLING.

An interesting Renee of trials was commenced on
the Crosaford and High Peek Railway, mar Whaley-bridge,
on Tuesday, with a view of showing the possibility of
traversing mountainous districts by means of locomotive
railway engines, and of proving the sumere which has =-
teed= a project, the invention of Mr J. S. Fell, which has
this object in view. The proposed immediate applicatics
of this ioveution is to work locomotive eogiees and snag=
oo the Seep iodises over the Alpine Pass at Mont il=ls,
sad thus to connect the French and Italian railway
systems tea yaws earlier than it could be aosomplithed
by the completion of the great tunnel through the Alper
commenced stne years ago by the French and Italian
governments. For this purpose it has been proposed be
coestruct a railway on a portion of the existing
public road between St. Liebe! in Savoy, mid Sur
in Piedmont. The distance is about 48 miles, and the
width aufficieet to accommodate both the local and rail-
way Sabo. To protect it from avalanches and snowdrift.,
the road, where needful, would be covered. Mr. Fell, the
inventor and pitied= of the engine now under trial, has
surveyed the district in oonjunctine with a company of well-
known capitalists and cootractors; and it is on hi. p• oposi-
non that this surface road is projected. The Italian go.
Torment have given their suction to the scheme.
The road cwomences with a gradual rise so far
as the village of Laos-le-Bourg. and then makes an ascent
of linl2 to the summit of the Pass of Most Cents, 7,000
feet above the level of the sea. A rapid descent iv then
made to Saba. The engine tried on Tuesday is
constructed with a view of encoding continuously in-
clines of one io 12, combined with sharp curves. The prin-
ciple adopted is that of obtaining increased admen=
without increase of weight. This is effected by Meat; of •
central rail, and an engine, furnished with horizontal v heels,
which, by pressing on either side of the central rail, pro-
duces the adhesion necessary for ascending end desoeu and
these steep inclines with safety. The road on which the
experiment took place wan a gradient of one in 12, having •
verve of two chains radium. The distance traversed was
oely 125 yards, but it is proposed to =teed this to liio
yards, with the view of more thoroughly
the powers of the engine. The sagas is in
respects like an ordinary locomotive, having only
in addition the horizontal wheels, which have four
worked by two separate inside cylinders. On a level
the outside or ordinary wheels only work, but on an inches
the auxiliary power of the horizontal wheels i, nought
into operation. With ease the engine dragged after it four
heavily-laden earriags, weighing about Ai tons, without the
average wing' ht of 100 passengers. The speed attained was
from 74 to 12 miles an hour. So secure was the grip ag
the horizontal wheels with the addition of the brake' at-
tached to the several carriages, that they were Sapped
midway on the incline. The traction power of the engine,
weighing 16 tons, was said, in consequenee of its additiousl
a !bestirs power, to be equal to any ordinary engine of 32
tons. The gauge oo which the engine wee worked was
3 ft. 74M., being about one foot lees than the ordinary
=crow page. Several practical engineers have inepeeted
the mine, and the trials are to be coatieued for some days.
Manchester Giiiirdesis.

On Monday last the Rey. Robert Anwyl Prichard
was instituted to the rectory of Thelvertoo, in the county
of Norfolk, on the preseatatios of her Most Gracious Ma-
jesty the Queen.
in the Dublin Court of Probate on Tuesday, the
case of Davis v. Goff wag corameneed before Jades Keating*
sad a special jury. It was a snit instituted by lira. Loci
U. Davis, to obtain probate of the will of her late husbai
Yr. Seery Davis. of Waterford, who died 18th Apnl. 1868.
The will was disputed by the brathor of the testator, ma the
ground that the deceased, who died in a private lunatie
asylum of orrebral diem's, was out of sufficient testa-
mentery capacity to make a will. On the other side it wee
' ooutended that the will was executed on the 13th August,
1861, when the testator was of mound mind. The opeeint
statement of counsel for the plaintiff occupied nearly the
entire day. sad consisted priecipally of readieg and review-
lag a somber of documents to show that the testator was
capable of tasulactitg basemen.

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