The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-16 00:00:00

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PARIS TO SCEAUX RAILWAY.
The following interesting account of this railway is
taken from the Essex Herald :
The establishment and opening of the railway between
Paris and Sceaux has excited considerable interest, not
only among the Parisians, but among scientific men of
all kinds, more particularly engineers, for it establishes
a new system, that of moving a railway train without
danger in sharp curves, the projector of which is M. Ar-
noux, a French machinist of great experience. To un-
derstand the system and subject in ail its bearings, a
brief account of its development is submitted, by which
it will be seen that practical proofs of its success have not
fallen short of theoretical promises.
M. Arnoux, in the year 1838, presented to the French
Academy, models and specimens of his new system.
The first experiments were tried at St. Maude, which
is situated near Vincennes, about four miles from Paris;
these experiments being successful, a project for a law
was presented to the Chamber of Deputies (in English
Parliamentary language, a Bill was introduced), 29th of
June, 1844, to establish an experijnental railway on the
new system, between Paris and Sceaux. The examina-
tion of the various details, and the discussion on the
subject, occupied the Chamber at least a month, and the
project became a law sth of August, 1844. The rail-
way qas opened to the public in June, 1846.
Sceaux is about 61 English miles from, and lies due
south of, Paris ; the terminus of the railway is close to'
the Barriere d'Enfer, on the south side of Paris, near
the observatory, and, going direct from the Louvre, the
palace of the Luxembourg is on the route, and not very
far from the Barrie:e. The line passes over the vast
stone quarries south of Paris, and indeed over the cata-
combs ; it runs some distance parallel with, and goes
over, the Paris and Orleans coach road ; it passes
Arcueil, Cachan, Bagneux, Bourg-la reine, and near
Fontenay-aux -Roses, at each of which places are
stations. Oa leaving the Barrie -e, Paris is at once
cleared, and the scenery on the route is rural, diversi-
fied, and pleasing. On the return, the view of Paris,
taking in the heights of Mont Martre, the Pantheon, the
Church of Val-de-Grace, and the Observatory, is very
striking. Before returning to the system in question, it
may be observed, as French admeasurement is used, that
a metre is a little more than 39 inches, a centimetre the
100th, and a millimetre the I,oooth part of a metre, as
the names indicate.

The inconvenience, indeed it may be added, the serious
danger that would arise from using locomotives, as at
present constructed, in turning sharp curves,
from the invariable parallel of the axles and fixity of the
wheels, whereby they turn together. To avoid Om
danger in adopting the curve, it is necessary, first, that
the axle should be directed in a right angle to the curve
which the train passes over ; secondly, that the wheels
be independent of each other and turn upon the axles,
thus avoiding, in the curve, sliding on the rail. This is
the problem which M. Arnoux, the inventor of the new
system, proposed to solve, and his solution bas been most
successful.