The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-11 00:00:00

THE " LITTLE ENGLAND."

On Saturday we gave a description and the workings
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now propose to give a description and the workings of a
little six-wheeled passenger-engine of Che orinary
character, constructed by Mr. England, of Hatcham
Works, near the New-cross station, Deptford. The
engine, which is called the " Little England,'" has 'been
built as a model of a class of locomotives for carrying on
the traffic of branch lines, and its performaflces are so
good, and so pregnant with useful results, in relation to
the working of light and short traffic, that 'ea extended
notice of them is, we think, desirable.
The important difference in the mode of working the
traffic by the two little engines mentioned is, that the
" Fairfield," with its tender and passenger-carriage, are
upon one frame, and that the " Little England" and its
tender, both on one frame, work the ordinary stock of a
company.
The " Little England" and tender weigh together,
when roadworthy, 9 tons 5 cwt. The " Little England"
has a 7-inch cylinder, a 12-inch stroke, and
4 feet 6 in. driving wheels. The diameter
of the leading trailing wheels is 3 feet. ' The
distance between the extreme centres is 14 feet. The
boiler has 60 tubes, 11 ft. 2 in. in length, wftha diameter
of li in. inside. The fire-box has an area of 27 feet,
and the total heating surface is 282 feet. The tank
holds 268 gallons. The " Little England," therefore,
while the diameter of its driving wheel, and its length of
stroke, are those of Mr. Adams's " Fairfield," has an
inch less of cylinder, but 2 feet more of fire-box, and 47
feet more of heating surface, while her weight, indlud-
ing tender, coke, and water, is about 4 tons heavier.
It will, however, be seen that the " Little England" is
in no way inferior in her performances to the " Fair-
field," but that in fact she has taken a grossload of 22 tons
'pp a gradient of 12 feet per mile at a greater velocity
'than the." Fairfield" propelled a gross load of 13 tons up
a gradient of 4 feet per mile. But there is this ditier-
ence between the two engines. The " Little England "
is a first-rate piece of workmanship; at the highest
pressure, although the engine is just out of the shop, not
a breath of steam escapes, except through the blast pipe
and safety valve, and she runs what the drivers call
perfectly "sweet"—that is, easy in all her parts. An
thirty miles per hour she glides along almost noiselessly,
and with all the steadiness of a well-balanced, properly.
coupled first-class carriage when running at one-third
of the speed. A more beautiful " model " of a lo-
comotive we have never seen. On the other hand,
the " Fairfield" has had her boiler very badly
made ; the springs of her driving wheels are
much too rigid, and those of her trailing_
wheels far too flexible; so that throughout the down and
up trips between Padington and Swindon on Friday
last a considerable loss of power was sustained from the
boiler leaking into the fire-box, from the sharp blows
given by the rigid springs of the driving-wheels, and the
irregular motion, frequently of a very disagreeable cha-
racter, caused by the weakness of the trailing-wheel
springs. All these things will, we are quite sure, be
avoided in the passenger-engine now almost finished !fm,
the Eastern Counties Railway. Mr. Adams has securilt;
steadiness by the extreme length, 28 feet, between his
driving-wheels and the trailing-wheels of the carriage ;
Mr. England has obtained equal steadiness by placing
the axles of the leading wheels of the engine and the
trailing-wheels of the tender exactly one-half the dis-
tance—viz., 14 feet.

The " Little England" started from the New-cnosa
station of the Brighton Railway, with three first-class
carriages containing 31 persons, among whom we ob-
served Mr. Ransome, the deputy chairman of the. Eastern
Union and Hadley Branch Railway; Mr. C. 11. Gitegory,
the engineer of the Bristol and Exeter Railway ; Mr.
Peter Bruff, the engineer of the Eastern Union Railway;
Mr. A. Weightman, the manager of the lilackwal/41
Railway ; Mr. J. Cubitt, C.E., Mr. Statham and several
other gentlemen connected with rail Way engineering.
The gross load wars, as we have stated, about 22 tons.
The weather was fine, but a very strong head wind was
blowing the whole of the down and up journey s.
At starting the engine had very little pressure in
the boiler, and the New-cross incline-2i miles of
1 in 100—was not worked over in less than 10 min.
34 sec. Including the time lost by the engine thus start-
ing at a low pressure, and including also a stoppao of
8 min. 47 sec. at the Three Bridges station, the 47i miles
—viz., from New Cross to Brighton, were performed in
1 hour 48 min. 45 sec. Deducting the stoppage at tile
Three Bridges station, the average speed was 28 miles
per hour.
The maximum velocity of the " Little England" down
1 in 264 was nearly 51 miles per hour, and the maxi-
mum velocity up the same gradient was 33'6 miles per
hour.

The valve was screwed down to 1051 b., at which -the
engine keeps steam very well. The consumption of coke
for the down and up journeys averaged 81b. per mile.
The consumption per mile for the journey was about
6klb. per mile.
We believe that the "Little England" will maintain
on a level an average speed of 45 miles per hour wink a
gross load of 20 tons, or 16 miles per hour more than
the maximum velocity reached 19 years since with a
gross load of 17 tons with " the Rocket;" an engine
which was at that time very justly deemed a wonderful
specimen of mechanical skill and ingenuity.
Such a locomotive as ' the " Little England" would,
with wheels of 3 feet 9 inches diameter coupled, and a
9 or 10 inch cylinder, be able to work, at a speed of
ten or twelve miles an hour, the goods traffic of nearly
all the smaller branch lines in the kingdom. We be-
lieve also that with its small cylinder and the perfectly
safe ability of working the boiler at 140 or 150 lbs , the
" Little England" would be able to work trains of five
or six passenger carriages at moderate speeds, over even
very heavy gradients, and that she would do so at a
very low consumption of coke.
floWcriasiethesn, engines of the Little England" or "Fair-
the services of the half" permanent- e ay men"
employed upon branch lines might be dispensed with,
and the rails would last at least five times the period of
their present duration; and it is thought that the 12-
inch cylinder engine working at high pressure—and
such a pressure might be secured with an engine and
tender weighing together not more than 12 tons—the
passenger traffic of the majority of the railways of the
country might be managed at moderate speeds and at
a greatly-reduced cost, both in working expenses and
maintenance of way.—Herald.

THEATRE ROYAL DRURY- LARE.--`ll.l. JIILLIEN' 8
CONCERTS.--Among the distinguished visitors Who at-.
tended the theatre during the past week were—The
Marquis ot Tichfield, the Earl and Counts ss of Harring-
ton, Viscount Mandeville, the Earl of Cadogan,Viscount
Clifden, Viscount Ossulston, the Countess Paulett, Lord
Templemore, Lord Rodney, Vscount Somerton, Lord
Ward, the Earl ot Munster, Viscount Cantilupe, Lord
Adolphus Fitzelarence, Lady hatn Graham, Lady
Augusta Baring, Lady Howard, Lady West, Lady
Rivers, Lady Williams, Lady Tyrwhitt, Lady Bateman,
Sir John Bailey, Bart., Sir George Armitage, Bart., Sir
George Wombwell, Bart, Sir Bellingham Graham, Batt.,
Sir Ralph Howard, Bart., Mrs. Mountjoy Mart) n, Mr.
and Mrs. Beaumont, Miss Burdett Coutts and party,
Mrs. Mansfield, Captain de Bathe, Captain Ryder
Burton, M. de Horsey, Mr. G. Cornwall, Mr. Montague
Gore, &c.

ROBBERY.—D. Latch, shopman to Mr. Bell, of
Baddow, Essex, charged with stealing property to a large
amout,t, was examined on Thursday at the Shire-ball;
and E. Letch, the father, who had been admitted to bail,
surrendered, charged with receiving part of the property,
knowing it to be stolen. Since the remand of the
prisoners, the most active search has been made by tho
police in all directions, and considerable quantities of
property have been .found.. Ii is now beiieveci
Bell's total loss amounts to about 500/. or 6001. Evi-
dence was given, and the prisoners were committed for
triaL