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

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trriap%--tngine is its co P.roial
4,16 n by Mr. and Air.
radcptiou of ito vent will
bat many ()Kau ines may

ing of the steam-ca'
utility. The view
Samuel is, that by 9.1;e
be secured—the gne,
worked at one-halt the present coat, both with re-
spect to the outlay for stock, and wear and tear of the
;-and that a large per centage of saving of coke will
also be realised; the other, that a double line of light
rails may, if landowners can be induced to assist in the
construction, be laid down for 5,00QL per mile, working
stock included. Mr. Adams and Mr. Samuel conceive
that so cheap a rate of construction would enable land-
owners to bring very large agricultural districts into a
high state of cultivation by affiarding them the means, in
the first instance, of the cheap conveyance of manure ;
and in the next, a means of carrying their produce, at
low charges, to markets from which they are now, by
distance and the expense of transit, entirely excluded.
Perhaps the real objection which lies :against: the
eight-inch cylinder engine is its incapability of dealing
with a fluctuating traffic. The trade of a branch line
may be light to-day and heavy to-morrow. The ave-
rage number per train may, it is true, be but twenty or
thirty, hut occasionally sixty, or seventy, or a hundred
may require accommodation. With good gradients the
little engine could, of course, deal with such a load at
reduced rates of speed, but she would want further pas-
senger accommodation. It might, therefore, be neces-
sary to provide at least the down terminal station with
some of the ordinary carriage stock. But this objection,
however, is one which supposes that railway directors
will run upon their branch lines a new species of stock
inadequate to the requirements of the ascertained
traffic. We think directors have now learnt wisdom,
and that the Bristol and Exeter board are perfectly sa-
tisfied that the " Fairfield" will do all the work they re-
quire of her.

There are many branch lines where the passenger
traffic is far too heavy to be worked by eight-inch
cylinder engines, unless the trains were very frequently
run. It will, we know, be contended by Mr. Adams and
Mr. Samuel that frequent trains are the needful things
for branch traffic; but those gentlemen must bear in
mind that branch lines with heavy traffic generally, have
a considerable amount of goods trade. To work such a
traffic with eight-inch cylinder carriage-engines would
require a very considerable number of " trains," and a
large number of drivers. The economy of eight-inch
cylinder carriage-engines would in this case be ex-
tremely problematical.
We at once and unhesitatingly admit that the saving
in wear and tear of permanent way will be very consi-
derable where the little engines can be brought into use.
We are also ready to admit that light engines may be
constructed for running light express trains over main
lines, but there would be little economy in this unieSa
the speed of the goods trains were reduced at the same
time.

For such branches as the Deal, the Bedford, the
Dunstable, the Aylesbury, the Cirencester, the Cleve-
don, the Newmarket, the llertford, and twenty others
of light traffic, the use of the passenger carriage-engine
would effect a considerable saving; in fact, it would
convert a positive loss into a positive gain.
Every facility was afforded by the directors of the
Great Western Company for the experimental trip with
the " little" engine.