The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-30 00:00:00

EASTMAN'S STREET RAILS.

The special correspondent of the Standard for
the Paris Exhibition writes as follows of Mr. Z.
EASTMAN'S new plan of street railways. The sub-
ject is one of much importance, and we believe cal-
culated to bestow a benefit on cities of which they
have now little idea. The sooner the plan is tested
by actual experience, the better it will be for city
corporations, for rate-payers, for traffic, and for
general ease and comfort.
" Mr. EASTMAN, United States Consul at Bristol,
exhibits a new plan of street railways, which really
promises to obviate most of the disadvantages
attending the system heretofore adopted. The two
principal objections justly urged by the public
against street railways are—firstly, that the wheels
of conveyances, other than those specially adapted
for the rails, get into the rails, and cannot be got
out again without a great jerk and wrench ; and
secondly, that horses are apt to slip if they tread
upon the surface of the rails. Mr. EASTMAN'S plan
appears to me to obviate both these difficulties. His
rails are wide and fiat, and are roughed so that a
horse's foot would not slip upon them. Along the
centre runs a shallow concave groove, made
sufficiently wide for the wheel of a carriage to
have easy play in it, so that it could be got out
without any jerk, and yet not of sufficient width to
admit a horse's foot. Ordinary carriages could run
in these grooves, and could leave the track, when
desired, without difficulty, and the smoothness of
the motion, and the very greatly-increased ease of
traction would save horse-flesh, and, indeed, enable
an animal with a heavy load to do the work of three
along an ordinary road. These grooves, although
depressed, could from their form be readily cleared
of mud and dirt. The rail is very strong, and
little liable to injury. A flange runs along the
under side, which adds strength, and acts as a
stiffener. In the space between the rails the in-
ventor proposes to use asphalte or other semi-elastic
material, which would effect a further economy in
horses by saving their feet from the wear and tear
inflicted upon them in passing over newly-maca-
damised roads. Mr. EASTMAN'S plan is well worthy
of a trial."

If Mr. EASTMAN'S plan had only the effect of
saving that noble animal the horse, this alone, would
be a sufficient reason for a full and fair trial. The
traffic of the principal thoroughfares in such a city
as London, cuts to pieces any material save the
hardest stone. These streets have, therefore, to be
paved with blocks of granite at a❑ immense expense,
and even when thus formed, the object is scarcely
attained. The pavement, although the most lasting
of any material yet tried, is destructive to the horse.
It is scarcely possible to walk from one end of
Oxford-street to another without seeing a block of
vcl►icles, originating in the fall of a horse. Let any
one observe the feet of the wretched brute as it gets
into motion, and imagine himself dragging a load
on ice, and he will understand the sensations of the
animal. A fine horse stepping out on these blocks
of granite shows a couple of fore-legs destined soon
to be shivered into the object one sees at a cab-
stand, with knees bent and swollen, head drooping,
and spirit broken. Anything more pitiable than
such a wreck, could scarcely be presented to the
lover of the animal, and nothing but the constant
repetition of the sight could so blunt our feelings as
to see it without a pang. These thoroughfares are
formed to bear the wheel traffic by the sacrifice of
the horse, which becomes used up before its time,
and in the process, passes through intense suffering.

But how does thispavement accomplish the end, for
which it enacts so terrible a penalty ? Any person
who is in the habit of walking through the streets
of London, can tell their normal state, is one of
repair. There is no period, from one end of the
city to another, in which some barrier is not raised
by hundreds of workmen tearing up and replacing
the pavement. The labour of keeping it in repair
is thus shown to be enormous. The fiiction is seen
from the rattle and jolting of the vehicle, which
increases as the surface becomes more-uneven, when
the wear to the street, to the carriage, and to the
horse, increases in proportion. Then the noise in
the paved thoroughfares swells to an incessant roar,
preventing conversation except in a scream, either
in the cab, on the side-ways, and often even in the
shops. There were many objections raised to Mr.
TRAIN'S plan, but this would, even allowing many
of the objections to be sound, have been a vast im-
provement on our present barbarous system of street
paving. Mr. EASTMAN'S plan meets and removes
most of the objections urged.

If the use of these iron rails becomes general, the
grinding of stone into powder by the friction of
wheels will cease ; and the roads, therefore, will be
comparatively free from dust when dry, and of
mud when wet. The leading idea of the invention,
as stated by Mr. EASTMAN, is to furnish au iron
road or rail for the public use ; one that can be
utilised by common carriages. There is no mono-
poly proposed in this plan, as in other schemes dis-
cussed. The rails are to be of a broad concave
form, adapted for all kinds of vehicles which will
run along, following each other, in one continuous
stream. There will be no difficulty in passing out
of the line—not even the check that a rut
would cause. Between the rails will be an easy
and sure path for the horses, of a semi-elas-
tic substance, which can with ease be kept
in repair, for it is not the horses' feet, but the fric-
tion of wheels that destroys the road. The loss of
life in the streets of London, arising from reckless
driving and Hocked-up thoroughfares, has become
too serious to admit of delay in supplying a remedy.
The checks to traffic cause such serious incon-
venience, prevent appointments being kept, bring
passengers to a platform after the train has left, and
to the pier when the steamboat is off, that they have
long called though in vain for reform. Underground
and overground railways have been tried and failed
to meet the case. Foot-bridges across, and EAST-
MAN'S rails along the streets, are the improvements
at present most worthy of the prompt attention of
city corporations.—Anglo-American limes.