The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-12 00:00:00

STREET RA,ILTVAYS.

Last evening, at the weekly meeting of the
Society of Arts, Thomas Webster, Esq. V.R.S., in
the chair, Mr. V. Bridges Adams read a paper on
" The Application of Rails for Horse Traffic in the
Streets and Environs of London, and also for Rail-
way Branches."
The author began by saying that facility of tran-
sit might be taken as aconvertible term flor civilisa-
tion. The earliest and cheapest transit being by
water, the earliest settlements of man rind were
consequently along the banks of rivers., He then
enlarged upon the great natural advantages of the
site of London, pointing out that the hills of Mid-
dlesex on one side, and the hills of Surrey on the
other, are the true sites for North and South Lon-
don—the dwellings of health.- :The river flats are
the garden grounds laid out-by nature, with the
broad river rolling between for transit and drainage,
space for air and exercise, and for interaecting-
roads communicating with north and south. With
the constant increase of population the Surrey hills
would assuredly be covered with dwellings, with
the site of the Crystal Palace as a 'melons, and the
expansion of London would take the direction of
the high grounds, and out of the low river levels,
if the means -of transit were facilitated. Some de-
tails were given of tke gradual improvements in the
construction of wheels, and of the roads upon which
they run, and the earliest kind of railway intro-
duced in the coal districts about the year 1600 was
described. Passing to the subject of modern rail-
ways, Mr. Adams gave an account of the manner
in
,which horse railways through cities and towns
originated in the United States. When the first
railways began
,to work the town authorities stipu-
lated that, tit% engines should be unhooked and
horses used to dtaw the trains through the streets.
Once familiarised with railway carriages drawn
by horses the observant American mind soon per-
ceived that the arrangement was very inferior to
omnibuses for town transit. Street after street, in
New York and other cities, was laid down with rails,
and on streets of great traffic many linesetrails were
laid down side by side. A Frenchmard imported
the plan to Paris, and it is probable that it will be-
come an universal continental practice. Mr.
Adams enumerated various occasions on which he
had brought the subject before public notice, par-
ticularly in a paper- before the Society of Arts in
1850, when ho advoapted the conversion of "turn-
pike roads into a system of practicable railways, b
inserting rails level with the' surface, to: tral.-¢1
at
_stage-coach speed by steam, f 'The ord b ar t
fie *ould not be :interfered with by tlws pNn oT
rails, as vehicles could cross and recross them."
The structural detail was a 'matter of great import-
ance, the principal conditions being strength, sim-
plicity of structure, facility in` laying down, main--
taining, and replacing, non-interferen9e,- with
drains and sewers, and water s'-below, and
economy in cost. It had for a p oe-
turret/ to hiui that the - • le railway
i
worn out by the locomotive were perfectly we
adapted for aLreot usu. For ordinary wheels, Mr.
Adams proposed to connect the common doulale-T
rail used on the narroly.guage railways by a pa-
tented imel!"itdionpf his own, called the fish joint.
Though sibfrice of these rails might have been
worn by wheels of .16temotives, and the lower
surface aged in the tirs, the side) channels
remained intact, and in e the ordinary omni-
bus wjaeels could run ;,* supposing the gunge
the salt, gordinary railfasy 'waggons could run
e. well, the-whe9kamniiing on their flanges
i s .of their tracks. Wt. Adams then gave fur-
th ails of his system of construction, showing
011ie bridge ria.i4 ht also be adapted to this
of traffic, and.t passed to- the application
oilk to the streets an to the-suburbs °fit London.
He pointed out thd propofted lines from !Charing-
cross, Tottenham-court-roa4 Gracecharch-street,
and other central points *fa.tiottiv, ..11aca • ies! the
total length of line proposail..&ing-Osoo, - 40 es.
He then went into some detailiakt -s mated
cost of construction under different'av ..nces,
stating that railway companies, with `thhir own
workmen and their own old rails, would make
their lines..,At from .7501. to 8001. per mile for a
hoe' idividuale or small companies
cost might be about 1,0001.
total double mileage would
L4O, and the capital 140,600/.
and maintenance at 20 per ct.
ml outlay would be 20,000/.,
01. per mile, far beyond what
t to in practice. The existing
000 in number. The result
io diminish the traction by
omnibuses going at present
,requires 8,000 horses. The interest and mainte-
nance must at least amount to 15s. a week each. If
one-half were saved that would amount to 3,0001.
per week, or 150,0001. per annum. • Mr. Adams
concluded by giving the outlines for a proposal for
carrying a line of this kind from the Strand over
Waterloo-bridge to the Crystal Palace. The con-
struction of this he, estimated at 9,600/., and he
'calculates that with 24 vehicles, which might each
carry 56 passengers, 16,000 per day could be
conveyed. At 6d. per head .this would be 4001. a
day, or, taking the vehicles only one-fourth full,
131,300/. per annum. The purchase of vehicles
would raise the capital to about 18,6001., and de-
ducting working expenses, which are estimated at
22,4001. per annum, the profit would amount to
8,9001., which, Mr. Adams considers, would be
much increased with the development of the traffic.
A discussion ensued, .in which Messrs. Shanks,
A. C. Hobbs, .F. .Marrable„F. Bennoch, Cole,
C. 8., C. Vignoles, Perley, Aston, and the chair-
man, book part.
• f •

REDFATTION , 01P, _ITZTISDITART- PIIIMIONEI.---Laot year
the sum of 304,358. 185...9d, was paid by the 'Goiern-
ment in the redemption of hereditary pensions:
Cotner OF ALDEBMEN. —At the Court of Aldermen on
Tuesday Mr Alderman Wilson called attention to the
overcrowded state of Holloiday Prison, which, though
constructed to hold only 420 prisoners pow contained
450. Sir Peter Laurie attribtted the increase in the
number of inmates in the City prisona'to the power re-
cently conferred on.magistriateuof at once 'committing
to prison persons who• pleaded guilty without sending
them for trial. Mr. Alderman Copeland deprecateg the
increased comforts and, improved diet of the prisoners.
Mr. Alderman Wire considered the abandonment of the,
system of transportation the chief cause of the ovet-
crowded state of the prisons, and suggested, in defence
of the prison dietary, that it had been approved by the'
most eminent men in the kingdom, and that a greater
quantity of food Was required by prisoners than by per-
sons following their ordinary occupations.
[Anyaarisessor.l--We quote Bettie interesting cures with-
out medicine of indigestion (dydpepsia), flatulency, constipa-
tion, nervous, bilious, and liver Complaints, cough, asthma,
consumption, and debility, by Da Barry's delicious Revalen ta •
Arabica Food : Fifty year? indescribable agony from
dyspepsia, nervousnesb,. asthma, cough, constipation, fiatn-
leney, spasms, sickness, it 'the stomsCh, and vomitings, have
been removed by Du Berry's excellent ReValenta Arabica
Food.—Maria Jolly, Wertham Ling, _near Dias, Norfolk.
Cure No.3,9o6.—Thirteen years' cough, indigestion, and pee- •
ral debility have been removed .by Du Barry's excellent Re-
valenta Arabica Feed.—James Porter, Athol-street, Perth.
From the Dowager Countess of Castlestuart. Cure 52,612.--
Rosstrevor, County of -Doerit , Ireland; 9th December,.lBs4.
The Dowager Countess of Castlestuatt feels:induced, in the
interest of Suffering: humanity, to state that Dn Barry's ex
cellent Reialenta Arabica Food' hai cured her, after 'all
Medicines' had 'failed, of iiiiiidestiou, bile, "great? nervous-
ness and irritability of Many years' standing. This food
deserves the .confldenee of all sufferers 'and may be •con-
sidered a real blessing) luestirieswillbe.cheerfully answered.
Supported by teetimoYoals 149n1. t i !telgibtst4d Trbfeasers of
Chemistry Dr. Andrew 1,7 ,re; . Dr. Shorl,lnd.;,, HEFTeII
Dr. Campbell ; bi. Gattiker ; Dr. Wqrher; l?r. Ingram;
Lord Stuart de Decies;: the 'Dewager Conntetis ,of Castle-
stuart ; Major-GEL, Thomas King, and many other respectable
persons, whose health has been restored by it, afteraii other
means of -cure-Itad-failed..,,Pnr further particulars respect-
ißg this invaluable foadtur.readers-are refereed4o Du Barry's-
. a drertisemeut RA-0 Of th-tat Pirrtit cJ.
• . 7:-"r1

mheinsabew,iYnogul -
~—,'hitt. stating that railway c
Mr. Cooper converse with
what 'ycin Iciad for d' r workmen and their i
their lines ,at from .71
e single lioeftwiule o inc
ik • - • • .
the /I i• -. It,. - ig--1 bUYirtg oni .tit . -tile cc
II
.•
his n: • - . orme per Fi ; •
.i, ghe t
" • jr7 140
the i - " 1-ill I ther• 7'
He 'a. •e, and Taki .4 • 44" '
• on an
was h.- , • in ast tte P•
...”,• • • annual
inly mu f. s-Af,een drink- ' . , .l''''. • ds• of 2001,
wild. . . .'- i d really amount
~.,... " ' uses are about 1,(
you never_ went by the
should consider that too . " he rails would be tl
(Laughter.)
one-half. To keep these