The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-13 00:00:00

TIIE NEW ROAD STEAMER.

(From the Scotsman.)
On Saturday afternoon a very remarkable sight
was seen in this cit 3. A train of heavily-laden
coal waggons, looking ex letly Ike a luggage train,
was observed coining steadily up the steep incline
leading into Edinburgh from Dalkeith. It was one
of Mr. R. W. 'l'homson's patent road steamers, with
indiarubber wheel tires, having four huge loaded
waggons in t )w. Each waggon weighed, when
empty, 22 tons, and carried a load of 51 tons of
coals, making the gross weight of the waggons 32
tons. The road steamer weighs 8 tons. Thus a
total of 40 tons was set in motion. The road
steamer had drawn the train from Newbattle Col-
lieries, eight miles from Edinburgh, over a very
hilly road, with rising gradients of 1 in 16.

The interest excited by this remarkable spectacle
was so great that the crowd could not be kept back.
A halt was therefore ordered, and application was
made at the Central Police-office for the aid of a
few constables to keep the over-curious from
pushing each other into the way of the advancing
train. A sergeant and six men were at once de-
spatched to the outskirts of the city, where the
halt had been called, and progress was imme-
diately resumed. The hill from the Pow Burn up to
Minto-street is both long and steep, but the road
steamer drew its train to the top with the most
perfect ease. It was very curious to watch the
behaviour of the patent india rubber tires of the
road steamer as they passed over the vazious de-
scriptions of road surface. In the outskirts of the
city, where the roads are macadamised, there were
many places where broken stones had just been
spread on the surface. Over these sharp loose
stones the indiarubber tires of the road steamer
passed without crushing or in fact disturbing them
in the least. The roughest and sharpest bed of
broken stones sank gently into the elastic cushion
of indiarubber, which rose from the contract with
the most jagged fragments of stone without any
trace or mark of injury. The perfect command
which the conductors of the train had over its
movements enabled them to control both its course
and speed with the utmost precision. The line of
streets through which it passed—namely, Minto-
street, Clerk-street, Nicolson-street, South-bridge,
North-bridge, Princes-street, Leith-street, and
Leith-walk, are always the most crowded streets
in the city, but at the time the train passed
through these thoroughfares there happened to
be an unusually great current of traffic passing
in a contrary direction towards the South-side
Gymnasium, where some games were going on,
which gave rise to a great stream of omnibuses,
cabs, and conveyances of every description, in addi-
tion to a great crowd of pedestrians. Notwith-
standing all these obstacles, aggravated by the
streets being at some points under repair and closed
for one-half of their width, no difficulty was expe-
rienced in steering clear of every impediment. The
crowd of spectators increased with such rapidity
that by the time the train was passing the Univer-
sity thousands were trying to catch a glimpse of the
novel sight, and when crossing the High-street the
swarms of idlers who give such a busy aspect to that
locality rushed in vast numbers to see how the train
would descend the steep incline from the High-
street to the Bridge. This was done with as much
ease and quietness as if there were no hill at all.
The extremely curious way in which the whole four
waggons follow, snake-like, in the track cf the road
steamer was clearly seen in passing out of North-
bridge into Leith-street. First, the road steamer
had to turn to the right, and before the last wag-
gon was round the corner tc the right, the road
steamer had already turned sharp to the left to
go into Leith-street—thus the train actually as-
mined the form of the letter S, every waggon
going over the same ground as the roal steamer
with the most perfect accuracy. The very steep
and crooked descent of Leith-street, which has a
gradient of probably 1 in 12, was managed with
perfect ease, and the trai❑ pursued its way down
Leith-walk, along Junction-street, and up Bon-
nington-road to the works of Messrs. T. Tennant
and Co. (Limited), where it had to deliver the coals.
In passing out of Junction street into Bonnington-
road there is a sharp acute angle, so that the train
had actually to double back on itself ; however, it
rounded the corner without the smallest difficulty.
The final manceuvre was one which the conductors
of the train did not expect to be able to accomplish
without breaking it into two portions. It had to
be taken out of the Bonnington-road, which is a
narrow street of 30 feet in width, into a lane 25 ft.
wide, which rises with a steep incline to the en-
trance-gate of Bowershall Works. It was deter-
mined to attempt this narrow entrance with the
entire train of 90 feet long, and it passed in at the
first trial, leaving so much space to spare that it
was found, on afterwards measuring the wheel
tracks, a width of 14 feet would have sufficed,
though the breadth of the waggons is seven feet.
The train curved in through the narrow entrance,
mounting at the same time the steep incline lead-
ing up to the works, and drew up in the yard in
perfect order.

There can be no doubt this invention of the appli-
cation of vulcanized indiarubber to the tires of road
steamers forms the greatest step which has ever
been made in the use of steam on common roads.
It completely removes the two fatal difficulties
which have hitherto barred the way to the use of
traction engines, viz., the mutual destruction of the
traction engine and the roads. The indiarubber
tires interposing a soft and elastic cushion between
the two, effectually protect them both from every
jar and jolt—in fact, as much so as if the engine
were travelling over a tramway of indiarubber. The
road steamer which drew the four waggons of coal
from New Battle Colliery on Saturday was con-
structed to draw less than one-half of the weight
comprised in the coal train. It was perhaps hardly
fair to test it with more than the double of its legiti-
mate work, but it was deemed best to test it with
great severity, and the great success of the trial has
surpassed every expectation. It is, we believe,
destined for Ceylon, for transporting coffee from
the planations to the railway stations.
A few days ago a preliminary trial was made
with the Ceylon road steamer. With one heavy
waggon in tow, it passed through a number of our
steep streets, and as nothing seemed to come near
its limits of climbing, it was headed towards Cock-
burn-street, and rolled quietly up that steep and
crooked street, some parts of which have gradients
about linBor 9. The French Government have
instructed M. L6on Rascol, Ingenieur des Ponts et
Chaussees, to examine and report on the working
of Mr. Thomson's road steamer. One steamer is
in course of construction for transporting coal over
a hilly road, nine miles long, in Derbyshire.
It will be necessary to substitute coke instead of
coal, the smoke from which is offensive when the
road steamers are passing throng h towns.

THE HARVEST IN THE EAST.—The harvest is
pretty well concluded in Essex. What is to bs done for
cattle feed in the county is a subject of grave discussion.
The young clovers are burnt up, and the mangolds, which
had hitherto looked well, are seriously damaged from want
of moisture. Store cattle are tolerably healthy, but where
they have not been fed upon oilcake and winter food they
begin to show signs of declining condition. On Tuesday
night and early yesterlay morning there were some heavy
showers in some parts of the Eastern Counties, and the
drought may now be considered at an end.

The English Ambassador signed the protocol at
Constantinople last Saturday, by which Englishmen will
be authorized to hold landed property in Turkey. The
Austrian ambassador has adopted a similar course, but the
representatives of Russia, Italy, and the United States
still refuse to concur.

THE BREAKDOWN OF THE ATRATO.—Her Ma-
i esty's ship Terrible has arrived at Devonport. She le ft
the screw steamer Atrato in charge of the Oneida at 6.25
a.m. yesterday morning in lat. 48.68 N., long. 7.25 W.