The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-29 00:00:00

, .
BETTING BEFORE RACES
Two THOUSAND GUINEAS STAKES,-6 to son Idas.
Peel's two are scratched

S to [taken

freely ) T:IF. CHESTER Cur.-7 to 1 agst Semiseria, (S
—9 to 1 .art Cataract-9 to 1 agst
Ou
offers to take 10 to 1 each, about Obscurity and
Ireland.

NEW MATCHES FOR THURSDAY.
Sorella,Duk s e osftß:lib lf.ordisF Minotaur,
200, h f
ilotaur,9t.st, agst Mr. Osbaldeston's,

ATIIIOgPHERIC RAILWAYS.
,K 1 r of
ar
The following is the report (issued yesterday by 0.-e-
-the House of Commons), from the Select Committee
pointed (March 14) to inquire into the merits of the atmos-
pheric system of railway :
Your Committee have given their best attention to this intrest-
ing subject, Adverting to the great number of Railway
in progress, they consider that one of the most practical results
e
this inquiry would be lost if their report were delayed until a
ad Al.
these Bills had passed through Committee and a decision 8
_

ready been made on their coniparative merits. t to the
Your Committee have endeavoured, therefore, to plre,en
House, with as little delay as is consistcnt with the due dischare
of their duty, t w they h taken, and theb:uPi.
nions to whichhe they haveevidence
come,hich and theyave trust that their Is ro
may not prove altogether useless to the Committees that have
r
decide on the particular railway schemes now pending. prim
The House are aware that a railway on the atmospherie i
ciple is already in operation between Kingstown and nalkel

Ireland.
The first object of your Committee was to make a full inquiry
into the result of this experiment. From Mr. Gibbons, M '
r. Belt!:
ge.
and Mr. Vignoles, gentlemen officially connected with the ICIn
town and Dublin and Kingstown and Dalkey Railways. Iheeintred
ceived the fullest and frankest evidence on all the poknls "nne
with their management. Your Committee had also the advantago
of the opinion of Dr. Robinson, of Armagh, whose scientific k_..ie
ledge and acquirements render his testimony particularly Yaw'
on the theoretical merits of such an invention. „„rr, cars
From this evidence, and from that of Mr. Samuda, it •
that the Dalkey line has been open for nineteen months, thicAisst
it
which
occurred have arisen rather from the inexperience of the at.--
ants, than from any material defect of the system. been
Your Committee find, moreover, that high velocities have 115,
attained with proportional loads on an incline averaging I in no
within a course in which the power is applied only during nne
and an eighth.
These results have been displayed under circumstances
afford no fair criterion of what may be expected elsewhere; Or
addition to the curves on the line, which would have been
cOnst-
dered objectionable, if not impracticable, for locomotive enifb—„,
there are allePartlyed to exist defects in the machinery and aPPerst
I iniP
occasioned partly by the difficulties of the situation, Partly detract
',ekes inseparable from a first attempt, which very seriously
which
from the efficiency of the power employed, for the remedy of
provision has been made in the experiments now in progro•
These are important facts. They establish the Inetly,
efficiency of the atmospheric power to convey with- vegtweel o
speed, and security the traffic upon one section of PiPe beZ.tne
two termini ; and your Committee have since been satisfied, '1 ..0
evidence of Messrs. Brunel, Cubitt, and Vignoles,
mechanical difficulty which will oppose the working Of th
system upon a line of any length. They are further confirtnir;
in this opinion by the conduct of the Dalkey and Kingstnwn„"),.. to
tors, who have at this moment before Parliament a proPo"--n
that theree i 1 u°

extend their atmospheric line to Bray. „ aunfitee
In addition to the witnesses already mentioned, your ‘,o7,geors.
have had the advantage of hearing the objections urged by '-os. the
Nicholson, Stephenson, and Locke against the adoption,for the
atmospheric principle, and the grounds of their preference
locomotive now in use. 'den°
nce 01
Your Committee must refer the House to the valuable evi
given by these gentlemen. It will be seen that great differe-wboat
opinion exists between them end the other witness" t° .00 01
your Committee have before referred, both in their estnna,.°ltiture
what has already been effected, and in their calculations 0)
improvement. your
But, without entering upon all the controverted 'beria
Committee have no hesitation in stating, that a single attn..i, sod
line is superior to a double locomotive line, both in regnitn",-:osing
Fafety, inasmuch as it makes collisions impossible, excePt Cifroal
places, and excludes all the danger and irregularity e of
casualties to engines or their tenders. Now, the 1n47.,. t: the
these considerations will be best estimated by a referee,
return of accidents for fifteen months appended to this ser"
will be seen that there have been during that period fourteenbio
lisions upon the road, and thirteen accidents to enflint: sad
would altogether have been avoided on the atmospheric sY"`;', the
that these casualties entailed the loss of eleven lives, as well
serious injury of forty-five persons. From the other twen",„
d two
dents, common to both systems, resulted only four death% !nosing
persons injured. There is certainly one case in which ttAwish iN
passed uninjured over cattle lying upon the road. , togetliee,,, Os!,
entire train ; but then against this security derived from 'Thee Breit
tage of weight in surmounting obstacles, must be set "4,- dial
danger to which the engine.driver and stoker are exposed, l-
as they do upon an open platform. Ana of the
Your Committee desire also to bring to the atten..--bma so.
House a peculiarity of the atmospheric system which has...—„gtabil
ducea by the objectors to prove how unsuited it must be r'- „dot
to carry on a small and irregular traffic; namely, that the .82:76,
proportion of the expenses of haulage on the atinospherlcorreot
ciple are constant, and cannot be materially reduced, liserions
small the amount of traffic may be. This is, no dottbt, elf
`pc
0.
objection to the economy of the atmospheric system under
the
cumstances above alluded to. But, on the other band:jab% gable'
penses do not increase in proportion to the frequency roil°
it is to the interest of companies adopting the atroosPber4 e)at light
to increase the amount of their traffic by running 6.1" of the
: roof
trains, at low rates of fare; by which the ceneen
ie.
public must be greatly promoted. Upon an s° dividing ;idiot tbe
the moving power is most economically applied hYi tigbt
weight to be carried into a considerable number ° -so" is
ller contr`",
By locomotive engines, on the contrary, the power norober
sma
niently applied by concentrating the traffic in A of
heavier trains. The rate of speed at which trains mode
rate
c warn'
weight can be conveyed on an atmospheric lint Inni‘efi,,,-°,4ost et
tively little difference in the cost of conveyance, while L""irb the
moving trains by locomotive engines increases rapidly °
speed.
Now, when it is considered that we surrender to Brent 1„
l.
lies the regulation of all the arteries of communication
' the kingdom, that it depends in a great measure upon "tit`,4,4l els
of their interest when we shall travel, at What speed we ilba":"; 01
and
what we shall pay, it becomes a material- consideration` to
balancing the advantages insured to the public by rival WI te oID
estimate not so much what thay respectively can do, but W"ha
--.
the pursuit of their own emolument, they will do. ,yotent
The main objections of the opponents of the amosPber'" aros'
seem to rest, Ist, on the supposed increased expense of the.,-sitoir-
pheric apparatus over and above the saving made in the cr'" at,
Lion of the road ; 2d, on the inconvenience and irreffulttlyottr
tending upon a single line. With reference to the last P°'"; to
Committee felt it their duty to direct their first attention.hs
co to
stated that veo.
question of security, and they have already
more security in a single atmospheric line than in a doublerii
the rneOntidon
motive. They may further observe, that they find
the engineers who have been examined are decidedlY of e•;-/ sod
regulsrl
that any ordinary traffic might be carried on with
convenience by a single atmospheric line. Places 0 Where
Mr. Brunel has proposed to double the line in those %at in -
trains are intended to meet ; and he has further 'hewn t-,now of
the hilly
decaocuenhttrnyf,
the tn,ll,e'nointh
possible to effect this object without the expense of
With respect to expense, and to some other contesteu tr de'
twraitinhslbenygthpelannneastodfedsufficient inclination to
i.ht
your Committee do not feel themseliv'esowceermopfetgeran vt
tiot'reitP°Mt gt
One
cided opinion. It would scarcely be possible at the Prese., °Ogee°
to institute a fair comparison of a system which has hag:, si let
years of growth and development, with another which et; 2
007
in its infancy. That comarison would, after a, " 1 00"
tarn; it must depend much on details of whichll we are
much on scientific knowledge which we do not
Possess'There are, however, questions of practical inipo
reference to the present state of the railway Bills before t , ~ose
ers.
to which your Committee consider themselves bound to adv wadertanc e 111,1 t
There is
a doubt raised in the reports of the Board
of•-sted
to
whet her the atmospheric system has been sufficientlY
ecToa the
justify the preference of a line
pries can only be W°rli,„;aurtible
athtmospheric system, or which ents gradients less
than a competing line for the use of the locomotive enein`'.,ol the
If it were practicable to suspend all railway legislation 12;010
result of the Devon and Cornwall, and of the Epsoin and ot COP
atmospheric lines were known, it would be perhaPs th! 0004
tious and prudent course to wait that result; but socu„,-ly
independent of all considerations of expediency, is Ow- the"
practicable.
opinion to the House, that in deciding between competing„,,,berie
Your Committee venture therefore to eXPrerineo 01
railway, those which have been set out to suit the atn:l7ecr dePS
principle ought not to be considered as open to valid. jot the
lmerely on account of their having gradients too serer-jib other
comotive, nor should they be tested in cornparison W' of
ttl•
lines solely by the degree of their suitableness to the use
locomotive. s deci.j"
theNo doubt, in matters like these, experience alone adds
ultimate result, but your Committee think that there rte
in
present
mechanicaltim
evidence which would justify the adoption of an atrnosPbeconenr
es.nrcAesisl.themwrtßniedsdseesr tshaeyys,have exandned be in:
consider bet ra-
chanical problem as solved, whether the atmosphere could WS:
an efficient tractive agent. There can be no uestion ab°°,,." 111';
and the apparatus worked, as far as I observedg it, verY wir-stion
only question in my mind was as to the eommercial °-
gradientsit." Mr.(Slt3elpsh)e,nasonnd
nadnmdeirts
certain
inn ndcterrenchierstatainncecsirocininross:o;:ditooh•
out reference to gradients (1204), the atmospheric sYs''.'ni a in
preferable. MOW feel

While your Committee have thus expressed a strong ihel
favour of the general merits of the atmospheric princiPle.ostoe
that experience can alone determine under what circ;nould
of traffic or of country the preference to either Orate°

given.
April 22, 1845.

9105'
Paris, sl justly renowned for its elegant 1,0 1306
has, this Year, not only maintained its repatat',,S the
surpassed it in all that concerns la toilette, fl'oiere
riglishinan going there to be dressed, a la, ,i—pregver
mode, cannot fail to visit Be-•ker aing 5, iitt pss °'
des Pals Chumps, where he will find all' that 14(111-40i
material, elegance, and good taste can combine, an oiler
with confidence leave his choice to be cut up bi 11,4 the
whose talent and bon gout is proverbial even OWl4'
Lions of the capital.

-ciii"o-