Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1838-09-27
RAIL ROAD FACILITIES

serving of attention -
\ RAIL ROAD FACILITIES
For conveyance of passengers and
substances, are just beginning to be
realized. As to passengers, me danger
is objected to by many, as an offset Tor
1.-THE comparative ease, convenience, de-
spatch, and cheapness of this mode OF
lItravel. Ii is true, some accidents nave
already happened. But arc accidents
/ peculiar To rail road cars Are these
| more liable to calamities, than stages
and steamboats, 7 BY no means. We
hold quite the reverse, viz: that the
latter are far more exposed to disasters,
and destruction Of human life I; as the
great number of deaths by steamboat
explosions, within the last three years,
sufficiently eyince.
How are stage coaches, for safety p
More objectionable than cars, we say.
The driver is liable to lose his reins,
or to be thrown from his seat. The
horses are liable TO take fright and run
away. In winter, the road is often CO.
vered with ice the horses are smooth,
and liable to slip, and the carriage to
slide. The bridges arc often bad and
dangerous to pass.-Thc way is some
times sidcling-a precipicc on one side,
without railing These and innumera-
Bile other evils attend this mode of trav-
cling, to which that by rail road is not
liable. In the latter you are seated on
sofa, and sit as quietly as by your
own fresidc, riding at the rate of 90 or
30 miles an hour, to the place Of desti-
nation.
In stage coach, beside the dangers
and troubles before mentioned, you are
often compelled to sit crammcd up to-
gcther, liable to be routed some half
dozen times to make room for this lady
and that gentleman ; sometimes driven
aloit, exposed to wind and weather ;
sometimes carcd over pavcments halt
- hear, - .a!;o or leave passengers,
and when on the road, you are tossed
on this side and that, by the rolling mo-
ton of the coach, causing sickness, and
left at last, nearly a. tired rs the foot
man, who has travelled the same length
Of way.
As to the convenience ofgoods, wares,
and heavy substances, the advantages
have hardly yet begun to be thought of.
A rail road is adapted to cause an equii-
bT,tm in articles of merchandise, farm
ing produce, SC. For instance, when
a scarcity apples is found in one part
of the State or country, and abundance
in another, the deficiency is easily sup
Piled. So in the articles of pork, poul-
try, SC, now conveyed in Wagons one
hundred miles at great expense, and to
the injury of the meat and sale.
The article of beef is now driven in
the live animal from Connecticut river
to Brighton, nearly one hundred miles,
at great expense, and much greater
loss, in the weight and quality of the
meat.-Nca,ly a whole week is rcquir-
cd to drive fat oxen this distance, dur
ing which the animal is kept in fever,
rapidly wasting in fat and flesh, and
thus dctcriorating in quantity, quality
and worth. But when the great West
crn Rail Road shall have become passa-
bic to the river, the farmer, there, can
kill his beef and send it fresh, and in
Il fine order 10 market. in six hours !; or
he may barrel it on the spot, and trans
NIT it when most convenient. What an
immense saving can then be made
Berkshire County abounds in fine
quarrics of marble, hitherto of little val
ne, comparatively, to the owners, on
account of the distance from market
Soon they will be in the neighborhood
of Boston, and New York, and easily
conveyed to either of those places
Space and time are almost annihilatcd
by this wonderful rail road process, the
advantages of which will continue to be
developed for many years to come.