The New York herald., 1846-03-27

likely to interfere with the personal convenience or the
railways spreading in all directions and becoming
nterlaced with each other in places that so
the time has arrived when II steps be taken to
remove the existing evil Of the diversity Of gauge at
least appears to Us imperative that wider spread Of
1--WE had to deal with question not affecting the in
terests Of parties who are not only unconnec,ed but
who opposed to each other In spirit Of emulation ii
not Of rivalry or five dealing with the property
of the public and not Of private trading companies we
of gauge which deem to be 80 desirable would be
too dearly purchased by alteration OF one gauge 10
might be- considered prsrbls to ether any such
there be.
But position is different from this since we have
to consider not only the relative ongh Of the different
systems the comparative mechanical eciency Of each,
tho general superiority Of one above the other their
adaptation to the wants OF the country and the possib
~ ~ well the policy Of change, but also the PEE
cunsry of esc.ing it. We have further to look
to the consequences of interruption OF the rac dur
ing the progress of an alteration.
There is still another view Of the question: and that
80 q 10 hs ae Of
and carriages on both gauges.
This expedient in whatever form adopted cannot be
considered free from difficulties 1.-two rails, forming
narrow gauge way, are placed between the two rails
which form broad gauge way, carriage: Of the differ
OF their buffers, which In the ordinary construc
ton Of the carriages correspond exactly on the broad
ton would Probably be not les. than that Of an entire
change Of gauge including in the latter the change OF
engines and carrying stock and the complication which
would introduce at the crossings might produce danger
to rspd trains. unless their speed were diminished at
approaching such poats The difficulty Of packing the
rails il longitudinal seepers were used would also be
much grentsr than il rats Of only single gauge were
employed. II = single rail were inserted eccen ricaily
one Of the broad gsas. rails narrow gauge wsy the
expense Of the nseron and the danger crossings
s s %as :i s .ssa to s
carriages Of the different gauges in the same trains and
a. would probably be the policy Of the railway CON-
fart tkosr ~ onIv aOf
the two gauges and insrpose those difficulties which
amount 70 prohibition Of the Of other companies'
exist in almost all their force at every Junction Of
branch railway on disIsn, gauge :, We WE consider
We are, therefore Of opinion that the most satisac
tory comparison that can be made OF the economy o.
principles endsavoring merely to determine what the
working expenses Of the Great Western line. with their
present amount Of TRAFFIC. would have bsen provided i
had been narrow gauge line, and worked with such
engines those employed on tho South Western and
The average weight 81 passepgertrsin the Great
Western Railway independent OF the engine and tender.
70 BE- - %
per train for The half year ending tho 3oh Of June le4S
a ). whose Weight. Including their luggage. may b
estimated at about Ave TONS
Mr. Gooch estimates each carriage and it, passengers
the broad gauge to weigh about ri tons and there
orc there would be carriages to make up the 81
tons obovs specified. The most commodious carriages
WesteIn weigh less than tons seven such carriages
would therefore weigh about stons and being capable
their iussass st tons the total load would Sc oSy 4s
TONS Now we ind that even with traffic - large az
rage psr train would only bo slS passengor weighing
about tons 30 that, under the suPpositon Of trac
Of this extent the load Of the seven narrow gauge car
rsges, SO occupied, would only be ~ tons.
But Mr.. Gooch estimates from his own experiments,
the relative powers Of traction Of the broad gauge en-
Western Rsilwsy, when Working 4 the same speed as
2067 to 1885, or a. % per cent the load Of the oroad
pondpg load for the gauge. 50 that the narrow
gauge engine has more power over the ~ tons would
% 81 than ssa has m !. :
gine and tender the narrow gauge carriage In this sup
position being supposed to contain SAC passengers and
On the fst Introduction Of passenger railways speeds
Of about II miles hour ouly anticipated the
rails then employed weighed only 35lb per yard, and
the engines sbout six seven TONS AZ soon as speed:
Of 10 and "a miles hour attempted it was found
weigh iS and 1iss Since thss time The % rail. have
bean increased In weight progressively 10 6sIb 7oio
and sSo psr yard and - the weight Of the engine on the
il approaches 20 tons; indeed We have seen mar.
row gauge engine on six wheels weighing 80 tons We
been attained in the road itself.
Amongst other changes for increasing the power of the
engine and the speed q the trains Of the gauge
lines there have been the giving increased length
the engine and the placing the cylinders the outside
Sos We have sxaminsd that this position Of the cylinder
tendency produce greater wear and Of the
of the engine on the line This however, While tho en-
gne Of medium length has been denied by Mr. Locke,
who he: had great 70 IL; wSEkns M o. ou6s
Gooch, that where the length Of the engine 10 greatly
increased this increased length BY causing the extrem
lore and hind axs has great tendency to increase the
Irregular motion produced by the outside cylinder
Thus far We have considered the question with refer
ence the railways they exist, and compossd
In great measure OF trunk lines Of consideraols rac
Sres ). DncS.. or ues in asicss having a Of
less magnitude than 10 to be provided for in the existing
railway and hence, il for the greater trunk line:
superiority would be less for lines yet to be constructed
Of smaller amount Of rsfic and necessarily, the
ssinG nss that system would be sti more entitled to
the preferencs for the railways Of smaller trac, to
We must here add that towards the close OF our in
quiry Mr. Brunei requestei on the part Of the broad
gauge oompsnes. to institute set Of experiments %
test the power OF their enginss and Mr. Bidder, on the
sequence Of such spplicsiion to make corresponding
these trials and being present the performance Of
them, record Of which win be found In the appendix,
Of the results the discrepancies between the returns
~ furnshed BY the two parties themselves that We con-
given By Mr. Goo h. in Sis evidence proving as they
bss for speed with equal losds and. generally .psak
ing, Of propeng greater loads with equal speed and
moreover that the working wi such engines Is eco
nomical whore very high speeds required vi ere
the loads TO be conveyed such TO reqore the full
power Of the engine They connrm also, the evidence
given BY Mr. Bidder to the possibility Of obtaining
hgh evaporativs power with long engines for the mar
row gauge bat under peculiar
appears moreover that the evsPorsssn TINS obtained
does not produce corresponding useful effect 10 the
trssve power ofthe engine circumstances that would
probably be differently explained by Mr. 0ecch and ~
Mr. Bidder bat do not refer TO the power OF this
description Of engine In the dsductions have made,
Is unnecessary for us to alluds further to them.
After full confederation Of ell the crcu instances that
have before us, and Of the deductions we have
made from the evidence, are led 10 conclude
That q re cards the safety sccommodstion and
vsniepce of the passenger, ne decided preference 10
due to either gsuge but that on the broad gauge the
m otion 10 generally more ossy at high velociiies
2. That In respect Of speed, We consider the ad-
vantsges with the brosd gauge, but We think the
public safety would be endangered In employing the
greater capabilities Of the broad gauge much bsyond
their present use, except on ROADS consolidated