The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-07-13

formed no exception to the majority of hs
| brethren.
80 much by way of explanation.-let us
now come to the matter in hand. And
| here we take occasion to enter our protest
once more against the habit into which
COL Garnett has fallen, of calling his gauge
of five feet the broad gauge. The broad
gauge, in this country, is that of six feet
on the great road from the city of N. York
to Dunkirk, on the Erie railroad-in Eng
land it is the guage of seven feet, adopted
by Brunei for the Great Western Railway.
from London to Bristol. 1t was between
this latter, and the narrow gauge, of A, 81,
that the original contest was waged, and it
arose when Robert Stephenson, to whom
the suggestion of Brunei had been submit
ted, reported unfavorably on it. 1t was
after Parliament had reversed standing
order prescribing the narrow gauge for gem
eral adoption-which it did in consequence
Oh the representations of the stockholders
Oh the Great Western, who were satisfied
win Brunel's plan, that other gauges, of
| hve, hve three, five six, six, &c., were
aaopted on other lines. These were never
n1 IUiioreo with the name of broad gauges.
Ihey We're called exceptional gauges and
are so called to this day, evidently because
they are neither broad, in the railway ac
| cePtatlon OF the term, nor narrow. IT
never could have occurred to the daring
genus OF Brunei, who adopted the "broad
gauge In order to test to the very utmost
the limits OF railway capacity. that a nal
try three inches and half could have haen
OF the slightest moment in the trial of CO
vast an experiment. The great objection
to his suggestions were, that they We're foo
vast for practical utility. Such mind
could never have stopped to purr and
mouse over SO small matter as three inches
and half; difference that carries with If
none of the alleged advantages of thewide
| gauge, while it retains all the evils ascribed
to the narrow. The mention of this great
mans name naturally brings us to the con-
| sideration of that evil which he was the first
to bring upon his country
Col. Garnett tells us, that transhipment
| Ii. e. break of gauge) is a bug-bear
Far different was the opinion of Brunei
himself. s'He admitted that in a continu.
Gus line of traffic, departure from the es.
| tablished gauge would occasion inconve.
nience, and that in the case of the Great
| Western railway, it would almost amount
| tO u PfOIttOtttOH Vi WlID
another line running north from London
But he considered that as the new line was
to be carried through district in which no
railways existed, it could have no connec-
ton with any other of the main lines, and
that as the branches would complete the
communication with the surrounding dis
tricts through which the line was intended
to pass, they would be Independent of other
railways for the traffic they would bring to
the line" This abstract of the views of
Brunei, we find in book called s'Our Iron
Roads" by Frederick G. Williams, being a
history OF the progress of railways in Great
Britain and Ireland, page 1872. So tremen-
dous did this obstacle, which Col. Garnett
regards as mere bug-bear, appear to Bru-
mel, that he never thought of offsetting ii
by opposing the superior advantages Of the
''broad gauge" All that he ventured to
say was. that inasmuch as the country to
be penetrated had no railways, they might
begin from the foundation and make all o
seven feet, so as to unite with his. Had il
been otherwise, it is perfectly evident that
he never would have thought of introduc.
ing a disturbing and disorganising gauge
into the midst of regular system. Let il
be recollected that the Great Western rail-
way runs from London to Bristol-from the
deep waters of the Thames, with its tens
OF thousands of vessels, to the deep waters
OF the Avon. Brunei admits that it would
have been very inconvenient to have dis.
turbed the connection even of roads run.
ming at angles to, and across his. How
much stronger would the case have been
had there been road, instead of river al
| each end This will ha OaIx hot h.
8 foot gauge ON the Covington and Ohio
railroad will do. The Central railroad, POI
miles long, on this side, has the 49, gauge
From Maysville we learn, in such man
ner as to place the thing beyond the reach
OF doubt, that the President and Directors
OF the Maysville and Big Sandy road have
already pledged themselves to adopt it
From Newport to Louisville there is a road
about to be put under contract, the gauge
on which must be 4, g., since we learn by
the Louisville papers, that it falls into the
Lexington and Louisville road a, S5), this
side of the latter city. From Newport to
Maysvllle, road has been chartered to
connect the two. From Louisville then,
to the mouth of Big Sandy, by the way Of
| Maysyille, there is a continuous line OF
railroad more than two hundred miles long,
on which the narrow gauge is adopted
BY adopting it on the Covington and Ohio
railroad, and thereby inducing the Lexing-
ton and Big Sandy to adopt it, we secure
to the former more than four hundred miles
OF railroad connection beyond the State, al
one end OF the line, while we connect il
with another at this end two hundred miles
long; We ask any man to read the analy-
Sis above of Brunel's reasoning, and to say
whether it can be inferred from it, thai
ne would have proposed his broad gauge
mad 1t produced such tremendous dis
ruption as this.
| lcoScLUsIoN TOMORROW