The Portland daily press., 1865-07-14
Friday Norning, July IA, 1865.
IRON the London Times. /
THE RAILWAY OVER MONT GEMS

THE RAILWAY OVER MONT GEMS.
The principles of railroad communication
are receiving an unexpected Development
Between France and Italy, as poets sing and
conquerors discover, nature has interposed the
Alps and snow. So, in the Franco Italian
Railway, running by Mont Gents, there is what
is called "a break" rather cool way of ex-
pressing the fact that the Alps themselves run
across the line OF course the natural idea OF
railway engineers was to bore through this
obstacle by grand tunnel upwards of seven
miles in length. OF this prodigious work
more than four miles have actually been COM
pleted, butt is calculated that even under the
most favorable circumstances eight years must
elapse before the whole tunnel can be opened.
Meanwhile the mountain is crossed by COM
mon road, not bad road for such place, but
on the contrary, a very good one. Perhaps no
mountain road could be much better, but the
"break' is, of course, a terrible obstacle to
traffic as nowadays understood. This bit of
turnpike is about AZ miles long, and SO steep
and difficult that nine hours in summer and
nearly eleven in winter are allowed for the
journey from one end to the other. Indeed
in winter the passage is uncertain in the ex-
treme, the heavy dttigenceS cannot be dragged
or guided over the snow and ice, and sledges
are used instead of them. Under these cir
cumstances Of annoyance and delay it was
SuSkSGobcu budJ d IduWdy SUOulu DC bIlGu upon
the mountain itself, and the Report which we
publish in our extra half-sheet to-day leaves
us in little doubt about the success of the
project.
The road over Mont Cenis is so good and so
wide that there is room upon it for the pro
jected line without hindrance to the ordinary
traffic, but it is not proposed simply to run To-
comotive engines over the common highway.
There is to be a real railway laid down indeed,
something more than railway, which, per-
haps, we may best describe as railway and a
half In this lies the secret of the newly ap-
piled principle. III the reader on his next
journey viii look at the engine which is to
draw his train, he will have no difficulty In dis
vering the driving wheel, which is worked upon
Immediately by the piston, and which, in fact,
draws all the rest after it. Sometimes two,
or it may be three wheels, may be seen coup
led together by an outside bar, which makes
them all "driving- wheels" and increases pro
portionately the hold of the engine on the rails
and its tractive power. But in ascending
road so steep as that over Mont Gents more
hold and more power are needed than have
ever been required on a permanent way in
this country, and the necessary addition has
been supplied by adding third rail and sec
ond system Of driving wheels" Between the
original rails, in the middle of the permanent
way, another rail is laid down, on its side, and
above the rails outside. To bite upon this mid
die rail horizontal wheels are constructed,
driven by pistons of their own, and between
these horizontal wheels the middle rail is firm
ly clipped. The engine thus obtains double
hold upon the road by two systems of sdriv-
ing-wheels" acting at right angles to each 9TH
er, and the result is such an accession of adj
hesion and power as will enable locomotive
to draw train up the slopes of Mont Gents.
project which the scientific reader will find
technically delineated in Captain Tylers Re-
port M
In so far as the experiment has been yet
conducted it is certainly success, and
greater success than was anticipated. The
drawbacks and difficulties have proved fewer
and slighter than the estimate assumed. Last
winter, as justly argued, was winter to try
anything, and if this overground railway was
not much impeded by the SHOWS of 1866 we
mayIo0k with much confidence to years in pros
pect. The railway actually Jared better than the
ordinary road, was more easily cleared of snow,
and was filter for immediate use. The horses
on the common road were notfifghtened by the
locomotives. No accident occurred on this ex-
pertinent portion of the line, and the success of
the triple rail was apparently established. As
to safety, that on Mount Gents, is rather a
comparative term, but Captain TYLER is of
opinion that the railway would be safer than
the diligence. He remarks indeed, very natur-
ally, that the idea is somewhat appalling upon
a first glance. The railway cars calamity took
the outside of the road and left theinside to
the horse traffic, so that the train will run on
the very edge of tremendous precipices, down
steep gradients, and round exceedingly sharp
curves. Under such conditions Captain
TYLER reasonably anticipates that much Sex
ira risk would be feared, and that an ordinary
railway accident might be thought to portend
a very extraordinary smash He declares, how
ever, that the power of guiding and checking
furnished by the middle rial and the horizon.
tai wheels acting upon it is so great that the
balance of considerations is in favor of safety
and, indeed, for that matter, we do not SEE
that the ordinary dangers of railway travel
ling can be much increased by the chasms O
the Alps. A fall down a precipice is a fright
full thing to contemplate, but If we recollcc
what happened the other day at Staplehurs
from fall of ten or twelve feet into LITTLE
rivulet we may well conclude that wors,
could hardly come to pass if the abyss shouls
be a thousand yards deep.
There is also another consideration, no
overlooked by the Government Engineer. !
these new @driving wheels and this additions
rail can insure the safety of a train even o.
the precipitous sides of the Alps, may they no
add to the safety of our ordinary trains undel
circumstances ostensibly less perilous? Gu
railways do not very commonly bridge yawn
lug chasms or scale towering cliffs, but tn
records of disasters are sufficient to show tina
they have risks of their own, and that these
THOUGH on smaller scale, are but too often ia
al Why, then, should wenot avail ourseve
OF : an element of safety in locomotive work
ing entirely neglected al present? Why no
employ the means of keeping our trains NOR
surely on the lines and exerting a vastly in
creased preak power, even though we do no
tire will plunge us into a vawnino qulf?
any such reform should arise from these curl
Gus experiments, we may find more reaso
than at first sight appears for taking an intel
fisrt in the Railroad of Mount Cents.