Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-08-04
URBANA, OHIO, WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 4, 1869.

TWENTY-FIVE francs, from Susa to ST.
Michael, the time occupied in the pass
age being from four to five hours.
The locomotives of these trains are
small, compact and powerful; their trucks
as well as those of the carriages, set well
in the middle, so that they can turn very
short curves. The track has three rails,
one elevated in the centre. Besides its
ordinary driving wheels, the locomotive
has two horizontal wheels, which press
this third rail on either side, and it is
bv this strong traction that the train is
pulled up. The carriages have CORES
bonding wheels for the centre rail but
their only use is to hold the train on the
track. Both cars and locomotive have
double sets of scales, one for the Ordina-
ry and one for the centre rail, so that
they can screw the cars to the track with
grip of a vice, and render it almost i'm
possible for the carriages to run away
There is very precautiOn against acci-
dent; and I should only fear the snow
storms of winter, and perhaps an ava
lanche in some places high up, which
are not rooted in.
Our train seemed to be a huge live
reptile with legs and claws, that crawl
ed up by its own power it literally dug
right up hill, and we felt ourselves
mounting, and looking back could see
the deep incline. On the curves, where
the wheels got a good grip of the rail,
we moved with ease and more rapidly
than on a straight pull, where the loco
motive evidently IabOred more, and we
rose more slowly. The steepest grade
on the road is one foot in nine feet, but
that only for short distances. The rise
of one in twelve is more common; and
the least (Of which any note is taken) is
one in twenty-five. The curves are so
short as to be startling. We seemed to
turn in a space as small as an ordinary
wagon could. The shortest curves are
on a radius of only one hundred and
twenty feet; that is our train would run
round circle only two hundred and
forty feet in diameter Our track was
all the time in sight, behind and be-
fore, running along the steep hillside,
and constantly doubling like Il compress
ed letter S.
Our view was for the most part unin-
terrupted and magnificent. The sum-
NIT level is 6, 400 feet above the sea, and
before we reached it we passed into a
covered way, built of wood at the sides
and aTched with iron, and were immUT-
ed in this in the ascent, and on the level
for four or five miles, | should think;
dark, unpleasant passages, made worse
bV the smoke and fID0eS of the lOcOmO-
tive. These covered ways are absolute
Iy necessary rs a protection against aV-
alanches in many places, and against
the falls of SNOW for long distances
Through the chinks of the boards could
see the snow piled up high along the
way. The summit station is in one Of
l., 1r,r
We made the descent more rapidly
than the ascent, swinging round the
short bends with considerable velocity.
The brakes were iammed hard down
until I could smell the OdOr caused by
the friction. On the descent I saw the
frOWniug forts of BrumOnt d'EssillOn,
on peaks high above the abyss through
which Are fOams and rOars, connected
with the road by a thread of suspension
bridge over the gorge, called the POnt
du Diable
1 talked with a locomotive driver on
our train, (by the way an Englishman,
as they all are on this road who insist
ed that Mr.. Fell is not an American
| He knew him well, lived near him in
the north of England, and said he was
not an Engineer at all, except so far as
his invention was concerned, but q dis
senting clergyman. He is certainly q
dissenter from the ordinary style Of rail-
ways. The engineer was an excellent,
iIIiterate English mechanic, with a
drawl and nasal twang in his speech
that a Cape Cod man might envy; and
he gave me a great deal of valuable in
formation about the road, which I
might here impart, if your readers cared
for valuable information, which I sup
pose they do not. He was takin' Il day
JC4T' Y,1O 7, cofI rroi1,1
down to see the work on the big bore.
Twas a nasty bit of work this, Of running
twice over the road daily, as he did, and
only getting G12 a month for the job,
especially in the winter, with the snow
and beastly wind. There have been on
ly six days in the past winter where they
couldn't run on account Of snow, and
then the passengers had been carried
over the break in sledges. He explain
ed to me the construction of the IOcOmO-
tive, the application of its power, the
working Of the brakes, and the whole
thing, so that can build a road out to
West Hartford, over Prospect Hill, and
to the Tower, if any body desires, when
I return. Sealed proposals, enclosing
stamp and photograph, can be left on
the Probate steps. Isaid to the engineer
that / supposed it impossible for the To-
COHOJlNC Will Cll4GG ItiIio 10 get Oll JIle
track.
Well, he said, his machine got off
once last winter. The fact was that the
thing got the upper hand Of him, and
ran away with him. He spoke Of it as
if it were q horse. He was running
with the locomotive alone, takin' her
down the mountain, not mindin' exact |
Iy, when he found he had got on so much |
steam that he couldn't hold her. He
was gOin' down the one in nine, round
them 'ere nasty curves, when she start
ed. He shut off and iammed down the
brakes, reserve and all, but she only ap-
peared to go the faster Away she went
like the-(sO he said, whisking round, |
and at last bounded off, and went slam
agin a rock. ''If she'd gone over the !
ravine, on t'other side, l wouldn't be |
here to tell we of it."
Tt was nearly one o'clock when we ran
into st. Michael, and passing the hum
bug of q custom house, took comfortable
cars for Lyons.