Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1870-07-19
The Coming Railroad -one for Every
County,

! to the remarkable success which had attend
ed the working of little railroad running
from Port Madoc, in Wales, to the town of
/ Festiniog. The distance between the two
/ points is fourteen miles-the line of route
being rugged and mountainous, one with a
succession of sharp curves and continuous
rise by gradients cf for the greater part, l in
50. This road was built cheaply, is worked
at a singularly low cost, and yet is found quite
as effective for local travel and traffic as roads
ofa wider gauge and infinitely more costly
| construction.
The gauge of the Festiniog railroad is but
two feet, or, to speak with extreme accuracy,
| only one foot eleJ en- and half inches. ''The
| locomotives used on the road weigh about ten
tons, conle9 and entered, and the tenders
little over ton. The passenger carriages
are, for the most part, seated longitudinally,
the passengers sitting back to back. This
arrangement of course brings the centre of gray
ity Immediately over the rails, and renders the
wide projection of the carriages over the line
on each side of comparatively little con-
sequence. The carriages are about six feet
wide and six feet six inches high in the CEN
tire, and each is seated for fourteen passengers.
! Diminutive though these vehicles are, they
afford as ample and comfortable accommodation
as the enormous carriages upon ordinary lines,
much higher proportion they afford of "pay-
ing" to dead weght-the dead weight hauled
on the Festiuog railway is, indeed, reduced
to the utmost minimum. * = * The
carriage wheels are eighteen inches in diam
eter, and the floors of the vehicle only about
seven inches above the roadway. The trains
have truly comical appearance, from the
lowness ofthe floors and the invisibiity of the
wheels. They are much more like boxes upon
short rollers than ordinary railway or other
wheeled carriages"
So much for the road and its carriages. It
might however, be supposed that suclra road,
so equipped, would not be capable of carrying
on heavy traffic, and that it must be looked
upon rather as a curious toy than as adopted to
really useful, practical. every day purpose
Nothing can be further from the fact. 1t is
q road which has been for some years past in
active operation. 1t carries daily consider
able number of passengers to and from Port
Madoc, and large amount of heavy freight
the latter consisting principally of valuable
slate and building stone from the Festiniog
quarrics. The cheapncss with which this road
was built, the peculiar lightness of its equip
ment and the handsome profits it has paid to
its stock holders NOT less than fifty per centum
annually-have led to the construction fsim.
liar roads in other parts Of Wales. The at
tcntion of large numbers of capitalists and
civil engineers has also been strongly attracted
to tie subject Hbout three weeks ago
party of distinguished professional gentle>
men" left London for Fort Madoc to be pres
ent at a series of experiments which were in
stituted for the purpose of testing the relative
powers Of the engines in use on the Eestiniog
road with \ new locomotive which had been
built for the same road by a Mr.. Fairie The
competition was to be between the ''Welsh
Pony"-that being the name of the best To-
camotive at work on the road-and Mr. Fair
lies "Little Wonder" The latter is de-
scribed as "a double bogic," being composed
of two engines on one frame, both exercising
tractive power. The little tension locomotive
"Welsh Pony" was put to work, and after
various tests it was found, as the maximum of
its power, to be capable of drawing easily
thirty one slate trucks weighing seventy-sevcn
tons up grade of one foot in eighty >five.-
The "Little Wonder" weighing nineteen and
half tons, was next tried. 1t was yoked to
train of 125 trucks, seven passenger car
riagcs, and boat carriage. The weight of
the train was ia tons, 400 weight. It's
length was $50 yards. at might have been
feared" says a correspondent of the London
Telegraph, t'that such a diminutive affair as
the Little Wonder would have been beaten
by such load and such road, but it was
not" 1t glided with perfect smoothness round
the constantly recurring sharp curves of the
mountain, overcame the gradients with perfet
ease, and made the entire journey from Port
Madoc to Festiniog (fourteen miles) within
less than one hour. Among those who wit
messed this remarkable feat were English Off
GERS connected with the Public Works De-
partment of India, royal engineers from Bonn
l.. a;,-;I L.
and the Northern Punjauh railways, and
other civil engineers from Brazil and Canada.
The final test was the relative consumption of
coal. In this respect also the Farlie engine
demonstrated its superiority by showing saw
ing over all other engines Of fifty per cent.
on'1he weight hauled.
Here, then, we have railway which may
be constructed for a few thousand dollars
mile, and the cost of whose equipment is a
mere trife. As a local road, connecting with
a main line, it can be built more cheapty than
a common plank-road, and from the lightness
of its rolling stock is subject to very little
wear and tear. Such road might be built
BY neighborhood cooperation anywhere. 1t
would cheaper the cost of transportation to a
market it would largely enhance the value
of the lands through which it passed and if
properly managed it would pay to the stock
holders from the very outset handsome profit
on their investment Baltimore Gazette.
HARNESS BLACKING.-A correspondent
of the Field gives the following receipt for
harness blacking, which he has used for sew
cral years and is perfectly convinced of its
exceleuce: "5eeswax (Shred fne) eight ounces,
turpcntinc sufficient to cover it; let them
stand till the wax is dissolved (three or four
days y ivory black four ounces, olive oil q