Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-09-06

The most extraordinary practical
revolution Of the age is that wrought
In the opinions and practices of civil
engineers and railroad managers, as
to-the proper gauge Of these high
ways. In England ordinary railways
are almost as numerous as were COM
mon roads fifty years ago. These
railroads were CONSTRUCTED at an enor-
nous cost, and while the country has
been enriched, and England aggrand-
lied, the builders themselves have
wonno wealth, and only gratitude Of
the people. There r no more rail-
ways, such as were originally, to be
hereafter constructed in England,
France and Germany. Capitalists
have been taught that railways, cost
ing in Europe from 100000 to $15O,OOO
per mile, are wholly proitless. Not
the less true is the statement that
railway building in England and on
tie continent, is even yet in its in
fancy. To construct them on the old
plan is simply impossible, and even
the American system of railroads, in
fnitely cheaper than that of Europe,
Is now considered costly in India.
The Duke of Argyle and Lord Mayo,
and an English engineer named
Fairlie have given this subject thor
ough consideration and demonstrated
the fact, as Fairlie did practically in
Wales, that railways of the hghtest
construction and narrowest gauge
mayaccomplish the work once deemed
within the means only of the heavi-
est rails, broadcast gauge and most
| ponderous locomotives. The great
est engineers employed by the British
masters of India, where cotton and
| rice, the heaviest and most bulky
freights, are to be transported, have
pronounced a three +ect gauge amIl3
for all the requirements OF he long
! lines in India. 1t is also stated in an
| article ofthe London Times now be-
fore us that on a gauge of two feet six
inches, the best engineers in England
| assert that with Fairlie engines they
would manage the heaviest traffic
and travel in the world. 1t is
a curious fact that among the most
skiIHul engineers the gauge once
deemed the narrOwest at all profitable
is now considered entirely too broad
| for practical use. 1t follows that all
the talk we hear among stupid politi-
clans in Washington, who propose &c
| force the Southern States to widen
the gauge of our roads that Northern
| cities may compel the concentration
! of Southern traffic and travel, is
movement wholly in the wrong di-
rection. In England there is one
railroad of only two feet gauge. 1t is
only fourteen miles in length, but ha:
proven most profitable to sharehol,
ders and useful to the public. There
are other like roads of two feet SIX
inches gauge. In Belgium there
is a road of three feet four inches:
in India of four feet; in Sweden and
| Norway, several of three feet six
inches; on Mt. Gents, one Of three
feet; and now engineers in Europe,
who have given this matter most at
tention, prefer a gauge of two feet six
inches Or three feet. We recite these
facts to show how cheaply every vii
lage in the vicinity Of Memphis may
have direct railway communication
with the city. The common speed
on these roads, even where they are
very crooked, as in the mountains OF
Wales and Norway, is from fifteen to
eighteen and a half miles per hour,
and their cost is only one-half, or at
most three-ffths that of an ordinary
railway. The necessity for broad
gauges originated in the excessive
oscillation of locomotives on narrow
trackways. This trouble has been
obviated in improved machines which
combine lightness, great traetile
power and perfect evenness of
movement. We can only ask
our readers to reflect that the En-
cheering Magazine, the highest au-
thority in these matters, says: "We
are on the brink Of a new era in rail-
~ways-the era of the narrow gauge
railway-an era of renewed activity,
when every village, almost every
farmstead may have its railway, and
if such an era be at hand, it is mainly
because the Fairlie engine, by its in
creased power, by its adaptation to
curves, its economy in rails and
freedom from oscillation, has rendered
it possible. The new, and lighter and
cheaper roads will outvie in useful
ness, as in diminished co%stliness, the
old broader gauge railways to be con-
structed over short or rugged lines no
more.