The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-07-07
Tho Coming Railroad One for Every
County.
From tho RaIt,more oa,c,,n ath.

10 the remarkable success Wlncn il:tu 'ibbcio"
ed the working OF little railroad running
1 from Port Madoc, IN Wales, to the Town OF
/ Fcstiniog. The distance between the Two
points is fourteen miics--thc line OF route
bcinn 4 rugged and mountainous one. with
| 4 succession of sharp curves ana continn-
| o,,c risc nv gradients of, for tho greater
| mr., 1 in 81. This road was built chcaply,
| / worked NJ a SinguIarly low cost, and yet
| i fn,,nd quite as effective for local travel
aud traffic u roads OF wider gauge ana
| Infinitely more costly construction.
/ Thc ,.:,u.sc Of the FcStiniog railroad is hut
! t,yn feel. or, 10 speak with extreme accu-
! ylcN. only one foot eleven and 4 halt inches.
! The locomotives used on The road weigh
| about ten tons. coated dndac0tcrea, and the
| tenders little over 4 ton. The passenger
carriages arc, Tor the most part, seated lon
| ytudlnatly. the passengers sitting back to
back. This arrangement OF course brings
The centre OF gravity Immediately over the
| rails. and renders the wide projection Of the
carriages over the line on each side Of com
parativcly little consequence. The car
| RACES arc about six tcct wide and
six feet six inches high in the CEN
tire, and each is seated for fourteen
! passengers. Diminutivc though these We
h.clcS arc, they afford rs ample and COM
| Portable accommodation rs the enormous
. carriages upon ordinary lines, and are in
strong contrast with them in the much
higher proportion they afford Of spaying'
to dead wcight-thc dead weight hauled on
the Fcsiiniog railway is, indeed, reduced to
| the utmost minimum.
The carriage wheels are eighteen inches in
| diameter, and the floors Of the vehicle only
| about seven inches above the roadway. The
trains have 4 truly comical appearance,
from tho lowncSs Of The floors and the ill
| visibility of the wheels. They are much
more like boxes upon short rollers than
ordinary railway or other wheeled car
ria@cS. ....
| 50 much for the road and its carriages.
| 1t might, however, be supposed that such
| Il road. 80 equipped, would not DC capable
| of carving ON i heavy traffic, and that il
must be looked upon rathcras Il curious toy
than rs adapted to really useful, practical,
every tlay purposes. Nothing can I've fur
,hcr from the fact. 1t is a road which has
been for some years past in active opera
ton. 1t carries daily q considerable num-
her Of Passengers to and from Port M:ldoc,
and 4 large amount of heavy frcight-thc
latter consisting principally ofyaluablc slate
and building stone from the FcstinioS quar-
lricS. The chcapncss with which thus road
Twas built, the peculiar lightncss GIFTS equip
imcnt, and the handsome profits it has paid
Ito its Stockholdcrs.-n less than fifty per
Iccntum annually-havc led to the conStruc-
ltiun of similar roads in other parts ol
Wales. The attention OF large numbers
of capitalists and civil engineers has
lnSo been strongly attracted to the sub
jcct. About three weeks ago party
of distinguished professional gentlemen p
left London for Port Madoc to be present ut
Il series of experiments which were mSti-
Htutcd for the purpose of testing the relative
tpowcrS of the engines in use on the FcStl'
l.. lN, -. ion tInlt h.,f
been built for the same road by y Mr.. Fair
lie. The competition was to bc between
the Welsh Pony that being the name
| of the best locomotive ut work on the
road-and Mr. Fairic's "Littlc Wonder
The latter is described rs ga double bogie,
: being composed of two engines OH one
frame, both exercising tractive power
: The little ten-ton locomotive WclSl
Pony" was first put TO work, and after
various tests It was found, rs the maxi
mum Of its power, to be capable of draw
ing easily thirty-one slate trucks wcighn!
scventy-Sevrn tons up grade OF one foo
in cighty-iivc. The "Littlc Wonder
lwciyhing nineteen and 4 half tons, WA
tnext tried. it was yoked to Il train of -
trucks, seven passenger carriages, and :
ss,, carriage. The weight of the train wa
IA TONS, 400 weight. Its length was 3S(
v,rds' cit might have been feared" say
:, CORRESPONDENT Of the London IetcJrdlh
). that such liminutivc affair Us the Lit
ur wonder would have been beaten by
sIrh 4 load and such road, hut IL wa
:, mot" 1t glided with perfect sElooth
ness round the constantly rccllIrln:
,h,rr ruryrs of the mountain, over
: rnIn.. the gradients with perfect ease, ant
= made the entire journey from fort Maao'
tn Frs,inio@ fourteen niles within less Than
!. nur hour. Among those who Witnessed TINS
remarkable feat were English officers con
urrtcd with the Public Works Department
of India. ROYAL engineers from Hombay
, civil engineers representing the MadEas aiit
+ the Northern Punlauh railways, and othc
g | civil engineers ircm Brazil and Canada
iThr final tcst was tho relative consumption
l of coal. In this respect also the Falrlie en-
: zine demonstrated its superiority by show
+ inc 4 saving over all other engines OF fit,
pcr cent. on the weight hauled.
Here, then. we have railway which ma.
. bc constructed for Il few thousand dollars
mile. and the cost Of whose equipment is
/ mere tribe. AS Il local road, connectln:
. with a main line. it can be built mor
! chcapty than 4 common plank-r0ad, ant
; from the lightncss of its rolling stock i
subject to very little wear and tear. Sucl
road might be built by neighb0rhood 60
operation anywhere. 1t would cheaper
: the cost of transportation to market i
!, would largely enhance the value Of tin
, lands through which ii passed; and il pro
perry managed it would pay to the stock
, holders from the very outset a handsome
profit on their investment.
POLICEMAN KILLED IN BALTIMoRE.-Po
lircman james Murphy arrested Jane
: Ducring on the 4th of July, Murphy havin:
to scunle with several Of the Ducrings be
fore succeeding. Murphy afterwards dnr'n!
: died. The coroncr's jury returned q yer
I diet that the deceased came to his dealt
from wounds inflicted by billics in tn
hands Of John and David Ducring, and tina
james Ducring was accessory thereto
Sun.