Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1871-05-10
ARETOLUrfON A n RluR6Ips.
NarrOW-Gagus Roads,. Their Praetiea-
hiIitT ana Naeessifr.

Narrow -6ague HOadss.1heirP Practiea-
biIih ana Necessity.
We extract the following from an
article In the New York 7fibslns OF
the 9th inst. "The old battle, so
fiercely waged forty years ago between
Brunei and the Stephensotis, b to be
fought again bS the Theoretical and
practieaf engineers OF our day. The
Stephensons Of old gained the fight
In the general adoption OF their 4 foot
81 inch gauge, and the advocates Of
further revolution bid fair 70 win in
the present contest. Iftrunk railways
are the arteries Of a great country,
branch lines are the smaller vessels
by which the life-blood Is distributed
from and returned to the heart. On
the correctness Of the theory that very
narrow-gague lines can be prodtably
and safely worked depends the con-
structIon Of innumerable feeders OF
the trunk lines, opening new districts,
and plsefnR Others, already peopled
and cultivated, In the World-f0r In
these days villages and townships ont
Of reach Of railway communication
are practically out Of the world
Indeed, engineers have by no means
agreed to what extent the width OF
gauge may not be reduced. In Wales
there was formerly a horse railroad
running between the slate quarrie5 OF
FestiuioQ and Port Maddox, This
line has been converted. into steam
railroad, but the width Of the gauge
remains the same only twenty-three
and q half inches. When the Com
pany Anst BEGAN 10 carry passengers
on-this line, Captain Tyler, the Coy
eminent inspector Of Railroads, limit
ed the rate of speed at which the train
might travel 10 twelve miles an honr.
He has since given authbrify to the
Company % run passenger trains ct
any rate Of speed they may fink at;
and ia his lasf ON eial rep p6rt b. AffirIrs
that be = syeied yeI this u stis rosd
at thirty miles an hour, With every
feeling Of safety" Thitty miles an
hour, with every feeling Of safety,
over a twenty three and d half road !
Is there every. feeling Of safety" in
travelling thirty miles an hour over
the best constructed Of the four feet
eight and q half inches roads IN thls
country 2 Such has been the sucCess
OF this thirteen miles Of railway be-
tween FestiniGg aud Port Maddox that
the Russian tie Norwegian. the In
dian and The British 9nyernnents
sent ConnlissioneFs rs intO Wales TO In
speet Fl1g line and 20 1nyestigRts the
whole theory and practice Of narrow
gauge Ines. lT,hey arrived ct the
unanimous opinion that '.ths common
railroad rd nf 9ouT feet ftree and
oDe-haI inches "A far beyOnd all -orCi-
nary reQuiFemBnts.l p g All the meu14
bers considsred q. three feet ample for
ali purposes many Of them put the
at tVb feet six inches. In |
accordance with tn recon- me d atipns I
made by The C0mmissi6 i6hers TO their !
respective Governments many mar
lines have been constructed |
or are in course Of construction, In |
Queensland they have been tried and |
are 9 decided s1ecess. Nj Phil, Cow |
eminent Engineer Of. Railroads IN /
NORWAY, reDorts similar success there, I
In France thers are Two private rail-
roads aud one pub "a lrpad hts-s tneh !
guaSe. IN Prussia the 81 innh ga1ge l
Bfolethal Rail itoad Is working most 4
both ss E rsllrosd anda /
financial speculation. Tue narrow
guage lines are building in RussiA.-l
IN this cohhtry itis mentioned that
The forty-fouF miles of Hoad about to
be built between Piqua and Celina, in I
Ohio, viii have . guRge of y feet, and
It IS determined that the line nom
Santa Fe, 10 Denver City, over 800
miles IN length, shall be constructed
IN the narroW-gauge principle.
II afInost Unnecessary 10 detail the
many items Of saving IN ltbe cost Of
Of marrow gauge lines
The road bed Of a feet 81 inch gauge
inc is almost uniformly IS feet Wide
n cuttings and IA feet wide on em-
lankments. The reduction Of 9 feet Il
n the Raage would allowofmoFe than
.correspond ing reduction In the s=idth
" embankments. It Is also acknowl- Il
dyed by the most eminent engineers
hat q narrow gauge admits Of sleeper
,rades and SHARPER e,itxss:: both Of
which Items tnsi b ~ diminish the I
ost OF c6hstfuotion The same lessen :
ng Of cost also applies 10 tunnels,
ridges, eulverts, sleepers, cross-ties, .
etc. The smaller weight Z
I the trains, too, sdnits the nse Of | I
Ighter rails. In fact the cost Of con- !
tFuctioR Of a narrow gauge line may !
9 fairly put down as at least SO, 900 q ! :
iila isss than that of q broad gauge I
ne. but great IS It Is the ldrst cost I
construction, Of a broad gauge line /
not q greater drain on the resources ( 4
T railroad companies than the exces- I
we cost of operating them. In q {
aper lately read by MF. Falrlle be- (
re the British Associatio zt-Eizef- I
ool, thai gentleman said : sit ought h
|, be engraved on the mind Of every. ii
lgineer, that every inch added to q
auge beyond what is absolutely neces- a
nv for the trafic adds to the cost Of s
increases the proportion q
dead weight, increases the cost Of a
and in consequence reduces a
le useful effect Of the railway" In Il
lis sentence is the gist Of the whole
lestion between broad and narrow
luge railroads. The real point in
,lved Is the proportion Of capacity to 4,
It has been the inva- =
able custom Of engineers to build -
1es Of inordinate capacity, aid thus =
nder them, financially, failures .
T. FitzgibbOn, Chief EngiL eer TO the y,
Of Queensland, in advo- ~
ting narrow gauge lines, says: "It
the wisest possible policy to provide v y
Ily for the wants we now foresee, -
ID to carry out effectually system ~ =.
railways which Is within our pres y. "
t means, leaving pOsterity to decide >
nat further expenditure should be ,.
Cured to meet its wants. And he =
ds: '"To spend two or three times - -
G necessary amount now, with q ~
Nv TO meet any want which cannot ~ -
felt for perhaps twenty years or T
Ore, Is simply to expend in interest y
,ne a sum sufficient to rebuild an -
tirely new system Of communities =
n" VI
Of
MUST AND NAY. lei
ITax, Il ono of the most haaufif,, N