The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-07-29

Engineers, and Capitalists-.-A New and
Vast Field opened for Capital and En-
sinccrs--.rhrcc Feet the Proper Gauge
for all New Railways
During the early history of railways
in England great controversy arose
among engineers as to the best gauge
to be adopted. Two great engineers,
the greatest of the time, Brunei and
Stephenson, took opposite sides, ana
divided the profession into two hostile
factions, who carried on, with much
energy and some bitterness of feeling,
what was called "the war of the
gauges" The Brunels s'wcnt for' the
broad gauge, and the Stephcnsons lor
tho narrow. The former gave to the
Great Western line the seven foot
gauge. The latter to the Liverpool
and Manchester, the London and llN-
erpool, and numerous other lines the
four foot eight and Il half inch OF mar
row gauge of the period.
This controversy lasted twenty years,
and every argument that skill and III
renuity could invent was brought into
reuuisition. 1t extended to the conti-
nent and to this country. Volumes
We're written to prove what, after all
had to be determined by experience
Like most controversies, this one at
length came to an end, under the ac-
cumulateu evidence of years, leaving
the narrow gauge the victor. The eN-
treme breadth of the Great Western
track, no doubt, hastcd the result, ana
the public opinion of England accept
ed it sooner than it has done IN thiS
country, where six feet was the great
est breadth adopted on amy ol our ii"cS.
coMPARATIVE COST OF THE TW"
GAUGESlN ENGLAND.
Careful observation long ago demon
Strated the superior economy ol th'
four foot eight and 4 half inch glug" III
comparison with the seven foot gauge
1t has now been reduced to figures, and
it is settled that there is Il saving IN the
= first cost of the permanent way I"
about c2,OOO, or $4,000 per mile l"r :
G doublc track line The saving in roll
ing stock is put down at from twenty
c five to thirty per cent, and i'll oper;'l
ing expenses at about the same ratio.
CHANGE or GAUGE.
These startling results have mt lcnGtl
,. led to the laying of n third rail on th'
seven foot lines, and all the new rollin:
stock is made to conform to the i"u
foot eight and u half inch gauge, 81
that in a few years the old broad G:'ug
. now going on in this country, wh"r
the six foot gauge has been found una
BILE to compete with the four foot cigi'
N and half inch line.
,f| TIE CA MAZDA GAUGE.
re Our Canadian neighbors adopted
is gauge differing from all our lines, frol
rs which their railways might hope
$, draw business, or with winch the
=, would have to form business arrang
lis ments. Sir Erancis Ilincks, the Can:
lr dian Prime Minister of the day, BEN
,S ,,s intensely British in sentiments, use
m the very singular argument in favor
IL the five foot six inch gauge tll:lt
'n would prevent the trade OF the pr
.e vince from flowing across the lr"h'I'
and on to lines tending to our se;'boar'
Against this absurd reason lof no'
- railway intercourse, it was argued TN;
the most profitable traffic likely to oil
to the Canadian lines would ccrtain
\ he from our eastern and western State
u The high British view of the question
p however, prevailed, and it was dctc
ne ne mined to try the costly experiment
forcing the trade of the province
- Montreal and Quebec. The cNpen
Z. has fallen on the English public WI
,,o furnished the money. After spcnuii
as ut least $50 900, 900 in extra cost of co
Ids struction, equipment, maintenance, i'll
runnin" expenses, the Canadian I4cg
lature has consented to the change tC
four foot eight and q half inch g;lug
&c. which has been adopted and in use I
ci- over two years on the Great WcSte
.he of Canada, and is to be laid ON t
RAJ Grand Trunk.
WI TUE ERIE RAILWAY
=. The New York and Erie line, and
Il
such as the Ohio and Mississippi, II
'cS, Atlantic and Great Wcstcrn-la
., .ni,, proved most costly and disastrous ,
les dertakings to the original stockholdc
'iso The Erie line may be said to have be
sly sly the victim of its gauge. The Eric Il
and the Ohio and the Mississippi line "
Iew he converted tOa four foot eight :,n'
half inch track by laying Il third +;
-- Thus, both in England and Amrrl
four feet eight and Il half inches
become the broad gauge of the t'mC
THE NEW NARROW GAUGES.
While time was settling the ga'
question as between the Ola broad
10 the narrow gauges everywhere IN III
e to of the latter, II new experience was
|'' ing acquired. Long prior to the c7'
lishment of the steam railway SNS
tram or horse railways had been III
i'm use in the coal and iron mining
trirts of Great Britain and the co
hni, ncnt of Europe ~ we'll aS in tins GO
try These, unlike our horse r'lIW
had extremely narrow gauges, rang
from two to three feet in breadth.
in South Wales, still in use, was
:. two feet six inches wide, and the W
A bS Travelled on il in 1872 in company