The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-04-20
NARROW GAUGE RAILWAY.
From the Colorado Miner

committe. to investigate the subject OF
narrow gauge railways, and one OF our
friends in that state sends us the report
Of that committee We are SORRY that
want of space not only prevents US from
publishing the whole report, but also
compels US to be brief In our extracts
from and remarks thereon. The report
commences as follows:
1t may be singular and an anomalous
fact, but it is fact, that railroads, with
all their usefulness have been the cause
of interruption to the prosperity 81 a
very considerable portion of this State.
Within their limits of gravitation, they
have done infinite good, but outside the
narrow belts of their direct influence
they have undoubtedly had the effect to
deplete population and check industry.
The sources of Their traffic are almost
entirely restricted to the districts that
thew traverse, and towards these, there is
a cumulative tendency Of all the produc-
tive capabilities Communities and in
terests are thus made the vicarious ben"-
factors Of others, in all respects coequ'L.
except IN transportation. All INDUSTRY
is competitive, and must have equailty OF
advantages, and not finding them at
home, goes where they are, ana sewers
any local attachment to secure them.
The sound of the steam whistle now
fixes the boundaries OF nearly all our
thrift
Speaking of the first introduction TO
public notice and favor Of narrow gauge
roads the report says:
Some six years ago, there existed Ia
the mountains of Wales, a little tram
road, few miles in length, extending
from the slate quarries in the Festlnlog
Valley, to Port Madoc on Cardigan Bay.
It's gauge was one foot eleven and half
inches. 1t had curves of 1872 feet radius,
and grades Of 70 feet rise to the mile.
It's engineer, Mr.. Spooner, believing with
others, that che result of modern expe
rience indicated the direction of progress
to be towards diminutlon, instead of an
increase in witdh of gauge, undertook to
bring the question to an extreme test by
applying locomotion to this line. The
rail used weighed 80 pounds to the yard,
and the engine weighed seven tons. The
passenger cars were 10 feet long, and i've
feet wide, and capable of carrying II
passengers. The merchandise cars could
carry three tons net. The experiment
proved triumph, and today trains
over 1000 feet long are run over this
little road, at speed of Is to 90 miles al
hour, with as much safety as upon any
IN England, and at cost below that OF
roads much more favorably constituted
Of the orginary gauge.
The English government In India,
anxious to secure to that country the
advantages to be derived from com
pete railroad inter communication, APP
pointed in June last, a committee of
experts to report upon the feasibility of
narrow gauge line, "as well for the
extension Of the Indus Valley Rally way,
then in prosecution, as for the other pro
iected IDdian lines, amounting, in all, to
some 10000 miles, That committee of
experts reported, in part, as follows:
''The gauge should be not only narrow,
but the narrowest which will combine
convenience of transport for various
kinds of goods, and passengers, with rea-
sonable epeed, and with economy and
safety in working"
Gauges of feet, it, n., 2 it. 6 in,
and feet, are now in use, the 3 feet 6
inches gauge being the one most common.
ly employed, having been adopted in
Russia, Norway. Queensland, and in parts
of North and South America" Having
personally inspected the now we'll
known Festiniog line, and the Norwegian
railways, they say shat though the for
mer is undoubtedly too narrow, it has
offered no serious mechanical difficulty
to the conduct of passengers as well as
goods traffic, at a speed which might be
considerably increased if necessary" and
that "the three feet six inch gauge seems
to have been adopted in Norway as being
economical, without involving material
reduction in carrying power below that
of the English narrow gauge It is man.
ifest that liaes on this gauge (three feet
six inches) are worked with as much con
venience to the traffic as on any broader
gauge, and they declare, that from their
own personal inspection they are able to
state, that "a speed of So miles an hour
may be attained in them, with complete
steadiness both of engine and vehicle y
"There osn therefore be no doubt" thew
go on to say, chat a thoroughly satisfac
tory railway may be constructed on 9
gauge of three feat SIX inches, but the
question after all is whether three feet
six inches is the minimum gauge which
will answer the purpose of roads of mod
crate business, or whether some gauge in
termediate between those of Festinlos
and the Norwegian will not suffice.
Their conclusion is, after . careful con
sideration of the whole subject, that TO
such roads "the gauge need not exceed
feet 8 inches; having satisfied themselve
that engines of sufficient power may b
put upon this gauge to draw at a suffi
cient speed the largest traffic which sucl
lines are likely to carry, and that vehi
cles may be used on this gauge which