The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1871-08-03
Improvements in Transportation.

three foot guage railroad, now under con-
struction from Denver to Ell Paso. 1t is
to be the pioneer road on the new plan,
the success of which seems to be assured
from the start. And we venture to say
that before many years roads on the same
plan will be inaugurated and carried for
ward in Maine, where the formation and
resources of the country seems TO call for
some more economical railroads, both i'm
the construction and running expenses.
The Denver road is thus noticed bv a
western paper3s
The attention Of railroad men generally is
now directed to the practicabity and economy
OF narrow gauge tracks. A few days ago we
noticed the passage through this city Of several
locomotives for the Denver and Rio Grande
Railroad, which is of three feet gauge and
which is to extend from Denver to III raso, a
distance of eight hundred and fifty miles, sixty
miles of track being already laid from Denver.
lesterday two passenger, two smoking and
TWO baggage cars built for the same road, com
MandeI the admiration of al who visited them
during their temporary detention west of the
fafk street bridge. They We're built by the
Jackson and Sharp COMPANY Of Wilmington,
Delaware, and are finished in the most modern
style, with Water-cOoers, saloons .Sr COM
pete. They only differ from other line cars
IN their SIZE, weight, and gauge. The narrow
gauge ear is six feet four inches wide or three
feet narrower than the coach in use on the
gauges of four feet and eight and onc-halt
inches. 1t will seat thirty four passengers,
making dead weight of only 400 pounds to
each passenger; while the larger car, seating
iittY persons, on an average carries a dead
weight of 720 pounds to each Entering the
car you lind double seats to the right and single
to the left till you reach the centre. where YOU
encounter the Water-cOOlcrs; beyond that the
single are on the right and the double on tho
lelt. The cost Of the narroW-gau@e car is aboHt
$1,000, against 5000 to So 900 for the broad
gauge Each smoking car is eighteen feet and
six inches in length by seven feet in width,
weighs 6,.2o pounds, and seats twenty-five
passengers. Each baggage car weighs 5000
pounds. 1t is claimed that cars can run on a
three-feet gauge at the rate of thirty-five or
forty miles an hour with safety. We have seen
1t stated that on a railroad in Wales, with a
gauge OF only tWeny-three inches, Il speed of
forty-fiye miles an hour is attained. With equal
safety the advocates of the narroW-gauge claim
that Is preferable on account of economy, the
expense Of building and eGuipping the modern
lied road being but little more than one-half of
the broad gauge. A thirty-tve pound rail is
used instead of Il siXty-fOur pound. and the
quantity Of grading is materially reduced. The
cost of constructing the Denver road has been
about S12 $50 per mile. The narrow gauge cars
in this city yesterday will he the first of the kind
IN use in the United States. Several other
companies have ordered similar rolling stock
Tor use when their roads are bullt--One i'll
Massachusetts,, one lin Arkansas one in Penn
sylvan!a, one in Georgia, and two in Ohio.
Foreign papers Indicate that unusual
attention is being given by inventors to
the use Of steam on he common roads of
the old country, and with IN uncommon
degree of success. 1t must be borne in
mind however, that the hard, smooth and
carefully. made roads of the old country
are quite different from the highways OF
the larger part of the United States,
where rocks, frosts, snow and mud reign
supreme during large part of the year.
The problem of tie utilization Of steam
on common roads, It is claimed, has been
recently solved by II Scottish inventor,
Mr. Il. w. Thompson, of Edinbure, who
having experienced much annoyance from the
defects of traction engines, and finding none
able TO do the work for which he required them
conceived and carried out the idea of providing
the wheels of a steam engine to run on COM
mon roads with In'iia rubber tires of immense
thickness. When the first one these inventions
was put to the practical test it far exceeded the
most Sanguinc ey ,cctaions or calculations of
the inventor. number Of these machines
We're very soon built and sent of 10 various
parts Of the world and their practical utility As
adapted to the eXigencles of the times have been
tested by both practical and scientific men.
Early last year, practical experiment was
made in Scotland with some of these engines,
the result of which We're recorded in the Lon
don Times. Tn account Of the remarkable.
il briefly condensed A. follows
A threc-horSc bower nnSirr 'ir'>v huilr,
weighing thirteen tons up an incline of in r. g,
the ground beilg so slippery ut the time from
frost, that horse. could nat keep their feet. The
engine was run through II grass field without
leaving track, and again through 4 field COW
cred to depth of two feet with loose earth
ten-horse power engine, weighing eight tons, ran
with four wagons attached to it, out to a
colliery twelve miles from Eninburg; there re-
eelved load, amounting with four wagons to
tons, making the weight of the whole
forty tons, and then returned M incIiues Of | in
10 to E'iinburg. Ii wendell tS way. with its
train of ninety feet with perfect facility,
through the narrow streets Of the Old town,
which chancea on the occasion to he thronael
with vehicles carrying people 10 some opcn-atr
festivity. 1t turned all manner Of sharp cor
ners, ran down the steep hill Of Leith, entered
a lane, and drove in through the gates al Tie
factory, where it delivered ils load,
Since this, however, many Improvement.
have been made on the original invention,
American ingenuity having greatly enlarged
and improved its practical features. These
traction engines are, we are informed, already
being quite extensively introduced in the com
try. They are built ut Paterson, N. I'LL an
eight-horse power costing about s 600. Com
panles are being organized in different parts Of
the country for putting tue engines into prarti-
cal Use and the prospect is that at no distant
period the towns and villages of the interior
will find themselves brought nearer together
and more closely connected with the lines Of
railway oyer which their produce j. lnrwar,Ied
The terribly calamity by the explosion