Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1879-09-18
A MILE A MINUTE.
A Train on the Great Western Rail-
way, England, Makes ts Every

Day.
Editor New York Sun: Any one who
will trouble himself to look at the pub.
lished timetables OF the Great Western
Railway, England, or Of Bradshaw's
Railway Guide, will fnd 1t announced
that a train leaves London at 10 o'clock
and arrives at Swindon at LEO. The
distance Is Tx miles, and the time.
from platform to platform, 80 minutes.
With q heavy train running at this We.
locity, Il Is q matter OF time to get up
the speed and to slacken It so Is to have
the train we'll under control on reaching
Q crowded terminus. I once heard MIR.
Brunei say that such trains lost seven
minutes every time they were brought
to q stsndstill. by signals or otherwise.
This unquestionabls authority leaves.
therefore, 70 minutes to run Tx miles.
have proved the performances Of this
feat repeatedly by sitting In the train.
allowing about Ave minutes or four
miles at starting for getting up the
speed, and then observing the mile.
posts. The train daily does 63 or 65
miles In the hour after the attainment
OF full speed. She must do 80. for she
IL 20 punctual that people set their
watches by her as she goes past. As
stoppages become more frequent as the
train travels west from Swindon, this
speed Is lowered to about IS miles an
hour, and q journey OF 200 miles takes
AZ hours, stoppages for refreshments,
etc., included.
A train similarly speeded leaves Exc.
ter for London daily. and the two thun-
derbolts are Tor were) timed to pass each
other ct Swindon, and could nearly ev.
cry day be seen standing there side by
side. This is not In unexceptional per-
Torrance. but has been done daily, Sum
days excepted, for more than twenty
years.
To those readers who take interest in
the mechanical science that achieves
these results, I will say that the loco.
motives that draw the passenger trains
on this railway have nins.feet driving
wheels, one pair only. They have two
pairs OF leading wheels and n pair Of
trailing wheels on the engine, the tender
running on three pairs OF wheels. The
four wheels on either side OF the engine
almost touch each other, thus fully util.
izing the wheel base. and the springs
are very heavy, consisting Of thin plates
OF the finest steel. The engine rides
with wonderful ease, in spite OF her i'm.
msnse weight. engine and tender weigh.
ing about sixty tons.
venture 10 predict that this speed
will never be surpassed In daily traffic.
The railway on which It Is to be seen Is
O splendid piece Of work. the rails being
as II screwed into solid rock /; and 1t is
the only sevsn.feet gsuge line in exist
ence. It is not likely that any other
lines Of this or wider gauge will ever be
constructed, 10 that the locomotive
boiler has here attained It's maximum
diameter. To lspgthep the boiler is to
impede circulation and draft, and the
1856 or more tubes and 1000 square feet
OF heating surface are figures that prob
ably will never be exceeded. Three or
four cylinders are no better than two,
which can we'll utilize all the steam the
boiler can make. II provided with ade-
quate driving wheels; but siI.feet wheels
("two pairs coupled ~ are mere toys to
run at sixty miles ar hour with, at any
distance.
The engines used for this traffic are
built by the company at their
Swindon works. o few engines Of SINH.
lar proportions being constructed by q
firm In Lancashire. The freight engines
on this line have three pairs Of driving
each pair coupled to the next;
but for those engines drawing heavy
loads, when high speed is not required,
the small eject driving wheels are con-
large enough. It Is with this
diameter that some Of your readers as
sert that sixty miles ON hour cannot DO
made. I should be surprised II 1t could.
ANoLo.AMERIcAN.
New York, September 4th.