The Iola register., 1886-11-05
CURIOUS RAILWAYS.

CURIOUS RAILWAYS.
Tracks Laid On Tfse-Tspa, Over Ice, n t1o
Air and Underground.
In salall book entitled "Wonders
and Cuiiosities of the Railway" the
author. Mr.. w. S. Kennedy. touches
on the anomalous and entertaining fea-
lures of his subject in chapters bearing
such suggestive titles rs '.The Light
ming Harnessed," "The Locomotive in
Slippers" 1.-The Luxuries of Travel"
and "A Handful of Curiosities." Tho
average reader who has not made rail-
way building special study. will per-
haps be astonished to learn that therv
have been railroads, not only under
the ground and in the air, but among
the tree-tops and on the ice, while the
model of even submarine railway has
been exhibited.
1t appears that some time ago loco
motive on sled-runners was constructed
in Scotland, and employed for drawing
passengers and freight over the ice be-
tween ST. Petersburg and Cronstadt.
The two driving wheels in the rear were
studded with sharp spikes. whereas the
front part of the engine rested ON sled
which was swivelcd, and turned to the
right or left by wheels working in con-
ncction with an endless screw and
segment rack. From this locomotive,
which is said to have run eighteen miles
an hour in any direction, the transition
is natural to railroads whose ties and
track have been laid on the frozen sur
face of rivers. Mr.. Kennedy tells
us that in 1879, when the mercury stood
twenty degrees below zero, a train of
the Northern Pacific railroad passed
over the Missouri river on ice three feet
thick. The pressure which the ice re-
sisted may be estimated from the fact
that the track was laid on twelve foot
ties, and that the cars carried over y
number of visitors. About a year after
similar road was built across the river
st. Lawrence at Hochelaga. In this in
stance a rough rOad-bed was first level
ed in the ice; then crossbcams were
fitted in. and upon these were placed
beams which were them
selves crossed by the ties that held tho
rails. water being then pumped over the
whole structure to freeze it1Own.
Even more novel is the idea of grading
for a railroad through forest with i
cross-cut saw, and laying the ties on
the stumps. This has actually been
done in Sonoma County in this State.
Here the trees were sawed off and lev
eled, and the ties fastened on tho
stumps, two of which were huge red
woods, standing side by side, and sawed
of seventy-iive feet from the ground.
So firm is this support that cars loaded
with heavy logs can pass over with per-
feet security. 1t is not generally known
that in 1889 no less thaa tifty-two miles
of the projected road OF the Ohio Rail-
road Company was laid 2n wooden piles.
which were from seven to twenty-eight
feet long. and driven ten feet apart in
four rows. No train, however. was ever
run over this track. Several wooden
track railways, on the other hand, arc
actually operated in the United States
and Canada. One of these. in the prov
ince of Quebec, is thirty miles long, and
is used in the transportation of timber.
The rails are of maple, and trains are
said to run over them with remarkable
at the rate of twenty-five
miles an hour. Another wOoden-track
more than fifteen miles long.
has been constructed on the grading of
the abandoned South Carolina Central
railroad, in order to carry the products
of turpentine distillcries to a market
Still more curious are what Mr.. Ken
nedy would call the bicycle railways,
where the car wheels rum on single
rail. One called the "steam caravan"
was begun in Syria, between Aleppo
and AleXandrctta. but apparently never
In the ease of this experiment |
the rail was raised on wall of masonry
Iwenty-eight inches high. and seventeen
and One-half inches broad. On this one
rail were to travel the wheels of the
locomotive and the carriages attached,
but it was intended to brace the en- |
zine and the last car in the
train by obliquely placed dleather-covered
runnin" along the sides of the |
wall. which wheels were further to serve |
rs brakes. A single rail. or bicycle rail-
road. has also been built in the United |
States, and WAS IN operation at Phoenix
Iille, Pa, in 1876. Since that date a |
locomotive has been made |
n Gloucester, N. j., for an elevated ral-
road in Atlanta. Ga. With these bicycle
engines may be compared the railway
many of which, we learn.
, r6, sad cfu.. Nc
which have wheel on each track. can
,e propelled by the feet and hands of the
'ider at the rate of twenty miles an
lOur.
1t will probably be news to most per-
IONS that in 1876. at Paris, one DIR. La
Combe exhibited the model of a sub
marine railway which he proposed to
ay on the bottom of the channel be-
ween Dover and Calais. On road
bed of concrete, three galvanized iron
ails were to be placed, two for the track
md one in the center. To the central
all the car was to be attached by
oilers. in order to prevent it being de-
allied by the waves. The boat-car was
o be air-tight. and driven by propel-
er screw worked by compressed air.
resh air was to be ,sspplied to the oc-
upants OF the car by tube running
Up to the surface of the water. where it
you'd be affixed to a buoy. Finally. a
cries of buoys on the surface would
mark out the track of the car. which,
n case OF any accident, could be cut
pose below, whcreupon it would rise to
he surface.-Sdn francisco 4ArgOnGu!.
Health and Work.