The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-10-28
CURIOUS RAILWAYS.
1fasks Laid ON Tree-Tops, Over Ice, In Il
Air and Underground.

1fasss Laid ON Tree-Tops, Over Ice, In the
Air and Underground.
In small book entitled Wonders
and Curiosities 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 as 1.-THE Light
ming Harnessed," "The Locomotive in
Slippers" ''The Luxuries of Travel,''
and "a Handful of Curiosities." The
average reader who has not made rail-
way building special study. will per-
haps be astonished to learn that there
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 a sled
which was swiveled, and turned to the
right or left by wheels working in con-
nection with an endless screw and a
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
tho 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 q
quantity of railroad iron as well as
number of visitors. About year after
similar road was built across the river
st. Lawrence at Hochelaga. In this in
stance rough road-bed was first level
ed in the ice; then crossbeams were
fitted in, and upon these were placed
longitudinal beams which were them
selves crossed by the ties that held the
rails. water being then pumped oyer the
whole structure to freeze itdown.
Even more novel is the idea of grading
for a railroad through forest with a
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 the
stumps, two of which were huge red
woods, standing side by side, and sawed
off seventy-fye 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 than fifty-two miles
of the projected road of the Ohio Rail-
road Company was laid on 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, are
actually operated in the United States
and Canada. One of these, in tho 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
smoothness, at the rate of twenty-five
miles an hour. Another wooden-track
railway, 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 distilleries to market.
Still more curious are what Mr.. Ken.
nedy would call the bicycle railways.
| where the car wheels run on a single
rail. One called the ''steam caravan
was begun in Syria, between Aleppo
and Alexandretta, but apparently never
finished. In the case of this experiment
the rail was raised on a wall of masonry
twenty-eight inches high. and seventeen
and one-haf 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-.
gine and the last car in the
train by obliquely placed dleather-covered
wheels, running along the sides of the
wall, which wheels were further to serve
as brakes. A single rail, or bicycle rail
road, has also been built in the United
States, and was in operation at Phoenix
vile, Pa, in 1876. Since that date 9
two-wheeled locomotive has been made
in Gloucester, N. j., for an elevated ra' L
road in Atlanta, Ga. With these bicycle
engines may be compared the railway
velocipedes, many of which, we learn
are used on Western railroads. These
which have wheel on each track, car
be propelled by the feet and hands of the
rider at the rate of twenty miles al
hour.
1t will probably be news to most per.
sons that in 1876, at Paris, one DIR. La
Combe exhibited the model of a sub.
marine railway which he proposed to
lay on the bottom of the channel be.
tween Dover and Calais. On road.
bed of concrete, three galvanized iror
rails were to be placed, two for the track
and one in the center. To the centra
rail the car was to be attached BY
rollers, in order to prevent it being de.
rallied by the waves. The boat-car was
to be air-tight, and driven by propel.
Ter screw worked by compressed air.
Fresh air was to be supplied to the oc
cupants of the car by tube running
up to the surface of the water, where il
would be affixed to buoy. Finally, 6
series of buoys on the surface would
mark out the track of the car, which
in case of any accident, could be Gu,
loose below, whereupon it would rise tc
the surface.-SGn Francisco ArqonGut
Health and Work.