, 1889-08-22
a MARVELLOUS INVENTION.
A New Sort of Railway That Is Cheap.
Fast and Safe Beyond Comparison.

vi lllb 81 Cdlltu NlCillAu ut Ter IllS-
sant" or Slide Railway" on the Es-
planade DIES Invalides, within the ex-
hibition- The new invention is a sin
gularly original c~ontrivance for en-
abling trains TO run, by means of
water power, at a speed hitherto I'M
dreamed of. Arriving there without
any intimation as 10 what a sliding
rail way might be, ! at first mistook it
for an overgrown switchback, with
the humps smoothed away.
The train consisted of Our carriages
hfording o for about n hundred
passengers. The carriages had no
wheels. being supported at the
by aoCks Of iron of a size somewhat
larger than a brick, which rested upon
a double line of iron girders. In the
middle of the line at regular intervals
jutted out irregularly shaped pillars,
the use of which was not yet appar-
ent. Having taken our seats and the
signal being given, we glided along
gently for the space of u few yards,
when suddenly we gathered speed;
two or three tugs were felt and we
were lying on at a pace Of an ordinary
train. but as smoothly as a boat on n
river. There was a clicking noise on
the rails, but this, | was assured, was
due to n defect in the construction
of the slides, and would be remedied.
The absence Of any vibration. shaking
or tail motion" was wonderful. A
slight jerk there was at regular inter
tvaIsi but then, again, | vas told that
il was due merely TO the shortness of
the course and the inability TO get up
a proper pace. In a hydraulic train
travelling at full speed, that is to say
at the rate Of l40 TO 200 kilometers, or
81 TO l24 miles an hour, there would
be almost no consciousness of motion.
The journey down the length Of tho
Esplanade only occupied a few sec
onds.
Upon our safe return Mr.. Pilter,
chairman Of the company which OWNS
the invention, gave n full account of
it The sliding railway was invented
in 1868 by an engineer named Girard,
who was killed in the Franco German
war, and il has been improved TO its
present state by one of his assistant
engineers, NJ. Barre.
AS has already been mentioned, the
hydraulic carriages have no wheels,
these being replaced by hollow slides
fitting upon a fiat and wide rail, and
grooved or the inner surface. When
1T is desired to get the carriage in mo-
ton water is forced into the slide or
skate of the carriage from a reservoir
by compressed air, and seeking to es-
cape, it spreads over the under sur
face of the slide, which il raises for
about a nails thickness above the rail.
The slides thus resting, not on the
rails, but on a film of water, are in a
perfectly mobile condition; in fact,
the pressure Of the forefinger is sufIi-
Gent to displace a carriage thus sup
ported. The propelling force is sup
piled by the pillars, which stand at reg
ular intervals on the line between the
rails. Running underneath every
carriage is an iron rack, about six
inches wide, fitted with paddles.
Now as the foremost carriage passes
lin front of the pillar a tap on the lat
ter is opened automatically, and a
stream of water at high pressure is di-
'rected on the paddles. This drives
the train on, and by the time the last
carriage has gone past the tap (Which
then closes)the foremost one is in front
of the next tap, the waters action thus
being continuous. The force develop
ed is almost incredible. There is
some splashing on the rails at the
start; but this diminishes the faster
the train goes. To stop the train the
small stream of water That feeds the
slides is turned off, and, the latter
coming in contact with the rails, the
resulting friction stops the carriage al
most instantaneously.
a water train running at over 100
miles an hour could, | was told, be
pulled up within thirty yards, could
climb up gradients of sixteen inches in
I fha xvnuI InA,Aa1 tln-. 18Th 800
safety, and run on curves of forty
-four yards radius. This system would
seem peculiarly adapted for elevated
railways in cities, being light, noise
less, smooth, without smoke, fast and
thoroughly under command. The
danger of running off the rails is re-
huced to a minimum, tho center of
gravity OF the carriages being arc
Fly than a couple of feet from
the rails. The cost of q metropolitan
system would only be a third of nco on
the old plan, while in the open coun-
try its cost would be somewhat higher
than the ordinary railway; but NJ.
Barre tells me the expense would be in
France an average of $4,000 a mile.
Where no natural water supply is
available, a propelling machine every
twelve miles or SO would be sufficient
TO keep the trains going at full speed.
The consumption of coal per passen-
ger would be one-tenth only of the
usual quantity.
The Importance of this may be real
lied by considering the statement that
the Paris-Lyons compasy alone has
an annual coal bill of two millions
sterling. Nevertheless, it would be
rash to predict the general introduction
of the water system on railways. One
objection, for instance, that occurs to
me is its apparent u~nsuitability for
goods traffic. NJ. Persil, the manager
of the 'Chemins de Fer Glissants, be
lieves it will all but do away with the
locomotive engine. With respect to
England, he believes that the disad.
vantage of the present slow method OF
crossing the channel will become so
apparent that all opposition to the tun,
mel will vanish. al am ready" he
said, with enthusiasm, ito wager any
sum that when the tunnel is made and
our system has a trial people will &C
If. - - II