St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-08-29
A WATER RAILWAY Y.

| SclHl, Vi olldC IdlIWdS, Oh LIN
Esplande des Invalids within the ex,
hibition. The new invention is a
singularly original continuance fo1
enabling trains to run, by means o.
water power, at a speed hitherto UNI
dreamt of. Arriving there without
any intimation as to what sliding
railway" might be, | at first mistook
it for an Overgrown Switchback,
with the humps smoothed away
The train consisted of four carriages
affording room for about a hundred
passengers. The carriages had nc
wheels, being supported at the cor
ners by blocks of iron of a size some
what larger than brick, which rest
ed upon a double line of iron girders
In the middle of the line at regular
intervals jutted out irregularly shap-
ed pillars, the use of which was not
yet apparent. Having taken our
seats and the signal being given, we
glided alongve gently for the space
of a few yards, when suddenly we
| gathered speed; two or three tugs
were felt and we were flying on at
| the space of an ordinary train, but
as smoothly as boat on a river.
There was a clicking noise on the
rails, but this | was assured, was
due to defect in the construction OF
| the slides, and would be remedied.
The absence of any vibration, shak-
ing, or tail motion" was wonderful.
a slight jerk there was at regular in
| tervals; but then, again, | was told
| that it was due merely to the short
! ness of the course and the inability
| to get up a proper space. In a by
draulic train travelling at full speed
that is to say at the rate of 40 to
200 kilometres, or 81 to 124 miles
an hour-there would be almost no
consciousness of motion. The jour
ney down the length of the Esplanade
only occupies a few seconds.
Upon our safe return, Mr.. Pilter,
chairman of the company which
owns the invention, gave a full ac-
count it. The sliding railway was
invented in 1868 by an engineer
named Girard, who was killed in the
FrancO-German war, and 1T has been
improved to its present state by one
of his assistant engineers, M. Barre.
AS has already been mentioned, the
hydraulic carriages have no wheels,
these being replaced by hollow slides
fitting upon fiat and wide rail, and
grooved on the inner surface. When
it is desired to set the carriages in
motion, water is forced into the slide
or skate of the carriage from a reser-
vOir by compressed air, and seeking
to escape, it spreads over the under
surface of the slide, which it raises
for about 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 forefnger is
sufficient to displace a carriage thus
supported. The propelling force is
supplied by the pillars which stand
at regular intervals on the line be-
tween the rails Running underneath
every carriage is an iron rack, about
six inches wide, fitted with paddles
Now as the foremost carriage passes
in front of the pillar tap on the lat
ter is opened automatically, and a
stream of water at high pressure is
directed 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 water S
action thus being continuous. The
force developed is almost Incredible
There is some splashing on the rails
at the start; but this di1ninishes 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 almost instantaneously
A WATERMAN running at over 100
miles an hour could, | was told, be
pulled up within thirty yards, could
climb up gradients of 16 inches in the
yard, descends them with equal safe
ty, and run on curves of II yards
radius. This system would seem pc
culiarly adapted for elevated rail
ways in cities, being light, noiseless,
smooth, without smoke, fast, and
thoroughly under command. The
danger of running off the rails is re-
duced to a minimum, the centre of
gravity of the carriages being scarce
ly more than a couple of feet from the
rails. The cost of a metropolitan
system would only be third of one
on the old plan, while in the open
country its cost would be somewhat
higher than the ordinary railway :;
but NJ Barre tells me the expense
would be in France an average of
S,OOOI a mile. Where no natural
water supply is available, a propel-
ling machine every twelve miles or SO
would be sufficient to keep trains 60
ing at full speed. The consumption
of coal per passenger 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 company alone
has an annual coal bill of two mil
lions sterling. Nevertheless, it would
be rash to predict the general intro
duct1On of the water system on rail-
ways. One objection, for instance,
that occurs to me is its apparent I'm
suitability for good traffic. M. Per
sill, the manager of the "Chemins de
Fer Glissants, believes it will all but
do away with the locomotive engine.
With respect to England, he believes
that the disadvantage of the present
slow method of crossing the Channel
will become SO apparent that all OPP
position to the tunnel will vanish.
Il am ready" he said with enthusi-
aSm, ito wager any sum that when
the tunnel is made and our system is
given trial people will go from Lon
don to Paris in two hours. " Paris
correspondence of the London News.
DUPED BYA WOMAN SWINDLER.
The matrimonial swindlers of Sa