Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-08-02
RUN BY WATER-PoWER.
The Trip from London to Paris to be
Made Possibly In Two Hours.

Made Possibly in Two Hours.
A dispatch from Paris under date Of July
21st 10 the London Daily Ns,cs gives an
account OF press view on that day Of the
so-called "Chemin de Fer Glissant," or
slide Railway" on the fsplanade des In
valides within the exhibition. The new
invention. says the correspondent, lis
a singularly original cOntrivance for
enabling trains 20 run by means
Of water-power, at u speed lith.
orto undreamed OF. Arriving there
without any lntimation as 90 what
q sliding railway might be, At first mis-
took II Tor an oyergrOwu switchback, with
the humps s'nOothcl away. + he train con-
sisted OF foor carriages. afording room for
about 4 hundred passengers. The car
riages had 40 wheels. being supported at
the corners by blocks of iron Of a size some
what larger that a brick, which upon q
double lire II iron girders. IN the middle
of the ifuc at rcsulAr intervals Iutted ont
irregularly -shaped pillars, The dse Of which
VAS rot yet apparent
Having taken our seats and the signal
beins given, we gidcd along vsrv gently
for thc space Of u few veids. when sud-
denly we Gathered speed two or three
TUGS were lef- and were hyiug on 40 ti.e
pace of an ordinary train. bui "a smoothly
as a boat Oh a river. There was "a clicking
NOISE on the rails but this, wac assured
was due 20 defect ~ tho construction Of
the slides. and would he remcd'ed. heab-
fencc ofani vibration. shaking. or tail mo
ton was wonderful. 4 slight loTk there
was a. regular intervals. but then. again.
/ YVES told that II was due merely lo me
snOrtness OF the course and the inability to
get mp proper pace. ~ q hydraulic train
travelling at fun specd-that is to say. a.
the Tate Of 40 to 200 kiiofnster-, or VI i1 l-i
miles az hour-tho,e would " almost no
CONSCIOUSNESS of motion. ia. journey
down the length Of the esplahadc Only oc-
cupied fcw seconds.
Upon our safe return Mr. Pilter. chair
man Of the company which holds the ii-
yentiOn. gave full account of 10. Tie
sliding railway was invented I'D 1855 nr "n
engineer named lGrard. who was h'llcd lu
the irancO-Germm war and 10 has been
improved 70 rs present state by one Of ms
assistant engineers. VI. Barre. A. ms a.
roody been mentioned the hydraulio car
riages have no wheels. these being replaced
bv hollow slides fttng upon fiat and
wide Iail and mooyed Oh the inner sur
face. When il is dcered - set tine ear
rage in motion water is forced INTO the
slide or skate OF the carriage from rc~cr-
Won by compressed mir. and seeking 10 es-
cape 10 spretd3 over the undor surface ot
the slide, which il raises for about nails
thickness above the rail.
1.-THE slides. thus rc,tinguOt on the rails
but on film of water, are IN q perfectly
mobile condition: in fact, the pressure OF
the forehneer is sufficient 10 displace car
rage thus supported. The propelliug force
is supplied by the pillars which stand 90
regular intervals on the line between tine
rails. Running underneath every carrlage
j. an iron rack. about six inches wide,
fitted with paddles. Now as the foremost
c"rriage passes IN front OF the. phi
l.r a tan on the latter ia opened au-
tomaticallv. and stream Of water
at high pressure Is directed on the pad
dies. THIS drives the. tram on, aud by the
time the last carriage has gone past the
tap. which then closes. the foremost one -
in front of the next tap, the waters action
thus being continuous. The force dcyel-
opcd is almost incredible. There IS some
splashlng on the rails at the start, but TINS
diminishes the faster the train goes 10
stop the train the small stream OF watcr
that feeds the slides is turned of, and the
latter coming in contact with the rails the
resulting friction stops the carriage almost
simultaneously.
A water tram running AZ over one hun
drcd miles an hour could was told, be
pulled mp within thirty yards, could climb
up gradients Of sixteen inches IN the ward,
descend them with equal safety, and run
system would seem peculiarly adapted FOR
elevated railways ia cities, being hsht.
noiseless. smooth. without smoke, 90 {,
and thoroughly under command. Inc
danger Of running on the rdil7 is
reduced 10 a minimum. the centre
of gravity Of the carriages being scarcely
more than couple of feet from the rails.
The cost of the 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 ordi-
nary railway, but NJ. Barre tells me the eX-
ponse would be III France an average OF
IS 900 a mile. Where no natural water
supply is available propclling machine
every twelve miles or so would be sum
cient to keep trains going at full speed.
The consumption OF coal per passenger
would be one tenth only of tho usual
quantity. the importance Of tins may
be realized bv considering the state
ment that the Paris-LyOns Company
alone has an annual coal bill Of f2.000 600.
Nevertheless, il would be rash to pre-
diet the general introduction OF The water
system on railways. One objection, Tor
instance, that occurs to me Is It's apparent
unsuitabilty for goods traffic. NJ. Persl,
the manager of the Chcmns de Fer ellis
SAINTS believes it will oil but do away with
the locomotive engine. With respect 70
ENGLAND. he believes that the disadvantage
of the present slow method of crossing the
channel will become 80 apparent that all
OppositiOn to the tunnel will vanish. |
am ready he said with enthusiasm. 20
wager any sum that when the tunnel Is
made and our system Is given trlal people
will go from London to Paris IN two
hours.