, 1891-10-31
A BICYCLE RAILROAD.

The Seattle e. Tacoma Air Line Railway
Company is seriously considering the adoption
of a new system of railroad, which would
double the present speed of trains and greatly
reduce the cost OF construction and operation.
This is the bicycle railway, an invention
already in successful operation on a line one
mile and three quarters long, on Coney Island,
NY. A survey has been completed for a
line from Seattle to Tacoma, on which the dis
tance is reduced to thirty-six miles, and the
maximum grade is 2 per cent. This line would
give an opportunity of testing the system on
a long distance, and the profile of the pro-
posed route has been sent East for the con-
sideration of the directors, with whom will
rest the decision, whether a bicycle railroad
shall connect the two cities or not.
The Boynton patent is the application to rail
roads of the principle of the bicycle. AS a
thirty pound bicycle will carry ten times it's
weight, and a man has travelled 334 miles on
a bicycle in one day, the advantages of the
system were seen to be the minimum of dead
weight and friction and the maximum speed.
The bicycle railway consists of a single rail in
the middle of the road bed and a guide beam
overhead, held in position by a timber or metal
frame work. TIL wheels are under the centre
of the locomotive and cars and have a double
fange, which prevents them from jumping the
track, while a pair of trolly wheels on the roof
run on the guide beam overhead. The guide
beam serves to prevent the car from Jumping
the rail and keep the train upright, especially
while rounding curves, its motion keeping it
upright on a straight track.
For the bicycle railway it is claimed that
the friction is reduced to a minimum, con-
sequently the amount of dead weight may be
immensely reduced and thus a higher rate of
speed can be safely and with ease maintained.
A driving wheel, six feet in diameter with
short stroke engines, can be made to run a
bicycle locomotiveIl00 to l25 miles an hour and
bicycle trains can carry FIVE times their
weight without any proportionate increase of
friction.
The passenger cars of this system are four
teen feet high, forty two feet long and four
feet wide and two stories high and are loaded
and unloaded from two storey platforms at
the depots. They are divided into eighteen
compartments nine on each storey, and each
seating six persons. They are constructed
of three thicknesses of one eighth inch wood
veneer, are e~ncircled lengthwise by a triple
band of steel and vertically at the top, centre
and bottom by ten bands of steel opposite
each division wall of a compartment, and
eighty eight steel rods run between the seats.
They are entered by doors opening into each
compartment and by spiral staircases at the
ends. By this construction, lightness is
combined with strength.
It is estimated that the trains would make
the trip from Seattle to Tacoma in forty min
utes at the most, and the time may be reduc-
ed to thirty minutes as the line would be
double tracked and no danger Of collisions
would be incurred. The route selected after
passing the head of the bay is the top of the
ridge which divides the Sound from the val
ley. Victoria CoIonist.