Year: 1868

Steam Carriages for Common


Roads.


In recent number of the Scots


man we find the following remarka


bic account of "road steamer" a


it is called, which has just astonisheC


and delighted the citizens of Edin


burgh.


On Saturday afternoon very re


markable sight was seen in this city


A train ofheavily laden coal wagons


looking exactly like luggage train


was observed coming steadily up the
steep incline leading into Edinburgh
from Dalkeith. It was one of Mr.
W. Thompson's patent road steam
ers, india rubber wheel-tires, having
four huge loaded wagons in tow
Each wagon weighed, when empty
two and three-quarter tons of coal
making the gross weight of the wag'
ons thirty-three tons. Thus total
of forty one tons was in motion. The
road steamer had drawn the train
from Newcastle collieries, eight miles
from Edinburgh, over a very hilIy
road, with rising gradients of 1 in Is.


The hill from Pow Burn up to Min
to street is both long and steep, but
the road steamer drew its train to the
top with the most perfect ease. 1t
was very curious to watch the beha-
vior of the patient india rubber tires
Of the road steamer as they passed
over various descriptions of road sur
face. In the outskirts of the city,
where the roads are macadamized,
there were many places where bro
ken stones had just been placed on
the surface. Over these sharp, loose
stones the india rubber tires of the
road steamer passed without crush
ing or in fact, disturbing them in
the least. The toughest and sharp
est bed of broken stones sank gently
into the elastic cushion of india rub
Der, which rose from the contact with
the most jagged fragments of stone
without any traces or mark Ofiniury.
The perfect command which the con-
ductOrs ofthe train had over its move
ments, enabled them to control its
course and speed with the utmost
precision. The line of streets through
which it passed are always the most
crowded streets in the city, but not
withstanding all these obstacles, ag-
regated- by the streets being at some
points under repair and closed for
one-balf of their width, no difficulty
was experienced in steering clear Of
every impediment.


The extremely curious way in which
the whole four wagons follow, snake
like, in the track of the road steamer,
was clearly seen in passing out of
North Bridge into Leith street. First,
the road steamer had to turn to the
right and before the last wagon was
around the corner to the right, the
road steamer had already turned
sharp to the left to go into Leigh
street-thus tho train actually assum-
ed the form of the letter S, every wa
gOn going over the same ground as
the road steamer with the most per-
feet accuracy. The final man@uvre
was one which the conductors of the
train did not expect to be able to ac-
complish without breaking it into
two portions.-It had to be taken out
Of the Bennington Road, which is
narrow street of thirty feet in width,
into lane twenty-five feet wide,
which rises with a steep incline to
the entrance gate of Powershall
Works.-Itwas determined to attempt
this narl ow entrance with the entire
train Of ninety feet long, and it pass
ed in at the first, leaving so much
space that it was found; on afterwards
the wheel tracks, width
of fourteen feet would have suficed,
though the breadth of the wagons is
seven feet. The train curved in
through this narrow entrance; mount
ing at the same time the steep incline
leading up to the works, and drew up
in the yard in perfect order.


There can be no doubt this inven-
ton of the application of vuIcanized
india-rubber to the tires of road
steamers forms the greatest step which
has ever been made in the use of
steam on common roads. 1t COM
plstely removes the fatal difficulties
which have hitherto barred the way
to the use of traction engines, viz:
Hhe mutual destruction of the trac-
ton engine and the roads. The in
di-arubber tires, interposing a soft
and elastic cushion between the two,
protect them both from
every jar and jolt-in fact, as much
so as if the engine was travelling over
a trainway, Of india-rubber.-The
road steamer, which drew the four
wagons of coal from Newcastle col
liery on Saturday, was constructed
to draw less than one-half of the
weight comprised in the coal-train.