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due to the acclivity, as there is no weight except the train.

There is no other known power which can be applied to locomotion without carrying considerable weight and friction with it. The ill effects of locomotive engines have been already pointed out, and the same disadvantages exist in the application of ropes, which must be drawn along with the train, and become an increased incumbrance on inclined planes. The defects of ropes in other respects are too generally known to need comment.

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2nd. The weight of the rails and chairs on the new system may be less by one-third than where locomotive engines are employed, as the carriages of the train will be too light to injure them. The annual charge of maintenance of way will, from the same cause, be reduced to a considerable extent.

3rd. The wear and tear of locomotive, compared with stationary engines, is as 18 to 1.

4th. By the new system the full power of the engines is always obtained; and on an incline the additional quantity of fuel consumed in ascending will be saved in descending, as the trains run down by their own gravity. The expense of fuel will be further decreased, as the expense of using coal is only half that of coke.

On the new system the velocity depends entirely upon the velocity with which the air is withdrawn from the pipe; therefore, by simply increasing the air-pump, any speed may be attained; and with a fixed quantity of traffic per diem, no considerable increase in the fuel consumed or any other expense is incurred for improved speed, further than the small additional power required to overcome the increased atmospheric resistance. An actual saving in the first cost of a railway constructed for high velocities may be effected, because, by performing the journey in less time, a greater number of trains may be despatched each day, and their weight diminished; therefore the piston, having less to draw, may be smaller in diameter. The cost of the pipe (which forms the largest item in the first cost of this railway) will thus be reduced in nearly the same proportion as the speed is increased.

Besides these advantages, this system possesses others of still more importance to the public. No collision between trains can take place, for as the power cannot be applied to more than one piston at a time in the same section of pipe, the trains must ever be the length of a section apart from each other; and if from any cause a train should be stopped in the middle of a section, the train which follows it will be obliged to stop also at the entrance of the pipe, as there will be no power to propel it until the first train is out. It is also impossible for two trains to run in opposite directions on the same line, as the power is only applied at one end of each section. A train cannot get off the rail, as the leading carriage is firmly attached to the piston, which travels in the pipe between the rails, and the

luggage and carriages cannot be burnt, as no engines travel with the trains.

We now come to the comparative cost of the two systems.

1st. The necessity of having the railway comparatively level causes the present enormous outlay for earth-work, viaducts, and tunnelling, and increases the cost of land, not only by lengthening the line to save cutting and embankment, but by the quantity wasted on each side of the road wherever such work is required. Thus, if an embankment or cutting has to be made of 30 feet, at least 60 feet of land must be covered on each side of the railway in order to obtain sufficient slope, making a width of 120 feet, besides the road, except where they occur in very favourable ground. The comparative expense of this item between the two systems can be ascertained by referring to the average cost of forming a turnpike road and that of the principal railways now in operation.

Since it is not necessary to make detours to avoid steep gradients, the direction of the road in a straight line may be more nearly preserved.

LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM.

Per mile.

Taking five of the principal Railroads as the

basis of our calculation, their average expense of formation has exceeded * And the original stock of Locomotives

£36,000

1,600

£37,600

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Main pipe and apparatus complete (on a scale for transporting 360 tons per hour, or 5000 tons per day of fourteen hours, on a road

with gradients of 1 in 100)

5,200

1,400

20

£15,120

22,480

£37,600

Fixed engines, air-pumps, and engine-houses
Travelling pistons

Saving per mile in forming and furnishing on the Atmospheric system

Annual expenses of working per mile, when conveying two thousand tons per day. (This is beyond the average quantity conveyed on the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad) :

* Our calculations are founded on the reports of different companies whose railways are complete or in a forward state.

LOCOMOTIVE SYSTEM.

5 per cent. interest on capital sunk, £37,600 Maintenance of way

Locomotive department, including coke

ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEM.

5 per cent. interest on capital sunk, viz. £15,120

Maintenance of way, and attendance on mains

Wear and tear of fixed engines, 5 per cent. of

cost

Coal 0.75 15. per ton per mile, 214 tons, at 20s.

Wages to engine-men and stokers

Wages to train conductors

Renewal of travelling apparatus and compo

Per mile.

£756

300

70

214

60

26

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Per mile.

£1,880

450

1,800

£4,130

Total expenses per ton per mile on the Locomotive system 1.54d. Ditto ditto ditto on the Atmospheric ditto 0.6d.

Exclusive of carriages and management, which may be taken as the same on both systems.

In the comparison which we have instituted between the locomotive and the atmospheric systems, we have not dwelt particularly on many important defects of the locomotive system, but have only

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