,.«^.. ^r^K IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 1^128 |2.5 |50 "^ li^ IIIIIM ^ u^ 1.4 1.8 1.6 V] r o 7 y^ ^? / 1 ' \ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. n n Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tachet6es ou piqudes Tight binding (may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin)/ Reliure serr6 (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int6rieure) L'institut a microfilm6 le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. 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The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire filmi fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de l'6tablissement prdteur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seui clich6 sont film^es d partir de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m6thode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 6 y 11] PRI PAPER OK RAILWAY GAUGES. BY R. F. FAIRLIE. READ BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT EDINBURGH, SESSION 1871. LONDON : PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, DUKE STREET, LINCOLN'S-INN-FIELDS. 1871. ( 1 ■' :• * (30 ii^v RAILWAY GAUGES. I HAD the honour l.ist year, of reading before this Association a paper upon " The Gauge for the Kaihvays of the Future," in which I pointed out the capacities of narrow gauge lines, and showed how un- favourably our own railway system, as at present worked, contrasts with such lines when properly handled. The great truths J. then put forward were too startling to be received without some degree of ridicule and incredulity ; and although I announced them in the full conviction that sooner or later they would be fully acknowledged, I was then little prepared for the rapidity with which that acknow- ledgment has come. The report of the Imperial Russian Commission upon the Festiniog Railway, produced a similar intpiiry on the part of the Indian Govern- ment. I had once more the satisfaction of attending a Royal Com- mission, appointed to investigate the question of narrow gauge ; and the results obtained on the second occasion were as satisfactory as those on the first. In Russia, at the instance of His Excellency Count Bobrinskoy, His Imperial Majesty the Emperor commanded a line of narrow gauge railway to be at once commenced, and a number of my engines to be constructed, in order that the accuracy of all I had asserted on the subject, and had shown to the Commission upon the Festiniog Rail- way, might be proved upon a more extended scale; and that the exact value of a narrow gauge system, for national service, might be ascL uiined by the fullest tests of experience. The Association will, perhaps, pardon a brief digression, while I here place on record, as a matter of history, the eminent services rendered to the cause of narrow gauge extension by the Russian Com- mission, and also by Mr. Spooner, thn engineer and manager of the ▲ 2 J 1 I Festiniog Railway. This little line, of only 1ft. llHn. gauge, was originally constructed for horse traffic ; but was worked after a time by small locomotive engines, resembling, in everything but dimensions, those in common use in England. As thus worked, the traffic out- grew the carrying capacity of the line ; and powers to construct a second track were actually obtained. At this conjuncture, Mr. Spooner had the sagacity to perceive the advantage that would accrue from the employment of my system of traction, of which he had read, and the determination to carry out his perception to a practical issue. I con- structed for him the now well-known " Little AVonder" locomotive, and thus gave him, on his single line, two-and-a-half times the carry- ing capacity that he had possessed before. The second track was thus rendered unnecessary, and it has never been made. In the application of all novelties there must ever be risks of failure from un- foreseen causes, and hence many, even wlien they recognise a truth, shrink from the responsibility of being the first to carry it into prac- tice. The acceptance of this responsibility by Mr. Spooner, the oppor- tunities that he thus afforded me of proving the working value of my principles, and the facilities for inspection and experiment that he has since courteously alloAvcd, all fairly entitle him to be considered the father, as his tiny railway has certainly been the cradle, of the narrow gauge system of the future. The next step was made by the Russian Commission. It would be difficult for me to do justice to the infinite care and pains with which Count Bobrinskoy, the President of that Commission, investigated every detail before arriving at his conclusion, or to the earnestness with which he afterwards pushed this conclusion to its legitimate results. In Russia, as in other countries, there are men whose in- terests or whose prejudices lead them to cling to existing systems, and the opposition which proceeded from such persons could only have been overcome by the strength of clear convictions, of imsuUied in- tegrity, and of indomitable resolution. Count Bobrinskoy was worthily assisted in his novel and important duty by the other members of the Commission, among whom I may name M. B. Saloff, Professor at the Technical School of Engineering, St. Petersburg ; M. von Desen, now resident engineer in charge of the works ; a':d M. Schoubersky, in charge ugo, was er a time ncnsions, lific out- istruct u , Spooncr from the , and the . I con- jomotive, le carry- rack was III tlie from un- a truth, nto prac- be oppor- ue of my at he has iercd the e narrow would be ith whicli estigated .rnestnesB egitimato vhose in- ems, and •nly have Ulied in- worthily rs of the sor at the ;sen, now in charge of the rolling stock of the Imperial liivny Railway. To these gentlemen the entire civilised world owes a deep debt of gratitude. The line which was constructed and equipped in accordance with their report has now for several months been in operation. The results of its working establish all that I claimed for the narrow gauge ; and the final official trials that will take place this month will determine the general adoption of the 3 ft. G in. gauge in Russia, together with the employment of my locomotives, ivithout tchich the value of the narroxo (jauge at once sinks into comparative insiijnijicance. This rapid action is due to the promptness with whicii His Imperial Majesty of Russia appreciates progress, to his frccddm from prejudice, and to the fact tliat I have never advanced anything which I have not been able to prove. In India, although I believe ground has not yet been broken, a metre gauge has been decreed for general introduction ; and the strongest advocates for the retention of the 5 ft. G in. gauge have been entirely defeated. In Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, narrow gauge railways have been undertaken, and will be built as fast as means that have been straitened and opinions that have been prejudiced Avill permit. In South America to a great extent, and in North America — I speak of the United States — to a marvellous degree, the reform I have so long, and at last so successfully, advocated, is making way with an astonishing rapidity. Some 2000 miles of narrow gauge line are under construction ; the great Denver and Rio Grande Railway, 850 miles in length, is being built upon the gauge I have made specially my own ; and I may mention that this width of 3 ft. was decided upon by the President and i>rincipal officers of the Company after con- siderable investigation of the principles of my system recommended to their consideration by 'Mv. George Allan, C.E., who, at an early period, became strongly convinced of its advantages, A great transcontinental railway from the East to the Pacific is being organised, whicli, it is ex- pected, will also be on the new narrow gauge. California is building similar lines ; the Western States and Territories — pastoral, agricul- tural, and mineral — are building them ; Massachusetts, already covered with a network of ordinary gauge railways, is legislating for them; 6 ami many others of the Kastcrn Staten aro earnestly considering the advisability of their immediate construction. j As little as yourselves could I have last year imat,nned that all this I progress woidd have been made in less than twelve months. At that f time I was discouraged on almost all sides ; I was liampcrcd by th(3 v weight of prejudice and of opposition of every kind ; but knowing I was '^ right — knowing that the Avork I had in hand was one which would benefit the whole of the civilised world — knowing that, could I once produce conviction, there need be no country, however poor, that could not be supplied, no distance, however great, that could not be traversed by ju'ofitable railways, T persevered, and to-day I find that my eflbrts have been crowned with a great and substantial success. Need I say that I appreciate this victory, counting the past pains as nothing, and beinff still more anxious to continue advocatincr the truth. But it is only due to this Association that I should state how much J of my success I owe to its infiucnce, and to the weight thus added to ray now celebrated paper on " The Gauge for the Railways of the Future." To that paper I attribute a large proportion of the extra- ordinary activity that I have described. Stamped with the approval of this Association, the paper has circulated in all countries, and has been translated into all European languages, including those which have been naturalised in South America. It has formed the text for innumerable discussions ; it is almost daily quoted in the journals of the United States ; and it has excited the most lively interest among the railway engineers of that country, where existing railway manage- ment shows results still more discouraging than those which arc ob- tained in England. The British Association, therefore, more than any other public body, has helped forward a vast reform, and gratefully feeling this, I am encouraged to come here again on this occasion. It is not long since, that to doubt established gauge was professional heresy A type to which an accident had given birth, had come in course of time to be considered perfect; it was a superstition quickened into a religion. By degrees, after scores of thousands of i miles of railway had been built, and hundreds of millions of pounds | expended, it began to be seen that there was something still to ;| be desired, and that it was ruinous to make railways for the service of f lering tho at all this At that cd by tho viiig I was ich would lUl I onco that could 3 traversed my efforts ^ccd I say s nothing, ;h. how much IS added to ays of the ' the extra- approval of id has been vhicli have ic text for journals of •est among ly manage- lich arc ob- i-e than any gratefully casion. irofessional had come superstition lousands of of poimds ng still to e service of ■a remote districts yielding but small traflic, or in countries whose limited means and connncrco could not justify large expenditure. By this time the great outlay which attended the labours of the earliest engineers — the outlay involved by heavy works to gain easy gradients — had been somewhat reduced, and with improved locomotive practice, steeper gradients and sharper curves became possible. Then came the very recent modification of making essentially light lines upon the standard gauge, conforming as nmeh as possible to the natural contour — sur- face lines, as I was the first to name them in 18G1. By adopting them the cost of construction was greatly reduced, and was brought somewhat more into proportion with the revenue to be derived. But these improvements were but improvements upon a bad type, and real reform could not be elTloctcd whilst the width of gauge re- mained, while the rolling stock continued unaltered, and the locomotive rested immodificd. Meanwhile, the history of railway construction in England was slowly repeating itself, even in an exaggerated form, abroad, and particularly in our colonies, where the primitive types were perpetuated by the pupils of the old school of engineers. And here I may remark that the difficulties encountered in this country in railway reform have been faithfully repeated in our colonies — an illnstiution of cause and effect. Gradually it became known that the ruinous practice of English engineers in Norway had forced the government of that country to adopt an entirely new type, after the intermediate stage of light stnn- dard gauge railways had been largely tested and abandoned, and that for the first time a national narrow-gauge system was established. But this was done so quietly, and information filtered so slowly from that isolated country, that until quite recently only a few have known of the change, and still fewer have known, or have cared to inquire, about the practice followed or the results obtained. Of course, exceptional and independent lines of very narrow gauge, established almost universally for mineral traffic, have existed for many years ; but these, with the exception of the Festiniog Railway, do not enter into the question ; on the contrary, indeed, their small traffic capacities, as worked, have served the opponents of narrow gauge as arguments against innovation. i 80 matters stood when I, having convinced myself of the monstrous errors which cripple our standard railway system, and having learnt the cajmbilitios of narrow gauge — which are yet scarcely understood even by the engineers who are advocating and constructing them — so matters stood when I first devoted myself to the eflbrt of promoting the general introduction of narrow-gauge lines, and had the audacity to set myself up in opposition to long-established and deeply-rooted principles. At first the utmost concession I could obtain — a concession granted but by a few — was that for new coimtrics, where railways did not exist, or for poor countries, where traffic was light and uncertain, a narrow- ! gi^ugf*' system might be adopted with some amount of advantage; but that its capacity and consequent utility were proportioned to its gauge ; and that hence, as a natural consequence, not only must such lines as I recommended be located in districts where only a very small business actually existed, but where also the prospects of its increase were extremely remote. I knew the error of this opinion, for I knew the actual capacity of narrow-gauge railways under proper manage- ; ment ; therefore I was encouraged to persevere until, as the circle of ]i conviction widened, I was enabled to put my views to the test of j actual and wide experience, and to stir into life the radical reform jj j which to-day is spreading on every side, and which shall before i long become general. j I showed you last year how, upon a railway costing one-third less j i than a line of an ordinary gauge, I could with equal despatch carry such a traffic as that of the London and North- Western Railway, with I j [ a saving of three-fifths of the dead load carried ; and how in so doing I could effect a corresponding reduction in engine power, and conse- quently in cost of fuel, of rolling stock, of engine repairs, and of maintenance of permanent way. All this could be effected at a speed at least equal to the present speed of freight trains for the goods traffic, and at 35 miles an hour for the passenger traffic ; a rate which ' is but little below the average of the mileage made by fast passenger trains in this country. We are so accustomed to the present condition of things — or, perhaps, we are so ignorant of the real elements of railway economy — that it is difficult to believe this great reform possible, but belief was more difficult a year ago than it has since i t become, now that all my statomont« have been proveil to bo incon- trovcrtil)ly true. The question, liowever, is one of such radical im- portance, tiiat I may once more devote a few words to its elucidation. On the FiOndon and North- Western liailway the average practice is to employ 7 tons of wagon to carry 1 ton of goods, but I assume the proportion of dead weight to be only four to one, in order to mako out as favoural)le a case as possible. The average weight of a goods train on the London and North- Western Ivaihvay is '2')i) tons ; com- posed, in the proportions I have mentioned, of oO tons of freight to 200 tons of rolling stock, (.'^ee diagram.) On the Livny (New Kussian), ft, in, IJailway, on the other hand, the average gross weight of trains is oi>A tons, or 101 tons more than that of the London and North- Western, while the dead weight is only 94 tons. This proportion is also shown on the diagram. To carry this paying load of 2G0 tons on the London and North-Westcrn, lOlO tons of wagons would be employed, or more than eleven times the weight rcfiuircd by my system. In all my arguments, I of course deal with general goods' traffic only, exclusive of minerals. It may be urged against this comparison that the more favourable traffic conditions of the Livny Railway help the results ; but it is sufficient to reply, first, that with the reduced gauge reduced weight of wagons in proportion to capacity is feasible ; next, that the smaller wagon capacity is essential to eco- nomy ; and third, that while rolling stock of the smaller class is certain to bo loaded more nearly to its ultimate limits, the difference between the maximum load, and the absolute loads obtained in practice, are attended with none of the excessive cost inevitable on a 4 ft. 8^ in. gauge. I would here call your attention to a most importaut fact in con- nexion with railway goods' traffic. The average load of merchandise carried by each wagon in this country is considerably less than 1 ton. Experience has proved that the exigcnciesof traffic in this country have settled this average, yet wagons of four times this capacity must neverthe- less be provided. This fact of itself is sufficient to show that so broad a gauge as the standard one is very excessive. With a narrow gauge this evil may be prevented, and if a higher average per wagon could not be attained, at least a far lower proportion of dead weight would result. This I have endeavoured to make apparent in the diagrams, which : ir 10 ! ! show tho average proportions of dead to paying weiglit on the 4 ft, 8^ in. gauge, and on the 3 ft, gauge ; and I have also placed the load carried as the average by tho standard gauge upon a train running on a 3 ft. gauge, the varying proportions being well ex- pressed by contrasted colours. The great economy in working, brought about by the causes enumerated above, would react upon rail- way business, and in increasing it would certainly raise the wagon average, because the cost of carriage xvould he so much redacvd. I think you will agree with me that I am no visionary, l)ut have always spoken within the mark, making my i)osition sure as I ad- vanced, and asserting nothing that I could not prove in actual practice. I have obtained, by the development of my system, results very closely ajiproximating to those I stated last year — namely, three to one of paying to dead load, and I know that this proportion can and will bo reached when my views are fully carried out, when a Fairlie gauge is worked with Fairlie locomotives and stock ; while by no other system in existence can such results be obtained. In the report of the Royal Railways' Commission, published in 18G7, tho following pregnant conclusions were arrived at from the opinions of the principal engineers and railway managers in this country: ^^ The only ivay in tvhich an increased rcccli)t in proportion to the cost of running the trains can he anticipated, is in carryimj a larger number of passengers in proportion to the number of piassenger carriages in the train, and running the goods' trucks full instead of part ia III/ full ; or, in other words, obtaining a greater amount of work out of the engines and carriages than at present. But this means that the passenger ti'ains ivould he less frequent and more croivded ; that the passengers going on to branch lines ivould have to change carriages more frequently ; and that goods u'oidd have to be retained vntil full truch-loads ivere made uj), lehich ivoidd result in a slower delivery of goods^ So that, as tho necessities of traffic enforce frequent passenger trains, three or four times +he necessary weight of carriages must bo provided, and as goods cannot be detained until trucks are fully loaded, it follows that universal extravagance is inseparable from the present system. Railway managers, who are of course thoroughly 11 ;lit on the ulso placed )on .1 train g- -well ex- lu working, t upon rail- thc ^Yagon need. y, but have re as I ad- ual practice. very closely cc to one of and >vill bo die gauge is other system published in at from the infers in this in 2'>^'oporiion in carn/iri'j a ' of passenger all instead of nount of work kis means that rovided ; that unfje carriages ined until full vcr delivery of ent passenger L-iages must bo ucks are fully irable from the rsc thoroughly convc/sant with the subject, agree that our existing rail ways, arc at present being worked to the best advantage. If so, it cannot bo doubted that there is a grave blunder somewhere ; and if this blunder is not to be discovered in management we must seek for it in construc- tion, and there we shall find it. We shall find that railways of the existing gauge will labour under disadvantages for all time ; they will remain oppressed by the curse of dead weight, an evil from which they can by no means be relieved ; dead weight in their rolling stock for passengers, one ton of which requires thirty tons to convey it ; dead weight in their rolling stock for freight, which can never be more than one quarter fully loaded, and dead weight in their locomotives, ill applied for obtaining useful results, but always destructive to the permanent way. Nor does increase of traffic upon a great standard-railway system tend to reduce this evil ; if it did, the London and North- Western Railway would not at the present time be expending enormous sums in doubling their permanent way. Experience shows that increased traffic does not diminish averages of weight ; for the fact that these averages were larger twenty years ago than they are at present, although the traffic had not then reached half its present dimensions, was simply because the wagons then averaged about a ton loss in weight. With a doubled business, each wagon docs not carry twice the average amount that it carried twenty years ago ; but twice the number of wagons then employed carry each their usual complement of a single ton. There is, therefore, no escape from the conclusion that the existing proportion of dead weight to paying weight upon a 4 ft. 8i in. railway cannot be reduced, so long as the condition of things exist which guided the Railway Commission to its conclusions, but that it must remain a fixed quantity independent of increase of business on the line. I think no more striking illustration of the error of our present system can be conceived than is allbrded by the daily practice of a magnificent Company like the London and North- Western Railway ; who, at the present moment, be it remembered, have commenced to double the width of their road through press of business ; yet who are sending out daily, and daily receiving, at Euston-square, some 4400 passengers, in carriages which contain sitting accommodation for 12 13,500 ; and who carry their enormous freight in increments, averaging loss than 1 ton, in wagons having six times that capacity. jj Imagine the amount of capital sunk before this result was ob- 'jt taineil ! Conceive the waste of engine-power, the wear and tear of ': rolling stock, the destruction of permanent way, the cost of staff, all entailed by this curse of dead weight ; and then imagine how easily all this unmcchanical and unbusincss-like state of affairs might have fi been prevented l)y the simple adoption of a suitable rolling stock running on a suitable gauge ! I am not for a moment advocating any radical change in our English railway system ; that system has out-grown tlio season of radical reform, and we must make the best of it as it is; but I seek to prevent the repetition elsewhere of mistakes that have been so costly hero. I want to prevent the uiuiccessary extension of a system that is palpably false, but which is not on that account the less strongly defended .md protected. That our great error was known some years since to all thinking engineers, is shown by the quotation I just now made; Mr. G. P. Bidder stated before the Royal Commission : " Thtit great economy may yet he obtained in the tvansport of minerals over long distances hy means of railways laid out under conditions admitting of very long trains being runy In this statement I find the very essence of the question at issue between myself and all conservative engineers ; I find the necessity for reform acknowledged, and the means of attaining it hinted at by my Avarmest opponent. Except that his views did not extend to passengers and goods, but were con- fined simply to the transport of mineral traffic, wc have a complete statement of the problem which I have brought successfully to a solution. The requirements which JNIr. Bidder hinted at generally, I have worked out in detail, and have extensively reduced to practice, with results that show his judgment to have been sound as far as it ijii! went. The conditions under whicli a railway should be laid out t" meet these requirements are clearly not those which rule the present system ; ample experience proves the contrary, showing that no line, however full of business, can be worked to its full capacity. We are led, then, unmistakably, to a narrow gauge, to the adoption of pas- senger carriages which shall be filled, of wagons which shall be almost 18 fully loaded, and of weight which shall bear a reasonable proportion to their capacity, and we are led to the adoption of very long trains and powerful engines. Considering the date of ]\Ir. Bidder's opinions, they could not have been put more clearly or more concisely. To a certain extent, but in a very limited and impo'-fect degree, experiments were made in the direction indicated — faint foreshadow- ings of the practice now being so widely introduced — by an attempt to convey extremely heavy trains by means of an auxiliary pair of cylinders placed under the tender of the engine and receiving steam from the boiler ; the idea being to utilise all the available weight of engine and tender for adhesion. In running expenses, the results of these trials were very satisfactory, showing a large reduction of cost in carrying the heavier load. There were many reasons Avhy this arrangement should prove unsatisfactory, but T quote the results ob- tained, because they will not be called in question, and because, if so much economy could be obtamed by such a contrivance as the steam tender, I may at least claim proportionately advantageous results for the system of which this was an indication. Thus, with an ordinary engine, the cost of conveying a load of 210 tons was 20d. per mile, whilst the cost of conveying a load of 310 tons by the aid of the steam tender was only 23d. per mile. It is obvious that no such saving as this could have been eftected had two independent engines been employed upon the same duty. The re- sults clearly prove that a large saving can be effected by increased engine power and greater loads ; but, as I have already pointed out, this economy cannot be realised on railways of the standard gauge : but on the many thousand miles of narrow-gauge railways that will before many years be constructed, the true system of economical working, developed by me, will not only be possible, but will be universally acknowledged and adopted. It would seem a very simple and self-evident fact that the means of conveyance should be fairly proportioned to the amount to be conveyed, and yet I have been labouring for years to make people understand this. One would think it would be sufficient to point out, to countries contemplating the construction or the great extension of railways, and looking to England and English practice as a model, that the best 14 labours of our engineers, after thirty years' experience, Lave given us a railway system on which it is necessary to have 4 tons of wagon for every ton of goods, and from 10 to 30 tons of carriages (see the diagram) for every ton of passengers. And indeed abroad it is pretty widely understood that it can only bo on a narrow-gauge railway that a full measure of usefulness can be obtained, and a proper proportion between paying and non-paying load can be secured; — this is be- Oi'use the amount of engine power being unlimited, better paying trains can be carried on Mie narrow than on the broad gauge ; the difference arising from the fact that the dead weight required for the transport of passengers and goods is reduced in the manner shown by practice and indicated in the diagram. The reform is effected by the adoption of a suitable rolling stock, in which dead weight is kept down by the smallness of the gauge, but in which ample capacity is obtained. Such carriages and wagons exactly meet the difficulty which is one of the great causes of dead weight on a 4 ft. 8|^ in. gauge- namely, the necessity of transmitting passengers and goods, when- ever practicable, to their destination without change of vehicles. With the small carriages and wagons, the expense attending this proceed- ing is reduced to the lowest possible cost, because, though vehicles of appropriate capacity can be employed, and each can bo loaded almost to its full complement of passengers or goods, carriages half or two-thirds empty would never form necessary accompaniments to a train ; and even if it were not possible in practice to place a larger share of the load in each vehicle than the present average, we should have wagons of 5 tons capacity weighing 1^ tons, instead of others weighing 4 tons to carry the 1 ton average. This capability of subdivision of traffic is one of the most important advantages which the narrow gauge offers ; it involves the leading prin- ciple in railway economy, but it is an economy which I have shown — and I am borne out by all the weight of the evidence given before the Eailway Commission — to bo impossible on the broad gauge. But it must be remembered — and this is a point not understood by some of the strongest advocates of narrow gauge — that such lines are of hut little avail, nnless they are provided with sititable locomotive power . If a line is made in all respects a miniature copy of a broad-gauge rail- 15 way, with miniature rolling stock and miniature engines, its utilitt/ decreases, and its workiiu/ capacity (loes down, hut its working expenses go vj). In illustratioi- of this I may quote tlie results of Norwegian practice, where one of the narrow-gauge lines, carrying only a very small traffic as comjiarctl with tliat conveyed upon a broad gauge in the same country, shows its expenses to be out of all proportion ; while the per- centages of the expenses to the receipts vary from G5.47 to 103,5 on the various narrow-gauge lines now built in Norway, a result that cannot be considered favourable. If wc look at the capacity of the engines on these railways, we shall see that they are capable of drawing, besides their own weight, 83 tons, 55 tons, and 84 tons respectively, up gradients of 1 in 70, 1 in 42, and 1 in GO, and it is worth noting that the proportion of working expenses to receipts decreases as the jioiver of the engine increases. Although many other causes besides those of mere locomotive expenditure step in to interfere with results, the regular proportion is, I think, too clearly marked to be independent of this most important question. The capacities of the Norwegian stock and the maximum trains conveyed by the enghies arc shown in the diagram. I refer again for a moment to the results obtained by the employ- ment of the steam tender for dragging great loads. Mr. Sturrock found that he could, by adding a pair of steam cylinders to the tender of a locomotive, convey trains weighing one-half as much again as the maximum load carried by ordinary engines, with an extra expenditure of about 15 per cent. ; and a train of any given weight can be conveyed for from G4 to 70 per cent, of the cost of such a train divided into two equal parts, Avhioh means a saving in the locomotive accounts of from 30 to 3G per cent. It is argued against me that an engine of my system is no more useful or profitable than two engines coupled together. j\Iy experiences prove the contrary ; so far as they go, the results with Mr. Sturrock's contrivance bear me out, and so do the results obtained by the working of MM. Meyer's engines (adapted from my own) in France. If such a system as that which I recommend had been introduced into Norway, it is needless to point out that a considerable modifica- tion of the balance-sheet would have been the result.