RAILWAYS. The origin of these now vast undertakings is traced to a contrivance for simplifying the transit of coal from the mines in Northumberland and Durham to the places of shipment on the Tyne and Wear. The invention consisted of a double parallel line of wooden beams or trams fixed to the ground, and furnished with flanges to prevent the wheels of vehicles from slipping aside. Along these flanged beams wagons were drawn by horses with such comparative ease that instead of a load of 17 cwt. by a common road, a load of 42 cwt, could now be drawn by a single horse. These new thoroughfares, called tramways, were made across fields, the proprietors of which received a certain rent for the way-leave or use made of them—which term, way-leave, is still employed in arrangements of this kind. To the coal districts of the n. of Eng land, therefore, is indisputably due the simple yet meritorious contrivance which, from less to more, led to the modern railway, with all its wonderful machinery; nor is it useless to note that the invention, in its early stages, owed nothing to men of education or high scientific attainments, but was mainly the work of obscure mechanics and illiter ate enthusiasts The date of the invention of tramways is uncertain, but by good authorities it is referred to the period between 1602 and 1949. From the northern coal districts it grad ually came into use in other mining districts in England, as also in the s. of Scotland. The 17th c. was not favorable to mechanical improvement. Not till about 1700 was there any marked advance on the original tramway. The first step was the-clothing of the wooden beams with long slips of iron, to prevent excessive tear and wear. This also being found defective, a second and more complete improvement, about 1740, was the substitution of cast-iron rails fixed in parallel lines on cross wooden sleepers. This species of railway became pretty general in mining districts between 1745 and 1775. In the former of these years, one was in operation in Scotland—namely, a short coal-line from Trament to Cockenzie, which gen. Cope selected as a position at the battle of Prestonpans. Though now considerably improved, railways did not attract attention as being suitable for general traffic. The success of canals not only turned the public mind in that direction, but raised up a powerful canal interest, which viewed the prog ress of railways with extreme jealousy and ill-will.
The use of cast-iron rails led to an improved method of traction. Instead of employ ing a single large wagon, the plan of linking together a series of smaller wagons was adopted—the germ of the modern train. The next improvement consisted in putting flanges on the wheels instead of the rails, by which great facility of transit was afforded. The draught still continued to be executed by horses; but as the railway system seemed to possess immense capabilities of expansion, many minds labored in devising schemes to substitute steam-apparatus. The invention of the locomotive, like that' of railways. was the work of successive geniuses. Watt had shown the practicability of fixed steam engines; what was now wanted was an engine that would travel by its own internal impulse. The' merit of inventing a self-acting steam-carriage is allowed to be due to Richard Trevethick, a clever but eccentric engineer. In 1802 he took out a patent for a steam-carriage, and this novel machine he exhibited to large crowds of admiring spec tators on a piece of ground near London. Immediately afterward he adapted his car riage for the drawing of wagons on railways, a duty which it successfully executed mm the Merthyr-Tydvil railway in 1804. This was the first locomotive; but it was far from perfect. it drew only 10 tons of bar-iron at the rate of 5 m. an hour. Trevethick did not remain in England to improve on his invention, nor did the moderate aehievemenis of his machine immediately induce others to make any distinct advance on his ingenious contrivance. For this lethargy there were various causes; but the principal consisted in a universal belief among engineers, that the locomotive could not be expected to gain great speed, to ascend a moderate incline, or to draw a heavy load, unless the wheels were provided with a cogged rim to work on a corresponding rack along the rails. Numerous schemes were made the subject of patents to overcome this imaginary difii culty—a circumstance which gives one a poor opinion of the state of engineering knowl edge at the beginning of the 19th century. That locomotives running with smooth wheels on smooth rails, by mere weight and friction, as exemplified by Trelethick, could draw heavy loads up a moderate incline, was at length, in 1811, established as a fact by Mr. Blackett, a coal-proprietor, on the Wylam railway. The means for imparting speed alone remained to be given.