RAILWAY or Railroad, and Tramroad ; are narrow tracks of rails, or plates of iron, wood, or other tenacious material, made with very smooth or level surfaces, and laid down with great solidity and truth, to the required planes ; so that the wheels of carriages may meet with the least resistance that is practicable in rolling over them, and thus reduce, as much as pos sible, the power required to move a given load ; or to move the greatest load by a given power ; or to move a given load at the highest velocity. Rail and tramroads, however, form only one part of the machinery of transport ; the carriages which roll over them are expressly designed and fitted for that peculiar office, and are also an essential part of the same mechanism. It is, therefore, not our intention to separate them (as is usually done,) into distinct subjects, but to treat of them in their combined and only useful state. For the same reasons we shall include, under this article, descriptive accounts of the various locomotive carriages for the common road ; because these machines require only a slight alteration in the tire of their wheels, to adapt them to railways : and those of our readers who, for want of sufficient consideration of the subject, may have formed an unfavourable opinion of their capabilites, owing to their sluggish pace in passing over loose or hilly ground, would be amazed at the velocity of motion and power of draught they would achieve, if transferred to a railway. It has been ascertained, that the resistance to the motion of a carriage upon a good railway, is not more than a tenth part of that upon a well-made common road; consequently, a carriage that is capable of merely dragging itself along the latter, would draw many times its own weight at a much greater velocity on the former.
The ardour and spirit with which the people, not only of our own favoured country, but those of Europe, and the more enlightened portion of those of Asia, Africa, and America, have set about improving their internal communica tions, by the adoption of iron railroads, render every circumstance relating to them, that has in the slightest degree contributed to their present excellence, an object of deep interest; not only to the philosopher and the mechanic, but to the thinking part of the public generally. The two former are quite sensible that, notwithstanding all that has been effected, much more is left that will be accomplished; and that only a little more practical experience is requisite, to enable us to double our present locomotive power. iewing the subject in this light, it is our intention to give an historical account of all the numerous inven tions that have any bearing upon the subject, and especially such as have been.
or are now, protected by patent-right; in order, First, that engineers and inven tors may be informed of the precise nature and extent of those improvements for which exclusive privileges have been fairly acquired by patentees ; Second, that the inventions of the latter may be fostered and encouraged by public adop tion, as far as they may be meritorious and beneficial ; Third, that such propo sitions as are erroneous in principle, or inefficient in operation, may be corrected and improved upon ; Fourth, that " honour may be given to those to whom honour is due ;" for in this line of invention there has been an unusual degree of deceitful quackery, and consequently of gross injustice to original inventors ; to right whom, in the public estimation, no other advocacy is necessary, than a simple chronological statement of public documents, the authencity of which is unquestionable, and which we propose to give in the following pages.
The earliest account we have of the introduction of railways, is in the " Life of the Lord Keeper North," from which it appears that about the year 1670, they were made use of at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for transporting coals from the mines to the shipping in the river Tyne. At that time, coal came generally into use as a sub stitute for wood fuel in London, and other places to which there were easy means of transport by sea. But the greatest difficulties were experienced at the mines in
conveying the coals from them to the ships in the Tyne. Previous to the erec tion of these railways, it was no uncommon thing for the occupiers of the mines, to employ five or six hundred horses and carts each, in the same traffic. It therefore became an object of vast importance to adopt some plan of reducing the very great expense incurred in the keeping of so many horses and drivers, wear and tear of carts, and the making and repairing of roads. After giving the subject much consideration, wooden rails, consisting of straight pieces of timber, were laid down and embedded in the road. These were found so advan tageous at Newcastle, that they were speedily copied at other mining district; and remained in use for a considerable period of time. The mode of con atructing these rude railways has been thus described. " Plots or slips of ground, of the breadth required for the railway, were marked out, extending . from the pits to the river, and either leased or purchased by the owners of the coal works. In some cases it was found necessary to make a considerable variation from the direct line, in order to obviate the inequalities of the ground, and to obtain the most regular and easy descent. And in other cases, where • these inequalities were inconsiderable, the roads were carried straight forward, and a regular slope obtained by embankments and cutting. After the ground had been levelled and smoothed, as in the formation of an ordinary road, sleepers, composed of large logs of wood, and cut into lengths corresponding with the breadth of the road, were laid across it, at short distances, and firmly bedded into it, for the purpose of supporting and keeping fast the rails on which the waggon-wheels were to run. The rails were connected end to end, forming two continued lines, running in a parallel direction on each side of the road, and crossing the large logs at each of their extremities which formed the foun dation for them to rest upon, and to which they were nailed, or otherwise secured, to keep them in their places. These rails were of course very imperfect, and were rapidly worn away, or broken, by the continued friction of the wheels upon them. In order to repair or reconnect them when their continuity or evenness was destroyed, slips or pieces of timber of a smaller scantling were laid over the dilapidated portions ; and the strength which the latter thus derived, led to the introduction of double-rails throughout the line ; and this improvement was ilia - tinguifihed by the term of a " double-way," in contradistinction of the former plan, afterwards denominated the " single-way." The advantages of the double-way chiefly consisted in the circumstance that the upper, or covering rail, might be completely worn out and renewed, without destroying or materially disturbing the substructure. The annexed description of these double-ways is obtained from Mr. Wood's valuable work on railways. The subjoined figure exhibits a side elevation. a a are the rails fastened down upon the cross sleepers b b b b, similar to those of the single-way (which it represents) ; 8 a the upper rails laid upon the other, and firmly secured to them by wooden pins, in the same manner as the other are fastened to the sleepers. In the single way, the joinings of the rails are necessarily upon a sleeper, as shown at c c; but in the double-way it is not so, for, being fastened down upon the surface of the under rail, which in every part presents a proper bearing, they can be secured any where upon it ; d d show the joinings of the upper rail, which are midway between the sleepers, but which can be raised at pleasure. This prevents the under rail from being destroyed by the frequent perforation of the pin-holes in receiving the upper or wearing rail, and saves the waste of timber occasioned by use of the single-way.