CITY AND SUBURBAN RAILWAYS (TRAMWAYS), Horse-railways (called tramways in England, and to some extent else where) preceded steam-railways in point of time, but since the introduc tion of the latter they are rarely used for the transport of merchandise, their employment for this service being confined principally to the case of industrial works where the question of speed is an unimportant one, and where, on account of the shortness of the distance to be traversed, it would not be profitable to employ locomotives. This mode of transportation is used to some extent, however, for the conveyance of merchandise between the freight-depOts of the railways and certain distributing- centres in cities, such as market-houses, warehouses, etc., although in the majority of cases of this kind the loaded freight-cars are simply hauled to and from these places by animal traction over the ordinary railway-tracks, which are extended to make the necessary connections.
Tranzzcays.—Knight defines tramways as flat boards, balks, or paving stones laid down to form a way upon which the wheels of the trams (wagons) could roll more easilv. These primitive devices were succeeded by rails made of wood (1676), which are described as being supported on transverse sleepers and shaped so that the four wheels of the wagon fitted to them. Within the past twenty-five years, street-railways have been very extensively introduced for passenger travel in cities, and to provide means of transit between the suburbs and the business centres. Considered historically, the street-railwav is the outgrowth of the traniroad system which was used in the English collieries two centuries ago (see p. i7i).
RaSSellj:(1- RallWal'S in cities were first introduced in the United States about the year 1S3o. Some ten years later, thoug-li only after meeting with violent opposition, they came into use in England. Since that time they have come into general use throughout Europe. The roadway is com monly placed on a level with the street, following the g,rade of its surface. The rails in common -use for the street-railwav are of the form shown on Plate zo (Jigs. To–I:5), and are fastened with spikes (more rarely with bolts) to longitudinal sleepers, which, in turn, are secured to cross-ties, to give the necessarv transverse stiffness to the line. The fonn of rail shown in
Figure 14 CA/. 2o) is generally adopted. It has the advantage of allow ing the passage of moving wagons on its broad surface—a convenience of which the drivers of vehicles generally avail themselves; but, on the other hand, the vehicles are liable to be wrenched severely, and frequently wheels and axles are broken, when the attempt is incautiously made to turn out sharply from the track or to cross it at an acute angle. The track formed of rails of the general pattern of Figure 13 cannot be used by wagons and carriages, and consequently is not liable to cause accidents of this nature. Experiments have been made, both in America and in Europe, with a view of dispensing with the use of the wooden stringers, the rails for this pur pose being laid in a specially-prepared bed of gravel or concrete. Such experiments, however, have not demonstrated any utility.
cars in common use on the street-railways are four-wheeled vehicles capable of accommodating- from twenty to thirty passengers. The American pattern, with the seats arranged lengthwise, is that in general use; more rarely, especially for summer traffic, the seats are arranged across the car. The car first named affords greater convenience of ingress and egress to passengers, and, as the doors may be closed in cold weather, it may conveniently be heated. The wheels of the passenger cars (Alzglice, tramcars) are flanged like those in use on the steam-railways, the form of the flange varying according to the style of rail.
Modified novel variety of the street-railway which is worthy of mention, and in which the car may leave the track and return to it at pleasure, is the so-called " perambulator " system devised by Haworth, and introduced in Salforth, near Manchester (England), and also in Geneva. Between the two flat rails for the wheels there is placed a central grooved rail of V-section, supported on stringers like the others. Connected with the front axle of the car is a small fifth wheel, to act as a guiding-wheel, which may be lowered into the grooved rail or raised out of it by means of a treadle controlled from the driver's seat. By this device the car may be united to the track or made independent of it.