cester and Swannington, having 12 in. x 16 in. cylinders with 4 ft. 6 in. coupled wheels. Both these engines were subsequently sold, the Comet first to Mr. Smart, a contractor, and then to the author for the Babbington Colliery railway, where it ran till it was broken up. This was a very complicated engine, and does not appear to have ever been altered. The cylinders were very low, the piston rods working at an angle underneath the leading axle. There were only 13 bearings to oil on the crank shaft, for there were two outside bearings in the main frame, three inside bearings, one in the centre, and one inside each wheel with a spring on the axle. There were the two main connecting rods on the inside cranks and two coupling rods on the outside cranks, and besides these there were two dummy connecting rods fixed one on each side of each cylinder, with brasses in the big end, keyed up to the axle on each side of each crank. The engine was worked by two loose eccentrics which were driven for the forward and backward working each by two dogs, one on each side of the eccentric, which engaged the eccentric by moving longitudinally on the axle, the projecting dog passing into a square hole in the eccentric sheave after the engine was in motion. To start the engine there was a lever attached to each slide valve by which they were worked by hand, and then a third lever slipped in the proper dog to drive the eccentrics when the projection of the dog was opposite to the hole into which it fitted. As this hole could not be seen amongst the mass of moving and stationary connecting rods it sometimes was a difficult thing to get the engine to work. A man seemed to want a third hand, as all three levers required moving to start the engine.

In reference to early locomotive building there is no firm that deserves more honourable mention than the Hawthorns of Newcastle. Their shop, situated next to that of Stephenson, with only a brick wall between, is nearly as old. If Stephenson built Nos. 1, 2 and 3 on the old Stockton and Darlington, the numbers immediately following from 6 upwards were the Hawthorns engines, and of the earlier engines of that line the Coronation, Wilberforce, Swift and Sunbeam were amongst the most successful. The Hawthorns also built the Hurricane in 1837 with 10 foot driving wheels to carry out Brunel's idea of immense speed, and when no larger wheels could be designed, they built the Thunderer with 6 foot coupled wheels geared 3 to 1 so as to be equivalent to an 18 foot wheel. The Thunderer, like the Hurricane, was short of power. The latter could take two of the smaller Great Western carriages. The Thunderer objected to more than one, and did better without any.

To the Hawthorns' inventions many of the recent locomotive designs

may be traced, as, e.g., the Fontaine engine, which is is clearly the outcome of the Thunderer. They also introduced the perforated steam pipe taking steam all along the boiler and saving the dome. They used return tubes through the steam space to superheat the steam, the chimney being at the back of the engine over the firebox, and they gave the first idea of the Joy gear by dispensing with eccentrics and driving the valve motion from a pin in the connecting rod. They greatly simplified many of the details of the locomotive, and were the first to use four eccentrics and only one lever to do all the reversing. Another great name that ought to be mentioned is that of Bury, nor should his partner Kennedy be forgotten.

It must always be remembered that as 1825 is the date when railways assumed their present shape and modern rudiments, so 1830 is the year from which the modern locomotive really dates, and that not the Rocket but the Planet is the type and base of the present engine. It is difficult now to decide to whom the leading features of the Planet are due. The enormous working expenses of the early engines, including the Rocket, and the Liverpool and Manchester engines like her, left but little improvement, excepting as to speed, in the locomotive over horse traction, and no advantage whatever over rope traction. Hackworth's "Globe" engine, Stephenson's Planet and Bury's Liverpool all made their in appearance in 1830, and were the three first horizontal cylinder engines that were built. They all embodied the ideas of the present locomotives, and Bury's engine was closely copied both by Norris and Baldwin, the first practical American builders. Hackworth's "Globe" saved the locomotive from being "bounced" from the Stockton and Darlington, as up to her time, horses were the cheaper and more reliable power, but the Planet enabled builders to turn over a new leaf and produce an engine that was something better than an expensive toy.

Thursday, 28th February.

E. P. HANNAFORD, Vice-President, in the Chair.

The discussion of MR. T. T. VERNON SMITH'S paper on the Development of the Locomotive occupied the whole evening.

E. P. HANNAFORD, Vice-President, in the Chair.

The following Candidates having been balloted for were declared duly

By J. DAVIS BARNETT, M. CAN. Soc. C. E.

The author wishes to record a few notes on the design and construction of railway shops, and purposes not only to treat of the peculiarities that mark those of North America, but also to contrast some features with European practice, and if possible to indicate what is and what may be the modern development and progress in this art.

LOCATION.

A natural starting point is the location of the shops with reference to the terminal stations of the railway, and to some large town; also the choice of land and its amount. A statement of the best American practice in this matter is given by Mr. C. Paine in the chapter on "Shops and Engine Houses" in his "Elements of Railroading." A point he strongly emphasizes, that more than enough land should at first be purchased (even if afterwards it is sold as building lots), will receive a unanimous endorsement.

FOUNDATIONS.

It would, for the present purpose, be a waste of time to enumerate those matters common to all dry, solid and effective foundations, but it may be remarked that in Northern climates, it is better that the sides of foundation walls and piers be sloped rather than stepped, so as to prevent as much as possible the earth gripping the wall, as it expands under the action of frost.

When the main supports of the overhead weights-such as roof-principals, crane-tracks, shafting, etc., are iron pillars; and "made ground covers to any depth the natural foundation bed, the comparatively low price of iron has proved it to be economical to build short foundation piers, and to allow the iron pillars to run down below floor level, to the piers, instead of carrying up the piers to floor level, the pillars being socketed into broad cast-iron bases, bedded in cement.

Pillar footings and column bases, when above floor level, are usually bedded on rolled sheet or melted pig lead. The author is of the opinion that the running in, between base and cope stone, of a fine cement grout, would be quite as neat and effective, and certainly cheaper. Less concentrated weights, such as stationary engine and pump beds, and the footings of heavy machine tools, are satisfactorily bedded on their foundations with melted stick-sulphur.

Another instance of iron being used, to reduce the first cost of foundation, may be seen in the new erecting shop of the Grand Trunk Ry. at Stratford, where, instead of making continuous walls to carry the rails supporting the traverser table, it was found less costly and quite as efficient to build disconnected piers, and span them with wrought iron beams of I section, which carry the rails laid upon them longitudinally, and support the flooring laid transversely.

WALLS.

It is advisable to emphasize the apparent wall construction; a good shop looks substantial. This is best accomplished by using bold pilasters or large piers to receive all roof and floor beams, setting them so that they stand out prominently, and spanning the panel between them with comparatively thin bonded walls, free from bats, if of brick.

This method of straight lines and prominent offsets not only satisfies the eye, but is of pronounced value in localizing and absorbing the vibrations received from the roof or machinery, and closer attention to these matters would result in our shops having a less tame-a less ugly— appearance, and a longer safe life. The permitted outlay on such new works rarely admits of the wall surface being broken into ornamental

lines, or varied in color; but it is always possible to make a strong bony skeleton, whose very angularity will instinctively satisfy, by appearing to be quite equal to its special duty.

ENGINE HOUSES OR LOCOMOTIVE SHEDS.

Intended for little else than the temporary storage of locomotives, engine houses in America vary more in first cost and permanence of material used, than in type of design. The ordinary arrangement in plan is an annulus or segment of an annulus-whose centre is that of the unroofed turntable, giving access to the radial tracks each leading into a single locomotive stall. The economics in the construction of the annulus are either a narrow span of trussed ridge roof; or a so called flat roof (angle 5°), offering little obstruction to wind, and permitting the use of an inexpensive roof covering: low walls-the roof timbers are sometimes lower than the top of the engine chimney-and a short length of wall, as it is limited to the ends and outer ring, the inner ring being formed by the wooden door and door posts. A flat roof supported by pillars gives a very stiff building for the limited amount of material used, and if sloped inwards, the roof drainage is a simple matter.

The stack of the locomotive naturally going to the higher part of the building brings its front end close to the outer wall containing the windows, so that the most light is received where it is needed-on the moving parts of the machine.

Extending back into sparsely settled districts, as do many of the new railways on this continent, the primary consideration, in the erection of their buildings is low first cost, a future development of traffic, being relied upon to provide the revenue for erecting permanent structures. Hence, segmental engine houses of wood, with flat gravel-covered roofs are common, and if the materials for the ashpit, and its drainage, do not prove unusually expensive, they can be built for $850 per stall, the foundation consisting of cedar posts, 6 or 8 feet apart, carrying a mud sill, on which rests a pine frame of 6 to 8 ins. square scantlings, the roof being single sheeted with 1 or 14 in. tongued boards, and coated with paper felt, tar and gravel; the ashpit, 25 ft. long, being of brick or stone, and one iron smoke-jack being provided. The shell of a similarly roofed building with brick walls and stone foundation costs about $1000 per stall.

It was common some years ago in northern climates to sheet with inch boards on both sides of the scantling, and to fill in between with sawdust. This hastened decay by holding water and vermin, and the better practice now prevails of putting both sheetings outside, with tarred felt or thick paper between them. The use of clapboards or