gineers' and clerks' salaries, mens' wages, cost of ballast, carriage of ditto, cost of repairs to permanent way, as well as that of relaying, the cost of new articles, &c. The locomotive expenditure should be shown in coke, carriage, water, gas, wages to engine-men, firemen, laborers, and mechanics, oil, grease, waste, tools, wood, iron, brass, copper, and the nature of the repairs; which should also be shown in the coach and carrying repairs. The number of miles travelled by the engines in each department; the number of tons of goods, gross and nett, carried one mile, classed according to the rates of carriage; the number of passengers carried one mile. the classes being distinguished; the weight of every train, the expenditure of fixed engines in detail, the cost of inclined planes, their gradients, velocity of the descent with definite weights and carriages, the flexure of rails and resistance to rolling, comparing the method by pendulum wheels with others; and, generally, every item of expenditure, under whatever class it may arise, which can lead to a comparison with that of other railways similarly circumstanced.

Having thus given every detail respecting the cost of working the line, the next step should be to classify them, so as to give the outlay per passenger and per ton per mile, under the several heads of coaching and carrying departments; the proper proportion of all the other items being placed against the coaching, or the carrying, as the case may be. It will then be desirable to give, per passenger, and per ton per mile, respectively, the cost of porterage, police, coach repairs, wagon repairs, office expenses, locomotive power, and maintenance of way; coke, repairs, wages and water, as respects the engines, being given separately, as well as collectively and the wages, ballast, carriage, inaterials and tools, in the maintenance of the way, distinguished in like manner, the whole being reduced to a series of tabulated forms, so as to present at one view, all the statistical facts connected with every operation on the whole railway.

If we look back at the rapid progress which we have made in the science of locomotion during the last half-dozen years, and at the degree of comfort and accommodation, which, in conjunction with rapidity of transport, have been afforded to the public, at, in most cases, so very moderate a cost, the strides by which we have attained our present advanced position, are certainly sufficiently gigantic; but if we look forward, it requires but little of the gift of divination to perceive, that in a very few years more, a still greater change will take place, more particularly in the essential article of comfort. In a mode of transit so essentially new, and in which all our previous machines and appliances had to be completely reorganized, and numerous inventions of almost every kind were to be produced at a moment's call, to meet the various difficulties and wants which were continually arising out of such a novel mode of conducting the business of travelling in what may be called the wholesale way, it has been singularly fortunate, that in almost every instance, the various railway companies have kept on the safe side, that is to say, they have not done too much. They have erred on the best side they could commit an error on; they have been too cautious. It seems as if it required a certain time merely to travel at twenty miles an hour, and let the inind sober down a little before much else could be attempted. This feeling may now be rapidly expected to give way, and we shall find that as confidence is acquired, all the requisite arrangements will become consolidated in much more perfect and improved forms.

There is nothing now which ought to be more attended to by railway companies, than keeping their fares down; and this has in most instances been very much neglected. When parties possess such a complete mo nopoly as a railway, they should be particularly careful not to show it

The expenses in many instances are certainly very great, and the comp a nies have much to suffer in their progress through Parliamen, and the rough grinding they have generally received from the rapaciousness of landowners. Accidents, too, must happen, estimates will be exceeded, and these sources of expenditure must be met by a corresponding rate of price; but when the railways are made, the feeling seems to be too general among some of these proprietors, that this is the moment for making reprisals upon the public for all losses, vexations, mishaps and mistakes.

In some cases railways have charged more for the carriage of passengers than the stages or mails did, trusting to beat them on the question of time only. In fact the receipts are great; a certain sum must be set aside for a good dividend, and the rest is to be spent somehow or other. The same thing is observable in the statistics of the road trusts, many of them largely in debt, yet spending their money on fancied improvements, instead of getting out of debt, and then lowering the tolls.

The effect of this on travelling is fully shown in the report of the Irish Railway Commission. For instance, the travellers from Brussels to Antwerp by railway in the year 1836 were 872,893, whereas these on the Liverpool and Manchester railway for the same year were only 522,991, being the largest number for any year since the opening. Now, the population of Brussels, Antwerp and Mechlin was 209,200, while that of Liverpool, Manchester and Warrington was 586,812, considerably more than double, or the ratio of population was as 2:327 to 1, while that of the travelling was only as 599 to 1. We must seek for the solution of this problem in the respective fares of the two companies. In the Liverpool and Manchester railway, Mr. Pambour states, that there are 13 first-class trains to 16 second class and as the last class hold most passengers, suppose we 13 X 5.5s. +16 × 4s. 135.5 omit the mails, and say =46724 shillings, the average fare. We have no means of ascertaining the numbers on the Brussels railway, but if we take the dearest and cheapest, and compare them in the same ratio as we did the others, we shall have 64.70 29

29

29

350X13+1 20 × 16

29

-2 francs 23 cents per passenger on the average, or about 1.784 shillings, or 4s. 84. in the one case, and Is. 91d. in the other, or, allowing for the value of money in the two countries, about double the price; and this double price is accompanied with only one-fourth of the travelling, the ratio of population to that of travelling being very nearly 4 to 1. A still stronger case is that of the Paisley canal, were the fly-boat fare is 1d. per mile. Here, with a population of 262,725, the passengers in 1835 were 373,290, while in the same year, with a population of 486,812, the Liverpool and Manchester railway had only 473,849 passengers. The railway company from Paris to St. Germain's has tried the experiment of low prices with complete success; their greatest reduction of fares was at the station of Nanterre, where they were lowered from 74d. to 5d. and the result was, that 12 days, ending the 4th December, 1838, at the low fares, compared with 12 days ending November 22, at the high ones, showed an increase of 839 passengers; and although the diminution in price was 34 per cent., the increase in the amount received was 16 per cent. We therefore strongly recommend that fares should be moderate, or it will form the best plea in the world for the establishment of competing lines; and it should be remembered that railways will to a certain extent drive vans and wagons off the road, which were the ordinary vehicles for the travelling poor,

and they ought to have a substitute if it were merely an open box without seats. Soldiers are generally conveyed at Id. each per mile, and their baggage at 3d. per ton per mile; this is less than half what is charged on some railways in second-class carriages.

The annexed extract shows the difference in the cost of railroads in England and in this Country.

Lieut. Lecount says, that "Railways with two lines of rails in very favorable situations have been completed for 10,000l. per mile in England. This, however, must be taken as the exception, and not as the rule. Under very unfavorable circumstances they have cost 50,000l. per mile; and of course there will be found an expense per mile at all differences between these two, which may fairly be taken as the extreme limits. Now it is. certain, that with a line 80 miles in length, a traffic of 75 tons of goods per day each way, or with 35 tons of goods and 60 passengers per day each way, the railway, if even constructed for 12,000l. per mile, which will rarely happen, would not afford a dividend of more than a quarter per cent., and (our numbers throughout meaning daily each way) it would require 100 tons of gools, or 160 passengers, or 50 tons of goods and 80 passengers, to pay 1 per cent.; 125 tons of goods, or 200 passengers, or 62 tons of goods and 100 passengers, would but little exceed 13 per cent.; and it would take 200 tons of goods, or 320 passengers, or 100 tons of goods with 160 passengers, to pay 41 per cent.

The Americans have such facilities for these constructions, that 1600 miles of railroad have been made in that country, (a good deal of it, however, being only single line.) at an average cost of only 50817. per mile; whereas in England the mere permanent way alone would amount to 44001. per mile, if the rails were 45 lbs. to the yard, and laid upon longitudinal timbers; 49001. per mile, with rails 42 lbs. per yard, having chairs and cast iron supports between them, on longitudinal timbers;5300l. per mile, with rails 42 lbs. per yard, on blocks 3 feet apart; 4,800l. per mile, with the same sized rails on wooden sleepers; 56007. per mile for 62 lb. rails, on blocks 4 feet apart, and 51001. for the same rails on wooden sleepers; 6000l. per mile for rails of 75 lb. per yard on blocks 5 feet apart, and 5500l. per mile for the same on sleepers. These prices do not include laying the way, ballasting and draining. Thus we see that the mere cost of the permanent way in this country, averaging 5200l. per mile, exceeds that of the whole expense of a complete railway in America; and 75 lb. rails on blocks and sleepers, including laying, ballasting, sidings turnplates and every expense, has exceeded 8000l. per mile.

(To be continued.)

THE HONORABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S STEAM SHIP, THE "QUEEN." The fine vessel, which is of the same class as the government steamers, Medea Phoenix, Salamander, and Rhadamanthus, was built at Limehouse by Messrs. Curling and Young, the celebrated builders of the British Queen and President, and fitted with a pair of engines of 110 horse power each, by Messrs. Seaward & Co., of the Canal Iron Works. She is furnished with Hall's patent condensers, with apparatus for supplying the boilers with distilled water to make good the waste. The slides are of

Messrs. Seaward's patent. The armament consists of four 32 pounders, besides two long guns of 8 inch calibre, one forward and the other aft, intended to carry hollow shot; they move upon slides and fixed pivots, which enables them to take a much wider range than the ordinary carriage can give.

The following are the principal dimensions of her hull and machinery:

Weight of the water they contain when filled,
Weight of the coal carried,

Which at 16 tons per diem is sufficient for

6

14 feet.

21 ft. 6 inches.

220 tons.

42

44

On Thursday the 24th ult. the "Queen," with a party of naval and scientific gentlemen on board, made an experimental trip from Blackwall down the river as far as Greenhithe. When she was got under way, we perceived that the Archimedes, which was lying a little farther down the river, had her steam up, and was ready for a run. Accordingly, as soon as we were nearly on her quarter, she started, and the two vessels maintained nearly the same relative positions for some time, until we stopped to take a party on board, when the Archimedes shot a-head, and as she drew about 5 feet less water than the Queen, she was enabled to keep nearer in shore, so as not to feel the full influence of the tide. Notwithstanding this advantage the Archimedes did not seem to gain upon us, by which we judge her speed through the water to have been rather less, or at least not more than ours. The Archimedes returned without having proceeded so far as Erith, or having ascertained her rate through the water; but, by comparison with the speed of the Queen, as found at the measured mile in Long reach, we should suppose it to have been about 9 statute miles an hour. As she passed us on her return she fired a salute of two guns, we suppose in token of victory. We then proceeded to Long reach, where we noticed the time of running a mile, first against both wind and tide, then with both in favor. The results were as follows:

Time of running the mile against the tide

Time of running the mile with the tide

9'3"

4'44"

whence we deduce the speed of the vessel over the ground.

Against the tide,

With the tide,

The number of revolutions of the wheels per minute, with wind and tide

in favor, was 191—against wind and tide, 18, which shows that the difference of speed through the water must have been more than half a mile an hour.

46

The mean draught of water was about 14 feet 6 inches, and the dip of the floats 3 feet 9 inches; but, as the ship had a list to starboard," the dip of the larboard wheel was a little less, and that of the starboard wheel a little more than the above; which accounts for the fact, that the back-water from the latter was rather considerable, while there was nothing but a slight fall of spray from the former, through which the wheel was distinctly seen.

The pressure in the boiler before the experiment, was 5 lbs. on the square inch, but just before we arrived at the measured mile, it had fallen to 47 lbs. The gauge on the starboard condenser marked 29 inches of mercury, and that on the larboard condenser 2911; the oscillations were seldom greater than of an inch, sometimes even less. The motion of the engines was during the whole trip remarkably smooth and regular.

Having finished the above experiments, we were summoned to an elegant and substantial cold collation, which had been prepared by our hospitable entertainers, the Messrs. Seaward, and the day passed very agreeably, in spite of the weather, which was by no means such as to enhance the pleasure of an excursion by water.

ON STEAM BOILERS AND STEAM ENGINES.-By Josiah Parkes, M. Inst C. E.

In a preceding communication the author had treated of the amount of evaporation in different kinds of boilers in common use in the present, he treats of their peculiar and relative merits as evaporative vessels; the laws which regulate the amount of evaporation for assigned heated surfaces; and the practical rules whereby the performance of boilers may be tested. The water evaporated and fuel consumed, had been tabulated in the previous communication; the author now gives the dimensions of the several boilers-the area of the grates-the area of heat-absorbing surfaces, and the rates of combustion and evaporation. The connexion of the boiler with the engine as regards the proportion of boiler to engine power, is reserved for consideration in a subsequent communication; the attention is now confined to the influence of the proportions of the parts on the performance of boilers for a given weight of coal. Evaporation may be considered as the measure of the useful effect obtained from any weight of fuel, or, together with the duty done by an engine, the measure of the useful effect of a given weight of water in the shape of steam. The author insists on the importance of ascertaining with accuracy the weight of the water, which in the shape of steam has passed through the cylinder of an engine. The weight of water, or quantity of steam, requisite for producing a given effect or duty, was the subject of continual research by Smeaton; and the basis of Watt's discoveries.

The author being led to make observations on evaporation twenty years ago, soon perceived that the completeness and rate of combustion, the proportion of the grates to the combustion effected upon them and to the whole heat-absorbing surface, were important elements in evaporative economy. These elements, in the author's own experiments at Warwick, where slow combustion was pushed to nearly its furthest limit-in those of Smeaton at Long Benton-of Rennie and Watt at the Albion Mills-of M. de Pambour on the locomotive engine, in which intensity of combustion and evaporative power are at their highest limits-of Nicholas Wood on the Killingworth engine and of Mr. Henwood, and others, on the Cornish boil