On the canals of Deûle and Neufossés locomotive haulage is employed for a total length of about 50 miles. The line is of metre gauge, and the locomotives, of which there are twenty-two, weigh from six to ten tons each. The speed employed, however, is only about 1¼ miles per hour, at which rate each locomotive can draw about 1000 tons.
In some interesting experiments lately made on French canals, a railway was laid down on the towing-path, about a yard from the brink of the canal, and a small locomotive of about four tons weight was placed upon it. The wheels were coupled and geared, with a driving wheel making 140 revolutions per minute, and allowing a maximum speed of 7 miles per hour. The engine, which was worked by one man, was attached to a cable about 80 yards long, and then drew a team of barges with complete success. It was found capable of drawing a net load of 100 tons of goods for each ton of its own weight. The actual speed was 2·4 miles per hour, and the average speed, allowing for stoppages, 1·8 miles per hour. With horses the average speed on the same canals was only 0·9 mile per hour, so that an important saving in time, as well as of expense, was obtained. The system has since been tried on a larger scale upon the canals between Dunkirk and Paris.
It seems, on a survey of the various systems heretofore applied to canal towage, that they may be divided into two categories. In the most important of these, the fulcrum lies out of the water, as in chain and wire-rope towage, in the employment of grapplers, in locomotive towage, and in the use of horses and men. In the other category, we find paddle-wheels and screw-propellers, which have their fulcrum in the water. In the former category, the amount of power utilised is much greater than in the latter, and, for that reason, chain, wire-rope, or locomotive towage would appear to be preferable, more especially so, as the use of screw propellers or paddle-wheels has a tendency to damage the embankments of the canal, and thereby to increase the expense of maintenance.
Cable Traction on the St. Maurice Canal.
