Rambles on Railways

by Sir Cusack P. Roney

“But there is an element of safety in this system of locomotive working which no other railway possesses.

“The middle rail not only enables the engine to surmount, and to draw its train up these gradients, but also affords a means of applying any required amount of extra brake power for checking the speed, or for stopping any detached vehicles during the descent, and it further acts by the use of horizontal guiding wheels on the different vehicles as a most perfect safeguard, to prevent engines, carriages or waggons from leaving the rails, in consequence either of defects in the bearing rails or of failure in any part of the rolling stock. The safest portions of the proposed railway ought indeed, under proper management, to be those on which, the gradients being steeper than 1 in 25, the middle rail will be employed.

“There is no difficulty in so applying and securing that middle rail, and making it virtually one continuous bar, as to preclude the possibility of accident from its weakness or from the failure of its fastenings, and the only question to my mind is whether it would not be desirable still further to extend its application to gradients less steep than 1 in 25. It would apparently be advantageous to do so, not only for the sake of obtaining increased adhesion with less proportional weight, and therefore economical traction, but also with a view to greater security, especially on curved portions of the line.”

The French Imperial Commission ordered to be present at Mr. Fell’s experiments, consisted of M. Conte, ingénieur en chef des Ponts et Chaussées de France, as President, with MM. Bochet, ingénieur en chef des mines, Guinard, ingénieur des Ponts et Chaussées, and Perrin, ingénieur des mines, as his colleagues. These gentlemen completed a voluminous and elaborate report of thirty-one pages of printed matter, accompanied by drawings, with the following “conclusions”:—

“From the experiments which have been described, and which the Commission has judged unnecessary to continue any further, and from the different verifications which it has made, the Commission has arrived at the conviction:

“First.—That the system of traction proposed by Mr. Fell is applicable for the passage of Mont Cenis, with the engines of the type which worked at the last trials.

“Second.—That this system presents no danger as regards the public security on steep inclines and on sharp curves, since, on the contrary, the existence of the centre-rail furnishes a guarantee against getting off the rails, and at the same time a powerful means of stopping the trains.

“Third.—That, with the exception of some points of detail, the study of which has not been made, but which present no serious difficulty, this system may from the present time be considered as applicable to the crossing of the mountain. That, with regard especially to the working of the line during the winter season, the covered ways proposed by Mr. Fell will be sufficient to secure the regularity of the service.

“Fourth.—That there is no absolute incompatibility, in consequence of the vicinity of the railway and the ordinary road, one to the other, provided that proper protective works be erected to effectually separate them.”

We cannot conclude our notice of the part which was taken by France in the trials on the Mont Cenis without referring to the fact, that the Emperor Napoleon took a warm interest in this subject, and it is owing to the intervention of His Majesty that, not only was the portion of the Mont Cenis roadway granted to Mr. Fell for his experiments, but subsequently the concession, under the terms of which the line across the mountain has been constructed. His Majesty expressed an opinion several years ago, that increased adhesion, and thereby increased power, would be obtained for engines, by the adoption of a third or centre rail, along the sides of which additional wheels would be run. An engine was actually constructed in France, at the instance of Baron Seguier, to illustrate the system; but the third rail was found useless at high speeds, and with flat gradients. When, however, Mr. Fell propounded the plan of centre rail for slow speed and steep gradients, the conviction of His Majesty was, that Mr. Fell was right. Hence, he afforded him his gracious patronage and support; without them, Mr. Fell would probably have had difficulties, even greater than he now has to contend with, in bringing his invention into practice.