86

be exempt from the operation of the
same law.

Viewing Roads as civilizers, I have
for many years turned my studies to the
process of cheapening their structure,
and especially in our Colonies. The result I have arrived at is, that a simple
light rail with a light Engine is the
cheapest, the most easily constructed,
and the cheapest and most easily worked
road—being perfectly fitted for curving
valley lines in mountainous countries.
I therefore beg respectfully to offer to
your attention the enclosed statement
and plan, which was last year forwarded
to Ceylon by the Secretary for the
Colonial Office, and laid before the
Government there. It was published in
the "Columbo Overland Observer" in
September, 1861, and was reprinted in
similar terms, with his own name attached, by Mr. Fitzgibbon, the Engineer
to the Dun Mountain Copper Company
in New Zealand, without acknowledgment. I enclose a copy.

Should your Excellency deem it desirable to sanction this system in New
Zealand, Ten miles of permanent way
complete, with one light Locomotive and
Twenty Vehicles can be delivered in
England free on board, for the sum of
Thirteen thousand five hundred pounds,
or £1,350 per mile.

Thoroughly responsible parties would
undertake this under my superintendence here.

I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient

Faithful Servant,
WILLIAM BRIDGES ADAMS.

To His Excellency
Sir George Grey, K. C. B.
&c., &c., &c.,
Governor of New Zealand.

(Circular—Enclosure 2)

Mr [W.] BRIDGES ADAMS, of London, the earliest
advocate for the proportionate adjustment of power
and weight to the requirements of local traffic
on railways, has produced a system of rails, en-
gines, and trains, adapted for Branch lines and
Colonies, at a very small comparative cost. The
rail is five inches in depth, equal to that of the
ordinary English standard, but weighing only from
25 to 28 pounds per yard. It is fished at the joints
and secured by transverse trenails of hard wood
between longitudinal timbers of small scantling,
which give great vertical and horizontal stiffness,
and is trenailed down to cross ties at intervals of
nine feet. The gauge of way is three feet six inches,

but may be wider if preferred. The engine is
on four coupled wheels, the total weight being
eight tons, equally distributed. It is adapted
for speeds of fifteen to twenty miles per hour,
and carries fuel and water for that distance. It
will be seen that the engine being only one
fourth of the ordinary modern weight, will not
crush the rails which are one-third the ordinary
weight, while the bearing surface of the timber
sleepers on the ground or ballast, is little less
than the ordinary area. It may be laid where
needful without ballast, will be perfectly efficient
in dry weather, and will be little liable to disturbance in rain.

In economising traction, it is important so to
construct the vehicles that they may be converti-
ble to various uses, as for example the conveyance
both of cotton bales and passengers. It is also
important that the weight of the vehicles should
not exceed one half the weight of the load. The
vehicles on this system weigh one ton and a
quarter, and the load is two tons and a half.
Removable seats are provided so that the wagon
becomes an open carriage, capable also of being
covered in, and by a peculiar construction of
springs, it will carry a few passengers as easily
as a heavy load of goods, the power of the springs
varying with the load, and saving the road from
damage. The axles run loose in their boxes, and
the wheels of the carriage run independently on
their axles. One carriage will carry forty passen-
gers. If required, first class bodies can be
applied on the same frames.

The engine and train are adapted to work
curves of three to four chains radius, and will
ascend slopes of one in twenty, with a gross load
of twenty tons, and one hundred and sixty tons
on the level. There may occasionally be a need
of passing up a steep slope, but with their trains
adapted to sharp curves there is no difficulty in
skirting hills, instead of ascending them pursuing
the valley lines. Assuming a continuous
gradient of one in one hundred, the gross load
will be sixty-five tons. If merely short runs of
one per hundred, the load may be taken at one
hundred tons and the net or paying loads at
sixty tons. The same rails may be used for
horse traction, but in such case it will be needful
to provide a good road for the horses feet. The
engine, with its wheels set further apart, and
increased in diameter, can be applied for the
conveyance of passengers at thirty miles per
hour.

The cost of laying down the rails must of
course vary with circumstances and localities.
In the plains of Australia and India it could
scarcely exceed one to two hundred pounds per
mile. Bridges are not included in the estimate,
but as the heaviest portion of the train does not
exceed ten cwt. per foot run, very light bridges
—which may be exported—will suffice. The
sides of ordinary roads may be taken advan-
tage of.

The weight of ten miles of line, one engine,
and twenty vehicles, including rails, sleepers and
fastenings, will not exceed seven hundred and
eighty tons—equal to the transit in one train of
eight hundred passengers, or fifty tons net
of goods, so that the freight may be calculated.
The cost of this delivered in England will be
at the present time £—