A WATER RAILWAY.—THE "SWITCHBACK" SURPASSED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8596, 11 September 1889, Page 3

A WATER RAILWAY.—THE "SWITCHBACK" SURPASSED.

The Paris correspondent of the Daily News gives an account of tho the so-called " Chemin de Fer GUssant,'' flr " Blide Railway," which was trisd no the Esplanade dcs Invalidea within the . exhibition ,6'S ih*ly 2p'. The new invention is a contrivance for enabling trains.to iun, fey means of water power, at a speed hitherto tfndr^amt of. Tho train consisted of four carriages, affording room for about 100 passengers. The carriages hud no wheels, being supported at the corners by blocks of iron of a size somewhat larger than a brick, which rested upon a double lino of iron girders. Having taken our seats and the signal being given, we glided along vefy gently for the space of ft few yards, !when Suddenly we gathered speed; two or three, tugs were felt, add we were flying on at the p'ai-e of an ordinary train, bat an smoothly 'as a boat on the river. The absence of any vibration,'shaking1, of "tail motion "was Wonderful, la a hydraulic train travelling at fpll . speed—that is to say, at the rate of 87 to 124 milt) sn hour-—there would be almost no consciousness of motion. The sliding railway was invented in 1868 by an engineer named Girard, who was killed in the Fra'ncb-Gertflan war, and it has been improved to its present state by one ,of his assistant-engineere, M. Barre\ As has already been mentioned, the hydraulic carriages have no wheels, these being replaced by hollow slides fitting n^ion a Hat and wide rail, and grooved on the inner surface. Whda it is desired to set the carriage in m'oti6n^water is forced into the slide or skate of the carriage ttom a reservoir by compressed air, aud, seeking to edcape, it spreads over the under surface of the slide, which it raises about a nail's thickness above the tail. The slides thus resting not on the rail's, but.6'n a film of water, are in a perfectly mobile condition; in' facty the pressure of the forefinger is sufficient to displace a carriage thus supported. The propelling force 3s supplied by pillars which stand at' regular intervals on. the line between the rails. Running underneath every caffiafle^ is an iron raok, about five inches wioe, fitted with paddles. Ab the foremnst carriage passes in front of the pillar a tap on the latter is opened automatically, and a stream of water at high pressure ib 3ire6ted oh the paddles. This drives the train on,- and by the time the last carriage has gone past the tat) (whidh {hen closes) the foremost one is in front of the neSt tap ( the water's action thus being pohtinu'ous. The dangef of running off the rails is" reduced to a minimum, the centre of gravity of the carriages being scarcely more than a Couple of feet from the rails. Where no natural water supply is available, a propelling machine every 12 miles or so would be sufficient to keep trains going at full speed. The consumption of coal per passenger would be one-tenth only of the usual quantity.