A RAILWAY IN THE SEA.

Western Star, Issue 2152, 30 October 1897, Page 6

A RAILWAY IN THE SEA.

The railway in the sea, which is now being constructed near Brighton, is one of the most remarkable locomotive experiments ever made, There is at St. Malo, in Brittany, a car resting on a submerged line of rails which is pulled across the harbour by a chain, and thus conveys passengers a distance of 110 yards. But the Brighton car will be self-propelling, and the line is more than thiee miles long, being laid along the coast from Brighton to Kottingdean, about 100 yards from the chalk cliffs. The car will start from a small iron jetty at Brighton, and there is a similar structure at Rottingdean. The rails are laid on concrete blocks about 3 feet apart, and morticed into the sound rock, the height of the blocks varying with the irregularities of thn snore. The line conists of tour rails laid as two tracks of 2ft. in gauge, spaced about 10ft. outer rails, thus giving an effective gauge of 18ft., this being necessary to give the required stability to the cars. At •high, tide the depth of water over the rails is 15ft. Although most violent gales occurred in the winter of 1894-5, no damage whatever was done to the permanent way, so that it possesses ample strength to resist the force of the sea. The car is on sixteen wheels, 33iu. in diameter, carrying the pasengers at a height of 24tt.above the level of the rails. The four main legs are tubes of drawn steel llin. in diameter. At the bottom of each leg is a bogie truck having four wheels, the outside of the bogie being shaped like a double-ended boat to facilitate its passage through the water and also to remove any obstructions from the rails. The tops of the main legs are firmly built into lattice girder work carrying the deck, and the structure is of great strength, although offering but a small surface to the waves. The main deck measurrs 50ft. long and 22ft. wide. Seats with reversible backs are provided to enable passengers to face the direction in which the car is going. The centre space of the deck is occupied by the saloon, and the roof of the saloon is railed round and forms a promenade deck. On this upper deck is placed the controling apparatus for driving and stopping the cars. The accommodation is for 100 to 150 passengers. The speed will be between six and eight miles an hour. The driving machinery consists of two 30-horse power electric motors placed vertically immediately over two of the main legs, one on each side of the car, the shafting being carried down inside and communicated with toothed gearing which actuates the wheels. The brakes are worked by rods passing down the remaining two legs. This novel sea railway is the idea of Mr. Magnus Volk, of the Brighton Electric Railway. It will be opened in May.