114 XIINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS. Mr. BEXEDICTwished t.o call attention to the cylindrical iron wagons at present used on theEastern Bengal railway. They weighed about 6 tons, were 10 feet in diameter, and were built to carry 10 tons, but as a rule they were only loaded with 7 tons of jute in bales. They had lately been tested in an accident that happenedon theline just before heleft India. The train was composed of twenty-nine vehicles, exclusive of theengine and t.endor, andthere were eightempty cylindrical wagons in the fore part of the train. When the train left theline, owing to a rail having been taken out, it was travelling at a speed of 18 miles an hour, and it was brought up in a distance of 100 feet. Part of the train, 350 feet long, was jammed into a space of about 100 feet. All the timber wagons in front of the cylindrical wagons, some loaded and some empty, were smashed, as was also one behind the cylindrical wagons. The cylindrical wagonsthemselves were so little damaged, that with a few repairs done on the spot, they were run down on their own wheels and axles two days afterwards to the workshops, which were 40 miles distant. Mr. GR~VERhoped some explanation mould be given by traffic managers or others of the interesting diagrams exhibited, and the extraordinary differencesrepresented by them.Comparing the wagons of the Western Railway of France, showing a capacity per ton of dead weight of 2 tons 11 cwt. l qr., with the wagons of the London andNorth-Western, the Great Xorthern, and the Midland, which varied from 1 ton 10 cwt. upwards, it was evident that one or the other must be wrong, and he trusted some expla- nation would be given of differences so remarkable. Wagons nearly always failed by hogging. The nearer together the wheels were placed the greater was the amount of hogging, and the more the wheelbase was increased thegreater was thestability of the wagon. As it followed that the stability of the vehicle would be as the square of the span, it was in many respects important to keep the wheels as far apart aspossible, but if too far apart it was difficult to get roundcurves, which were everyday becoming smaller and smaller, so that there were two opposite requirements to be considered. The question was whether some bogie arrange- ment was not preferable. The results shown from America were not such as to give an exalted ideaof the merits of bogies, and but for the redeeming features exhibited in one narrow-gauge line, it would seem that the less one had to do with them the better. He had endeavoured so to arrange a wagon as to be able to put the wheels atthe two extremities to get the maximumamount of rigidity, and at thesame time to adapt thebogie to a four-wheeled Downloaded by [] on [13/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. R AILWAY ROLLINGRAILWAY STOCE. 115 vehicle. 1.t was remarkable that so much had been done to apply bogies to engines, while scarcely any trouble was taken to apply radiating axles to wagons or carriages, yet therewas, in thecase of an ordinary train, ten times the weight behind the engine that there was in the engine itself, and though there was not actually so great an impact upon each particular wheel, yet in the aggre- gate there was considerably more weight passing over the rails. The late Mr. Stephenson used to say, that more injury was done by bad rolling stock than by heavyengines, and no doubt that was the case. The inequality of the blows coming upon the vehicles in passing round a curve, however small, was a matter worthy of observation. There appeared with rigid stock to be no means of getting a fair shock either through the drawbar or on the buffer- heads. He maintained that it ought to be possible to radiate the extremities of thc vehicles, the drawbar, the buffer, and the axle, so as to receive a fair blow upon them in whatever position they might be ; and until thatwas done it would be found impossible to reduce the enormous dead weights represented on theEnglish lines. Mr. C. DOUGLASFOX thought it surprising that so practical a people as the Americans should have gone on for so many years with such an unsatisfactory state of things in reference to the proportion of paying load to dead weight.While the English results were bad, the American were even worse. This had pro- bably resulted from the introduction of the bogie t.ruck in the first instance, leading to the use of long wagons, which had been almostuniversally adopted untilthe presenttime. The able managers of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had seen the objections to that class of wagon, and had of late years taken some steps to modify it, and the result had been the introduction ofshorter wagons. It hadfallen to hislot to investigate t.he subject in connection with a railway in Canada, and it wa,s found that the practical inconvenience of a long wagon, apart from the question of dead weight, was most serious, not only from the effect of the large amount of empty running that must take place with wagons of large capacity, but also from the fact that they were most inconvenient for shunting at roadside stations. Many such wagons were so heavy that it was impossible to shunt them with- Qut horses, or a locomotive at each station. The consequence had been that, whereas it was of importance in many cases to have local sidings for the service of small traffic, it became practically difficult to deal with it at all. In Canada, instead of adopting the American system of very long wagons, he had employed more I3 Downloaded by [] on [13/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 116 MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS. moderate lengths, andbeneficial results had arisenfrom the change. There could be no doubt that the smaller the size of the wagon to carry a fair load in proportion to theexpense involved(for whatever the size, the cost of the wheels, axles, springs, and other fittings had to be dealt with), the more likely it was to be a handy and useful vehicle. With regard to the proportion of dead weight, that must greatly depend upon the character of the materials to be carried. The figures in the diagramswere deceptive, unless a statement was given (as it was in a few instances) of the materials conveyed in the wagons. With regard to the Denver flat cars, he could not see how it was possible to construct a flat car, which would have such a small proportion of dead weight to payingload as was repre- sented, unless it was loaded with something of a compact and heavy nature. It would be, of course, easy to make a wagon that would weighabout one-fourth of the gross weight, if it wasto be used for something very compact. In a case withinhis own experience, where ironstone was conveyed in pit-tubs, having the roughest possible usage, running underground at the rate of 12 miles an hour, and constantly coming off the line, so tha$ it was important to make them thoroughly strong,no difficulty was found in keeping the dead load down to one-fourth of the gross weight. That, however, could not be done if the load consisted of wool or any other light material, as the wagon had then to be designed far too strong for its load, in order to withstand the shocks to which it would be subjected. In the present day, when so much shunting was done by hand, theimportance of breaks could hardly be over-estimated. He believed the most practical break at present in use was that fitted to the newest pattern of the Korth-Eastern wagons. It was fixed with a handle across the end of the wagon, so that a man walking by the side could put it on while the wagon was running, or he could stand on the buffer and apply it with his feet. Good wagonswere often much deterioratedby the fact, that little thought had been given to the question of the break. He thought one point had been lostsight of in regard to the construction of wagons, namely, the importance of so construct- ing them that they could be easily repaired. He was much sur- prised to find from Mr. Adams’s Paper that on one railway iron wagonswere againbeing generally adopted. No doubtthere were circumstances in which they were really required, as, for instance,when hot calcined ironstone wascarried, but he was, at a loss to see how, in ordinary cases, they could possibly be economical. They might be, in one sense, more durable, but the cost and trouble of repairing them were very great. With refer- Downloaded by [] on [13/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. RAILWAY ROLLIKG STOCK. 117 ence to the underframes, he thought one could hardly do better than adopt a combined arrangement of wrought iron and timber, his preference as regards timber being given to thoroughly good English oak. Having had many years' experience in the use both of grease and oil invarious climates, he gave his decided preference to the latter, and saw no reason why there should be any serious difference in the cost of axle-boxes on the two systems. Mr. CLAYTONsaid it wasadmitted on all sides that it was desirable to keep the rolling stock as light as possible ; neverthe- less it should not be too light.