The Steam Engine Familiarly Explained and Illustrated: With an historical sketch of its invention and progressive improvement; its applications to navigation and railways; with plain axioms for railway speculatorsLardner, Dionysius
History
The Steam Engine Familiarly Explained and Illustrated: With an historical sketch of its invention and progressive improvement; its applications to navigation and railways; with plain axioms for railway speculators
Lardner, Dionysius
Steam-engines -- Early works to 1850
[Footnote 30: On the occasion of races held at Newton, a place about
15 miles from Liverpool, two engines were sent, with trains of
carriages, to take back to Liverpool the visitors to the races. Some
accident prevented one of the engines from working on the occasion,
and both trains were attached to the same engine: 800 persons were on
this occasion drawn by the single engine to Liverpool in the space of
about an hour.]
(98.) In comparing the extent of capital, and the annual expenditure
of the Liverpool and Manchester line, and adopting it as a modulus in
estimating the expenses of similar undertakings projected elsewhere,
there are several circumstances to which it is important to attend. I
have already observed on the large waste of capital in the item of
locomotive engines which ought to be regarded as little more than
experimental machines, leading to a rapid succession of improvements.
Most of these engines are still in good working order, but have been
abandoned for the reasons already assigned. Other companies will, of
course, profit by the experience which has been thus purchased at a
high price by the Liverpool Company. This advantage in favour of
future companies will go on increasing until such companies have their
works completed.
A large portion of the current expense of a line of railway is
independent of its length; and is little less for the line connecting
Liverpool and Manchester, than it would be for a line connecting
Birmingham with Liverpool or London.
The establishments of resident engineers, coach and wagon yards, &c.
at the extremities of the line, would be little increased by a very
great increase in the length of the railway; and the same observation
will apply to other heads of expenditure.
It has been the practice of the canal companies between Liverpool and
Manchester to warehouse the goods transported between these towns,
without any additional charge beyond the price of transport. The
Railway Company, in competing with the canals, were, of course,
obliged to offer like advantages: this compelled them to invest a
considerable amount of capital in the building of extensive
warehouses, and to incur the annual expense of porterage, salaries,
&c. connected with the maintenance of such storage. In a longer line
of railway such expenses (if necessary at all) would not be
proportionally increased.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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