PORTABLE RAILWAYS.

[Footnote: Paper read before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.]

By M. DECAUVILLE, Aîne, of Petit-Bourg (Seine and Oise), France.


Narrow gauge railways have been known for a very long time in Great
Britain. The most familiar lines of this description are in Wales, and
it is enough to instance the Festiniog Railway (2 feet gauge), which has
been used for the carriage of passengers and goods for nearly half a
century. The prosperous condition of this railway, which has been so
successfully improved by Mr. James Spooner and his son, Mr. Charles
Spooner, affords sufficient proof that narrow gauge railways are not
only of great utility, but may be also very remunerative.

In Wales the first narrow gauge railway dates from 1832. It was
constructed merely for the carriage of slates from Festiniog to
Port-Madoc, and some years later another was built from the slate
quarries at Penrhyn to the port of Bangor. As the tract of country
traversed by the railways became richer by degrees, the idea was
conceived of substituting locomotives for horses, and of adapting the
line to the carriage of goods of all sorts, and finally of passengers
also.

But these railways, although very economical, are at the same time very