PAPERS ON THE MECHANICAL AND ENGINEERING OPERATIONS AND STRUCTURES COMBINED IN THE MAKING OF A RAILWAY. SECTION I-CURVES, GRADIENTS, GAUGE, AND SLOPES. Extracted from the seventh volume of Papers on Subjects connected with the Duties of the Corps London: JOHN WEALE, 59, HIGH HOLBORN. M.DCCC.XLVI. Transportation TF ·D389r jutas, 1~2 PRINTED BY W. HUGHES, KING'S HEAD COURT, GOUGH SQUARE. 1-11-5074' So 12-23-479 RAILWAYS. In the series of Papers of which this is the first, it is proposed to offer a condensed account of the engineering and mechanical operations and structures which are combined in the making and equipment of a railway. To do this as efficiently as the limits of the allotted space will allow, it is proposed to select examples from works already executed, presenting a useful collection of materials and facts, arranged so as to be adapted for ready application by Royal Engineers and others on whom may devolve the conduct of similar works at home and abroad. Without any pretensions to a complete history of any individual railway, the work will aspire to the character of such a record as will assist an engineer in applying his professional knowledge, with readiness and certainty, in the design and execution of the works required for any line committed to him. It will be evident that the subject comprises two main and consecutive divisions, viz. first, the formation of the railway as a road or track; and secondly, the furnishing of this road with all the fittings and appurtenances by which it is adapted to the purposes of traffic. : Thus, the one division includes the levelling of the original surface of ground, the raising or lowering it as may be necessary, including tunnelling, the construction of bridges and viaducts to sustain the line over valleys, roads, or rivers, or to carry roads, &c., over the railway; and also the arrangement of rails and their supports, constituting technically the permanent way,-by which the road is specially adapted for the rapid and uniform passage of engines and carriages. The second division comprehends stations and their fittings, locomotive power and all arrangements belonging thereto, with carriages, &c. Before commencing the construction, or indeed deciding the course of a railway, there are some preliminary considerations respecting its lateral and vertical deviations from a right line, and also the width of surface that will be A ME |