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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1885)
I'.- , " . -v-'i- v-" 11 I I aVVSv&3 J I THE EXDS SHIP BAILWAT A STEAMER IX TRANSIT. orer tnr inqalitT of the nils which may happen to exist. The wheels ar hnng intlepinJently that is, each is separate from its fellows, ha ring its axle protrmiing on each side sufficiently far to furnish a proper bearing. The breakage of any one wheel, therefore, would not affect any other wheel, and if ren a dosen were to break, the great number that would be left would pos sess) such an enormous surplus of strength, compared with the broken ones, that derailment may be considered as practically impossible. The Teasels will be hauled across the Isthmus by powerful loeomotiree. The engines, such as hare been built recently by the Baldwin LooomotiTe Works for the Dom Pedro Railway in BraxO, would do the work. The com pany who built them guarantee that three such engines, weighing, ready for sm lice, 224.000 pounds each, will haul the maximum sised Teasel at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, if necessary, on grades up to twenty feet to the mile. The railway trarersea a succession of Talleys. In the hilly part of the Isth mus, in order to ssts heary construction wcrk, it is necessary to make abrupt changes of direction, as it would be impracticable to more a rigid carriage of uch great length with a Tesstl upon it around a aharp eurre. These changes of direction, fire in number, are made by floating turn-tables. These are simply great pontoons or floating docks, which are placed in a segmental basin of masonry or concrete. When the Ttss tl is drawn upon the pontoon the latter rests solidly upon the circular bearers in the bottom of the basin, stability being g:Ten to it by the weight of water in H. In order to turn the pontoon to the nw direction required, the water is pumped out of it suf ficiently to just rie it from the foundations on which it rests. It is then. while floating, turned about a central pi rot, although the weight dot not rest upon the pivot, but entirely upon the water. When the pontoon is re vol Ted so that the rails upon it coincide with the rails of the railway, in the new direction, the water is admitted to the pontoon and it rests again npon the circular bearers. The Teasel is then hauled off the pontoon upon the railway. These turn-tables will be utilized for passing points, or sidings, so that while the railway is Tirtually a single track road, Teasels may meet and pass each other. By laying radial tracks from these basins. Teasels can be ran out, as on marine railways, for cleaning, painting and repairing. About f 1,000 will thus be saved to the Teasel over the cost of docking in ports. The admissible lateral motion in the journals and on the trea Is of the wheels is sufficient to make a curve of twenty miles radius perfectly practica ble. The curves laid down on the location of the railway are from twenty to fifty-three mile. By these curves advantage is taken of the general lines of the country and serious obstacles are avoided. It is expected that the practicable speed will average eight or ten miles an hour, ' and it is intended to so construct the whole work, xoadbal, rolling stock and other appliances as to make this speed perfectly safe. The whole distance is 134 miles, and it is estimated that eighteen or twenty hours is amply sufficient to transfer the Teasel from one ocean to the other. In laying out and constructing the roadbed, the possible future enlarge ment necessary for larger vessels, wider carriages and greater traffi 3 will be provided for by building the foundations sufficiently wide to perm it double tracking the railway. The docks at the termini can also be duplicated when