existing roads. In that case, the permanent way* costs as much as £977 per mile, as against £793 on independent formation; laid in paving it is still more expensive, of course, rising in price from £1108 to £2266 per mile, according to the pattern adopted. On roads, a 43.25lb. flat-footed steel rail rests on iron bearing plates, through which dog-spikes are driven to fasten the rail to creosoted oak-sleepers (5' 11" long, 8" wide, and 4" deep, about the same dimensions as our Indian metre-gauge sleepers), packed in gravel, stone or (more usually and economically) cinder ballast, 8" deep under the sleeper. There are ten sleepers to a 29' 6" rail, the space between the joint or guard sleepers being 1' 9", the next interval 2' 10", and the rest 3' 13". It will be noticed that the guard sleepers on either side of the joint are set much closer together than is usual with us. The fish-plates have an angle-section, and are 17" long. This is the general type of metre-gauge permanent way. The limiting radius of curves, outside towns, is 246 feet. The railway is marked off from the rest of the road by a raised border or row of kerbstones, a somewhat expensive item; the line of these is broken at intervals to afford outlets for open cross drains. Curves being often very sharp, especially in towns and factories, the National Society has made a special study of them, and laid down particular rules in regard to the superelevation or cant, and the setting-out of parabolic curves. It is obviously better in the case of road-railways to obtain the requisite cant by lowering the inner, as well as by raising the outer, rail, so that the centre line of the track may keep the road-grade. The usual formula- = G V2 has been adopted by the Society, where G= gauge, V = maximum velocity, g = accelerative force of gravity per second, and R = radius of curve. The maximum speed is 18.6 miles per hour in the country, and 6.2 miles per hour in towns. The latter speed requires a very small cant indeed, even with sharp curves. Slack gauge varies from of an inch for curves of 150 feet radius to of an inch for 100 feet curves, the allowance being fixed for the type of locomotive used. With a 47 3lb. rail only eight sleepers are prescribed per bay of raillength of 29' 6". In the neighbourhood of their manufacture, double Z-sectioned metal sleepers are used, each pair holding between them a shoe bolted to them, and the lower flange of the rail being gripped by one lug of the chair, and keyed up under the other. As we find in India, the first cost of metal sleepers is heavy, but they last well. In passing through towns, a heavier rail-661b. flat-footed-is used, laid flush with the road-paving. In this case, as shewn in the figures, either a guard-rail (which also acts as a fish-plate) is bolted to it, or a wooden kerb is held up to the rail by a hook-plate of hammered iron passing under the rail (which has not to be drilled). This does not interfere, therefore, with ordi cart and carriage traffic. The railway has to ngineer, April 10, 1896. maintain the pavement between the rails, and a strip twenty-four inches wide on each side. The roadway is not only paved in towns, FIG. 1.-Permanent-way, Belgian Light Railways. but also in such exceptional places as level crossings, entrances to private works, etc., in the country. For fuller particulars of the per с manent-way as well as of the rolling-stock, the reader is referred to The Engineer for April 10th, and May 1st, 1896, and to The Railway World, June 1896. For general service locomotives weighing 15 tons in full working order, and for heavy goods trains those of the type weighing 27 tons, are commended by the writer in The Engineer, who made several journeys with both classes of engine. The wheels are ordinarily sixcoupled, with a diameter of 2′ 83" and a base of 5' 10". The cylinders and frames are outside the wheels, to steady the engine as much as possible. Coke is burned only in the towns; in the country coaldust briquettes are used as fuel, but the smoke from them is objectionable. The bodies of the passenger-carriages are built of teak, lined with pitch-pine inside, and covered with inch sheet-iron outside; the under-frames are iron; the flanges of the wheels are of steel, the naves and spokes of forged iron, and the axles are of steel. The seats of the second-class carriages are arranged transversely, with a clear passage down the middle of the carriage. The seats of the firstclass carriages are cushioned, and in one compartment of each a couch is placed along the side. There are also composite carriages, one compartment of which is first-class and the other second-class. The doors are at the ends of the cars, and open on to a platform, such as our carriages in India are frequently provided with. The total length of frame is 22' 33", the width over all of the body of the car 7′ 11′′, and the central height of the car 9′ 6′′ above rail level. The diameter of wheels is 1' 11", and there are four wheels to a car, with a wheelbase of 7' 10". A first-class or a composite carriage weighs 4 tons 10 cwt., a second-class carriage 4 tons 8 cwt., and a luggage-van (which is built as nearly as possible on the same lines) 5 tons. The cost of a first-class or of a composite is £152, of a second-class £130, and of a luggage-van, £120. The rolling-stock is supplied to the working companies or lessees by the National Society. There were 253 locomotives in service, most of them weighing 18 tons; but, besides lighter ones, there were some weighing 22, 24, 271, and 30 tons. Of 716 passenger vehicles in use— -10 closed and 10 open were for horse traction; 116 were first-class, 399 second-class, 128 mixed first- and second-class, and 21 mixed carriages with luggage and goods compartments; they included also 32 bogies, of which 10 were secondclass, 8 mixed first- and second-class, and 14 mixed first-class, secondclass, and goods compartments. There were 140 luggage vans; 76 covered goods wagons (5 tons); 188 covered goods wagons (10 tons); 128 high-sided wagons (5 tons); 1018 high-sided wagons (10 tons); 70 flat wagons (5 tons); 151 flat wagons (10 tons); 3 special trucks; 3 cranes; and 3 cisterns. The cost of the rolling-stock averages 9813 francs per kilometre or about £632 per mile. There are approximately 1 engine per 3 miles, 1 passenger carriage per 1 mile, 1 luggage van per 5 miles, and 1 goods wagon per mile of main line. It is not the practice of the Society to work the lines itself, but to lease them out to working companies, and so to afford a field for private enterprise. The lessees may be individuals, companies, or-in some instances associations formed by the local authorities. As in France, however, so in Belgium the difficulty has been to establish satisfactory agreements for working lines of poor traffic. In both countries the subsidy was determined by a formula which gave the working agency a certain proportion of the gross receipts, and, so long as the agency could secure its remuneration from goods bearing comparatively high rates, it had no further interest in the development of larger and more important traffic, which could only bear very low rates. Moreover, the Belgian National Society, like the French Departments, found it advisable to reap the full benefit of its own credit by providing the whole of the capital, and only leasing out the working of the lines. It even equips them with rolling-stock in order to avoid the payment of interest on outside capital on this account. But it demanded an altogether inadequate security of 2000 francs per kilometre, or £129 per mile from the lessees, which left it at the mercy of the latter, if they chose to sacrifice that amount and throw up the contract rather than face heavy and sudden expenditure on renewals of way and stock. Considerable modifications have accordingly been made in the terms of lease, and those now in force are described by M. de Burlet (General Manager of the Society) in the Bulletin de la Commission Internationale du Congrés des Chemins de Fer, vol. ix., 1895, from which is derived the following information: So far as possible, connected lines are grouped under one working company. The lines are worked on a thirty years' agreement, terminable, however, at the end of fifteen years on twelve months' notice by either side; but the liability to closure at the end of a shorter period tends so much to limit the interest of the lessee in the line that this clause is usually omitted. The National Society leases the line and all appurtenances thereof (except furniture, instruments, tools, etc.), and also the rolling-stock. As a rule, too, it supplies additional rolling-stock required; and, whether it does so or not, the design must be such as it approves. As we noticed above, the security of £129 per mile was found to be inadequate; and it has, accordingly, been increased by the institution of a renewal fund to which the lessee must contribute £19 per mile, and by a charge of £160 per locomotive, of £16 per passenger carriage or luggage-van, and of £6 per goods wagon, placed at the disposal of the working company. The cost of insuring buildings and rolling-stock falls also upon the working company. The Society controls and supervises all works of maintenance and alterations. Monthly returns are submitted to the Society for audit of the receipts under each class, and separate division sheets of earnings, showing the proportions due to the working company and to the National Society. The minimum number of trains is generally as many as five in each direction; and the Society may call for an increase in the number of trains when the gross receipts per mensem average more than 1s. 11d. per train-mile. The rates are scheduled in the Act, but the National Society may alter them with the sanction of the Government. To make up for possible lack of enterprise on the part of the working company, the National Society has organised a special traffic staff to study the peculiar requirements of the trade, manufactures, and industries of the country; to consider complaints and claims; to conciliate the interests of both lessees and the public in the matter of rates; and to attract and foster traffic in every way. The location of stations, stopping places, private junctions, etc., is fixed by the National Society. The Belgian formulæ of division are the following: where F F L = = = 1500f+p R ..(1) = gross working subsidy, in francs per kilometre, R receipts in francs per kilometre, and p averages 0.30; L and R, in the second equation, expressing the working subsidy and gross receipts in pounds sterling per mile. This formula has been abandoned. F = = p Ꭱ PR (2) where p averages about 0.60, and the working subsidy is subject to a minimum of 2000 francs per kilometre or £129 per mile. This is considered by M. de Burlet to be the best formula for the more prosperous lines. = F 1900 fp (R 1900f) } ....... .(3) where p averages about 0.25. This formula is only applied to a few lines. F L } = C + 0.50 (R = C + 0.50 (RC)....... ·(4) where C may be 1000, 1300, or 1500 francs per kilometre, and £64, £84, or £97 per mile. Tenders for working the lines are considered with reference to the particular value assigned to C. This formula is, in M. de Burlet's opinion, admirably adapted to lines of poor traffic. It gives the lessee better terms, when the receipts are low, than formula 2. In order to show roughly the comparative effect of the application |