A Narrow Gauge Railroad

il is quito eucouraging 10 iue now settlcraents oí this oountry, whioh are languishing for railroad f aci lities, that a oheap "narrow gauge" Une has been successful in Great Bntain. The Portmad oo and Festiniog railway, in Wales, the wiJth of whoso gauge ia only 24 inchen, has fulfilled all the requirementB of a railway in the scction through wbiuh it runs, and is payicg a largor dividond on its capital stook than any other railway lino in thé world. Tho track is laid with very heavy T-rails, oud the locomotivo named "The Littlo wonder," weigbs but fivo tons. lts structure is peculiar, the parts io immcdiate relation with tho wheels to drivo them beiug arrangcd be tween the samo. The following sketch of tho capábilities of the engine, etc, is taken from the London Times : '"The Little Wonder' is an eigbt wheeled doublo bogie engine of four cylindere 8 3-16 inches in diameter, with a stroke of 13 inches. The diameter of ita wheel is 3 feet 4 inches; its average steam pressure is 150 lbs ; its weight is 19) tona ; its toa leDgth is 27 feet; its total wheel base is 11J fefit, aad the wheel-baseof each bogie, which practically h is alone to bo considered, is 5 feet. This engine was first of all made to carry from Portmadoo to Festiniog a train made up of 90 slate wagons, weigL ing 574 tous ; 7 passenger carriages aud vans, weigbing 13} tons ; and 57 passengers, weigbing 4 tons - in all 75 tons. Add to this its own weight, and we have a total load of 94j tons. Th weight, it will be seen was considerable,, f we take into account the size ot the-engine, the narrownees of tho gauge, the. stoepne.-s of the gradients, and the sharpness and multitude of toe curve. "But the chief point of interest in this experiment had referer.ee to tho length t)f the train, whieh was 854 feet, nearly the sixth part of n mile. A train of such leogth on such a line had often to run upou two or three reverle curves some of them with a radius as short a one and thrce-quarter cha'ns; and it bo curled and doubied upon itself as it wouud atuong the Welsh hiils that the passongera in the front earriages, while sitting in tlieir Beats, could tnake signáis to the hiudmost oue?. The engine, being in full goar, took thia very long train up the billa and in and out unong the ourves at an average speed of 14í mile an hour, and at a ruaximum speed of 2GM mües an hour. Let us her e add, that some days afterward n similar train of 140 empty and seven loaded wagons, weighing in all 101 toua, aud measuring ia length 1323 feet, - that is, a quarter of a mile ; a train so long, in fact, thát there were parts of the road on whioh it had to run on do fewer than uve reverse curves, - was by tho same engine hauled up the bilis atan avernge speed of 123a mües, and a maximum of 1GL. "Now, what was tha result obaerved in wriggiing along these curves? It W-is generally observed that, even on curves of oue and three-quarters ohaius' radius, and at maximum . speed, ther was very little perceptible osuilation or movement on the engine or in the carriages, ünd by no uieans such as is feit on comparatively easy curves on ordinary railwavs. Nor mu this remarkable point be forgotten, - a fact almost incredible, but yet certified by competent witnesses, - that oscilation diminishedas the speed increased. The speed, Jet it be added, is naturally less jou a narrow gaugo than on a broad one. "Captain Tyler, the Government Inspector of liailways, was at first so doubtful of the safety of a high speed on a railway of such narrow gauga and such wild curves as that at Festioiog, that be insistod on limitiog the company to a maximum speed of twelve miles au hour. Sioco then, however, his doubtB have been s) completely dispersed that be has remoled all rebtriction as to the nvte ol speed ; and, as a matter of fact, 'The Little Wonder,' when necessary wurks up to 35 miles an hour."