|
The Crystal Palace pneumatic railway was an experimental atmospheric railway that ran in Crystal Palace Park in south London in 1864. ==History== The railway was designed by Thomas Webster Rammell, who had previously built a pneumatic railway for the London Pneumatic Despatch Company to convey letters along tunnels in large vacuum-driven wagons. A similar principle was applied to this railway, where a carriage fitted with a large collar of bristles was sucked along an airtight tunnel that measured by .〔Hadfield, C. (1967) ''Atmospheric Railways: A Victorian Venture in Silent Speed'' Newton Abbot: David & Charles〕 The bristle collar served to keep the tunnel "partially airtight". It operated for just over two months, and may have been a demonstration line for a more substantial atmospheric railway planned between Waterloo and Whitehall, construction of which was started under the Thames but never completed. The power was provided by a large fan, some in diameter, that was powered by a steam engine.〔 On return journeys, the fan was reversed to create a vacuum to suck the carriage backwards, whilst the carriage used its brakes to come to a stop.〔 Although not positively known, it is possible that the GWR broad gauge () was used. The single coach might have also been a conversion of a GWR coach, and the steam engine that powered the fan from an old GWR locomotive. Remnants of the tunnel have been found ca. 1992 in Crystal Palace Gardens. Located on a Map of 1861 at the Crystal Palace Museum there is reference to the "Suction Basin" The wagon was not found to be in the Tunnel expedition, and it was later found it had been recommissioned as a wagon on the normal steam railway of that time. Only element that exists to date is the sleepers located 6 feet in the ground. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Crystal Palace pneumatic railway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|