Transactions of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers (Volume 5)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1891 Excerpt: ...is stronger than would at first appear, and it was the author's wish to point out that placer mining is still going on, and that important developments are almost certainto follow when washing on an extensive scale by hydraulic power is adopted; and further, for reasons already given, that the discoveries of rich placers in the northern part of the Province indicate almost to a certainty that the same localities will prove equally valuable from their veins and ledges. Thursday, 7th May. P. W. ST. GEORGE, Member of Council, in the chair. Paper No. 58. RAILWAY CURVES. By H. K. Wicksteed, B.a.sc, M. Can. Soc. C.E. As railways have become more numerous, and have pushed their way into regions where traffic is thin or competition has become very keen, the study of the economics of operation has come to be more general among railway siec, and the influence of the different elements of location on the cost of running and maintenance better understood. The earlier railways built through districts where trade was already established, and having only waggon roads to compete with, had merely to secure a good safe road at some reasonable cost, and their traffic and dividends were assured; but with competition, and in the case of roads running in advance of settlement, it became often necessary to secure the very greatest operative economy in the one case and the very lowest constructive cost in the other, in order to admit of the road's becoming a financial success. There are three elements in the location of a railway between two given points, which can be utilized more or loss interchangeably to reduce its cost below that of the straight line on plan and profile, which represents the perfect line.--increase in distance, curvature and gradients, and all h...