Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/241

Rh started and stopped at a moment's notice, and there is accordingly no waste of fuel whatever, besides which the first cost of the machinery is very moderate compared with that of hydraulic power on a small scale, and the average cost of gas for an eight h.p. gas engine is not more than from threepence to sixpence per hour, according to the price of gas in the locality, and the work required of the engine.

The London and North-Western Company have at the present time thirty warehouses in which the machinery is actuated by gas engines, varying from one and a half to eight h.p., according to the size of the building, and the number of cranes and lifts required. A good example of this class of machinery is found at the Northampton warehouse, erected by the North- Western Company, in 1881. In this warehouse there are two cranes of thirty cwt. capacity, and two 10-cwt. friction jiggers, worked by a gas engine of eight h.p., the first cost of the installation having been £950. The cost of gas consumed (about 108,300 cubic feet) averages £10 10s. per annum, in addition to about £3 10s. for maintenance and repairs, and £3, 5s. for oil and waste, etc.