The Undulating Railway

Richard Badnall (died 1842) and his collaborator Richard Gill interested many prominent people, including the Directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, in his eccentric invention, 'The Undulating Railway'.

This is a detail from Badnall's patent (1832?), reference GB 0427 BP MS2. [transcript]

Detail of Badnall's patent [courtesy University of Salford Information Services Division]

Image courtesy University of Salford Information Services Division.

Transcript

Richard Badnall [the younger]'s Specon
To all whom etc.
This improvement in the construction or formation of the Trams or rails or lines of Rail or Tram Roads upon which locomotive engines shall or may work will be best illustrated by reference to the oscillation of the pendulum.

If a plummet suspended by a string from the point z be drawn away from the perpendicular line to the point a and there let go it will fall by its gravity to b in the arc a.b but in its falling it will have acquired so much momentum as will carry it forward up to a similar altitude at the point c. Let it be supposed that a line of rails or tram way for carriages be so constructed from the summit of two hills across a valley that the descent from one hill as a to the valley b shall subtend a similar angle from the horizontal line to the ascent of the other hill from b to c. Now if a Tram Waggon as d be placed at the summit of the declivity a it will by its gravity alone run down the descending line of rails to the lowest point b but in so running according to the principles of the oscillating pendulum it should have acquired a momentum that would carry it forward without any additional force up the ascending line to the summit of the hill c being at the same altitude as the hill a.

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June 2004: Railway history: 200 years of the steam locomotive