line Haaren-Wurselen, the hardest
section of the Aix la Chapelle-Julich Railway. This section has a
gradient of 1 in 65 on a length of 4 kilos; and two curves of 250 and 300
meters radius and 667 meters length. The goods train consisted of
twenty-two goods wagons, sixteen of which were empty and six loaded. The
total weight of the wagons was 191,720 kilogs., and this train was drawn
by the soda engine with ease and within the regulation time, while the
steam pressure was almost constant, viz., five atmospheres. The greatest
load admissible for the coal burning engines of 45,000 kilogs. weight on
the same section is 180,000 kilogs.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.]

[Illustration: FIG. 8.]

Proof is therefore given that the soda engine has a working capacity
which is at least equal to that of the coal burning engine. The heating
surface of the soda engine, moreover, is 85 square meters, while that of
the corresponding new Henschel engine is 92 square meters. On a former
occasion I have already stated that the soda engine is capable not only
of performing powerful work and of producing a large quantity of steam
during a short time, but also of travelling long distances with the same
quantity of soda. Thus, for example, a regular passenger train, with
military transport of ten carriages, was conveyed on Nov. 6, 1884, from
Aix la Chapelle to Julich and back, i.e., a distance of 45 kilos, by
means of the fireless engine. The gradients on this line are 1 in 100, 1
in 80, and 1 in 65, being a total elevation of about 200 meters. For a
performance like this a powerful engine is required, and a proof of it can
be recognized in the consumption of steam during the journey, for the
quantity of water evaporated and absorbed by 41/2 to 5 cubic meters soda
lye was 6,500 liters.

Another certificate concerning the tramway engine illustrated in Figs. 5
and 6 is of equal interest, and runs as follows:

Aix la Chapelle, Jan. 5, 1885.

A fireless soda engine, together with evaporating apparatus, has been at
work on the Aix la Chapelle-Burtscheid tramway for the last half year. In
order to test the working capacity of this locomotive engine, and the
consumption of fuel on a certain day, the Honigmann locomotive engine was
put to work this day from 8:45 o'clock a.m. till 8 o'clock p.m., with a
pause of three-quarters of an hour for the second quantity of soda lye.
The engine was, therefore, at work for fully 101/2 hours, _viz._, 51/2 hours,
wi