The Strand to Crystal Palace Snippets and Comments


From the Kearney Files
Whitby Gazette
And from various publications previously mentioned.

The average speed of tube trains worked out at 5 miles an hour owing to delays caused by the lift service.
Motor Buses averaged 7 miles an hour.
By the Kearney system however the average from start to stop would be 40 miles an hour which meant that the system would capture the short distance traffic.
It would be possible to have halfpenny fares up to 3/4 mile owing to the comparatively low capital cost.

A further advantage put forward is that the system insures a constant supply of fresh air.

Sir Thomas Fairbanks said he had been much struck by the commonsense of the one - rail system and asked for fair - play for the inventor.

E. Campbell Pugh commented :-
"May I say that it will require very vivid imagination on the part of the passengers to extract any sensation whatever out of the ride on a railway with up and down gradients of 1 in 7 such as Mr. Kearney proposes.
 From careful experiments I have made in connection with scenic railways, I find that it requires a grade at least twice as steep as to produce the very slightest thrill.
In my opinion the increased comfort which this system offers over present means of transit will attract as all the traffic necessary to make the line a conspicuous financial success apart from additional inducements of greatly increased speed and cheaper fares".

It is also proposed to run an all night service of 20 minutes, s facility which it is believed will be quickly taken advantages of by newspaper workers.

Eric Campbell commented :-
" I do not wish to say that the other systems have been as good as the Kearney system but I do say at various times in his career have been better than his then was. Mr. Kearney though is only a young man is one of great determination. He made up his mind to evolve - for he does not like the word invent".
"Nothing has daunted him, he has had his failures and disappointments innumerable but he has never acknowledged himself beaten; each failure has been a path to an even greater success. The Kearney system is indeed a triumph of dogged perseverance allied to a marvelous inventive genius. It is not of one invention but a combination of over thirty inventions each in itself at thing to be proud of"

There seems no reason however why the new tube should not be built on the "switchback" plan which in theory at any rate sounds promising.


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