The 'Hercules' Traction Engine, as used during the Crimean War
During the Crimean War, Boydell’s traction machine was used to haul open trucks on the road and across country. Its engine, the “Hercules,” was fitted with a curious arrangement, which, by means of rails attached in six sections to the wheels, enabled it to lay down and take up its own track as it went along.
A 'Fischer' Combination Omnibus
Plan of a Behr Mono-Railway Car
But a means of adapting a mono-rail to every condition had some time before been thought out. In 1883-4 Charles Lartigue, the eminent French engineer, developing the principle conceived by the great Telford, constructed some small lines in Tunis and Algeria for carrying esparto grass. The cars were drawn by animals in a special form of mono-rail, the model upon which Mr. F. B. Behr, ASS. INST. C.E.—who modestly disclaims all originality in the matter—has worked for years, greatly improving in practical details the original design, and constructing for the first time mono-rail trains that have been successful in the carriage of both goods and passengers by steam and electricity.
Electrical Power House
Electrical Power House (the largest in the Old World), Lot’s Road, Chelsea, to supply the Metropolitan District and other Railways with Current
A Krupp motor gun-carrying lorry
A ‘Schneider’ armoured car with quick-firing gun
A ‘Charron’ armoured car with machine gun
An Italian design for a motor battery of quick-firing guns
A type of extemporised motor ambulance favoured by the French and Belgians