The line had to traverse difficult hilly terrain, and the Company adopted the atmospheric system in which trains were drawn by a piston in a tube laid between the rails, a vacuum being created by stationary engines.
32.
Since the clouds do not produce as much rain, he said, they probably persist longer; until a large-scale atmospheric system like a cold front moves them out, they continue to cool the earth beneath.
33.
As part of the works for the atmospheric system, the world's first railway flyover was constructed beyond the south end of the station to carry the atmospheric line over the conventional London & Brighton Railway steam line.
34.
At first the atmospheric system was used as far as Teignmouth only, from where a steam engine hauled the train including the piston carriage to Newton, where the piston carriage as removed, and the train continued on its journey.
35.
It was asserted that only a single line ( instead of double track ) would be needed to work the traffic by the atmospheric system, and that steeper gradients and sharper curves were feasible compared with locomotive operation, saving construction costs.
36.
The train service started between Exeter and Teignmouth on 30 May 1846, but this was operated by steam engines, hired in from the GWR . At length, on 13 September 1847 the first passenger trains started operating on the atmospheric system.
37.
Double track lines were favoured at that time even for lightly worked lines as this reduced the chances of a collision between trains, but the atmospheric system precludes the possibility of two trains travelling in opposite directions on the same section of track.
38.
This was a bitter blow for the adherents of the atmospheric system; shortcomings in the manufacture of the stationary engines procured from a reputable engine-maker said nothing about the practicality of the atmospheric system itself, but as Samuda said to the Board:
39.
This was a bitter blow for the adherents of the atmospheric system; shortcomings in the manufacture of the stationary engines procured from a reputable engine-maker said nothing about the practicality of the atmospheric system itself, but as Samuda said to the Board:
40.
Sekon records that, " The first experiment of the atmospheric system on the South Devon line was made on 26th February 1847, when a train of two carriages went from Exeter to Turf and back, upon which occasion Mr Brunel said everything gave him full satisfaction ."
