MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 19 



South-Western Railway ; one by Mr. C. V. AValker, on the Great 

 Eastern Railway, applied to trains which run 20 miles without 

 stopping; and one by Mr. Martin on the North-Western Railway; 

 and this was the one wliieh formed the subject of this paper. In- 

 sulated wire is run underneath the carriages, and the iron works, 

 the coupling bars, and the wheels are connected electrically to- 

 gether. Two insulated wires (one of which is connected wilh 

 the wire underneath the carriages, the other to the iron work) 

 are led up to each compartment, and when these two wires are 

 brought in contact the telegraphic circuit is closed, and the alarum 

 set ringing. The carriages are connected together by means of 

 flexible conductors, and these are also laterally connected with 

 the insulated wire underneath the vehicles. The apparatus in the 

 guard's van consists of a battery placed in a box, and an electric 

 alarum, and on the engine is another alarum. By moving a 

 handle in any of the carriages the alarums are set going. ' The 

 action of moving the handle sets free a spring, and the handle is 

 locked, and cannot be put in its original position until the spring 

 or lock is opened, which is done by means of a key in the posses- 

 sion of the guard. No electrical knowledge is needed to work or 

 keep in order the apparatus ; the maintenance of it is not costly, 

 and the alarums, batteries, etc., can be easily shifted from one 

 train to another. At the request of the Board of Trade, in 1866 a 

 train was fitted up with this apparatus, which had travelled 250 

 miles each day, .uid been started and stopped by its means. Mr. 

 H. Palmer, M.P., said that, in the House of Commons, Mr. 

 Bright said the rope sj'stem — merely a rope running above the 

 door of the carriage, with no communication with the inside — 

 was the best, and at the same time simplest and cheapest system, 

 but it had been adopted on the North-Eastern Railway, and had 

 been found to be very inefficient. He wished to know what in- 

 vestigations the various systems had undergone by the Board of 

 Trade, and whether this system was actually in use on the rail- 

 way. Mr. Parkes agreed as to the inefficiency of the rope sys- 

 tem. Mr. Varley, in reply, said the various plans were tried at 

 York. The cord system failed, inasmuch as it was not det'ective 

 of the person giving the alarm. His apparatus had been tested 

 daily for two years, the train being started with it, and it had 

 worked regularly. As a practical proof of the uselessness of the 

 cord communication, he might state that it was attached to the 

 train that took them to Plymouth, when it was pulled but failed 

 to attract attention. He believed it was only adopted to satisfy 

 public opinion. 



THE CHANNEL RAILWAY. 



J. F. Bateman, F.R.S., at the meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion, read a paper on "The Channel Railway." He referred at 

 some length to the advantages which would accrue from a contin- 

 nous railway communication between England and France, and to 

 the various proposals for effecting that object by a tunnel to be 



