SECTION OF STEAM TRANSPORTATION. 127 



On the Loudon, Biij^hton and South Coast Railway a very ingenious 

 contrivance had been put on several trains. A dynamo in the guaid's 

 van, which is always attached to one end of the train, was driven by a 

 belt from the axle of one of the wheels. The overplus of the electricity 

 generated while the train is running being stored in secondary baJ- 

 teries for use while the train is standing. This had {proved a very satis- 

 factory system, and a company of wealthy capitalists had been formed 

 to introduce this invention on a number of the other roads, with great 

 promise of success. All of the steam-ship packet lines, crossing from 

 Ireland and France to England, had put the electric light upon their 

 best boats, and the Brush light is almost universally used upon the 

 wharves and by best roads at passenger and freight stations, and in 

 yards and other public places, notwithstanding that the price of gas 

 is a little more than half what it is in this country. 



A drawing showing the arrangement of dynamo gearing, lamps, etc., 

 on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway — where, by the way, 

 I saw the only Pullman cars abroad, and they were brilliantly lighted 

 by electricity — has been secured for the Museum. 



Upon a stone block at Darlington stands engine No. 1 of the Stock- 

 ton and Darlington Railway, built by Stephenson and placed in service 

 in 1825; the first locomotive in the world to be in continuous general 

 service upon a railway constructed for passenger and freight traffic. 



A journey of 18 miles from Glasgow along the shores of the Clyde 

 brought me to Greenock. On the second floor of a stone house badly 

 out of repair, at the foot of William street, I stood, on the 19th of Feb- 

 ruary, 188G, in the room where James Watt was born, exactly one hun- 

 dred and fifty years and one month before, and a fussy old lady, who 

 appeared to be a self-appointed mistress of ceremonies, accepted a six- 

 pence with a courtesy for unlocking the doors, while the old vandal 

 who accompanied her pocketed a shilling, and cheerfully knocked a 

 brick out of the historic fire-place where he declared young James first 

 watched the steam rise from his mother's kettle and wondered at its 

 force, and this legend was corroborated by others. 



At Glasgow I enjoyed a trip down the Clyde and my visits to Napier's 

 and Reid's ship-yards were full of interest. 



All of the principal large vessels uijder contract were to have the 

 new triple expansion engine. 



After a night journey from Loudon to Southampton via the London 

 and Southwestern Railway and a most unpleasant voyage across the 

 channel we landed at Havre, France. The journey from Ua\Ae to Paris 

 was full of interest. 



I was not favorably impressed with either the plan of construction 

 nor the condition of the French railways. The running time was slow, 

 the signals clumsy, and the train-men had the appearance of being 

 poorly paid and unhap[)y. 



The plans of the early English engineers and railway constructors seem 



