642 



ANNUAL. KEP0RT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



METROPOLITAN - DISTRICT RAILWAY 

 (MANSION MOUSE TO EALING.) 



14141.493 



graphical form the quickening in speed from the opening of the 

 line in 1880 to the present time. You will notice that this increase 

 of speed has been followed by remarkable results; the first immedi- 

 ate result is the possibility of a greater number of trams, and the 

 curve of the rise in the number of trains is shown on the diagram; 

 but the really significant feature is the rise in the number of passen- 

 gers carried, 35,000,000-72,000,000, which is the direct result of the 

 increased facility in traveling. Now, it is in such a case that the 



importance of the sig- 



j 72,7.32,612 * " 



naling and braking come 

 to be almost preemi- 

 nent, quite apart from 

 the mere mechanical 

 problem. 



I may point out that 

 the District Railway, 

 in common with most 

 other electric railways 

 of this country, has 

 what is known as a 

 "tracksystem of signal- 

 ing," which apart from 

 the fact that the driver 

 holds what is known as 

 "the dead man's han- 

 dle," which upon being 

 released causes the train 

 to stop, the train inde- 

 pendently stops itself 

 upon coming to a por- 

 tion of the line not 

 cleared by the previous 

 train. 



I have given you 

 some examples that this country is not so far behind as we are so 

 often told; and we have another in the fact that the District Rail- 

 way has created a most beautiful system, by which the signalman 

 is now absolutely independent of fog or darkness; he can see every 

 train, or rather its picture, as it moves along the track in an illumi- 

 nated diagram in front of him. No one could watch, as I have had 

 the privilege of doing, the operation of this system in a signal box 

 without feeling certain that it must become universal in a very short 

 time. You may like to see an actual panel from a signal box and a 

 view of what # the interior is like with the signalman operating, 

 instead of cumbrous levers, only a few small handles. 



YEAR 



Fig. 5. 



