352 RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. 



without stopping. High-speed long-distance through trains can 

 only perform their journeys with punctuality, when the route is 

 kept clear of all other trains or obstructions which might inter- 

 fere with their free running. Any check or stoppage in their 

 course would cause loss of time and prestige. 



It is to be regretted that in so many of the cases where two 

 additional lines of way have been laid down, more space was not 

 left between the sets of rails for the fast traffic and those for the 

 slow. In many instances the dividing space is not more than 7 

 or 8 feet. It would have been better and safer if it could have 

 been made 20 feet. An ordinary goods train is made up of 

 several kinds of trucks, some empty, some loaded, many of them 

 unequally loaded, all of them subject to heavy work and rough 

 handling, and more likely to give trouble than the higher class 

 vehicle, the passenger carriage. The breaking down or derail- 

 ment of one or two goods trucks on a line of rails close alongside 

 the fast passenger rails, would in all probability so foul and 

 obstruct the passenger line as to cause a very serious accident 

 to an express train which could not be stopped in time. The 

 greater width would not only provide more clearance in case of 

 breakdowns, but would afford increased safety to the platelayers 

 and other workmen engaged on the line. The permanent- way 

 men have to be very watchful to keep out of danger on an 

 ordinary busy double line, but they must be very much more on 

 the alert where there are four lines of way close together side 

 by side. 



In the neighbourhood of large cities and important manu- 

 facturing centres, railways have created a distinct traffic for 

 themselves by providing means for a large portion of the popu- 

 lation to reside in convenient suburbs. Local trains running at 

 suitable business hours have induced people of all classes to 

 select homes a few miles away from town, and the gradual 

 growth of this suburban traffic has produced its own advantages 

 and requirements. At the large terminal stations platform after 

 platform has been added to accommodate the increased number 

 of trains which arrive in the busy parts of the morning or depart 

 in the evening. Every facility has to be provided to permit of 

 the expeditious ingress and egress of the large crowds forming the 

 respective trains ample platforms, over-line foot-bridges, sub- 

 ways, convenient booking-offices, waiting-rooms, and left-luggage 

 rooms. 



