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RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. 353 



The enormous train service on some of these first-rank lines 

 demands the highest efficiency in the signalling and interlocking 

 arrangements, and the use of any devices which will ensure in- 

 creased facility and safety in the working of the traffic. With 

 a crowd of trains passing a signal-cabin in both directions, and 

 often over four lines of way, it is quite possible for a signalman 

 to make a mistake which cannot be rectified in time to prevent 

 an accident. To obtain increased security many railways have 

 adopted the lock and block system previously described, or some 

 adaptation of the same principle, and this method of working 

 will go on extending as the traffic increases. These additional 

 appliances entail additional care and inspection, for although 

 automatical machinery may be exempt from the human frailty 

 of preoccupation of mind or forgetfulness, it is somewhat delicate 

 in its organization, and requires constant supervision to maintain 

 its efficiency. 



On many of the large lines, much has been done to give 

 improved carriage accommodation. Carriages have been made 

 longer, easier on the road, loftier, better furnished, and better 

 lighted ; but there is still a very great deficiency in those con- 

 veniences so essentially necessary, especially on trains running 

 long distances without stopping. Drawing-room cars and 

 dining-room cars are no doubt attractive, and may contribute 

 considerably to the popularity of certain routes; but it is 

 questionable whether many of the lines at home and abroad 

 which have adopted such luxuries, have not in doing so com- 

 menced at the wrong end, and whether it would not have been 

 more to the public satisfaction to have begun by first providing 

 those conveniences which are found in every carriage on every 

 line in the United States. It is satisfactory to find that there 

 is a steadily growing tendency to so construct passenger 

 carriages that their occupants may, by passages or corridors, 

 communicate with all parts of the same carriage or with the 

 adjoining carriages ; and there is every reason to assume that the 

 carriage of the future, either by legislation or consent, will 

 combine both the items of conveniences and intercommunica- 

 tion, and will confer not only greater comfort to the passengers, 

 but also increased protection against those outrages which, un- 

 fortunately, too frequently occur under the system of isolated 

 compartments. 



It will be instructive to watch the results of the passenger 



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