March 13, 1890] 



NATURE 



435 



viz. a Vignoles or flanged rail with a transverse steel 

 sleeper formed out of a ribbed plate, with lugs or clips 

 formed out of the solid to take the rail flange, and fastened 

 with a steel key. In this system there is nothing that can 

 get loose, and excellent results are obtained in India, 

 where several millions are now in use. 



In Chapter IV. we find the Midland Railway thoroughly 

 discussed. The growth of this enterprising and pushing 

 Company is carefully and vividly delineated. This large 

 system, like most others, is the result of the amalgamation 

 of many small companies, and, under an enlightened 

 ■management, it has long been considered the most pro- 

 gressive railway in this country. The author gives a 

 capital description of this large system, and many inter- 

 esting statistics. Among the many special details, perhaps 

 the Lickey incline on the Birmingham and Gloucester 

 section is of most interest. On this incline, having 

 a gradient of i in 37, the traffic has always been worked 

 iDy locomotives, even in the days when stationary engines 

 were used to haul the trains out of Euston Station and 

 Lime Street Station at Liverpool ; and further, in these 

 early days (1839), the EngHsh-built locomotive was unable 

 to be of much use on this incline, and some American 

 locomotives were imported and succeeded in working the 

 traffic. Derby is the "Crewe" of the Midland. Here 

 the Company builds the locomotives, carriages, and most 

 of the waggons. The travelling public owe much to the 

 ^lidland Company. On this line the author tells us most 

 of the new departures in rolling-stock and details were 

 originally tried, the Pullman car and many other equally 

 important novelties, down to the diminutive but most 

 useful apparatus, the sand-blast, for sanding the rails 

 under the treads of the driving-wheels of the locomo- 

 tive. The efifects of this apparatus are very inter- 

 esting, and its use is becoming universal. So much 

 does it add to the effectiveness of a single-wheeled 

 locomotive that it is possible to use it on trains in 

 place of the four-coupled engine, a saving evident to 

 those familiar with the subject. The single-wheeled 

 engines, running at high speeds, are more free ; which 

 means less wear and tear to the engine itself, and prob- 

 ably the permanent way. With an express train the 

 sand-blast apparatus uses about nine ounces of sand per 

 mile, giving a continuous supply to the driving-wheels ; 

 and, be the rails ever so greasy, the wheels seldom slip 

 half a turn. The testing of the materials used at Derby 

 AVorks appears to be very efficient ; the steel, particularly 

 for plates, axles, tyres, &c., being thoroughly tested by 

 tensile and bending tests, and by chemical analysis. 



Chapter V. deals with the Great Northern, North- 

 Eastem, and Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire 

 Railways, In any description of the Great Northern 

 system it would be impossible to pass over the splendid 

 running of the Company's express trains. Some of 

 these are, without doubt, the fastest in the world. The 

 105I- miles between Grantham and London are continu- 

 ously "done" in 117 minutes, or at the rate of 54 miles 

 per hour ; and both up and down trains are known to 

 get over 60 consecutive miles in as many minutes. On 

 one occasion, the author states, the 105^ miles were "reeled 

 off" in 112 minutes— a result worthy of Mr. Stirling's 

 splendid locomotives. The description of driving the 

 ■" Flying Scot " is very true, and we are glad to observe 



that the author combats the nonsense written to the daily 

 press concerning the drivers and firemen of the Scotch 

 expresses "being paralyzed with fear at the awful speeds." 

 No two men are prouder of their positions, nor would they 

 exchange into any other link. Their position is, in fact, 

 the blue ribbon of the foot-plate. 



In dealing with the North-Eastern Railway, the author 

 gives much useful information on the subject of the com- 

 pound locomotive. The locomotive superintendent of that 

 railway, Mr. T. W. Worsdell, uses probably the best 

 arrangement of cylinders, &c., possible to fulfil the many 

 conditions under which 3 satisfactory locomotive must be 

 constructed, and the results obtained appear tc point to a 

 great saving in fuel. We would commend to our readers 

 the description of the snow-block on this railway in the 

 year 1886 ; it is well written. 



With reference to the electric lighting of trains on the 

 Glasgow underground section of the North British Rail-' 

 way, it should be noted that the current is taken off the 

 third insulated rail, not by a brush, as stated by the 

 author, but by means of a wheel in a swing frame under 

 each coach. This wheel runs on the central elevated 

 and insulated rail, and each coach is electrically inde- 

 pendent of any other. The system appears to work very 

 well. To the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire 

 Railway the author gives little attention, for reasons stated 

 on p. 193. Probably no line in this country is more 

 handicapped by heavy gradients on its main line, and 

 the locomotive stock has had to be designed to satisfy 

 the conditions, more especially on the section between 

 Manchester and Sheffield. The late Mr. Charles Sacrc, 

 the eminent engineer and locomotive superintendent of 

 that railway, designed some particularly fine four-coupled 

 bogie engines for the passenger service, and his goods 

 engines did good work on the heavy sections. 



The Great Western Railway loses nothing by the 

 description given in Chapter VI. This historical line is 

 well described, and the " battle of the gauges " thoroughly 

 gone into. It is to be regretted that some compromise was 

 not made between the rival gauges ; for it is now evident 

 that the four feet eight and a half inches gauge — the 

 standard one in this country — is not wide enough. Loco- 

 motives and rolling stock have grown so much that 

 locomotive engineers are in difficulties when trying to 

 design more powerful engines. Take, for instance, the 

 Indian or the Irish broad gauge ; in these cases the 

 engines are not limited in width so much, and can have 

 ample bearing surfaces ; as well as, for inside cylinder 

 engines, crank axles not tied down by considerations 

 of cylinder centres and the like. A ride on the 

 " Dutchman " express locomotive is well enough described 

 to make many young locomotive engineers long to have 

 shared with the author that thoroughly enjoyable 

 experience. The Severn Tunnel is well treated in this 

 chapter. Chapter VI 1. deals with the South- Western 

 Railway, and the following one gives much useful in- 

 formation of that model of all southern railways — 

 the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. In 

 noticing the latter we cannot but express our regret for 

 the loss that Company and locomotive engineering gener- 

 ally have sustained by the recent death of Mr. William 

 Stroudley. Without doubt one of our ablest railway 

 engineers, he brought the designing of locomotives and 



