((() Roads. Railways, and Tramways 85 



country on the adjoining borders of Tipperary, Water- 

 ford, and Cork. 



There are many water obstructions to railway 

 communication, and the most noticeable of these are the 

 estuaries of the Thames, Severn, Mersey, and the 

 Humber in England; the estuaries of the Forth and 

 Tay in Scotland ; and that of the Barrow in- Ireland. 

 There is a railway tunnel under the Thames, and the 

 Severn tunnel, 4J miles long, joins Bristol and 

 Cardiff. A tunnel connects Liverpool with Birkenhead ; 

 and the Britannia tubular bridge crosses the Menai 

 Strait. In 1890 a bridge was opened to cross the Firth 

 of Forth at Queensferry, and the Tay Bridge has 

 spanned the estuary since 1887. In Ireland the estuary 

 of the Barrow was bridged in 1906, thus bringing 

 Waterford into direct communication with the east 

 coast of Ireland. 



Some separate reference is necessary for the rail- 

 ways of London. The Metropolitan and District 

 Railways, and the various Tube Railways are worked 

 by electricity and are amongst the busiest railways in 

 the world, conveying a large part of the commercial 

 population of London to and from the metropolis daily. 



Another development in recent years has been the 

 opening of tramways and light railways. The former 

 are now laid in nearly all our large towns, while the 

 latter are opening up some of the country districts. 

 Some of these lines are worked by public authorities, 

 while others are worked by companies which have 

 raised the necessary capital for the purpose. 



During the Great War the Government found it 

 necessary for military purposes to take over the 

 railways of the country. Thousands of eligible 



