TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 187 



Several of the railway companies at onco, and willingly, responded to this sug- 

 gestion, and, in conjunction with Colonel Inglis, of the" .Royal Engineers, I was 

 entrusted by the Royal Commissioners with the supervision of an important series 

 of experiments, to the satisfactory conduct of which the Railway Companies con- 

 tributed in the most liberal manner, placing for the purpose all their resources at 

 the disposal of the Commissioners. 



It is mainly to the conduct of those experiments, and to the conclusions that 

 may be legitimately drawn therefrom, that I would now desire to invite the atten- 

 tion of the members of this Section, although I am aware that the subject is one 

 with which many gentlemen present are perfectly familiar. 



With a few exceptions, and up to a comparatively recent period, Railway Com- 

 panies appear to have remained content with the brake appliances which were 

 common forty years ago. These no doubt were sufficient to control the trains of 

 those early days, infrequent as they were in number, and limited both in weight and 

 speed. 



The brakes were applied separately and by hand power, always to the tender, 

 and usually to some few of the carriages, and to the guard's van, or vans if such 

 accompanied the train. 



As long ago as 1858, and consequent upon reports from their inspecting officers, 

 tin' Board of Trade had by a circular of their then secretary, Captain Douglas 

 Galton, called the special attention of the Railway Companies to the fact that the 

 amount of brake-power then habitually applied was insufficient to prevent the fre- 

 quent occurrence of accidents from collisions, many of which might, they consi- 

 dered, have been modified, or averted, had the trains been more adequately supplied 

 with brake-power. Special reference was directed to two systems which had 

 then come into daily use on the lines of the East Lancashire, and Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire railways, viz. the brakes of Newall and of Fay, by means of which 

 trains of ninety tons to a hundred tons weight, at speeds of over fifty miles an 

 hour, could be effectually controlled by driver or guard, even when running down 

 steep inclines, and could be brought up within a moderate distance ; whilst the 

 wear and tear of rolling-stock, it was alleged, was sensibly diminished by reason 

 of the more extensive distribution of brake-power over the vehicles of the train. 



In fact Mi*. Newall's brake had been patented five years before, viz. in 1853. 



It seems certainly matter for surprise, in view of the advantages afforded by the 

 application of continuous brakes, as then illustrated in the daily working of the 

 two systems referred to, on several lines of railway, that railway companies should 

 have continued to allow themselves to remain content with the old system, and 

 should have been so slow to avail themselves of advantages which were obviously 

 disclosed in the instances brought under their notice, wherein the brake-power was 

 largely augmented, and instead of being dependent for its due action on the atten- 

 tion of several attendants, was effectually placed under the immediate and prompt 

 control of one. 



This lethargy prevailed, too, throughout a period when increased speed came to 

 be demanded, when increasing traffic required heavier trains, and when conse- 

 quently more ponderous and powerful engines had to be applied for their transport — 

 circumstances, all of which would have naturally, one would think, induced the 

 companies to effect simultaneously a corresponding readjustment and improvement 

 of their brake appliances. 



It may here be of interest to glance briefly at the appliances which have been 

 used for controlling trains since tramways and railways have been introduced. 



In the early tramways, the necessity for some means of control at once com- 

 manded attention, more especially as, in the wooden roads introduced in the North 

 of England and in South Wales during the last century, the course of the lines 

 was made to follow the natural inclinations of the surface of the country ; the 

 declivities being often rather steep, and the friction of the vehicles being small, 

 accidents arising from their too rapid descent were of frequent occurrence. 



On most of these earlier lines the controlling power was of the simplest kind, 

 being produced by "spragging" the wheels, or, in other words, inserting a bar of 

 wood between the spokes, which prevented them from turning and converted the 

 motion from a rolling to a sliding one. 



15* 



