192 report — 1877. 



running at 45 miles per hour -would be stopped in the space of 10CO yards, or if at 

 CO miles per hour in the space of 1700 yards or about mte mile. 



The necessity for some greater control oyer fast passenger trains than that 

 afforded by hand- brakes to engine and vans was rendered obvious by such a 

 result, and" the .Royal Commissioners accordingly reported as follows : — 



" It appears that the amount of hand-brake power usually provided with the 

 trains of the respective Companies failed to bring up the London and North- 

 Western train within 2374 feet ; that of the Caledonian within 311'0 feet ; that of 

 the Midland within 3250 feet ; that of the Great Northern within 3570 feet ; and 

 that of the Brighton within 3G90 feet — the speed of the trains varying from 45-5 

 miles to 48-5 miles per hour. 



" These trains were in the most complete order, and the guards and drivers had 

 notice of the exact spot at which the signal to stop would be given. 



" A large addition must therefore be made to these distances in practice, and 

 unless much greater control is obtained over trains by additional brake-power, it 

 is clear that to ensure safety the distance signals must, for a level line, be carried 

 back to the distance of a mile." 



It is to be observed also that from the want of a larger amount of brake-power 

 much time is lost on the journey when the stoppages are frequent, the drivers being- 

 compelled to slacken speed at such long distances from the stopping-places. 



The suburban lines have not been slow to recognize this advantage, and hence 

 continuous brakes have been generally introduced on the North London and on 

 the underground lines of the Metropolis. 



It seems, indeed, scarcely to admit of question that a system, which may be 

 deemed almost a necessity in such special cases, would not be advantageously 

 applicable in all cases, and that, in fact, to render the control of a train complete 

 brakes should be adapted to all or nearty all its wheels, and that at least the 

 driver if not the guards should possess the power of promptly bringing the whole 

 of them into action. 



The truth of this principle seems to be now very generally admitted by all our 

 leading Railway Companies, and it will be seen, from a return made by them 

 recently to the Board of Trade, that they appear to be fully alive to its import- 

 ance ; that some of them have adopted systems of continuous brakes which in their 

 judgment answer the ends desired; and that others are preparing to make trial of 

 inventions which promise better results. 



It was not part of our duty to the Royal Commissioners to select for coinmc n- 

 dation any one or more of the systems presented for trial. We had only to 

 conduct the trials with all possible care, and to record faithfully the facts which 

 those trials disclosed. 



It is true that some rather startling disparities in the operation of the different 

 systems of brakes were disclosed during the course of our experiments ; but this 

 we considered might, to a certain extent, have been fairly expected from the cir- 

 cumstance that many of the contrivances were of comparatively recent origin, and 

 that from want of sufficient time some of the mechanical details had to be hastily 

 settled, and could not therefore be properly tested and corrected beforehand. 



Some of these disparities, however, appeared to be incidental to the principle 

 upon which the action of the brake was founded, and in particular we had to 

 notice the marked effect resulting from the differences in the intervals which 

 elapsed between the times of applying the power and the times when the pressure 

 on the blocks attained its full effect, as between the air pressure and vacuum 

 breaks we noticed a loss of 6J seconds, which, in a train running 60 miles per hour, 

 is equivalent to 180 yards additional space traversed in the stop. 



Brief mention has already been made of the systems of continuous brakes sub- 

 mitted for trial. There were : — 



1. Two forms of brake in which the power was transmitted by wheels, chains, 



rods, and levers, viz. Clarke and Webb's (London and North Western) 

 and Fay's (Lancashire and Yorkshire). 



2. Two forms in which the power applied was that of the pressure of the 



atmosphere induced by vacuum formed in pipe and vessels, viz. the 





