SECTION OF STEAM TRANSPORTATION. 129 



but there is no comparison. The great tunnel is reached a few moments 

 after passing the station at Airolo, and for twenty-two and one-half 

 minutes of utter darkness we are passing through a little more than 

 9 J miles — the longest tunnel in the world, and it is with a feeling of 

 relief that one sees daylight at Goeschenen at the northern end. I was 

 fortunate enough to obtain for our section a good photograph of each 

 of the entrances to this great tunnel, and what appears to be a very 

 accurate map, scale 1 to 100,000, showing the location of all the tunnels 

 on the road, and giving a fair idea of the contour of the country. 



At Lucerne the St. Gothard Railway terminates, but the carriages run 

 through to Basle without change. 



The railway from Basle to Strasburg is the best equipped road I 

 saw on the Continent, the second-class compartment in the carriages, 

 constructed on the English plan, being upholstered in a bright durable 

 color, and as comfortable as many first-class carriages in England; quite 

 a relief after many days of somber blue-black on the other roads. On 

 this railway the track and road-bed are well taken care of, and fast time 

 is made. 



The German locomotives appeared to be more clumsy or old fash- 

 ioned any than we had seen, but their performance seemed very satisfac- 

 tory. 



The Belgian railways are well built and equipped ; fast time is made 

 and the travel appears heavier than elsewhere on the Continent. The 

 locomotives on the road from Brussels to Antwerp seemed better cal- 

 culated for the work than on the German roads. Shorter time was 

 spent at stations everywhere in Belgium and more dispatch given to 

 arriving and departing trains than elsewhere. 



At various points on the Continent experiments are being made with 

 glass, iron, and steel cross-ties for railways of heavy traffic, and I doubt 

 if the tourist a few years hence will travel many miles over wooden 

 sleepers. 



EUROPEAN RAILWAY MUSEUMS. 



South Kensington Museum, — To the student of the history of steam 

 and steam transportation the South Kensington (Patent) Museum con- 

 tains the most valuable and instructive collection of objects abroad. 



The Englishman of to-day, justly proud of the inventive genius of the 

 last generation, is zealous to perpetuate the history of the results of the 

 life work of Newcomen, Savery, Smeatou, Watt, Murdoch, Trevithick, 

 George and Robert Stephenson, and Symington. 



In our own country, however, with the exception of Fulton, no Amer- 

 ican inventor of steam appliances has received the meed of praise due 

 him, and yet no nation in the world owes so much to locomotive and 

 steam-ship inveutors and railway constructors as our own. 



Owing to the limited area of Great Britain, however, which, exclusive 

 of Ireland, is a trifle less than the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio, the 

 H. Mis. 170, pt. 2 9 



