1865.] Tyler on Circulation and Communication on Baihoays. 587 



between the passengers and the servants of the company, and between 

 the latter only. It is further desirable that the machinery of com- 

 munication should be independent of the machinery of the train. 



4. Tubes throughout the trains for various purposes. There is no 

 difficidty in coupling them together between the carriages, except 

 when they are required for steam from the engine at high pressure. 

 The couplings then, besides becoming hot, are too delicate for the 

 rough work of being constantly interfered with by the porters in the 

 course of traffic. The waste of steam, also, both directly and from 

 condensation, and the risk of accident to the porters in coupling and 

 uncoupling, are amongst their disadvantages .for such a purpose. The 

 use of tubes for the conveyance of balls, numbered or lettered, by a 

 direct cm-rent always passing from the passengers to the guard, and 

 by a reversed current froru the guard to the engine-driver, has been 

 tested on the London and North- Western Eailway. As originally 

 devised, they necessitate the constant working of an air-pump in 

 every break- van, which is open to the objections mentioned in No. 3 ; 

 and no other satisfactory mode of obtaining the necessary current 

 has been proposed. Tubes for the conveyance of sound, by whistle or 

 otherwise, have not yet been properly tested, but the French Commis- 

 sion remarks with regard to them, — " Les n 08 17, 26, 28 et 29, croient 

 a l'efficacite de tuyaux acoustlques communiquant sur toute la longeur 

 du train. II est facile de demontrer que ce systeme de communication 

 serait au contraire entierement inefficace." 



5. Apparatus worked by the resistance of the atmosphere during 

 the passage of a train have hitherto proved, and are likely to prove, a 

 failure, because the amount of resistance varies so much, according to 

 circumstances, and the power obtained depends, not only on the speed 

 of the train, but also upon the force and direction of the wind. 



6. Cords or wires connected with whistles or bells on the engines 

 or tenders. These have been extensively used both in this country 

 and on the Continent as means of communication between the guards 

 and engine-drivers, as well as in America, where they run along under 

 the roofs of the carriages. They were recommended for adoption 

 outside the carriages by the first sub-committee of railway managers, 

 who reported in 1853, and they have since done good service, though 

 they have been roughly applied, and have been known occasionally to 

 fail in very long trains. They are not well adapted for further com- 

 plication, such as connection with the several compartments of every 

 carriage in a train, and a detector in each. Numerous projects of this 

 sort have, however, been brought forward, and an attempt has been 

 made to carry out one of them on the Great Northern Eailway. 



7. Voltaic apparatus appears, on the whole, to be the best adapted 

 for complete inter-communication, though it has the disadvantage of 

 being worked by batteries, which require to be examined — say once a 

 month, and renewed — say every six months. The only arrangement 

 that has yet, as far as we are aware, worked successfully upon a train 

 on this (or any other) system, is by Messrs. Preece and Bedborough, 

 on the London and South-Western Eailway. The Exeter express train 

 at 10.50 a.m. from the Waterloo terminus, now runs with it on Mon- 



VOL. II. 2 s 



