HIGH SPEED RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING. XLV. 



difficulty would not consist in want of sufficient brake 

 power, but in the application of it without clanger, or at all 

 events serious discomfort, to passengers. 



As to signalling, it is proposed to have signal stations 

 worked electrically, about seven miles apart, with a man 

 at each. The passage of a car automatically raises the 

 the signal arm, and the one seven miles behind, to danger. 

 The turning of the turntables at each end which transfers 

 the car from the up to the down line, and vice versa, also 

 actuates the signals behind them. The signals, thus set 

 at clanger, automatically act on a following car which for 

 any cause has not been pulled up, by a current breaker 

 which rings a bell in the car and also sets the electric 

 brake in action. Diagrams shewing the working of these 

 arrangements are appended. The intervals of seven miles, 

 or in time of 3 min. 48 sec, during which they are passed 

 over, have been fixed to suit a 10 minutes service, so that 

 there is a considerable margin of safety. 



The capital of the Company is £2,800,000, being £2,100,000 

 in ordinary shares, and £700,000 in debentures. The 

 estimate is — 

 Construction and rolling stock (10 cars) ... £1,286,000 



Electrical equipment 464,000 



Land and Parliamentary expenses 1,050,000 



Total ... 2,800,000 

 For a ten minutes service of 90 trains daily, and 45 on 

 Sunday, the promoters estimate working expenses at 7*47d 

 per car mile. Compared with ordinary train service, the 

 running wages will be very low as the mile is worked for 

 about half a minutes' wage but the power is necessarily 

 high due to the speed. The fares, one class only, are to be 

 2/6 single journey, which with the expected number of 

 passengers, 4,000 per day, would give a return of 5 per cent, 

 on the capital. 



