HIGH SPEED RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING. LI. 



joint. With the exception of the case of the joint, there 

 does not appear to be any proposition to alter the general 

 form of the permanent way. Extra stability is only looked 

 for by increasing weight. 



As regards actual speeds, and the possibilities of largely 

 increasing them on existing lines, by steam locomotion, 

 the limitations in the United Kingdom have been mentioned. 

 On the Continent, and in America, where the distances are 

 greater, there is greater scope. In the former what are 

 called International Expresses are now run, once or twice 

 a week, from Paris to St. Petersburg and Moscow, Calais 

 to Brindisi, Paris to Constantinople, etc., etc., which are 

 simply moving hotels, from which the passengers need not 

 alight during transit across Europe. Here, of course, the 

 highest possible speed is a desideratum. In America, the 

 cost of altering existing dimensions of bridges, etc., to 

 enable more powerful locomotives to be used, is compara- 

 tively small. 



As to actual everyday travelling express speed in these 

 countries at present, I find that in the Northern Railway 

 of France, the afternoon express from Paris to St. Quintin 

 covers 95 miles in from 94 to 97 minutes, with trains of 

 over 300 tons, and ruling grades of 1 in 200, 75 miles per 

 hour being daily attained on this run on the down grades. 

 Similar intermediate speeds are reached daily on several 

 other lines in France and England, as I experienced myself 

 on my recent trip. 



The Pennsylvania railway in the States gives some of 

 the best practice there, and records of the ordinary aver- 

 age fast train times between stations were taken between 

 July and September 1901, on various sections varying from 

 15 up to 53 miles in length. The speeds range from 76 up 

 to a maximum of as much as 89 miles per hour, the latter 

 being reached on a 16 mile length by a train consisting of 

 9 cars. 



