LII. C. O. BURGE. 



Though English averages are not so fast as this, the ease 

 of running at very high speeds is much greater than else- 

 where. All the ordinary requirements of life, such as 

 reading, writing, eating, sleeping, dressing, and even shav- 

 ing, can be done, without the slightest discomfort, on the 

 numerous express trains from London to the North, at 

 velocities so great that the names of stations passed by 

 cannot be distinguished, and the sleeping arrangements 

 are so complete that each traveller has a cabin or room 

 and toilet arrangements to himself. All this, of course, 

 means weight, which is inseparable from the comforts and 

 necessities of long distance travel, so that it cannot be 

 compared with the single car trains of the Manchester 

 and Liverpool, Berlin, and other short lines which do not 

 want them. 



The question of travelling at over 100 miles per hour, as 

 now contemplated on the electric express lines, if applied 

 to long distance trains, opens up the question of the human 

 endurance sufficient to stand for many hours, the vibration 

 and concussion involved, for there must necessarily be a 

 great difference between these in that case, and what we 

 are now called upon to sustain. If 400 miles are covered 

 in 4 hours, and the traveller requires 4 hours additional to 

 rest from the effects, nothing is gained. It is greatly a 

 matter of training. Samson of old was a mighty man of 

 valour, but if he could be resuscitated, and if he made a 

 journey even in one of what are humorously called express 

 trains in the Colonies, he would not only be frightened out 

 of his wits, but greatly fatigued. The maximum speed 

 between stations in the Colonies for many years past hardly 

 reaches 40 miles per hour. For more than this there seems 

 to be no public demand. 



The conclusions which may be arrived at from the facts 

 given in this paper, is that increase of railway passenger 

 speed will be very gradual, and that the facilities afforded 

 in this direction by electricity will not stimulate it much, 

 except in the cases of short lines between such populous 

 and wealthy centres as are to be found in the older countries. 



