XC. HIGH SPEED ELECTRIC:RAILWAY TRIALS. 
Details of the trials of 1903 are not yet to hand, but we 
have learnt by wire that 125 miles per hour were attained 
early in October, and 128 about three weeks later. This 
if practicable in Australia, would bring Sydney within 44 
hours of Melbourne. 
The following is an abstract of comments written before 
this news was received :—Having in view the interest with 
which these Berlin trials have been looked forward to by 
railway engineers all over the world, attention was drawn 
to their somewhat incomplete and unsatisfactory character. 
Such, for instance, as the obviously too light character of 
the road, and the delay in remedying this comparatively 
small matter. The very moderate amount of acceleration 
and retardation reached, a most important matter, especi- 
ally in suburban traffic. The absence of particulars of 
these and of power consumed in the maximum speed, and 
finally, the want of reports on the comparative smoothness 
and vibration of the gearless and spring connected drivers 
of the two cars. The experiments did show, however, the 
practicability of transmission of current by overhead wiring 
at very high speeds. 
The paper concludes by dealing with the general question 
of adopting very high speed to the following classes of 
passenger traffic viz. (1) city and suburban (2) connexion 
without intermediate stoppage between two populous 
centres, at a moderate distance apart, and (3) long distance 
trains. 
It is shown that as regards No. 1 quick starting and 
stopping are the chief requisites, and the instance is given 
of the Liverpool overhead railway with its stations averag- 
ing } mile apart, the stoppage being only 11 seconds at 
each. A through speed of 19 miles per hour is obtained by 
employing and acceleration and retardation of 3 feet per 
second per second. The effect of such working on a line 
