1 878.] 
Continuous Railway Breaks. 
19 
enactment, but must be left to the good judgment and self- 
interest of the several Railway Companies, which ought to 
he sufficient to ensure the “ survival of the fittest ” amongst 
railway breaks. In conclusion, it may he remarked that if 
the conditions laid down by the Royal Commission he 
accepted as those which should be required to he fulfilled, 
there is only one at present in existence, viz, the Westing- 
house automatic air break, which can be said to come up 
to the standard of efficiency laid down in those conditions. 
Since the above was written a series of experiments were 
held at Cassel, from the 1st to the 4th of August last, the 
Report on which has just been published. Without entering 
into detail with regard to these experiments, it may suffice 
here to state that in each case the Westinghouse automatic 
break proved superior to the Heherlein, Steel, and Smith’s 
breaks, with which it was in competition, to the extent 
varying in different cases from 16 to 60 per cent, thus com- 
pletely corroborating the results obtained by the Royal 
Commission referred to above. With regard to the first 
cost of the breaks, the Westinghouse is slightly more 
expensive than either the Heberlein or Smith’s, but it is 
far cheaper than the Steel break, whilst of the four the 
Westinghouse break is lighter in weight than any of the 
others by some hundredweights. It appears, however, from 
an official report on the subject to the Austrian Government, 
and from the report of the recent Belgian Commission, that 
the durability and small maintenance cost of the Westing- 
house break compensate for its being somewhat dearer than 
others in the first instance. 
In view of all these corroborating evidences it can be no 
source of surprise that the Westinghouse break has been 
adopted for the Belgian State Railways. It has, however, 
not yet been publicly notified, so far as we are aware, that 
the several Railway Companies in England have so far 
recognised their responsibilities towards the public as to fit 
up their several systems with the most efficacious break- 
power which has hitherto been introduced. 
