iS Continuous Railway Breaks. [January, 
after both had been brought to a stop. A special slip 
coupling with conneCting-pipes and valyes had been fur- 
nished in the case of the Great Northern train (Smith’s 
vacuum break), but the Commissioners elected to effect the 
slip at another point, where no special provision for the 
contingency of breaking away existed, and where there was 
no valve in the hose-pipe. The aCtion of the continuous 
break on the severed portion would doubtless have been 
more powerful had the influx of air into the severed pipe 
been prevented by a valve ; but, as it was, the aCtion was 
feeble compared with the others, as it amounted to less than 
one-fourth of that produced by either the Westinghouse air 
or by the Clarke and Webb’s breaks. 
These experiments having been conducted by wholly dis- 
interested persons, and with the view of ascertaining really 
the most efficient break in existence, possess an especial 
value, and should unquestionably be relied on by Railway 
Companies as furnishing some guide to them as to which of 
the many breaks at present in existence should be adopted 
by them. No words that we might add could give additional 
force to the report on the experiments with the several 
breaks from which the foregoing particulars have been taken. 
From these it is clear that the Westinghouse air break is 
about 25 per cent superior to any of its competitors, and, 
from whatever point it is viewed, it is so pre-eminently more 
effective than the others that there should, we should think, 
be no hesitation on the part of the Railway Companies in 
adopting it. That it will be generally adopted by some of 
the leading companies there can scarcely be a doubt. Mr. 
Allport, of the Midland Railway Company, when under 
examination before the Royal Commission, expressed a very 
general approval of the Westinghouse break, and intimated 
that the Company was only waiting for the Commissioners’ 
Report before adopting that break generally on their line ; 
and it can scarcely be doubted that — except, perhaps, in 
cases where personal interest may bias the judgment of 
Directors, should such influence anywhere exist — the course 
adopted by the Midland Railway Company in this instance 
will be followed by other Railway Companies throughout 
the kingdom. It is most important that this should follow, 
for there is now so much interchange of traffic betwen rail- 
ways, and the carriages of companies run through over 
several railway systems besides their own so generally, that 
some uniformity of system in the application of break-power 
should unquestionably be adopted. This, truly, is hardly 
a point for Government interference or for legislative 
