MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
115 
A funnel, placed at tlio top of the car, faces the direc¬ 
tion in which the train is proceeding, and the movement 
of the train causes the air to pass down this funnel into 
a chamber, where it is purified. A cistern of water is 
fixed under the car, and a pump worked by the rotation 
of the axles of the car forces tho water into the cham¬ 
ber through jets arranged to fill the chamber with 
spray. The air, in passing through this spray, is freed 
from dust. In cold weather, a stove is placed, so as to 
warm the water. The air then passes through flues 
under the floor into the interior of the car. The win¬ 
dows must be kept closed. As this arrangement is in 
practical use on several cal's on tho New York and Erie 
Railway, it would be well worthy of a trial upon 
English railways, especially in large saloon carriages. 
A baggage car, or a compartment of a passenger car 
reserved for baggage, is invariably placed next to the 
engine. The baggage cars are furnished with doors at 
the sides, to facilitate tho loading and unloading of 
baggage. Baggage cars are generally 30 feet long. 
Next to the baggage cars in the trains are placed the 
cars with the compartment for mails, or for the Express 
Companies, who undertake the parcels traffic. 
Freight and rattle cars are usually covered. Their 
ordinary length is 28 or 30 feet, and they arc more 
strongly built than passenger cars. 
Almost every car is provided with a break, which 
can be applied* to all the wheels of the car. It is 
worked from either end, so that one man can work the 
breaks of two cars. In freight trains the guards usually 
pass along over the topi of tho cars, the small number 
of bridges and tunnels rendering this course safer than 
than it would be in England. 
In every train a simple and perfectly effectual com¬ 
munication between the guard and engine-driver is 
provided by means of a cord. In passenger trains a 
cord, with swivel-hooks at each end, is provided to each 
car. It passes through rings in the ceiling, and it is 
the duty of the conductor to see that the communica¬ 
tion between adjacent cars is complete before a train 
starts. In freight trains the cord is passed over the 
tops of the cars. This cord is attached to a bell on the 
engine- 
The construction of a train on American railways 
favours this mode of communication more than on 
English railways. The carriages are longer, and there¬ 
fore there are fewer of them, and consequently fewer 
connections to be made ; and theso connections are be¬ 
tween rigid draw-bars, without expansion or contraction 
of buffer springs; and as a person can walk from one 
end of a train to another, theso connections are made 
very easily, and any omission is immediately detected. 
From the above account it will be seen that the loll¬ 
ing stock on American railways differs considerably 
from that in use in England. 
In designing their rolling stock, the Americans ap¬ 
pear to have taken their ideas more from a ship than 
from an ordinary carriage, and to have adopted the 
form best calculated to accommodate large masses with 
a mininum of outlay for flint cost, as well as the oue 
which involves a mininum of attendance upon the pas¬ 
sengers in getting in and out of trains. Whilst the 
cars have been designed with a view to avoid every ap¬ 
pearance of privilege or exclusiveness, or of superiority 
of one traveller over another, they have been constructed 
so as to secure to every traveller substantial comfort 
and even privacy. 
There is only one class, but as the cars are designed 
with more regard to comfort than English railway car¬ 
riages, this class is very much superior to second and 
third-class carriages, and only inferior to the best first- 
class English carriages. It is much to be regretted 
that almost all English railway companies have so en¬ 
tirely disregarded the comfort of second and third-class 
passengers, although, as a general rule, second-class and 
sometimes even third-class passengers pay a higher fare 
than is required for the much superior accommodation 
of American railways. 
j\’o doubt the American railway Gars cannot contain 
so many passengers as would he contained in a carriage 
of equal length divided into compartments, but tho usq 
of a door at each end, in lieu of sovoral at each side, 
effects a saving in first cost, as well as in subsequent 
trouble to tho company's servants, and allows the cars 
to be made wider than they could bo with side doors, 
steps, &c. It is also very convenient for tho passengers 
to be able to move about, especially on a long journey. 
Thu absence of compartments facilitates ventilation, 
warming, and lighting at night. There is an advantage 
derived from the uso of trucks, which deserves consi¬ 
deration, viz.: that carriages can be moved easily l'ound 
curves, and that consequently there is some diminution 
in the resistance oT carves*, and tho use of doable 
springs renders the motion of the cars very easy on a 
good road. Indeed, these cars travel without accident 
overbad roads at velocities, when our carriages would 
probably leave tho lino. The small diameter of tho 
wheels possibly increases the friction to some extent. 
Vehicles of this description would be very convenient 
in this country on all onmibas lines, and lor a second 
and third-class traffic; but it is likely that many Eng¬ 
lish first-class passengers would prefer the privacy of a 
compartment. The use of this description of vehicle 
would, however, probably render necessary a reconsi¬ 
deration of tho mode of buffing and coupling carriages 
together, if not the adoption ot the bumper at the cen¬ 
tre. This mode of coupling entails very much less risk 
upon the companies’ servants than the mode in use in 
this country, and it prevents the possibility of danger 
arising from the couplings not being properly screwed 
up ; and the use of a rigid draw-bar through the train 
would afford an easy means of enabling the engine 
driver to apply breaks simultaneously to all the wheels 
of the train. The mode of connecting American cars 
affords rather more protection than ours against that 
class of accident in which one carriage is forced through 
the adjacent one, as in such cases the platforms at each 
end, amounting to five feet of space, must be crushed 
before the body of the car is injured. 
The main advantage of tho American cars is that 
they convey a larger number of passengers, in propor¬ 
tion to the dead weight, than can bo convoyed in the 
carriages generally used on English railways. 
On the Baltimore ami Ohio Kailway, on account of 
the sharp curves, the cars are shorter than on many 
other lines, viz , TO feet in length ; these cars will con¬ 
tain 00 persons, and it was stated that they weigh about 
seven tons. As a general rule on English narrow gauge 
railways, the some number of second-class passengers 
would scarcely be accommodated under a weight of 10 
tons. 
The passenger car of the Now York and Erie Rail¬ 
way Company is CO feet long, and would contain about 
80 people. 
The freight cars on the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, 
28 feet long, with a capacity for a load of nine tons, 
weigh six tons. On narrow gauge English railways, as 
a general rule, the weight of the goods waggon is not 
much less than tho weight of load. 
EXTRACTS. 
Tiie New Telegraph Wires to India.—M r. 
Thomas Allan, C.E., has overcome certain formi¬ 
dable difficulties in tho way of extensive telegraphic 
enterprises. Thus, it is obvious that where a frail 
line of communication has to ho carried over the 
abrupt inequalities of the suvfaeo of our plobe, 
creeping over the summits of mountains, ami lying 
along the deep shelves in the bed of tho ocean, too 
much care cannot bo devoted to its composition and 
texture. Tho wire prepared Ivy Mr. Allan possesses 
advantages superior to those of any other conductor 
at present in uso, and in tho main requisites Of con- 
ductibility, strength, lightness, and cheapness, its 
superiority is incontestiOlo. Tho submarine wires 
