The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-21 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL CASTLE, Sept. 19.
The Queen, accompanied by Princes Christian,
went out yesterday morning, and in the afternoon
drove out with Princess Louise.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess
of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince
John of Denmark dined with her Majesty 1114
night.
The Right Hon. B. Disraeli arrived at the Castle
yesterday.

SIGNAL BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND

G UARDS.

A recent act of Parliament makes it imperative
that by April next railway companies shall establish
some means of communication between passengers
and guards of railway trains, and the consequence
is that railway directors and officials are now direct-
ing their attention seriously to the accomplishment
of this object. A few days ago a railway trip was
taken at Manchester for the purpose of testing the
efficiency of an invention recently patented by
Messrs. Kearsley and Holt, which they denominated
the " Passengers' own signal." The experiment
was made upon the Manchester, South Junction,
and Altriucham line, between Oxford-road Sta-
tion, Manchester, and Kutsford, Cheshire. Several
railway officials and other gentlemen interested in
witnessing the experiment, with a view of recom-
mending the adoption of the apparatus, upon ap-
proval of its working, were present. The trip and
the trial were highly satisfactory, and it was the
unanimous opinion of all who inspected the inven-
tion that the signal is as effective in character as it
is simple in its contrivance. One prominent ad-
vantage of the signal is that it appeals at once to the
eye and the ear of the officer in charge of the
train, while it consequently will enable the
passengers to become acquainted with the nature
of any alarm that may have arisen. The
apparatus, from the simplicity of its construc-
tion, can be easily described. It consists of
small windmill or vane, fixed upon the roof of one
of the carriages, the vane being turned at an amazing
speed when the train is running at, say, 30 or 40
miles an hour, as was the case on Friday with the
Bowdon express. This vane, thus in motion, rings
a large bell, which is as loud as one of our factory
bells in Manchester, and which, once set in motion,
never ceases until the train is stopped. The alarm
can be raised by any of the passengers by paling 3
chain drawn across the roof of the carriage in which
they are seated. The chain hangs conveniently
overhead and can easily b 3 reached from any portion
of the scats, and, in fact, without the passenger rising
from his place. The first effect of pulling this chain i 9
that two semaphores rise up into the usual position,
which in the railway dictionary means 44 Stop
and the second effect is that the wind-vane is re;
leased and exposed to the current of the air, which
sets it rotating as above-mentioned, while of course
.
the bell is set ringing at the same instant. Attached
to the windmill is a white light, meaning " Al,
right," but upon the alarm being given the white
light instantaneously gives place to a red one—the
"danger" signal. Those who, on Friday, during the
return home, rode upon the engine, expressed them'
selves much pleased with the precision with which
these changes were brought about. It is obvious the:
they can be most effectively seen by the driver and
the guard in night journeys, or while the train is
passing through a tunnel. The semaphores also
show strikingly by daylight ; and, taking the senla"
phore light and alarm bell together, the officers
in charge can hardly fail to see the one or hear the
other. During the whole of the trip the bell, as We
were informed, was distinctly heard to the extreme
.
end of the train, which on this occasion consisted o!
13 carriages. In the Old Trafford tunnell the sound
was remarkably distinct. This is the more worthy.
of being mentioned because one of the objects of
the patentees was to prevent the possibility of t‘
renewal of the outrages we have too frequently
heard of being committed in the noisy transit
through dark tunnels. Another evidence of the ad-
vantage of the alarm bell was observed in the atter':
tion it excited among the residents in the different
localities through which the train passed. Th„e
thought occurred that if a carriage were " on fire,
a
or "off the rail=," or if any other cause of peril
should arise, plenty of stout hearts and willing hands,„
would flock to the spot from their rural labours to
render timely and perhaps priceless aid. Every
carriage can be fitted with its apparatus in such a 1
manner that it will act without the train ben! b_
connected from end to end, so that no time will
lost at stations in dropping off or taking on 0.11:0
riages, nor will any staff of men be required at the
railway stations to attend to the coupling or un
coupling of the carriages that compose the train.