The Carlisle independent., 1909-09-09

The development of train service is | often not fully realized until our at | tention is called to the number of trains running between our chief towns. Taking the summer time table of 1908, for example there were p down and 29 up trains between London and Glasgow; between Lon don and Edinburgh there were 30 down and 28 up; while between the metropolis and Leeds there were 46 down and 50 up, and between London and Manchester no less than 5S down and 53 up, that is, on an average, 26-minute service. It must be borne in mind however, that different routes are taken by many of these trains and l consequently different towns are con- | nected up by trains running between the same points.
 Although comfort and frequency of service are two important features in railway improvements. the. increase in speed and in the number of long 1 nonstop runs daily being performed on many of our main lines emphasizes perhaps more than anything else the high degree of efficiency our railways have attained. During the past sum- mer the time tables of our chief lines showed q total of over 155 runs of more than 100 miles without a stop. Of these the fastest running is done by two expresses on the Great West ern railway. which cover the 11SA miles between Paddington and Bristol in two hours, giving a start to stop average speed of 59.8 miles per hour. Next to these comes a run on the Great Northern railway from Grant ham to Kings Cross, 105A miles, at an average speed of 57.7 miles per hour
 To maintain such high speeds for so many miles demonstrates what vast improvements have taken place in the steam locomotive, for in 1870 the quick est average speed in this country was only A miles per hour It is only by the aid of water-troughs that these long nonstop runs can be made; the troughs, which are about 800 yards in length, are placed between the rails and are automatically kept full. Water can thus be picked up while running by scoop under the tender, which is lowered into the trough by the engine men, the speed of the train forcing tke water up the scoop into the ten der tank
 In the development of train work. ing nothing has played more impor- tant part than the locomotive, for, as the traffic and the demand for rapid transit have increased, so has the To- comotiye been brought up to the nee essary state of efficiency. not only as regards speed, but in economical working, without which it would. have been an impossibility to give the pub lie what they desired. The modern locomotive Is an evolutionary product. and although the main principles re. main much the same as in the ecs-g engine, 1t would be hard for the lay man to recognize any of the old in the new. The invention of the loco motive is nowadays absolutely indis- pensable to our daily existence. In its earliest days it has been likened in appearance to a medieval engine of
  colliery lines because it could pull few more trucks than could a horse. The idea of speed never seemed to enter into the minds of it's promoters. and at the opening of the Stockton and Darlington railway in 1895, when the locomotive made its first appear ance in the interests of the public. considerable surprise was caused hy the speed it attained of some 12 miles per hour It is recorded that the horseman who preceded 1t with a flag had promptly to clear out of the way. to the wonder of the assembled crowd. At first 1t met with a considerable amount of opposition and many strange objections were taken to it: but as soon as it began to be recog- nized what commercial prosperity was wrapped up in its development all these objections disappeared. It was not, however, until the famous loco. | motive contest at Rainhill in 1929 that the hitherto doubtful question of it's practical success was settled once and for all On that occasion the Rocket designed by Stephenson, astonished the spectators by running 35 miles in one hour 45 minutes and attaining speed of nearly 30 miles per hour pulling load of 13 tons.
 This historic engine weighed in working order A tons and was car ried on four wheels: it's tender fully i