single moveable rail on each plate, turning, at one end, a few inches on a joint or centre. The butt-end of this meets two rails (a little separated), which also rest on one end of the plate. The two moveable pieces are connected together by an iron rod which moves them laterally to each side of the fixed rail, so that in an instant the train can be diverged off the main line. Another plan acts the reverse of this; it is a loose rail in the common way, turning on a joint, and the sharp end of the point carries onward the carriage wheels on the intended track. Two short pieces of both the moveable and fixed rails are placed upon a cast-iron plate.

On railways where steam power is adopted, the moveable points are worked by means of a lever and connecting-rod, the handle coming through a square cast-iron frame placed on the ground clear of the rails: by the simple drawing back the lever, the point is moved; and when the attendant slackens his hold, the point returns to its original position.

Instead of the square plate, the plan on several railways is to connect the turning-rod with a small cast-iron pillar, firmly set up. A vertical spindle, passing through it, turns in a socket at the lower end: near the bottom of the spindle a

I

is seen.

sheave is placed horizontally, fixed on a false centre, with an iron ring working round the sheave, forming the common eccentric motion: from one side of the ring a horizontal rod is connected by means of screws with the rod which turns both the points or loose rails. The apparatus is entirely enclosed, and nothing except the pillar and handle The whole of the Great Western Railway is provided with very neat pillars of this kind. Examples of the arrangement of the crossings at the termini of railways may now be seen at almost every large town. At the Euston Square station of the London and Birmingham line, four lines of rails are laid down, as also at the goods' depôt, about two miles distant, between Camden Town and Chalk Farm bridge, near the Primrose Hill tunnel. At the latter place the general arrangement of railway crossings may be seen, and the danger which so obviously and necessarily attends them, both the up and down lines being intersected; eight or ten crossing-points or switches are seen from Chalk Farm Bridge within the space of a few yards; and as all these require to be set and turned by the hand to put the trains on the right track, one may easily conceive the vigilance and care requisite in their management, notwithstanding the facility with which, from the

apparatus already described, they can be changed. Perhaps there is nothing connected with railway practice in which more imperfection exists, or is so fruitful a source of danger. So much so is this the fact, that many engineers have long considered that there never can be entire immunity from risk at these crossings until there be introduced a self-acting switch or points opening themselves by the action of the wheels of the carriages. From the rapid speed, however, of railway trains, any contrivance for this purpose must be attended with practical difficulty. Although, therefore, there is considerable risk from the neglect of these when opened by hand, still there must be a confidence given to the driver as he approaches (which he would not feel from the former plan, from the apprehension as to the derangement of the apparatus), in daylight, to find the turn-point at his station, and at night, that the signal indicates that the points are properly set. The danger arising from these not being rightly placed must be apparent, when it is considered that the least neglect might send a train diametrically the opposite way intended. It must likewise be equally obvious that the fewer crossings used, the safety must be the greater; and when crossings do exist, they should not intersect the main line of transit.

The danger attending the intersections of the main line is fully illustrated at the Camden Town station. The goods' station lies to the right of the main line (going out of London); hence luggage vans have to cross the down line before they can get on the up line: they are consequently always liable to be run into by the down trains, from the least derangement of time, as lately happened, and was productive of fatal consequences. The danger arising from an arrangement of this kind must be apparent, and could be removed at a little inconvenience, by separating entirely the up and down goods' departments, and making one set of warehouses, from which the down goods proceeded at once upon the main line, and another set of warehouses in which the up goods should be received without having diverged from the main up line, thus preventing the luggage vans crossing the lines: had such an arrangement been in existence the late accident could not have happened.

An accident has just occurred from the same cause at the Bristol terminus, where a train from Gloucester ran into the Exeter luggage train, while the latter was passing from the Bristol and Exeter to the London line, and seven trucks were smashed to pieces. In lines therefore worked

with locomotive engines, where great traffic exists, were the goods' department to be entirely separated from the passengers' one, both safety and convenience would be consulted. This, indeed, could only be at first done by much additional outlay, and made perfect by forming perhaps a third or even a fourth line of rails, the goods' traffic being entirely confined to the lines made for it. Indeed, from the difference of speed adopted with different trains, such a plan as this seems the only one to avoid the danger of collisions by trains being run into. Were a third line of rails formed at every railway where express trains are allowed to run, to which they were confined, great additional safety would be given, as passing-places must be ever attended with much uncertainty.

A very opposite view to the above was entertained by Mr. F. Wishaw, as to the means to prevent collision, and at the same time enable railways to be formed at little expense. He proposed to have only a single line of way throughout, whatever be the amount of traffic; and to start at every hour in the day from terminal and principal intermediate stations, exchanging the trains by means of turn tables. This singular scheme he termed the reciprocating system; but from