THE RAILWAY DISASTER.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Six,—I have read many letters and articles on the Abergele disaster, and am surprised that nobody seems to have noticed the fact that if the carriages had been on the American principle it is more than probable that every soul would have been saved by means of the central passage. It has been my lot to travel by these carriages several times, and every time I do so I wonder that they are not used in these countries. They weigh and cost less per passenger carried, are far more easily ventilated, go round much sharper curves, and there is no risk in them of insult or murder. The tickets are all collected en route, and the guard is always within reach and ready to give information. Against all these advantages the only drawback I see is that English impatience would not relish only two entrances to a carriage. Still the experiment would be worth trying, and in these days of railway poverty it is to be hoped that some line may be tempted by economy to try it.
In the recent fire in the Edinburgh express the guard would have been at once communicated with, and the train stopped in five minutes.—I am, Sir, &c., Paw).
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