The competition of the great railways running North has this
year become very acute. A fortnight ago, the North- Western reduced the journey between London and Edinburgh to eight and a half hours. The Great Northern responded by a train which travelled the distance in eight hours, a move which was, however, answered by the North-Western also starting an eight-hour service. To perform the feat thus undertaken by the North-Western, it proved necessary to run from Euston to Crewe without stopping—a distance of 158 miles— the time occupied being three hours and five minutes. This run is longer than that performed by the Chicago limited express by 12 miles, and the North-Western can, there. fore, now claim to have beaten what has hitherto been in runs the " biggest thing in creation." The Times' correspondent who on Monday last travelled with the first train of the new service, records that during one part of the journey 95 miles were traversed in 100 minutes, and that on one occasion a mile was done in 481 sec., or at a rate of 74 miles an hour. If this pace becomes usual, and it is not the risk of accident but the desire to save coal which stands in the way, the man of short holidays will gain immensely. It will be possible to live 80 miles out of London, and yet come up to work.
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