Ten Years' Locomotive Progress. By George Montagu. (Alston Rivers. 6s.
net.)—That problematical individual, the "man in the street," has so much to occupy his attention that he only occasionally notes technical progress. Yet few who travel much can have failed to notice the disappearance of the engine with a big single driving-wheel that took the expresses on the Great Northern Railway a few years ago. They are practically ancient history now, having been found unequal to cope with the heavy traffic of recent years, and for the very reason that spectators had their attention attracted to them,—the sight of the big driving- wheel revolving without adhering to the rails. Small wheels in pairs, triplets, or quadruples even, are now the order of the day. The increase in the weight of trains in ten years has been very marked, and while it has meant increased comfort, it has not been absolute progress. An eight-wheeled bogie third-class coach is sixty-two per cent. heavier than the old six-wheeled coach, but only carries forty per cent. more passengers, and in many cases not even this. The economical gain has been in suburban traffic. But from the locomotive engineer's point of view the gain in design and power has been enormous, and we hold of& proud position by virtue of our enterprise as well as ever we did. Mr. Montagu has happily combined a good deal of useful technical knowledge with his popular treatment of the subject, and we can congratulate him on a timely book which will serve to remind the public of what we owe to railway engineers. It has numerous illustrations of all the locomotive types.
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