Much interest has been caused during the week by the
working model of a "flying train" which the inventor, M. Bachelet, is showing in London. Primarily it is intended for conveying postal packets, and it is suggested that a speed of three hundred miles an hour might be obtained. The train is lifted bodily into the air by magnetic repulsion provided by electric coils. Spectators have been unable to push down an object exposed to the magnetic repulsion of the coils. When the train is in the air it is drawn forward by magnetic attraction. Over the track of the repelling or lifting coils there are arches of electro-magnets which supply the attractive force. As the train reaches each arch that arch is de-energized. The train is thus pulled from arch to arch and the speed depends on the magnetic energy exerted. The electric forces here employed have, of course, been known for a long time, but M. Bachelet's invention is the first attempt to put them to commercial uses. Whether the invention would work on a large scale is, perhaps, doubtful; but it is still more doubtful whether it would pay even if it would work. We do not forget, however, that the " toy " argument was used about telegraphs and telephones.
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