until a good round pace of twenty miles an
hour is attained. Having put an extra
shawl round his neck, and looked over his
way-bills and other papers, our guard
proceeds to light his pipe—his only friend during
these long night journeys—and so they go on
steadily through the darkness till the first
station at which they have to stop, is reached.
Here they have three trucks to drop, and
half-a-dozen to take up. The red signals are turned
on at the station, the train stops, and the guard
alights with his lantern. The trucks they
have to drop are perhaps in the middle of
the train, and much shunting is requisite
before they are deposited safely on a side line
and the six taken up in their place. The
utmost activity is required here on the part
of the guard, who has to keep running from
place to place, signalling the driver with his
lantern, and sometimes bending on his
stomach over the buffers, while the train is
in motion, to unfasten the hooks—a dangerous
feat, to which several lives are yearly sacrificed.
The change having been effected, the
guard returns to his van, and away they all
go, waking the echoes from their sleep in the
dark, while the yawning policeman at the
station reverses his signals, and wishes it
were morning.

A great improvement has taken place
during the last few years in the speed and
punctuality of goods' trains, especially in
what are called through trains; that is,
trains running direct from one important
town to another, and stopping nowhere on
the road, except for water. We have before
us the working time-tables of two of the
most considerable lines in the kingdom—
namely, the London and North-Western, and
the Midland railways. These tables are
published monthly for the use of the servants in
working the line, and are not sold to the
public. The table of the first-named
company is a thick pamphlet, bound in red cloth,
containing one hundred and forty-four pages,
based on the plan of Bradshaw's Guide, only
not devoted to passenger trains alone, but
showing the time of every description of
train that runs on the line. The trains on
the two lines above-mentioned run in
conjunction with each other; and, to show what
is daily effected in the way of quick transit
of goods, we will give one or two examples
from these tables. The Leeds Express
Goods leaves London at nine forty-five P.M.,
and arrives at Leeds at nine five A.M., a
distance of two hundred and four miles in eleven
hours and twenty minutes, including nine
stoppages at various stations, ranging from
five to twenty-five minutes each. The express
passenger train, between the same places,
performs the journey in six hours and a half.
But, although the goods' train is nearly twice
as long on the road, it is evident that if you
can ship your goods in London the last thing
at night, and have them delivered in the
heart of Yorkshire at an early hour next
forenoon, the transit must be rapid enough
for all legitimate business purposes. A goods'
train from London to Liverpool, a distance
of two hundred and one miles, takes eleven
hours and forty minutes to perform the
journey.

Conspicuous as parts of railway machinery
are the carting agents, of whom the two
principal are Messrs. Pickford and Co. and Messrs.
Chaplin and Home. Let us do a little
imaginary business with the former of these
firms. You are a manufacture—say in
Penzance—and you wish to send a truss of
woollen goods to a customer at
Berwick-upon-Tweed. As you are in the habit of
forwarding considerable quantities of goods
by rail, Pickford and Co.'s drayman calls at
your warehouse every evening, in the course
of his usual rounds for collecting goods. He
hoists your truss into his dray, and you hand
him a consignment note for it, on which are
entered the name and address of the
consignee, the weight of the truss, and the words
Carriage Paid, or To Pay, as the case may
be. Your truss is also directed, or marked,
to correspond with the note. It is carted,
together with various other goods, to the
station, there re-weighed, and in the course
of the night loaded up for Berwick; being
also entered on an invoice showing the name,
weight, rate, and amount of freight. Arrived
at its destination, it again comes into the
hands of Pickford and Co., who cart it to
your customer's shop, obtain his signature
for it, and the amount of carriage. At the
end of each month an account is furnished
to Pickford and Co., debiting them with the
total of the amounts received by them during
the month, for carriage, on account of the
railway company, and crediting them with
the amount due for cartage performed. The
principal kinds of merchandise are arranged
into two or three different classes, on each of
which a different rate is allowed for cartage.
As a matter of course, there is considerable
competition among the carriers in all large
towns, but Pickford and Co. generally come
in for the lion's share.

A very important piece of railway
machinery is the clearing-house in Drummond
Street, Euston Square. It was established
to facilitate the equitable division of through
traffic, and is maintained at the expense of
the various companies for which it labours.
Through traffic is traffic which, being carried
over more than one line of railway, requires
to be divided by mileage proportion among
the several companies whom it may affect.
For instance, you send a ton of goods from
Sheffield to London, which in transit passes
over ninety-four miles of the Midland line,
and eighty-two miles of the London and
North-Western. The carriage of said goods
amounts to forty-five shillings. The division
is effected by the clearing-house, to
which place weekly abstracts are sent
from each station, showing the traffic