atmosphere, or more probably, from some of the oil which has fallen from the engine to the rails. She is now getting to her speed; the guards, who have not jumped from the platform until after the train is in motion, shut themselves within their vans, they see that their breaks are all right and begin arranging their parcels; the _sisyphi_ of the sorting post fall to again at their always-beginning and never-ending labours; such passengers as can sleep, sleep, such as can’t don’t. And so the engine and her train, leaving the railway to Coventry, Birmingham, and the “Black Country” to the left, and that to Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, and all the east coast cities of northern England, to the right, pass onwards towards and through Nuneaton, a junction station which sends a branch to the left towards Coventry, and thence to Leamington, and one to the right to Leicester, where it connects with the system of the Midland Railway Company; a halt at Tamworth (necessary because it is a great postal centre, although of comparative insignificance as regards the railway) takes place thirty-three minutes after departure from Rugby, the intervening distance being twenty-four miles,—thence to Stafford, 133½ miles from London, accomplished in three hours fifteen minutes, entitles not only the engine, but those who are placed to control her, to rest and repose for a certain period. A sister engine, which has been all ready-coaled and watered fully half an hour before the time appointed for the train’s arrival, is attached thereto, and she proceeds onwards, reaching (if it be the Limited Mail) Crewe, 25 miles distant, in 30 minutes; Carlisle, 299 miles from London, in 9 hours; Edinburgh, 401 miles, in 10½ hours; Perth, 449 miles, in 12 hours 20 minutes. Here begins the beautiful and picturesque Highland railway[82], the most northern of all our railways at the present time. Of it a few words. Its main line, extending from Perth through Inverness to Bonar Bridge, is of the total length of 204 miles. Thus London and the northern extremity of the Highland Railway are 653 miles apart, and the whole distance is accomplished by the Limited Mail in 22 hours and 20 minutes. Including branches, the Highland Railway is 250 miles in extent. Between Inverness and Perth it passes over several summits of considerable height, the highest, 1,500 feet above the level of the sea, being on the borders of Inverness and Perthshire. The next highest is at Dana, where the level is 1,000 above that of the sea, and about 40 miles to the south of this, and again at Dunkeld, the elevations are 400 feet each. The summits are gained by the line winding in and out amongst the hills, and by gradients of 1 in 70 (75 feet to the mile) and 1 in 80 (66 feet in the mile). At Speyside, near Keith, there is a rise for three miles of 1 in 60 (88 feet in the mile). The cuttings and embankments are, of course, on a large scale, and owing to the great elevation and exposed position of