_________________________________________________________________ | 1849. | 1884. | |Speed miles|Speed miles| | per hour. | per hour. | -----------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+ Great Western--London to Didcot. | 56 | -- | " " to Swindon. | -- | 53 | North-Western--Euston to Wolverton. | 37 | -- | " Northampton to Willesden. | -- | 51½ | South-Western--Waterloo to Farnborough. | 39 | -- | " Yeovil to Exeter. | -- | 46 | Brighton--London Bridge to Reigate. | 36 | -- | " Victoria to Eastbourne. | -- | 45 | Midland--Derby to Masborough. | 43 | -- | " London to Kettering. | -- | 47 | North-Eastern--York to Darlington. | 38 | -- | " " | -- | 50 | Great Eastern--London to Broxbourne. | 29 | -- | " Lincoln to Spalding. | -- | 49 | Great Northern--King's Cross to Grantham.| -- | 51 | Cheshire Lines--Manchester to Liverpool. | -- | 51 | -----------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+ With this problem then before them, increased weight, increased speed, and increased duty, the locomotive superintendents of our various railways have designed numerous types of engines, of which the author proposes to give a brief account, confining himself entirely to English practice, as foreign practice in addition would open too wide a field for a single paper.