Considerable progress had been made by the time the war broke out and quite a number of track circuits had come into existence on all the principal roads, although no extension work worth noticing was made to purely automatic block systems on steam roads, this class of work being confined to the suburban electric lines. Unfortunately, in this as in so many things the war had a retarding effect and caused the postponement of many plans. The increased price of wages and materials has hampered progress a great deal and it will be some time yet before any great improvement is noticeable. On the other hand, the great increase in wages has caused a demand on the railways for a reduction of operating costs with the result that signal engineers are endeavoring to produce schemes which will enable signal towers to be abolished or closed at intervals where they were formerly kept continuously in service and in this and other ways to dispense with unnecessary staff. It is in this that the track circuit will help very considerably. Its further extension on English lines is a certainty and simply a question of time and money. Since the inception of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers a great amount of work has been done in discussing and studying requisites and so on for track circuit work, both of the direct current and alternating current types. All this has resulted in increased confidence on the part of the traffic officers in track circuit and allied apparatus and caused them to look more and more to the signal engineer to help them in their work and to accord him the respect and credit he deserves. The writer is aware that these lines can only convey a very imperfect idea of the actual state of affairs, but he prefers to write them now as a preliminary account, not yet being in a position to furnish the figures which the Signal Section desires. Track Circuits on the Continent