trains can only perform their journeys with punctuality, when the route is kept clear of all other trains or obstructions which might interfere with their free running. Any check or stoppage in their course would cause loss of time and prestige. It is to be regretted that in so many of the cases where two additional lines of way have been laid down, more space was not left between the sets of rails for the fast traffic and those for the slow. In many instances the dividing space is not more than 7 or 8 feet. It would have been better and safer if it could have been made 20 feet. An ordinary goods train is made up of several kinds of trucks, some empty, some loaded, many of them unequally loaded, all of them subject to heavy work and rough handling, and more likely to give trouble than the higher class vehicle, the passenger carriage. The breaking down or derailment of one or two goods trucks on a line of rails close alongside the fast passenger rails, would in all probability so foul and obstruct the passenger line as to cause a very serious accident to an express train which could not be stopped in time. The greater width would not only provide more clearance in case of breakdowns, but would afford increased safety to the platelayers and other workmen engaged on the line. The permanent-way men have to be very watchful to keep out of danger on an ordinary busy double line, but they must be very much more on the alert where there are four lines of way close together side by side. In the neighbourhood of large cities and important manufacturing centres, railways have created a distinct traffic for themselves by providing means for a large portion of the population to reside in convenient suburbs. Local trains running at suitable business hours have induced people of all classes to select homes a few miles away from town, and the gradual growth of this suburban traffic has produced its own advantages and requirements. At the large terminal stations platform after platform has been added to accommodate the increased number of trains which arrive in the busy parts of the morning or depart in the evening. Every facility has to be provided to permit of the expeditious ingress and egress of the large crowds forming the respective trains--ample platforms, over-line foot-bridges, subways, convenient booking-offices, waiting-rooms, and left-luggage rooms.