Central.

The Erie, the Pennsylvania, and the Baltimore and Ohio roads pass
through a country so mountainous that, much as they have expended to
improve their grades, it is practically impossible for them to attain
the easy grades so much more readily obtained by the trunk lines
following the great natural waterways originally extending almost from
Chicago to New York.

* * * * *




ENGLISH EXPRESS TRAINS.


The _Journal of the Statistical Society_ for September contains an
elaborate paper by Mr. E. Foxwell on "English Express Trains; their
Average Speed, etc. with Notes on Gradients, Long Runs, etc." The
author takes great pains to explain his definition of the term
"express trains," which he finally classifies thus: (a) The general
rule; those which run under ordinary conditions, and attain a
journey-speed of 40 and upward. These are about 85 per cent. of the
whole. (b) Equally good trains, which, running against exceptional
difficulties, only attain, perhaps, a journey speed as low as 36 or
37. These are about 5 per cent. of the whole. (c) Trains which should
come under (a), but which, through unusually long stoppages or similar
causes, only reach a journey speed of 39. These are about 10 per
cent.[1] of the whole.