The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

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RAILWAY SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS.
economy. On the other hand, the shareholders would derive great
advantages from the certainty of receiving fixed dividends, and from
the present and prospective enhancement of the value of their prop-
erty.
Upon other points of management it is only needful here to say that
no railway can be efficiently or well conducted without thorough unity
amongst the heads of all the great departments. Upon the Superin-
tendents of ways and works, of the locomotive department, of the
out-door arrangements, and of traffic, devolve the most onerous and
responsible duties. Where they fail to act together, or when any one
of them ceases to enjoy the full confidence of the Board, everything
must go wrong. Having selected men of the best class, confiding in
their integrity and assured of their competency, one of the principal
duties of a railway direction is to support its officers. Any directoral
interference with details must weaken their efficiency upon which
must mainly depend the ultimate success of the Company they
serve.
No paper on railway subjects could be regarded as complete which
did not offer some observations on the Electric Telegraph. The tele-
graph was, doubtless, an offspring of railways, and continues to be
their indispensable companion. The first really practical application
of the telegraph was to enable the stationary engine system on the
Blackw'all Railway to be worked with certainty and dispatch ; but at
this moment, there are few lines of railway which do not employ the
telegraph for every possible purpose. The total length of telegraph
laid down in Great Britain is now about 7,200 miles ; and the average
number of wires being five, there is a total of 36,000 miles of wire,
weighing 7,200 tons, and having cost upwards of £200,000. No less
than 3,000 people are constantly employed in transmitting messages
and maintaining the works ; and upwards of a million of public mes-
sages flow annually along this " silent highway."
Great as is the value of the electric telegraph to the public, there
can be no doubt that it is far greater to the Railway Companies. On
the Eastern Counties Line, three years ago, the number of messages
transmitted on the special business of the Company was no less than
120,000 in one year. On that portion of the Northwestern Line
where the traffic is largely concentrated, the progress of every train is
now regulated, throughout its whole journey, by the operation of the
telegraph. The system there employed may be thus described. The
line is divided into convenient lengths of (say) from 3 to 5 miles. At
each station there is a telegraph instrument in connection with a
semaphore, which gives two signals only. If the needle of the instru-