Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE MODEKN LOCOMOTIVE INTRODUCTION Few subjects possess more importance for the public to-day than travelling, and it is safe to say that in the mind of the majority this is primarily associated with the railway and more vaguely with the locomotive. Long familiarity with the locomotive, coupled with a general sameness in its external appearance, has engendered indifference and rendered all who have not given special attention to the subject oblivious to the fact that many and radical changes have been taking place in its design. Moreover its hold on public interest has to some extent been challenged by a younger rival, the electric locomotive or electrically propelled train, whose possibilities are generally credited with an exaggerated importance. Many no longer express astonishment at the tale of the achievement of the ' iron horse,' but are inclined to call into question its easy pre-eminence for hauling fast and heavy trains. If put to it however, they A. L. 1 .£. - :2'j :-: :':""THfi MODERN LOCOMOTIVE - - - - ....-... will confess to a sentimental interest aroused by the attributes of strength, symmetry and self-sufficiency possessed by the locomotive, and would confess to a pang of regret if it were ultimately displaced in the fierce conflict of less noble, if not less efficient, competitive systems. In spite of all that is heard to the contrary, one feature stands out very clearly in the mind of those qualified to form an accurate judgment, that is, there is no reasonable prospect of our trusted friend being relegated to the scrap heap or becoming an isolated relic allowed to stand in solitary grandeur on a concrete foundation in leading railway stations. The limitations of electric traction are far too clearly recognized and easily defined, and unless som...