Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/145

 students have been successful in gaining Whitworth scholarships, being a sufficient testimony to the character of the results accomplished at this institution. Habits of prudence and economy amongst the workmen are encouraged by the establishment of a savings bank, the Company paying interest at three per cent, on all sums deposited.

The question of Brake-power is one which has an intimate relation to the locomotive department, since it is the great development in the speed and power of the engines employed, which has led to the imperative necessity of devising equally powerful means for bringing the trains quickly to a stand in case of need. The trains of the London and North-Western Company were formerly fitted with a chain brake invented by Mr. Clark, and improved by Mr. Webb, but in matters of this kind continued progress is demanded, and the Company have now adopted a system of continuous brake known as the "Automatic Vacuum," with which the greater portion of their stock has already been fitted. This brake is applied to all the vehicles of a train, except the engine and tender, which are fitted with a separate steam brake. Each carriage carries its own length of train-pipe, flexible hose, and universal couplings; also a reservoir and brake cylinder or "sack," the latter being supplied with a flexible diaphragm and connected through the piston rod with the brake-rigging. The piston rod works through a flexible stuffing-box attached to the bottom of the sack, and which adapts itself to every movement of the rod, but prevents the air from leaking into the sack when it is not required to do so. Attached to the train-pipe, and in connection with the reservoir and the top and bottom of the sack, is an