Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/155

 remainder vary from thirty feet to thirty-four feet in length. Nearly 1,200 of the vehicles are fitted up for lighting by means of compressed gas, and this system of lighting, of which more will be said hereafter, is being extended, the remainder of the carriages being, in the meantime, lighted with rape oil lamps. The whole carriage stock of the Company contains seating accommodation for 164,073 passengers, in the following proportions:—

these proportions being very carefully considered and adjusted from time to time in building additional carriages, or renewing old ones, so as to preserve the proper ratio of each class to the others. The Midland Company, as is well known, in the year 1875, decided upon abolishing second class compartments in their trains, and retaining only two classes, viz: first and third; but the success of the experiment is believed by many of the companies to be open to serious question, whether upon financial grounds, or as a matter of public convenience. The London and North-Western Company, at any rate, believe that > society in this country, for all purposes, naturally divides itself into three classes, and that the wants and tastes of the community are best served by their present practice, in which belief apparently, they are supported by the great body of railway opinion in the country, since no other company has, so far, followed the example