Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/159

 crane which, as we are looking on, seizes one of the great logs in its powerful grasp, and lifts it on to two trucks, standing upon a miniature railway of two feet gauge, which runs throughout the works. The log is rapidly run into the saw mill, and is met on its entrance either by a large circular saw, which speedily converts it into planks, or by a frame saw, which cuts it into boards or panels as required. The planks are next cut into scantling of standard sizes, and are sent to the drying shed to season, or if they already consist of seasoned timber, they are at once marked out, and fashioned into the various parts of a carriage by some of the numerous machines of complex construction and bewildering variety which may be seen on all sides, performing the most complicated operations with the utmost apparent ease and rapidity. Meanwhile, however, we follow our log of unseasoned timber in its new form of planks, or scantling, to the drying shed, where we are shown timber of every description, and of all shapes and sizes, stacked symmetrically, and with the greatest neatness and exactitude, for seasoning, together with piles of mahogany panels, and of veneers of walnut, sycamore, ebony, and various other decorative woods, used for ornamental purposes. These are all labelled and dated, and receive, we are assured, as much anxious care and attention as a connoisseur would bestow upon his bins of choice vintages, for much depends upon the skilful selection and preparation of the materials from which the carriages are built.

The parts and sections, which we have seen cut out of the seasoned timber in the saw mill, are run by means of the small tramway into what is termed the "body shop," where they are put together by the coach-makers,