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THE North British Railway Company has this autumn introduced six Atlantic-type locomotives for hauling the Waverley expresses. They were built by Messrs. Robert Stephenson&Company (Limited), of Darlington, England, to carry a 20-ton adhesion load on each coupled axle, which weight is usually regarded as the limit for British rail ways. An adhesion load of 40 tons in a four-wheel coupled locomotive for Great Britain needs large cylinders, and the dimensions here employed, viz., 20 inches by 28 inches, could not be exceeded without throwing an enormous strain on the steaming capacity of the boiler. The long piston-stroke facilitates easy start ing, and, with the relatively large cylinder diameter, provides an ample volume for the expansion of steam, so that a low terminal pressure is assured without resorting to compounding. The cylinders are carried outside the frames and steam is distributed to them by means of piston valves actuated by Stephenson link motion. The cylinders are 6 feet 811 inches apart between centers, and the pistons are provided with tail rods working in tubular sleeves. The main frames are set in at the rear of the bogie to permit of greater side movement on the part of the latter. The coupled wheels are 6 feet 9 inches in diameter, the bogie wheels 3 feet 6 inches in diameter and the trailing wheels have their axle boxes carried in outside framing, so that neither the length nor the width of the firebox, which is of the Belpaire type, need be restricted. The grate area is 28.5 square feet. The boiler has an outside diameter of 5 feet 4% inches and the barrel is 15 feet 41 inches long between tube-plates. Its center is 8 feet 11 inches above the rail level and the working pressure is 200 . pounds per square inch. The total heating surface amounts to 2,256.6 square feet. The firebox contributes 184.8 square feet, and the tubes, 257 in number, and 2 inches in external diameter, the remaining 2,071.8 square feet. The engines are each fitted with combination injectors and lever reversing gear, and are provided with a steam cock with a reducing valve on the tender for carriage-heating purposes. Sandboxes have been provided for the leading and driving wheels, the sand being blown on to the rail by air pressure. The engines are equipped with standard Westinghouse brakes, and have a vacuum ejector and train pipes, so that they may handle vacuum brake-fitted trains, if necessary. The weight empty is 67 tons 2 hundredweight, and ip. working order 74 tons 15 hUndredweight, this last being distributed: On t ,e front'bogie wheels, 8 tons; on the rear bogie wheels, 8 tons 7 hundredweight; on the four coupled wheeIs, 40 tons; and on the trailing wheels, 18 tons 8 hundredweight. The tender is of the usual six-wheeled pattern and of the standard North British Railway type, and it has a tank capacity of 4,200 gallons of water and 7 tons of coal, the weight in working order being 46 tons 5 hundredweight. In running ordel', these Atlanties have an aggregate Weight on the rails of 121 tons, while the engine length is 38 feet % inch, the total wheel-base 27 feet 911 inches, and the length over buffers 63 feet % inch. Three Million Matches a Minute IT h as been e stimated that, for ea ch minute o f time, the civ ilized nations of the wor ld str ike three m illion matches. This is said to be the average for every minute of the twenty-four hours of the day. Fifteen hundred billion is the number for the entire year, and those persons who live under the American flag are charged with the consumption of one'half of this amount; The importance' of the industry which turns out the little splinters of wood tipped with sulphur or some othgr material ignited by friction, is only recognized wher:, jthe average smoker tries to contemplate his predicament if he had to gO back to the time when he had to coax a spark from a tinder-box. Small and insignificant as it is, the match demands as much .'attention in the choice of the wood involved in its manufacture as any other forest product. Only the choicest pnrtions of the best trees are suitable. Sap-wood, knotty or cross-grained timber will not do. Instead of being a by-product, the little match is turned out at hundreds of mills over the country where the by-products are bulky objects like doors, sash, shingles, sidings, posts, and cord-woods. The pines, linden, aspen, white cedar, poplar, birch and willow are the most suitable match timbers.
