ABSTRACT
The climate enables work to be done night and day all the year round. The ports are never closed, so that the railways can fetch and carry between the coast and the interior without interruption. Progress in railways differs according as new or old lines are being considered. Europe has a perfect network of railways. North America is spanned by half a dozen lines, and with the completion of the Trans-Andean Railway, which reaches the highest elevation of any railway in the world, the east and west coasts of South America are now in railway communication. The value of the shield was thoroughly demonstrated by the construction between 1886 and 1890 of the City and South London Railway, which, under the direction of Mr. J. H. Great-head, was driven through solid London clay, 90 feet below the surface. The compound engine on English railways has had a chequered career, and has been a sort of shuttlecock for successive locomotive superintendents.
