Oil Fuel.

While limited use has at various times been made in Britain of oil fuel for locomotives, generally speaking the high cost of oil as compared with coal has rendered its employment prohibitive. Having regard to this fact, there has been received with much surprise the recent announcement that our biggest railway—the London, Midland and Scottish—is seriously considering converting the whole of its 10,000 coal-burning locomotives to oil fuel. With oil costing from three to four times as much as coal, this move would seem to threaten to add enormously to the already high fuel bill, and no explanation of the L. M. & S. Company's proposal is as yet forthcoming.

It is suggested that the idea underlying the proposal may be the freeing of the Company's tracks from the very large numbers of locomotive coal wagons which are at present in service between mine and running shed. In any event, it is significant that the L. M. & S. is the only Home railway to be at all attracted by the possibilities of oil-firing.