Future of the Steam Locomotive.

The Home railways continue to pin their faith to the steam engine for long-distance haulage, and in this connection it is significant to note that the L. M. & S. and L. & N.E. Railways are jointly establishing a new steam locomotive testing plant at Rugby—pretty well in the centre of England—following the lines of the well-known Vitry locomotive testing house near Paris. The plant will enable valuable experiments to be conducted, and the data secured in the course of the various tests will no doubt be circulated for the benefit of locomotive engineers throughout the world. For many years relatively small locomotive testing plants have been maintained by each of the Home railways, two typical examples being the plants of the L.M. & S. and G.W. lines at Crewe and Swindon respectively. More elaborate machinery, however, than that previously available is being installed at the new Rugby station, which will, in many ways, be a sort of British counterpart of the famous Altoona testing plant of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the United States. The steam locomotive still has many years of useful service before it, and the new Rugby testing plant is certain to help enormously in its future development.