pt and the
Nile
XXVII. King Edward, a Change of Chairmen, and more Railway Legislation
XXVIII. Vice-Regal Commission on Irish Railways, 1906-1910, and the
Future of Railways
XXIX. The General Managers' Conference, Gooday's Dinner, and Divers
Matters
XXX. From Manager to Director
XXXI. The Dominions' Royal Commission, the Railways of the Dominions,
and Empire Development
XXXII. Conclusion

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

The Author
George Hudson, the "Railway King"
Sir James Allport
W. J. Wainwright
Edward John Cotton
Walter Bailey
Sir Ralph Cusack, D. L.
William Dargan
The Dargan Saloon
Sir George Findlay
Sir Theodore Martin
The Gresham Salver

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY

North-West Donegal. A fine afternoon in September. The mountain ranges
were bathed in sunshine and the scarred and seamy face of stern old
Errigal seemed almost to smile. A gentle breeze stirred the air and the
surface of the lakes lay shimmering in the soft autumnal light. The blue
sky, flecked with white cloudlets, the purple of the heather, the dark
hues of the bogs, the varied greens of bracken, ferns and grass, the gold
of ripening grain, and the grey of the mountain boulders, together formed
a harmony of colour which charmed the eye and soothed the mind.

I had been travelling most of the day by railway through this delightful
country, not by an express that rushed you through the scenery with
breathless haste, but by an easy-going mixed train which called at every
station. Sometimes its speed reached twenty-five miles an hour, but
never more, and because of numerous curves and gradients--for it was a
narrow gauge and more or less a surface line--the rate of progress was
much less during the greater part of the journey.

The work of the day was over. My companion and I had dined at the
Gweedore Hotel, where we were staying for the night. With the setting
sun the breeze had died away. Perfect stillness and a silence deep,
profound and all-pervading reigned. I had been talking, as an old
pensioner will talk, of byegone times, of my experiences in a long
railway career, and my companion, himself a rising railway man, seemed
greatly interested. As we sauntered along, the conversation now and
again lapsing into a companionable silence, he suddenly said: "Why don't
you write your reminiscences? They would be very interesting, not only
to us younger railway men, but to men of yo