ints are for the moment
spiked. Every crossing gate is guarded from the time of the passage of
the advance engine until the train follows in its wake. Everything is
done to make the Royal journey over a railroad a safe one. Such
arrangements, however, if they add to the responsibility, heighten also
the pride a man feels in being the Queen's driver.

So far as the companies are concerned, it may be said that there is a
fair field and no favour all the way from the fire-box in the
cleaning-shed up to the footboard on the locomotive that takes Her
Majesty from Windsor to Ballater. Promotion comes practically as a
result of competitive examination. The mistake of a weak appointment is
soon rectified, and the precautions taken to test a man's capacity in one
grade before raising him to another are an absolute barrier to
incompetence. But there are circumstances under which a man's chances
are weakened. His responsibilities make him liable for the faults of
others, and mistakes of this kind go to his discredit. Then if he is not
companionable, or is over-confident, tricks may be played which will
prevent his going forward as rapidly as he otherwise would. Mr. Reynolds
tells the story of a driver who had come to a dead stop on a journey
because he was short of steam. The cause was a mystery. There appeared
to be nothing wrong with the engine or the fire, and apparently the
boiler was also in trim. It was eventually found that some one had put
soft soap in the tender, and the water there being hot, the soap was
gradually dissolved and introduced into the boiler, with the result that
the grease covered the tubes, and together with the suds prevented the
transmission of heat to the water. An enemy had done this, but under the
rules the driver was responsible for his engine, and he was suspended;
only, however, to be reinstated when once the mischief was traced to the
perpetrator. Even an act which to the ordinary spectator is a marvellous
example of presence of mind may, interpreted by the company's rules, be
an offence on the part of the engine-driver. An engine attached to a
train broke from the tender in the course of its journey, and became
separated. Noticing the mishap, the driver slackened speed, allowed the
tender and carriages to come up, and while the train was still in motion
he and the fireman adroitly secured the runaway, and no harm was done.
The men interested did not think it advisable to report th