lway
travel.

"When you have crossed the crest of the Blue Mountains," the gentleman
continued, "you will see a piece of railway engineering which has never
been undertaken, as far as I know of, anywhere else in the world."

"What is that?" one of the party asked.

"It is the accomplishment of a feat that has always been disastrous in
every other part of the globe, that of two trains passing each other on
a single track."

"It certainly results in disaster as far as I have ever known," Dr.
Whitney answered. "I have never heard of two trains trying to pass each
other on a single track without both of them coming to grief."

"Well, you know that Australia is a land of contradictions," was the
reply; "and why shouldn't we be contradictory in this as well as many
other things? The way we perform this trick is this:--

"The railway climbs the mountain by means of zigzags, running first one
way, and then the other, and all the time making an ascending grade. At
the end of each zigzag the track is prolonged sufficiently to hold two
railway trains. When an ascending train sees a descending one coming,
the engine driver runs his train to the end of this prolonged track and
stops. Then the descending one comes down, runs upon the track, is
switched off down the mountain, and the way is then clear for the
ascending train to proceed. There is no double track anywhere, and yet
the trains have passed each other, and safely too."

"Very simple when you know what it is," said Harry, and the others
echoed his remark.

When they crossed the Blue Mountains they found the zigzags, readily
recognizing them from the description. On seeing the rugged character of
the mountains, they were not at all surprised that the engineers were
appalled at the difficulties before them. Neither did they wonder that
the officers in command of the first convict settlement at Sydney for a
long time regarded the Blue Mountains as impassable, and believed that
escaped convicts traveling in that direction would be stopped by this
formidable barrier. The Blue Mountains were not crossed and the country
beyond them explored until 1813, although the settlement at Sydney was
founded in 1788.

Mountain regions are always considered healthy places to live in, and
this is especially the case with the region of the Blue Mountains. A
fellow-passenger in the train told our friends that it was a favorite
saying in the country that nobody ever dies in the Blue Mou