* * * * *
Minor Notes.
_Curiosities of Railway Literature._--Has "Bradshaw" had any reviewers? If
not, an example or two from this neighbourhood, of the absurdities which
reappear month after month in the time-tables, may show the necessity of
them. A Midland train proposes to leave Gloucester at 12.40 p.m., and reach
Cheltenham at 1 p.m. The Great Western Company advertise an express train,
on the _very same line_, to leave two minutes _later_ and arrive five
minutes _earlier_. It is therefore obvious, that if these trains were to
keep their proper time, the express must run into the slow coach in front.
The Great Western Railway Company have also, in a very unassuming manner,
been advertising a feat hitherto unparalleled in the annals of railway
speed,--the mail from Cheltenham at 8.20 a.m. to leave Gloucester at 8.27;
that is to say, seven miles, including starting, slackening speed at two or
three "crossings," stopping, starting again, all in seven minutes! Let the
narrow gauge beat this if it can.