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The Westinghouse Brake 131 into communication, closes the air outlet in the latter, and also the passage between the auxiliary reservoir and the train pipe. Consequently, the volume of compressed air remaining in the auxiliary reservoir can flow only into the brake cylinder, forcing out the piston and bringing the brake mechanism into play. The cycle of operations is exactly identical with that brought about by the deliberate action of the driver when he wishes to slow down. Thus it was seen that the runaway portion of a train speedily came to a standstill, entirely through the automatic action of the brakes and without the guard being called upon to do anything. Moreover, the brakes could not be taken off the severed portion until the pressure within the train pipe was restored by recoupling-up or through the opening of an emer- gency valve, which imposed a definite and deliberate action upon the part of the guard. The achievements accomplished by the Westing- house pneumatic brake reached Britain, and in the early ’seventies the invention was placed upon the British market. But the introduction of an innovation here was not straight sailing, because other creative minds had been attracted to the issue. The fact that the British railways were fully alive to the merits of a continuous brake was brought home by a series of competitive trials held in 1875 and 1878 respectively. The first were held at Newark on the Midland Railway, in which the Westinghouse auto- matic brake, although of an early type, achieved the best performance: a train of fifteen carriages, repre- senting about 150 tons, being brought to a standstill when travelling at 52 miles per hour—the highest