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The Westinghouse Brake 137 economical working of trains. Thus, if desired, the locomotive brake can be released while the train brake is still applied, or the train brake may be released without the locomotive brake. The train brake can be applied independently of the locomotive brake, or the latter can be brought into action without the train brake. The advantages of such a system are manifold. Thus, in descending long inclines, such as the flanks of mountain ranges, the driver gently applies the train brake to keep it under control. After a while he removes the braking effect from the train to the engine, thereby permitting the reservoirs under the carriages to be recharged. When this is accom- plished, braking is transferred again from the loco- motive to the train. This alternate action may be continued as long and as frequently as the driver may desire, and when the occasion arises the full braking effect may be instantly applied both on locomotive and throughout the train. The majority of people look upon the automatic brake merely as a protective device. When a train, travelling perhaps at sixty or more miles an hour, pulls up suddenly, but without the slightest jolt or jar, one does not marvel. The result is put down merely to the brakes. Never a thought is given to the ingenious, simple, and effective mechanism placed beneath the carriages, and upon which the safety of the train depends. Probably not one in a thousand ever gives a thought to the enormous work which has to be performed by the brakes in making a sudden stop. But it may be brought home very easily. A heavily laden express train, scaling say 500 tons, sets out from the terminus upon its hundred or more