The construction and maintenance of a railway calls for the application of so many branches of engineering that several volumes would be required to do ample justice to a subject so comprehensive and ever-extending. To avoid attempting so wide a range, the object of the following pages has been to describe briefly some of the recognized leading features which regulate railway construction, and to assist the explanation with sketches of works selected from actual practice. Where the number of existing good examples is legion, it is somewhat difficult to make a choice for illustration, and the...