STATION

(Lat. stare, to stand.) In Astronomy, a planet is said to be at its station, or to be stationary, when its motion in right ascension ceases, or its apparent place in the ecliptic remains for a few days unaltered. The real motions of the planets are always in the same direction from west to east; but owing to the motion of the earth from which they are seen, their apparent motions, though generally from west to east, or direct, are sometimes from east to west, or retrograde, and in changing from one of these directions to the other the planet appears for some short time to stand still. The distance of the earth and of a planet from the sun being given, and also their periodic times, the determination of the arc of retrogradation, or the times at which the planet will appear stationary, is an easy problem; but to the ancient astronomers, who were unacquainted with the relative distances of the planets, and who, moreover, supposed the earth to be the centre of motion, the phenomena of the stations and retrogradations occasioned great embarra ment, and the principal object of the various systems which were propounded previous to that of Copernicus was to give a satisfactory explanation of them. See Epicycle, Planet. Station, in Surveying, is the place selected for planting the instrument with which an angle is to be measured. Station, in the Church of Rome, is applied to certain churches in which indulgences are granted on certain days. Station, is applied to those resting-places on railways at which a halt is made for the purpose of receiving or letting down pa engers or goods. The last stations on a railroad are called the termini. STATIONARY ENGINE, in contradistinction to " Locomotive Engine," expre es a steam engine in a fixed position, which draws loads on a railway by a rope or other means of communication extended from the station of the engine along the line of road. On railways worked by locomotive engines, inclined planes sometimes are constructed of an acclivity too steep to be worked with advantage by these machines: such a plane occurs on the London and Birmingham railway, between the pa enger station at Euston Square and the depot and station for goods at Camden Town. Similar inclined planes are constructed on the Liverpool and Manchester railway, between the quay at Liverpool and the station at Edge Hill, and between the pa enger station at Lime Street and the same place. In these cases a stationary engine is placed at the summit of the inclined plane, by the power of which acting on a rope carried along the plane the trains of carriages and waggons are drawn to the summit. But it is not only on planes whose acclivity forbids the advantageous application of locomotive engines that stationary engines are used as a moving power on railways. In some situations, where a line of railway is sufficiently level, they are applied in preference to locomotive power. Thus the railway extending from the India House in London to Black wall, whose acclivities do not exceed sixteen feet per mile, is worked throughout its entire length by stationary power. When a line of railway is to be worked by stationary engines the whole line is resolved into a succe ion of stages of certain lengths, at the end of each of which a stationary steam engine is placed; or, more generally, two such engines are provided, in order that the occasional suspension of one for the purpose of repairs may not interrupt the traffic of the road. The power of these engines is applied to give motion to a drum, or cylinder, or wheel, on which a rope is wound. This rope extendg along the road, being supported at short intervals on iron sheaves or pulleys, by which its friction and consequent wear and resistance are diminished. There are several methods by which the stationary engine is made to draw the train by a rope. The plan adopted by Mr. Stephen son to draw the trains of goods from the quay at Liverpool to the station at Edge Hill, up an inclined plane of about a mile in length, is by an endle rope. At the foot of the machine a wheel is laid down in a horizontal position, revolving on a vcr  [s. 1161]