149 



XII. — An Experimental Enquiry into the Relative Powers of 

 the Locomotive Engine, and the Resistance of Railway 

 Gradients. By William Faiebaihn, Esq., V.P. 



Read February 5, 1850. 



A FEW months previous, to the opening of the Liverpool 

 and Manchester railway for general traffic, the locomotive 

 engine^ was so imperfect in principle as well as construction, 

 as to cause considerable diflPerence of opinion as to whether 

 it should not be entirely dispensed with, and the line worked 

 by horses. This difference of opinion elicited an enquiry 

 into the best mode of working the line ; and after a length- 

 ened discussion, it was ultimately resolved, through the 

 determined advocacy of the late Mr. Stephenson, to adopt 

 the locomotive engine. 



The Society will recollect with what interest the contest 

 was carried on between the Novelty and the Rocket 

 engines at Rainhill, for the prize which was subsequently 

 awarded by the arbitrators — of which an old and respected 

 member of this Society, Mr. John Kennedy, was the um- 

 pire — to Mr, Stephenson. They will also remember how 

 imperfect the construction and how inefficient the engines 

 of those days were to what they are at present. At that 

 period a load of 40 tons, at 10 miles an hour upon a level, 

 was the maximum of their power; and for some years 



