INLAND CONVEYANCE. 



invention in its early stages was mainly the work 

 of uneducated mechanics. 



The date of the invention of tramways is uncer- 

 tain, but by good authorities it is referred to the 

 period between 1602 and 1649. From the northern 

 coal districts, it gradually came into use in other 

 mining districts in England, as also in the south 

 of Scotland. It was not till about 1700 that there 

 was any marked advance on the original tramway. 

 The first step was the clothing of the wooden 

 beams with long slips of iron. This also being 

 found defective, a second improvement, about 

 1740, was the substitution of cast-iron rails fixed 

 on cross wooden sleepers. These cast-iron rails 

 or trams had a flange on the inner side, and 

 having been first laid by Outram, it is said these 

 ways were then called tram-roads; but it is as 

 likely that the name was derived from the word 

 trammel. 



The use of cast-iron rails led to an improved 

 method of traction. Instead of employing a 

 single large wagon, the plan of linking together a 

 series of smaller wagons was adopted the germ 

 of the modern train. 



The form of tram described above was found 

 to collect dust and gravel. To obviate this, Jessop, 

 in 1789, laid down edge-rw\!~> of cast-iron, and 

 guided the wheels by applying a flange round their 

 edge. This was the first system of rails laid on 

 cast-iron chairs and sleepers, and to which the 

 present system is very similar. The brittleness of 

 cast-iron and the frequent breakages would have 

 stood in the way of the use of railways for the con- 

 veyance of passengers at high speeds ; but before 

 this was attempted, Birkenshaw, in 1820, patented 

 a great improvement, by substituting rolled 

 wrought-iron for cast-iron. The draught still con- 

 tinued to be executed by horses. Watt had shewn 

 the practicability of fixed steam-engines ; what 

 was now wanted was an engine that would travel 

 by its own internal impulse. The merit of invent- 

 ing a self-acting steam-carriage is allowed to be 

 due to Richard Trevethick, a clever but eccentric 

 engineer ; he was the first who practically applied 

 it to work on roads and railways. In 1802, he took 

 out a patent for a steam-carriage, and this novel 

 machine he exhibited to large and astonished 

 crowds in London. Immediately afterwards, he 

 adapted his steam-carriage for the drawing of 

 wagons on railways, a duty which it successfully 

 executed on the Merthyr-Tydvil Railway in 1804. 

 This was the first railway locomotive ; but it was 

 far from perfect. It drew only ten tons of bar-iron 

 at the rate of 5 miles an hour. Trevethick did not 

 remain in England to improve on his invention, 

 nor was there for some time any distinct advance 

 on his ingenious contrivance. The principal 

 cause of this lethargy seems to have consisted in a 

 universal belief among engineers, that the locomo- 

 tive could not be expected to gain great speed, to 

 ascend a moderate incline, or to draw a heavy 

 load, unless provided with cogged wheels to work 

 into a corresponding rack laid along the rails. 

 Numerous attempts were made to overcome this 

 imaginary difficulty ; but none were successful. A 

 curious mountain-line constructed on this principle 

 in 1871, has proved a great commercial success. 

 That locomotives running with smooth wheels on 

 smooth rails, by mere weight and friction or 

 adhesion, as exemplified by Trevethick, could 

 draw heavy loads up a moderate incline, was, in 



1811, established as a fact by Mr Blackett, a coal 

 proprietor, on the Wylam Railway. The means 

 of imparting speed alone remained to be found. 



Locomotive power was employed by George 

 | Stephenson on the Killingworth Railway in 1814, 

 and with such success that it was afterwards 

 applied on the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 

 for which the first act of parliament was passed in 

 1821. In this last undertaking, Stephenson was 

 encouraged by the generous and enlightened aid 

 of Edward Pease, a member of the Society of 

 Friends. The Stockton and Darlington was the 

 first railway in which carriages travelled with 

 passengers ; yet, even with the measure of success 

 so secured, the locomotive was still an imperfect 

 machine, for its rate of progress continued to be 

 little faster than the walk of a horse. 



It certainly seems very strange, that notwith- 

 standing the proved feasibility of railways, the 

 public at large could not be stimulated to give any 

 heed to the subject. The idea of extending rail- 

 ways over the kingdom for general traffic, was 

 perhaps first conceived by Thomas Gray of 

 Nottingham, who, full of enthusiasm, besieged the 

 public, and memorialised the government on this 

 his favourite project, between 1820 and 1824. A 

 work embodying his views, Observations on a 

 General Iron Railway, &c. was published in 1820. 

 Gray's ardent notions met with little favour. After 

 Gray, there appeared another projector, William 

 James of London, who, in 1822, endeavoured, 

 without success, to establish a railway between 

 Liverpool and Manchester. Opposition caused 

 his plans to be laid aside. The next and more 

 fortunate projector was Joseph Sanders of Liver- 

 pool. He issued the prospectus of a railway from 

 Liverpool to Manchester, 2gth October 1824 ; and 

 this line, surveyed by Stephenson, was, after much 

 unworthy opposition, and some changes of route, 

 sanctioned by the legislature. The projectors of 

 this railway at first thought of using horses, 

 stationary engines, &c. ; but finally deciding in 

 favour of the locomotive, offered a premium for 

 the best. The trial was fixed for October 1829; 

 and the ' Rocket,' constructed by the Messrs 

 Stephenson and Mr Booth, of the Liverpool and 

 Manchester Railway, was most successful. 



This, then, was the first high-speed locomotive ; 

 it weighed 4 tons 5 cwt. ; and with a gross load of 

 17 tons, averaged a speed of 14 miles per hour, its 

 maximum speed being 29 miles. The success of 

 this locomotive was due to the introduction of the 

 multitubular boiler, together with the simple con- 

 trivance of leading the exhaust steam up the 

 chimney, and so creating a strong draught, both 

 combining to increase to an unprecedented extent 

 the evaporating power of the boiler. Thus accel- 

 eration the grand desideratum was attained. 

 The Liverpool and Manchester line was formally 

 opened for traffic, September 15, 1830, and pro- 

 vided with Stephenson's locomotives, its success 

 was immediate and completein fact, the great 

 railway system was inaugurated. 



Now, properly speaking, began that course of 

 commercial enterprise, unregulated, and often 

 wasteful, which has since assumed such import- 

 ance. Refraining from all control over railway 

 operations, the government left speculators to carry 

 lines anywhere or anyhow that parliament could 

 be persuaded to sanction. The result, as is well 

 known, has been in many places a complication of 



