Speed and the Engineer 93 



One of the conditions make us smile to- 

 day, it was that the engine should attain 

 10 miles an hour with a load of 30 tons! 



Ten miles an hour that represented the 

 triumph of speed a century ago! 



The speed limit for the locomotive was 

 arrived at quite simply the best speed of 

 the road coach was taken and the steam 

 locomotive was expected to reach it. There 

 were some brave souls who hoped that the 

 infant locomotive would manage to keep 

 his boiler intact and yet go a little faster 

 than 10 miles. One director, at least, raised 

 the hair of his colleagues by saying that he 

 looked confidently forward to the day when 

 the journey of 30 miles between the two 

 terminals of the Liverpool and Manchester 

 would be run in an hour. '* God forbid," 

 said another. ' That would indeed be 

 flying in the face of Providence. Don't you 

 see, man, that it represents three times the 

 speed of the road coach? ' And so they 

 left it for a time. 



At the Rainhill trials, whose centenary 

 passed in October 1929, the " Rocket " 



