14 Book of Locomotives 



His first successful colliery engine was 

 at work in 1804. There could be no ques- 

 tion as to its utility, and it pulled some 

 remarkable loads upon a tram road which 

 had been designed for lighter weights. 



All through the story of the early loco- 

 motive we find its chances of success 

 prejudiced by the fact that it was in- 

 variably tried on existing tram or rail 

 roads. These had been laid down in a 

 very haphazard fashion in the main, and 

 only here and there were they able to 

 carry the locomotive at all. The wear and 

 tear which they sustained by the use of 

 even a lightweight steam locomotive played 

 havoc with the plates or rails which formed 

 them. 



It is not remarkable, therefore, that 

 the first locomotives, especially those of 

 Trevithick's, were turned down, and their 

 builders became discouraged because it 

 was cheaper to employ horses on existing 

 tram roads than to build entirely new 

 tracks upon which the locomotive would 

 treble the work of a horse. It is a fact 



