i go 



OUR PHYSICAL WORLD 



thought of trying them. The carriages on many early railroads 

 were pulled by horses, and they were merely stage coaches fitted 

 for riding the rails. When in 1828 the Liverpool and Manchester 

 Railway was under construction, there was prolonged discussion 

 among its directors as to whether horses or engines should be 

 used to draw the carriages. It was the influence of Mr. George 

 Stephenson that finally decided the matter in favor of steam 

 power. His engine, the "Rocket," took the prize offered by 

 the directors. It weighed 4^ tons, and drew a train of coaches 

 weighing nearly 13 tons at an average speed of 14 miles an hour 



FIG. 77. The first railroad train in the United States 



and a maximum of 29. A serious article in that most serious 

 English periodical, the Quarterly Review, for March, 1825, 

 expresses the hope "that Parliament will in all railways it may 

 sanction limit the speed to 8 or 9 miles per hour which is as great 

 as can be ventured on with safety." Smile's Life of George 

 Stephenson is well worth reading to obtain some notion of the 

 difficulties and opposition the early railroads encountered and 

 overcame. The first railroad train in the United States made 

 its maiden trip in 1831 (Fig. 77). 



As early as 1770 a Frenchman, Cugnot by name, built and 

 operated a small wagon with three wheels that was propelled 

 by a steam engine mounted on it. This, I believe, was the first 



