Cycles, Motor-vehicles and Tubes 475 



steam road-carriages, and recommended a repeal of the old 

 turnpike Acts. A Bill to this effect was passed in the Commons 

 but thrown out in the Lords. Disheartened by his losses, 

 Gurney ceased to build and to run coaches on his own account 

 and tried to form a company. He failed in the attempt, and 

 he then appealed to Parliament to make him some recom- 

 pense for all he had done in the interests of the public. A 

 proposed grant of ^10,000 was objected to, however, by the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Gurney got nothing. Con- 

 cluding that it was useless to continue his attempts in the face 

 of so much discouragement, he sold off his stock-in-trade and 

 retired from the business. 



By 1835 nearly all the steam-carriages had been taken off 

 the road, and by 1840 the considerable industry which had 

 been developed was engaged almost exclusively so far as it 

 survived at all in the production of traction engines, only 

 spasmodic attempts being made between 1840 and 1860 

 to produce improved types of steam-carriages for private 

 use. 



In 1861 traction engines had so far increased in numbers 

 that a Locomotive Act was passed mainly to fix a scale of 

 tolls applicable to them on all turnpike roads ; though this 

 Act further stipulated that each " locomotive " should be in 

 charge of at least two persons, and that the speed should not 

 exceed ten miles an hour when the vehicle was passing along 

 any turnpike road or two miles an hour when passing through 

 a city, town or village. An amending Act, which became law 

 in 1865, laid down that each locomotive should be in charge 

 of three persons ; that one of these must walk in front carrying 

 a red flag, and that the maximum speed should not exceed 

 four miles an hour on the highway or two miles an hour in 

 passing through a town or village. Various other restrictions 

 were also imposed. 



It was this " red flag Act " that virtually killed off the self- 

 propelled road-vehicle business here for the time being, except 

 as regarded traction engines proper. A few enthusiasts made 

 steam-carriages as a hobby, and certain manufacturers made 

 them for export to the colonies or to India, where there were 

 no such restrictions on their use as in this country. In India, 

 especially, these carriages were found very serviceable in 

 localities then unprovided with railways, though any manu- 



