CH. IX I29 



CHAPTER IX 



WEIGHT OF A COACH 



The weight of a drag varies from 2100 to 2400 

 pounds, and of a public-coach from 2200 to 2600 

 pounds. It is not worth while to go beyond these 

 limits in either direction. A drag lighter than 2100 

 will not stand the hard usage that an enterprising 

 coachman will give it, and will go to pieces before its 

 time, besides giving constant trouble, and nothing 

 is gained in strength or stability by exceeding 2400. 

 A public-coach is loaded more heavily than a drag, 

 and driven faster ; consequently it should be both 

 stronger and heavier, but need not exceed 2400 

 pounds. 



'Nimrod,' in The Road (1832), and Macneill 

 (1830),* give the weight of the stage-coach of that 

 day as 18 cwt. (2016 pounds), and there is no doubt 

 that stage-coaches were then generally lighter than 

 they were made afterward. ' Nimrod' {Northern 

 Tour, 1834, p. 13) speaks of coaches as being 

 always under one ton (2240 pounds). 



The more of the whole weight there is in the 

 carriage-part and the less in the body the better, 

 since the great object is to keep the centre of 



* Parnell, Roads, p. 333. 

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