END OF THE COACHING AGE 263 



would become a clieajier and speedier mode of 

 conveyance than carriages drawn by horses, and 

 that they were perfectly safe (!). 



Between 1832 and 1838 there were no fewer 

 than seven important Steam-Carriage Companies 

 in existence, and probably, had it not been for 

 the hostility of Turnpike Trusts all over the 

 country, the roads would have been peopled with 

 mechanically-propelled vehicles. But tolls were 

 raised to such a height against the new-fangled 

 inventions that it became commercially impossible 

 to run them. Between Liverpool and Prescot 

 the 4s. toll for a coach became £2 8s. for a 

 steam-carriage; between Ashburton and Totnes 

 the 3s. impost became £2. 



Evidently, from a coloured print published in 

 1833, Goldsworthy Gurney projected a London 

 and Bath service, but the turnpike authorities 

 crushed that also. An inscription under the 

 original print obligingly tells us all about this 

 type of Gurney's carriages : — 



"The Guide or Engineer is seated in front, 

 having a lever rod from the two guide-wheels, to 

 turn and direct the Carriage, and another at his 

 right hand, connecting with the main Steam Pipe, 

 by which he regulates the motion of the Vehicle — 

 the hind part of the Coach contaiDs the machiiiery 

 for producing the Steam, on a novel and secure 

 principle, which is conveyed by Pipes to the 

 Cylinders beneath, and Ijy its action on the hind 

 Avheels sets the Carriage in motion. The Tank, 

 which contains about GO Gallons of Avater, is 



