CHAP. VI. 



MURDOCK'S LOCOMOTIVE. 



77 



a working model of one constructed, which he exhibited 

 in 1786 to the professors of Edinburgh College ; but the 

 state of the Scotch roads was then so bad that he found 

 it impracticable to proceed further with his scheme, 

 which he shortly after abandoned in favour of steam 

 navigation. 1 



The very same year in which Symington was occu- 

 pied upon his steam-carriage, William Murdock, the 

 friend and assistant of Watt, constructed his model of 

 a locomotive at the oppo- 

 site end of the island at 

 Redruth in Cornwall. His 

 model was of small dimen- 

 sions, standing little more 

 than a foot high $ and it was 

 until recently in the posses- 

 sion of the son of the inven- 

 tor, at whose house we saw 

 it a few years ago. The 

 annexed section will give an idea of the arrangements 

 of this machine. 



It acted on the high-pressure principle, and, like 

 Cugnofs engine, ran upon three wheels, the boiler being- 

 heated by a spirit-lamp. Small though the machine 

 was, it went so fast on one occasion that it fairly outran 

 the speed of its inventor. It seems that one night, 

 after returning from his duties at the Bedruth. mine, 

 Murdock determined to try the working of his model 

 locomotive. For this purpose he had recourse to the 

 walk leading to the church, about a mile from the town. 

 The walk was rather narrow, and was bounded on 

 either side by high hedges. It was a dark night, and 

 Murdock set out alone to try his experiment. Having 



SECTION OF MURDOCH'S MODEL. 



1 See a pamphlet entitled ' A brief 

 Narrative, proving the right of the 

 late William Symington, Civil Engi- 

 neer, to be considered the Inventor of 



Steam Land-Carriage Locomotion ; 

 and also the Inventor and Introducer 

 of Steam Navigation.' By Robert 

 Bowie. London, 1833. 



