174 THE " LOCOMOTION " ENGINE. CHAP. IX. 



winter night, having compassion on his passengers, he 

 would buy a penny candle, and place it lighted amongst 

 them on the table of the ' Experiment ' the first rail- 

 way coach (which, by the way, ended its days at Shildon 

 as a railway cabin), being also the first coach on the rail 

 (first, second, and third class jammed all into one) that 

 indulged its customers with light in darkness." 



The traffic of all sorts increased so steadily and so 

 rapidly that considerable difficulty was experienced in 

 working it satisfactorily. It had been provided by the 

 first Stockton and Darlington Act that the line should 

 be free to all parties who chose to use it at certain pre- 

 scribed rates, and that any person might put horses and 

 waggons on the railway, and carry for himself. But 

 this arrangement led to increasing confusion and diffi- 

 culty, and could not continue in the face of a large and 

 rapidly-increasing traffic. The goods trains got so long 

 that the carriers found it necessary to call in the aid of 

 the locomotive engine to help them on their way. 

 Then mixed trains of passengers and merchandise began 

 to run ; and the result was 'that the railway company 

 found it necessary to take the entire charge and working 

 of the traffic. In course of time new passenger carriages 

 were specially built for the better accommodation of the 

 public, until at length regular passenger trains were run, 

 drawn by the locomotive engine, though this was not 

 until after the Liverpool and Manchester Company had 

 established these as a distinct branch of their traffic. 



The three Stephenson locomotives were from the 

 first regularly employed to work the coal trains ; and 

 their proved efficiency for this purpose led to the gradual 

 increase of the locomotive power. The speed of the 

 engines slow though it seems now was in those days 

 regarded as something marvellous. A race actually 

 came off between No. I. engine, the " Locomotion," and 

 one of the stage-coaches travelling from Darlington to 

 Stockton by the ordinary road ; and it was regarded as a 



