CHAP. IX. THE "LOCOMOTION" ENGINE. 175 



great triumph of mechanical skill that the locomotive 

 reached Stockton first, beating the stage-coach by about 

 a hundred yards ! The same engine continued in good 

 working order in the year 1846, when it headed the 

 railway procession on the opening of the Middlesborough 

 and Redcar Railway, travelling at the rate of about 

 fourteen miles an hour. This engine, the first that^ 

 travelled upon the first public railway, has recently 

 been placed upon a pedestal in front of the railway 

 station at Darlington. 





THE NO. I. EXGINE AT DARLINGTON. 



For some years, however, the principal haulage of | 

 the line was performed by horses. The inclination of 

 the gradients being towards the sea, this was perhaps 

 the cheapest mode of traction, so long as the traffic was 

 not very large. The horse drew the train along the 

 level road, until, on reaching a descending gradient, 

 down which the train ran by its own gravity, the animal 

 was unharnessed, and, when loose, he wheeled round to 

 the other end of the waggons, to which a " dandy-cart " 

 was attached, its bottom being only a few inches from 



