256 SCHEMES FOE EFFECTING LOCOMOTION. CHAP. XIII. 



consulted. But Mr. Stephenson had so repeatedly and 

 earnestly urged upon them the propriety of making a 

 trial of the locomotive before coming to any decision 

 against it, that they at length authorised him to proceed 

 with the construction of one of his engines by way of 

 experiment. In their report to the proprietors at their 

 annual meeting on the 27th March, 1828, they state 

 that they had, after due consideration, authorised the 

 engineer " to prepare a locomotive engine, which, from 

 the nature of its construction and from the experiments 

 already made, he is of opinion will be effective for the 

 purposes of the company, without proving an annoyance 

 to the public." The locomotive thus ordered was placed 

 upon the line in 1829, and was found of great service 

 in drawing the waggons full of marl from the two great 

 cuttings. 



In the mean time the discussion proceeded as to the 

 kind of power to be permanently employed for the 

 working of the railway. The directors were inundated 

 with schemes of all sorts for facilitating locomotion. 

 The projectors of England, France, and America, seemed 

 to be let loose upon them. There were plans for work- 

 ing the waggons along the line by water power. Some 

 proposed hydrogen, and others carbonic acid gas. Atmos- 

 pheric pressure had its eager advocates. And various 

 kinds of fixed and locomotive steam power were sug- 

 gested. Thomas Gray urged his plan of a greased road 

 with cog rails ; and Messrs. Yignolles and Ericsson 

 recommended the adoption of a central friction rail, 

 against which two horizontal rollers under the locomo- 

 tive, pressing upon the sides of this rail, were to afford 

 the means of ascending the inclined planes. The 

 directors felt themselves quite unable to choose from 

 amidst this multitude of projects. Their engineer ex- 

 pressed himself as decidedly as heretofore in favour of 

 smooth rails and locomotive engines, which, he was 

 confident, would be found the most economical and by 



