CHAP. XIV. THE TRAFFIC BEGUN". 281 



It is scarcely necessary that we should speak at any 

 length of the commercial results of the Liverpool and 

 Manchester Railway. Suffice it to say that its success 

 was complete and decisive. The anticipations of its 

 projectors were, however, in many respects at fault. 

 They had based their calculations almost entirely on the 

 heavy merchandise traffic such as coal, cotton, and 

 timber, relying 1 little upon passengers ; whereas the' 

 receipts derived from the conveyance of passengers far 

 exceeded those derived from merchandise of all kinds, 

 which, for a time, continued a subordinate branch of the 

 traffic. In the evidence given before the committee of 

 the House of Commons, the promoters stated their ex- 

 pectation of obtaining about one-half of the whole 

 number of passengers which the coaches then running 

 could carry, or about 400 a day. But the railway was 

 scarcely opened before it carried on an average about 

 1200 passengers daily ; and five years after the opening, 

 it carried nearly half a million of persons yearly. So| 

 successful, indeed, was the passenger traffic, that it en- 

 grossed the whole of the Company's small stock of 

 engines. 



For some time after the public opening of the line, 

 Mr. Stephenson's ingenuity continued to be employed in 

 devising improved methods for securing the safety and 

 comfort of the travelling public. Few are aware of the 

 thousand minute details which have to be arranged 

 the forethought and contrivance that have to be exer- 

 cised to enable the traveller by railway to accomplish 

 his journey in safety. After the difficulties of con- 

 structing a level road over bogs, across valleys, and 

 through deep cuttings, have been overcome, the main- 

 tenance of the way has to be provided for with con- 

 tinuous care. Every rail with its fastenings must be 

 complete to prevent risk of accident, and the road must 

 be kept regularly ballasted up to the level to diminish 

 the jolting of vehicles passing over it at high speeds. 



