Victory of the " Rocket " Locomotive 



ling at a greater velocity, and also the remarks 

 published by Mr. Nicholas Wood, whom they 

 selected to be one of the judges of the competi- 

 tion, in conjunction with Mr. Rastrick, of Stour- 

 bridge, and Mr. Kennedy, of Manchester. 



It was now felt that the fate of railways in a 

 great measure depended upon the issue of this 

 appeal to the mechanical genius of England. 

 When the advertisement of the prize for the best 

 locomotive was published, scientific men began 

 more particularly to direct their attention to the 

 new power which was thus struggling into ex- 

 istence. In the meantime public opinion on 

 the subject of railway working remained sus- 

 pended, and the progress of the undertaking 

 was watched with intense interest. 



During the progress of this important contro- 

 versyjwith reference to the kind of power to be em- 



6. A mercurial gauge must be affixed to the machine, 

 showing the steam pressure above forty-five pounds per 

 square inch. 



7. The engine must be delivered, complete and ready for 

 trial, at the Liverpool end of the railway, not later than the 

 ist of October, 1829. 



8. The price of the engine must not exceed ^550. 



Many persons of influence declared the conditions pub- 

 lished by the directors of the railway chimerical in the ex- 

 treme One gentleman of some eminence in Liverpool, 

 Mr. P. Ewart, who afterward filled the office of Government 

 Inspector of Post-office Steam Packets, declared that only 

 a parcel of charlatans would ever have issued such a set of 

 conditions; that it had been proved to be impossible to make 

 a locomotive engine go at ten miles an hour; but if it ever 

 was done, he would undertake to eat a stewed engine-wheel 

 for his breakfast? 



167 



