. ROAD VERSUS RAIL. 75 



a means of preventing the escape of air, so detrimental 

 to their success. Before further trials are made it 

 would be well to see if trains could not run at a hip:her 

 speed than they do now without running off the line. 

 But I will speak of this In another chapter. 



To return to the speed of coaches. As I have 

 said, the Brighton " Quicksilver," on one occasion, 

 ran to Brighton in three hours and forty minutes ; 

 everything, of course, was ready on the road for 

 ■expediting the journey in every possible way. At 

 the present time, on the South-Eastern line, some of 

 the trains are so slow, that the coach to Tunbrldge 

 Wells took very little longer than the train ; and In 

 many parts of England, on various lines, the trains 

 are frequently so slow that a w^ell-horsed and well- 

 driven coach could travel nearly as fast. 



The time allowed for the mail-coach from London 

 to Edinburgh was forty-two hours and twenty-three 

 minutes ; the time for the return journey from 

 Edinburgh to London was forty-five hours and 

 thirty-nine minutes. The distance, according to 

 Paterson, Is about 380 miles ; but it varies according 

 to the route taken, the most direct being by Catterick 

 and Jedburgh, which is 367 miles, whereas by Cold- 

 stream It is 380 miles, and by Berwick 391 miles, and 

 lastly, by the A. B.C. time-table, from the Great 

 Northern terminus at King's Cross via York, It is 

 397 miles, and from St. Pancras via the Midland 

 Railway by Carlisle, 404 miles. The Great Northern 

 takes ten hours, and the Midland also takes about 

 ten hours In performing the journey, consequently 

 by coach it took about four times as long as by 

 rail. 



The Exeter coach, the " Telegraph," of which I 



