THE '■•ERA'' RUNS EIGHTEEN MILES AN HOUR. 237 



London, carrying eleven passengers, at the rate of 

 nine miles an hour, ascending Redhill at a speed 

 of five miles per hour. Thurston says that they 

 steamed thirty-eight miles the first day, stopping at 

 Hazledean, and reaching Brighton the following 

 morning. During the second day they ran eleven 

 miles an hour. They returned with fifteen passengers ; 

 the coach ran one mile on its return in four minutes, 

 and went ten miles of the journey in fifty-five minutes. 

 A run from Stratford to Brighton was afterwards made 

 in less than ten hours, at an average speed of ten miles 

 an hour ; the actual time under steam was only six 

 hours, 



Hancock had another steam carriage which he 

 ran to Brighton, called the " Autopsy." After run- 

 ning to Brighton, it w^ent about the London streets 

 without meeting with any accident. It was something- 

 like an omnibus, the steam-eno^ine and boiler being- 

 in the foremost part of the carriage. 



These coaches ran until the end of November, 

 1834, carrying four thousand passengers, at the rate 

 of twelve miles an hour. The "Era" once ran 

 eighteen miles an hour. 



In 1835 Hancock built a large carriage called 

 the "Erin," which carried twenty passengers. It also 

 towed three omnibuses and a stage-coach containing 

 fifty passengers through Whitehall, Charing Cross, 

 and Regent Street, and on to Brentford, running 

 at the rate of fourteen miles an hour ; it also ran 

 to Reading, going thirty-eight miles in three hours 

 and eight minutes. The same carriage ran to Marl- 

 borough, seventy-five miles, in seven hours and a half, 

 stopping four hours and a half on the road. This 

 delay was in consequence of certain stores having 



