144 THE BOOK OF THE LANDED ESTATE. 



Gymnasium, where some games were going on, which gave rise to a great stream of 

 omnibuses, cabs, and conveyances of every description, in addition to a great crowd 

 of pedestrians. Notwithstanding all these obstacles, aggravated by the streets being 

 at some points under repair and closed for one-half of their width, no difficulty was 

 experienced in steering clear of every impediment. The crowd of spectators 

 increased with such rapidity, that by the time the train was passing the University 

 thousands were trying to catch a glimpse of the novel sight, and when crossing the 

 High Street the swarms of idlers who give such a busy aspect to that locality rushed 

 in vast numbers to see how the train would descend the steep incline from the 

 High Street to the Bridge. This was done with as much ease and quietness as if 

 there were no hill at all. The extremely curious way in which the whole four 

 waggons follow, snake-like, in the track of the road-steamer, was clearly seen in 

 passing out of North Bridge into Leith Street. First, the road-steamer had to turn 

 to the right, and before the last waggon was round the corner to the right, the road- 

 steamer had already turned sharp" to the left to go into Leith Street thus the train 

 actually assumed the form of the letter S, every waggon going over the same ground 

 as the road-steamer with the most perfect accuracy. The very steep and crooked 

 descent of Leith Street, which has a gradient of probably 1 in 12, was managed 

 with perfect ease, and the train pursued its way down Leith Walk, along Junction 

 Street, and up Bonnington Road to the works of Messrs T. M. Tennant & Company 

 (Limited), where it had to deliver the coals. In passing out of Junction Street into 

 Bonnington Road there is a sharp acute angle, so that the train had actually 

 to double back on itself ; however, it rounded the comer without the smallest 

 difficulty. The final manomvre was one which the conductors of the train did not 

 expect to be able to accomplish without breaking it into two portions. It .had to be 

 taken out of the Bonnington Road, which is a narrow street of thirty feet in width, 

 into a lane twenty-five feet wide, which rises with a steep incline to the entrance- 

 gate of Bowershall Works. It was determined to attempt this narrow entrance 

 with the entire train of ninety feet long, and it passed in at the first trial, 

 leaving so much space to spare that it was found, on afterwards measuring the 

 wheel-tracks, a width of fourteen feet would have sufficed, though the breadth 

 of the waggons is seven feet. The train curved in through this narrow entrance, 

 mounting at the same time the steep incline leading up to the works, and drew up 

 in the yard in perfect order. 



There can be no doubt this invention of the application of vulcanised india-rubber to 

 the tires of road-steamers forms the greatest step which has ever been made in the use 

 of steam on common roads. It completely removes the two fatal difficulties which 

 have hitherto barred the way to the use of traction-engines viz., the mutual 

 destruction of the traction-engine and the roads. The india-rubber tires interposing 

 a soft and elastic cushion between the two, effectually protect them both from every 

 jar and jolt in fact, as much so as if the engine were travelling over a tramway 

 of india-rubber. The road-steamer which drew the four waggons of coal from 

 Newbattle Colliery on Saturday was constructed to draw less than one-half of the 

 weight comprised in the coal-train. It was perhaps hardly fair to test it with more 

 than the double of its legitimate work, but it was deemed best to test it with great 

 severity, and the great success of the trial has surpassed every expectation. It is, 

 we believe, destined for Ceylon, for transporting coffee from the plantations to the 

 railway stations. 



A few days ago a preliminary trial was made with the Ceylon road-steamer. 

 With one heavy waggon in tow, it passed through a number of our steep streets, 



