EARLY DAYS OF RAILWAYS. 437 



competent authority, no less a person than the 

 President of the Society of Engineers, said, ' If mails 

 and passengers were conveyed, policemen would be 

 required along the line during the night ;' and in 

 answer to the question whether it had been found 

 necessary to light up the lines by gas or other lights 

 where goods and passengers were conveyed by rail- 

 ways at night, he said, ' Although the lighting might 

 be agreeable to the travellers, it would be of little or 

 no real use in the event of there being an obstruction 

 on the line, as it would not be seen in time to stop 

 the engine.' The principal danger he attached to 

 travelling by night was in the case of cattle having 

 strayed on to the line; he summed up his opinion 

 as to railway-travelling by night by saying that 

 it would be comparatively as safe as by road — 

 adding, however, that he was perhaps an interested 

 witness. 



With the view of ascertaining whether there was any 

 difficulty in travelling as punctually in the dark as by 

 daylight, an account was taken for six weeks in the 

 months of December, 1836, and January, 1837, of 

 the time occupied by the trains conveying the mails 

 between Liverpool and Manchester ; the day mail- 

 train left each end at two o'clock, and the evening 

 one at five, when it would be dark ; the result was 

 that the journeys from Liverpool to Manl3hester by 



