STEAM POWER ON TURNPIKE ROADS.

Notwithstanding the efforts which had been made in constructing locomotive engines, still, in the years 1814 and 1815 travelling by the chemin de fer seemed a long way off. About this period, and extending over several years, the idea seems to have been prevalent that steam power could be advantageously applied to moving carriages on turnpike roads, and consequently much skill and capital were spent in the next to fruitless attempt to bring these inventions into successful operation. It is interesting to observe how much progress had been made in this branch of locomotion. The subject has been so fully treated on by others, that a simple glance at it will suffice. Several years ago an opinion favourable to the rotatory principle of the steam engine invented by the Earl of Dundonald for steam carriages was entertained; and although this has not yet realised the expectations, nevertheless, according to trials made at Portsmouth dock-yard by Mr. Taplin, considerable success has attended the experimental use of the rotatory engine for stationary purposes, although it has not yet been sufficiently tested otherwise.

It appears that the idea of constructing a steam carriage adapted for turnpike roads was long entertained by various persons; among others, by James Watt, in 1769, to whom almost every suggestion as to the application of steam power seems to have occurred. Watt, in the history of his own improvements, states, that in 1759 the idea originated with the late Professor Robison, then a student at Glasgow, of using steam power for locomotion. The idea to use steam for this purpose also occurred to Evans in America. Mr. Trevithick, in 1802, was the first, however, who tried, in Britain, to construct a steam carriage suitable for a turnpike road. Mr. Griffiths tried it in 1821, and Mr. David Gordon in 1824. Messrs. J. and S. Seaward, Messrs. Hill and Burstall, Mr. Hancock, Mr. J. S. Russell, and others likewise, tried it; but of all the projectors none seems to have been so successful as Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney. He obtained a patent for his steam carriage in 1827, and in 1829 had brought it to such perfection that he was enabled to ascend with it the highest hills round London, and travelled from London to Bath and back. In 1831 one of his steam carriages ran about four months on the road between Gloucester and Cheltenham.

The obstructions which Mr. Gurney met with in using his carriage on turnpike roads induced him to petition Parliament, and a committee of inquiry was appointed. Much evidence was adduced, which is only now so far interesting as marking an epoch in the science of locomotive travelling. The purport of the opinion of the committee in 1831, strange as it may now seem, was favourable to steam carriages on public roads, reporting on the practicability of working such with saving to the public, great increase of speed, and perfect safety.

The success of Mr. Gurney's steam carriage led to the formation, in Scotland, about this period (1834), of a steam carriage company for turnpike roads. The carriages commenced to ply regularly between Glasgow and Paisley, when an unfortunate accident occurred, in 1835, attended with considerable loss of life from the explosion of one of the steam boilers, which made this attempt to introduce steam carriages on public oads as abortive as other attempts had proved.

PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCE OF LOCOMOTIVE

ENGINES IN 1825.

But a new era was about to dawn on the science of locomotion. Railways, till that great work, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, was undertaken, were chiefly, as has been noticed, of a local character, and not applied to supersede the ordinary conveyances. Perhaps the first great scheme of railway transition was proposed in 1823, namely, a railway from London to Edinburgh, and all the manufacturing towns. A pamphlet of the scheme was published, without the author's name, in London, 1823, entitled "Observations on a General Iron Railway for improving the internal Communication of these Kingdoms, and forming a Railway from London to Edinburgh, passing near or having branches to all the principal Towns."

In 1825, Mr. Wood gives the standard of the performance of a locomotive engine, at that time, as 40 tons, moved at the rate of 6 miles an hour upon a horizontal edge railroad.

He stated, assuming 150 lb. as the amount of a horse's power, he will draw 10 tons on a railway

with the same ease that he could draw 27 cwt. on a common road, travelling 21⁄2 miles an hour, while a locomotive could drag, going at 6 miles an hour, 45 tons, exclusive of carriages. Mr. Wood also stated, in 1825, "that nothing could do more harm towards the adoption of railroads than the promulgation of such nonsense as that we shall see locomotive engines travelling at the rate of 12. 16. 18. and 20 miles per hour."

It may be thus seen that the locomotive engine had not made great advancement, at that date, from the period when Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Dodd had taken out their patent in 1815. Still, the main obstacle having been removed, and the principle of adhesion understood, sufficient data had been obtained : thus, on a machine of 5 tons weight, on four wheels, the adhesion was found equal to 5 cwt., and the amount of power being ascertained necessary to overcome the adhesion of the wheels to the rails when the wheels were fixed to the axle, few obstacles, therefore, existed to the progressive improvement of locomotives. Accordingly, Mr. Stephenson gradually improved on his plan, and upon the Hagger Leases Lane branch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway he had an opportunity of testing, on a large scale, the effect of locomotive