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Mechanics Magazine,
MUSEUM, REGISTER, JOURNAL, AND GAZETTE
No. 323.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17TH, 1829 [Price 3d. Return to the Rainhill Trials top page COMPETITION OF LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY.
In our last Number we gave an account of the commencement of this interesting and important competition, drawn up on the spot, between the closing of the first day's proceedings and the departure of the post, and necessarily therefore both brief and imperfect. We now propose to resume the subject de novo, and to go into it with all the fulness and circumstantiality which it so pre-eminently deserves.
It may be necessary for the information of some of our readers to premise, that though railways have been for more than a century in use in Great Britain, and are now extremely numerous, the one which has been the scene of the present competition is but the third which has been constructed in Great Britain for general use; that is to say, with the view of superseding entirely the employment of ordinary roads, by the public at large, as far as carriages of all descriptions are concerned; and that down to the day of this competition, it was still a question of some doubt whether a railway could be produced possessed of such extensive capabilities.
The first undertaking of the kind was the Surrey Railway, designed by Mr. Jessop; but the only use as yet made of that road has been for the conveyance by horses of heavy goods, at a rate of three or four miles per hour; and in consequence of its passing through a country of little traffic, it has rather disappointed the expectations of its projectors.
The second was the Stockton and Darlington Railway, on which steam-power was for the first time employed to propel passengers as well as goods, and with a degree of success which began to open the eyes of the public to advantages of which they had not even dreamt in connection with railway conveyance. It was here proved that by the employment of steam-carriages a speed of from five to eight miles an hour, according to the weight drawn, was readily attainable; and that the expense of this mode of conveyance was one-half, in some instances two-thirds cheaper than any other. Inside passengers were conveyed at the rate of 1 d. per mile, outsides, ld, and the price of coals, which used at Stockton to be 15s. and 17s. per ton, was all at once reduced to 10s. 2d. From the 29th of September 1825, when this railway opened, to the 29th of September, 1826;, its receipts increased progressively from £700. to £1500. a month; and in the second year it had drawn to it nearly the whole carrying trade between Stockton, Richmond, Darlington, Yarm, &c. The turnpike-road, too, which may be said to have been thus beaten out of the field, is actually four miles shorter than the railway; for to accommodate Darlington and Yarm, a more circuitous line was taken than would otherwise have been necessary.
As early as 1822, and of course long before these favourable results were known, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway had been projected by William James, Esq., Civil Engineer, and all the necessary surveys for it made by Mr. Vignoles, another able and intelligent member of the same profession; but in consequence of the strong opposition which was threatened by the whole body of canal proprietors throughout the kingdom, and other causes, the prosecution of the design languished till the progress of the Stockton and Darlington Railway towards completion; and the success of some preliminary trials upon it, animated the people of Lancashire with a new zeal in behalf of their own speculation. A deputation of gentlemen was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Ellis, Sanders, and Booth, of Liverpool, and Mr. Kennedy, of Manchester, to proceed to the north to inspect the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and also some collieries in the north of England, where locomotive steam-engines have for several years been employed to transport the coal-waggons to the nearest land or water communication. The report made by this deputation was so satisfactory, that it was immediately determined to prosecute the plan of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway with the greatest vigour: the whole capital required was subscribed within a few weeks; and in the following session of Parliament an Act was obtained containing all the requisite legal powers. The Act met, as had been anticipated, with a great deal of opposition; but as that opposition had no better foundation than the resistance made by the land-carriers of a preceding age to the introduction of canals, it necessarily shared a similar fate. The Marquess of Stafford, who was at first its most powerful opponent, became at length so satisfied of the superior advantages which it promised to confer on the country, that his Lordship not only withdrew his opposition, but purchased a thousand shares in the concern.
In the summer, or rather autumn of 1826, the formation of the railway commenced under the direction of Mr. George Stephenson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who had been appointed by the Company to carry the design of Mr. James into execution. The natural character of the country through which the road passes, made the undertaking one of considerable difficulty, as will be readily perceived from a simple detail of the work which Mr. Stephenson had to perform. There were, first, two tunnels one 2200 yards, and the other 291 yards long, to be excavated under the town of Liverpool, and afterwards six considerable eminences to be cut through; these excavations too had mostly to be made through solid rock (red sandstone), and amounted altogether to upwards of two millions of cubic yards. While in some parts it was thus necessary to hew out a level with the pickaxe, there ere others where the level had to be maintained by raising artificial mounds (or embankments as they are less properly called), bridges, and viaducts. One of these mounds, called the Broad Green Embankment, rises to an elevation of 70 feet above the level of the surrounding country; another, which is about four miles long, extends over a moss (Chatmoss) which three years ago was scarcely passable even to pedestrians. Of bridges and viaducts the number required to be erected on the line was 25, one of which (the Sankey) was to consist of nine arches of 50 feet span, and another (the Newton) of four arches of 30 feet span; besides which, there were to be 30 culverts of large dimensions with several of a smaller size. When we consider the great number and variety of these works, the difficulty of some, and the stupendous nature of others, it is really wonderful to think how much has within the space of three brief years been accomplished. Both the tunnels, all the bridges but one (that over the Irwell), and all the culverts, have been already finished; and so nearly have the different mounds and excavations been likewise completed, that of 33 miles (the estimited length of the railway) only about 4 miles remain to be executed. We need scarcely say how greatly all this redounds to the honour of the engineer. So much work of a difficult description could not have been performed in so short a time (and it is but fair to add so well), unless the labour bestowed on it had been under most intelligent direction. There are some things which are mere works of time, but here we see art triumphing over time; the labours of the head far transcending those of the hand.
It is now understood that early in the spring of next year, the whole of the railway from Liverpool to Old Field Road, near the site of the intended bridge over the Irwell, will be ready for travelling on; and that the opening may not be deferred till the erection of that bridge, it is proposed to erect a wharf and warehouses at Old Field Road, where the railway will he considered to terminate, until the continuation of the line into Manchester is completed.
The rails have been as yet laid down on about fourteen miles of the road only; but as this is a matter which requires little time, no delay is apprehended on this account. The sort of rail employed is that called the edge-rail, in contradistinction to the flat rail or tram-plate,* now so generally abandoned where ease of draught is consulted; not however the common edge-rail, but that particular description for which Mr. Birkinshaw, of the Bedlington Iron Works, has a patent.
[* In a Description of the Tunnel, published in Liverpool, the railway is called "a grand tram road" evidently a grand mistake.]
The following description of the construction and advantages of these rails we extract from the Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica:
"The flat rail has been now almost entirely superseded by the edge-rails, which are now generally admitted to be decidedly superior; the edge of the bar presenting less friction and being less liable to clog up with dust and mud or to be obstructed with stones driven off the road upon the surface of the rails. The edge-rail consists merely of a rectangular bar of cast-iron, three feet long, three or four inches broad and from one half-inch to one inch thick; set on its edge between sleeper and sleeper, and bearing on the sleepers at its extremities. The upper side of the rail is flaunched out to present a broader bearing surface for the wheels, and the under side is also cast thicker than the middle for the sake of strength. But the greatest strength is evidently attained by casting the rail not rectangular, but deeper in the middle than at the ends, to resist better the transverse strain. The ends may be safely reduced nearly to one-third of the depth in the middle, and still be equally strong. To unite the rails together, and at the same time preserve them in their places and in their upright position, and to bind them also to the sleepers, they are set in a cast-iron socket or chair, which is attached firmly to the sleeper. This socket embracing the extremities of the adjacent rails, which are here made to overlap a little, a pin is driven at once through the rails and through the socket, and binds the whole together. This is the general method of uniting the edge-rails, but the shape and dimensions of the metal chair and of the overlap of the rails are varied according to the judgment and taste of the engineer. Since edge-railways have come into more general use, an essential improvement has been made in their construction by the use of malleable iron, in place of cast-iron in forming the rails. The advantage of malleable iron rails is, that they are less subject to breakage than cast-iron: a circumstance of importance in this case where it is not easy to avoid those jolts and sudden shocks which cast-iron is least of all capable of withstanding, and though they should happen to give way they are easily repaired. They can also be laid in greater lengths, and requiring therefore fewer joints, they can be bent with ease to the curvature of the road: when worn out they are of greater value; and, lastly their first cost is very little if at all, greater than that of cast-iron rail. Malleable iron is no doubt less able to stand exposure, decaying more readily under the influence of air and moisture; but hitherto this inconvenience has not been felt, and on tho whole the malleable iron is now decidedly preferred. These rails are laid and joined in the same manner as the cast-iron, only in greater lengths."
The writer then proceeds to describe Mr. Birkinshaw's improvements:
"An improvement has lately been made in the construction of malleable iron rails, which promises to be of essential utility. It consists in the use of bars not rectangular, but of wedge form, or swelled out on the upper edge. In the rectangular bar there is evidently a waste of metal on the under surface, which not requiring to be of the same thickness as where the waggon-wheel is to roll, may be evidently reduced with advantage, if it can be done easily. The bar may then be made deeper, and broader at the top than before, so as with the same quantity of metal to be equally strong, and present a much broader bearing surface for the wheel. The peculiar shape is given them in the rolling of the metal, by means of grooves cut in the rollers, corresponding with the requisite breadth, and depth, and curvature of the proposed rail. Mr. B. recommends his rails to be of 18 feet in length. "We have seen one of these patent rails at Sir John Hope's colliery; and it certainly forms the most perfect iron rail which has hitherto been contrived; combining very simply and ingeniously in its form the qualities of lightness, strength and durability. It is twelve feet long, two inches broad along the top, about half an inch along, and still thinner in between. It rests on sleepers at every three feet, and at those places the rail is two inches deep while in the middle point between the sleepers it is three inches deep. All these inequalities we believe, are produced on the metal by means of the rollers; and this circumstance is well deserving of attention, as it may obviously be applied not merely in the formation of railways, but to a variety of other purposes in the arts. The moulding and shaping of the metal in this manner is quite a new attempt in the iron manufacture, and it is not easy to say how far such an invention may yet be carried by the skill of British artists."
Mr. Stephenson, it will be seen, had good reason for the preference he has given to Mr. Birkinshaw's rails. An engineer of great experience whom we met at the present competition, suggested what we think would be a great improvement in them; namely, that they should overlap at the extremities, in the same way, in fact, as most of the old edge-rails did. The advantage of an unbroken continuity in the bearing surface seems not to have been sufficiently consulted.
The total cost of the railway is not expected to be much less than £650,000, or about £20,000 per mile. This is much more than was ever before expended on a railway; but the excess is to be accounted for partly by the number of deep cuttings, lofty embankments &c., which were necessary, and partly by the circumstance, that compensation had to be made to the proprietors of the ground assumed for the purposes of the railway, while in most other cases there has been no need for such compensation; railways being, nine times out of ten, constructed by individual proprietors on their own lands, and for their own exclusive benefit. Were the expense however even to exceed £650,000 - nay, to be even twice or thrice as much - we are convinced there will be revenue enough to yield a handsome return. The traffic between Liverpool and Manchester is probably greater than what exists between any other two points of the kingdom. The one being the principal port for the importation of cotton, and the other the chief seat of its manufacture: this alone serves to unite them in bonds of the closest alliance. The total quantity of merchandise passing between the two towns is stated to be 1200 tons per day and though it is not to be expected that the same result will take place here as has been exhibited in the case of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, (for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway will still have the Irwell and Mersey navigations to contend with and probably at reduced rates) yet if only one-half of this immense traffic is transferred to the railway, it will at 2d. per ton each mile yield an annual income of £52,478. 13s. 4d. The carriage of passengers may reasonably be expected to add to this sum at least £25,000 more.
The profit to be derived by the shareholders forms however but a minor consideration, compared with the vast advantages that will result to the inhabitants of Liverpool and Manchester and indirectly to the nation at large, from increasing the celerity and cheapness of communication between the two towns. But to appreciate duly, what is likely to be effected in these respects on this new line, we must pause a moment to reflect on what was the maximum of effect previously realized on the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It was not more, as we have before stated, than eight miles an hour; and the idea of any thing much beyond that rate was generally scouted as visionary. Mr. Wood, who published his book on railways, after the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, was pleased to say, "It is far from my wish to promulgate to the world that the ridiculous expectations, or rather professions of the enthusiastic speculatist will be realized, and that we shall see engines travelling at the rate of twelve, sixteen, eighteen, or twenty miles an hour. Nothing could do more harm towards their adoption or general improvement than the promulgation of such nonsense!" The Directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway appear to have had nearly the same impressions when they offered the present premium of £500 for "the most improved locomotive engine." They stipulated that it should be "capable of drawing after it day by day on a well constructed railway, on a level plane, a train of carriages of the gross weight of 20 tons, including the tender and water- tank, at the rate of ten miles per hour." More they did not ask for; and as if to evince how perfectly they agreed with Mr. Wood as to the "nonsense" of expecting more, they selected that gentleman to be one of the judges of their competition.
The proceedings on the first day of this competition are already before our readers. It has been seen from them that Mr. Wood has been spared to see, not only what he declared to be "ridiculous" and "nonsense," reduced to an unquestionable matter of fact, but of witnessing something so much more extraordinary, that had any one hinted it to him in his days of incredulity, he would we presume have pronounced it to be absolute madness. The least powerful of the two engines which then exhibited reached nearly the highest degree in Mr. Wood's scale of "nonsense," having gone without any load at the rate of about eighteen miles an hour; while "The Novelty" of Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson actually realized almost double that speed!
"When we consider," says a writer in the Liverpool Chronicle, "that at this rate of going, Liverpool and Manchester, which are at present near half a-day's journey distant, will be brought within an hour's travel of each other; and pass from this fact to the contemplation of the vast changes which so rapid a mode of conveyance will effect in all the relations of society in this quarter of the kingdom, we feel at a loss for examples with which to contrast this great triumph of human ingenuity." But suppose we go a step farther, and estimate what the effects will be of extending this system of communication over the whole kingdom; what mind is there so comprehensive as to embrace all the important consequences to which it will lead? We think we shall not go too far in saying, that it will produce an entire change in the face of British society. The effect will be much the same, as if the workshop of the manufacturer were brought alongside the quay where he obtains his raw material and whence he sends it forth again in a manufactured shape to the most distant parts of the world, or as if the collieries, iron mines, and potteries of the heart of England were scattered along its shores. Peculiar local advantages will figure less than they have done in our manufacturing and commercial history, since whatever one place produces, can he as quickly and cheaply transported to another; and instead of our manufactures continuing concentrated in two or three large towns - to the great injury of the moral and physical condition of those employed in them - we may expect to see them spreading gradually over the whole kingdom. Living in the country, will no longer be a term synonymous with every sort of inconvenience, and it will come to be a mere matter of choice, whether a man of business lives close by his counting-house, or thirty miles from it. The rents of land and houses will not be raised by the change but they will he equalized; they will be reduced in town and raised in the country. In proportion, too, as the intercourse of men with each other, and the interchange of commodities between them is thus facilitated, the greater will be the cheapness of everything; the more our manufacturers will have it in their power to bear up against that foreign competition, by which they are so much endangered. The oftener (to use a common phrase) the penny is turned, the greater the profit; and the quicker a trader's returns, the smaller the capital he requires in business. In fine, we may say of railways, in general, as a worthy gentleman is said to have observed of the Stockton and Darlington line, and with ten times greater probability of seeing our prophesy realized - "Let the country but make the rail-roads, and the rail-roads will make the country."
Wonderful as were the results which have suggested these observations, they were, abundantly confirmed by the farther experiments which we now proceed to detail.
Second Day, 7th October."The Novelty" engine of Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson was this day tried with a load of three times its weight attached to it, or 11 tons 5 cwt.; and it drew this with ease at the rate of 20 miles per hour: thus proving itself to be equally good for speed as for power. We took particular notice today of its power of consuming its own smoke, and did not any time observe the emission of the smallest particle from the chimney.
The weather now became wet, and the rail-ways clogged with mud, which made it necessary to suspend the prosecution of the experiments before the day had half elapsed. The attendance of spectators this morning was by no means so numerous as on the preceding day; but there were few of those absent - the engineers, men of science, &e. - whose presence was most desirable.
Third Day, 8th October.Before the commencement of the experiments today, it was announced that the judges on reconsidering the card of "Stipulations and Conditions" originally issued, and of which we gave the substance last week, had considered them so defective as to make it necessary to substitute the following:-
TRIAL OF THE LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. "The following is the Ordeal which we have decided each Locomotive Engine shall undergo, in contending for the premium of £500, at Rainhill.
"The weight of the locomotive engine, with its full complement of water in the boiler, shall be ascertained at the weighing machine, by eight o'clock in the morning, and the load assigned to it shall be three times the weight thereof. The water in the boiler shall be cold, and there shall be no fuel in the fire-place. As much fuel shall be weighed, and as much water shall be measured and delivered into the tender-carriage, as the owner of the engine may consider sufficient for the supply of the engine for a journey of thirty-five miles. The fire in the boiler shall then be lighted and the quantity of fuel consumed for getting up the steam shall be determined, and the time noted.
"The tender-carriage, with the fuel and water, shall be considered to be, and taken as a part of the load assigned to the engine.
"Those engines that carry their own fuel and water, shall be allowed a proportionate deduction from their load, according to the weight of the engine.
"The engine, with the carriages attached to it, shall be run by hand up to the starting-post, and as soon as the steam, is got up to fifty pounds per square inch, the engine shall set out upon its journey.
"The distance the engine shall perform each trip, shall be one mile and three-quarters each way, including one-eighth of a mile at each end for getting up the speed, and for stopping the train; by this means the engine with its load will travel one and a half mile each way at full speed.
"The engine shall make ten trips. which will be equal to a journey of thirty-five miles; thirty-miles whereof shall be performed at full speed, and the average rate of travelling shall not be less than ten miles per hour.
"As soon as the engine has performed this task, (which will ha equal to the travelling from Liverpool to Manchester,) there shall be a fresh supply of fuel and water delivered to her; and as soon as she can be got ready to set out again, she shall go up to the starting- post, and make ten trips more, which will be equal to the journey from Manchester back again to Liverpool.
"The time of performing every trip shall be accurately noted, as well as the time occupied in getting ready to set out on the second journey.
"Should the engine not be enabled to take along with it sufficient fuel and water for the journey of ten trips, the time occupied in taking in a fresh supply of fuel and water, shall be considered and taken as a part of the time in performing the journey. Signed, the Judges;
J.U.RASTRICK, Esq. Stourbridge, C. E. "Liverpool, Oct. 6th, 1829."
We shall not go into a question which has been raised, as to the fairness of the judges making any alteration in the conditions originally promulgated. We have a perfect persuasion that they have no other desire than to ascertain, in the best manner possible, the relative powers of the competing engines, and shall not quarrel with them for any mere irregularity in the mode of their proceedings. The "new" appears to us to be also, on the whole, a "much amended" edition.
In the original "stipulations and conditions," it was first ordered, that the load attached to each engine should be three times the weight of the engine;" and then, that the load drawn should be equal to "twenty tons, including the tender and water-tank." To reconcile these contradictory stipulations, and to make provision for the case of an engine carrying (as Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson's does) its own fuel and water, and therefore not requiring any tender, the matter of weight was thus arranged in the new conditions: "The tender-carriage, with the fuel and water, shall be considered to be, and taken as a part of the load assigned to the engine." And "those engines that carry their own fuel and water, shall be allowed a proportionate deduction from their load according to the weight of the engine." At first sight these seem very fair conditions; and we have no doubt the intention of them was to do equal justice to all parties. When attentively examined, however, they will he found to have this defect ù that they serve to place the steam-carriage, which uses a great deal of water and fuel, on the same level with one which uses very little; though a diminution of fuel and water consumed, is one of the most important improvements which can be introduced into a locomotive engine. As the judges could have no other intention than to place all parties on equal terms, they would have done better simply to stipulate, that "the weight of each engine should be considered to consist of its entire working power; that is, of the whole of the machinery, and the whole of the materials necessary for putting it in motion." The matter would then have been placed on its only just basis; and there would have been no chance of any arithmetical mystification in the results.
Another alteration relates to the pressure of steam which was to be allowed. It was at first stipulated that "the pressure of steam in the boiler should not exceed 50 lbs. on the square inch;" but in the new conditions all that was required was, that "as soon as the steam is got up to 50 lbs. per square inch, the engine shall set out on its journey." We think this alteration was a very expedient one. We know not how the pressure could have been constantly kept at just 50 lbs.; and are quite sure that it would have been very unjust to withhold the prize from a competitor, because he might occasionally exceed that maximum.
Nothing was said in the new conditions as to each engine's "effectually consuming its own smoke;" but this omission could only have arisen from oversight; for the Act of Parliament, under the authority of which the railway has been formed, orders imperatively that no engine shall be suffered to ply upon it which does not possess this qualification.
Having set these preliminary matters to right, we now proceed with our narrative of the experiments.
The engine which exhibited on this the third day was "The Rocket" of Mr. Stephenson. The trial was conducted in the manner laid down in the "Ordeal" we have just quoted; and it was understood on all hands that this trial should be considered decisive of its merits.
The engine, with its complement of water in the boiler, weighed 4 tons 5 cwt. and the load attached to it was 12 tons 15 cwt., or including a few persons who rode, about 13 tons. The journey was 1½ mile each way, with an additional length of 220 yards at each end to stop the engine in, making in one journey 3½ miles. The first experiment was for 35 miles, which is exactly 10 journeys, and, including all the stoppages at the ends, was performed in 3 hours and 10 minutes, being upwards of 11 miles an hour. After this a fresh supply of water was taken in, which occupied 16 minutes, when the engine again started, and ran 35 miles in 2 hours and 52 minutes, which is upwards of 12 miles an hour, including all stoppages. The speed of the engine, with its load, when in full motion, was, at different times, 13, 13½, 14, and 16 miles an hour; and, had the whole distance been in one continued direction, there is little doubt but the result would have been 15 miles an hour. Thc consumption of coke was on an average about half a ton in the 70 miles.
Fourth Day, 9th October.Today a public notice appeared from Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson, stating, that in consefluence of the alterations made in the conditions of the competition, the trial of their engine in the manner prescribed by the new "Ordeal," had, with the approbation of the judges, been deferred till the following day. The 9th became thus a dies non in the competition.
Fifth Day, 10th October.At the appointed hour this morning "The Novelty" was weighed, and three times its weight assigned to it by the judges. The steam was got up in 54 minutes from the time of lighting the fire. The engine then went one trip by way of rehearsal, when a small pipe accidentally gave way, and it was found necessary to send to Prescot, a distance of two miles, to have it repaired.*
[*Things should have been better ordered. In any future competition, we would recommend that there should be a forge at hand, with all the necessary tools and materials, for repairing instantly any accident of this sort.]
In the interval, Mr. Stephenson's locomotive engine was run twice down the course and back making in all 7 miles, but with the whole load taken off from behind, including even the tender-carriage with the water-tank and fuel. Thus stripped for the race, "The Rocket" performed the seven miles in the space of 14 minutes 14 seconds, being at the rate of 30 miles an hour! This was a rate of speed nearly equal to the utmost which "The Novelty" had achieved; but as it carried with it neither fuel nor water, it is not a speed which it could have long sustained.
"The Novelty," having now had its broken pipe repaired,made several trips, hut solely for the gratification of the spectators, who were today extremelv numerous, and not with any view to a decisive exhibition of its powers. Mr. Vignoles, the engineer, who rode on the engine, and timed it during two of these trips, has favoured us with the fullowing statement of its performance:
The engine was brought up near the starting-post a few minutes before three o'clock; and the rate of its speed, loaded as above detailed, is recorded in the following tables, in which the time indicates the moment of her passing each post. The distance between posts 1 and 2, and between posts 8 and 9, is only one furlong, (220 yards,) being thc space allowed to acquire and check the engine's velocity, after and previous to turning; the distance between all the other posts is precisely a quarter of a mile (440 yards.) EASTWARD TRIP.
The engine went off from the starting - post at tbe rate of 12 miles an hour, and her velocity rapidly increased during the whole trip.
By the above tables it will be seen that the distance between the 9 and 10 mile marks was performed in 3 minutes and 7 seconds, and the mile between the quarter post, near the grand-stand and the judges' tent at the eastern end of the course, was run in 2 minutes and 54 seconds, while the last half mile was performed in 85 seconds, being at the rate of 21 1-6th miles per hour. The whole time between the tents of the judges at each end, being exactly l½ mile, was performed in 4 minutes and 39 seconds, being at the rate of 17½ miles per hour.
The gentleman at tbe brake of the wheel not being sufficiently experienced, the engine was not checked so soon as it ought to have been on the return,and went beyond the level part of the road, not being stopped until it had got some yards down tbe eastern inclined plane; upwards of o~ minutes ~vere lost in con- sequence On returning, the following was the record of the WESTWARD TRIP.
The following calculation, founded on the preceding results, was made by Mr. Vignoles and Mr. Price of Neath Abbey:-
"The maximum number of strokes was 142 per minute, while 440 yards were traversed in 43 seconds. Diameter of wheels, 50.1 inches - circumference, 157.4 inches. 157.4 x 142 equal to 621 yards, being the velocity per minute of the circumference of wheel, or 21 miles and 300 yards per hour. Then as 60 seconds: 621 yards ::43 seconds :445 yards."
Thus the calculated distance of the run (considering the wheel as a perambulator) agrees within 5 yards with the space actually passed over; and this difference might arise from the most trifling inaccuracy of noting the time - a quarter of a second at each end being sufficient to produce this discrepancy; so that it may fairly be concluded, that there was no slipping of the wheels at a velocity of nearly 22 miles an hour with a load.
Another carriage, with seats for the accommodation of passengers, was now substituted for the loaded wagons attached to "The Novelty," and about forty-five ladies and gentlemen ascended to enjoy the great novelty of a ride by steam. We can say for ourselves that we never enjoyed any thing in the way of traveling more. We flew along at the rate of a mile and a half in three minutes; and though the velocity was such, that we could scarcely distinguish objects as we passed by them, the motion was so steady and equable, that we could manage not on]y to read, but write.
Sixth Day, 13th October.Mr. Acworth's engine, "The Sans Parei]," was pronounced to be this day ready to exhibit its powers. We were informed that, on weighing it, the judges found it to exceed by two or three hundred-weight the maximum of six tons; it was, nevertheless, allowed to start to do 70 miles, in the same manner as "The Rocket," with three times its great weight attached to it - that is, upwards of 1800 tons [sic]. It was soon manifest that a very powerful competitor had entered the field. For two hours "The Sans Pareil" kept going with great regularity, and during that time completed upwards of 25 miles. It went occasionally, when at its utmost speed, a mile in 4' 10" and 4' 17", being at the rate of nearly 15 miles an hour. While thus bidding fair - if not to win the prize, at least to come in second best - a similar accident happened to it as befell "The Novelty;" one of the feed pipes burst, and it was rendered for the time incapable of proceeding.
We understand the judges subsequently resolved that "The Sans Pareil " should have another trial on Friday, the 16th.
Seventh Day, 14th October.It being generally understood that this was to be the day of a more decisive trial of Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson's engine - that is, according to the new conditions named by the judges - there was almost as numerous an assemblage of spectators as on the first day of the competition.
A fresh pipe had, it appeared, been substituted for the one which failed on the preceding trial; one or two other parts of the machinery that were in a faulty state, had also been renovated; but the engine, with the exception of some of the flanges of the boiler being as Mr. Ericsson expressed it, rather green, was pronounced in a working state. The load assigned to it by the judges was thns calculated:
The steam was on this occasion got up to a pressure of 501bs. in somewhat less than 40 minutes and at an expenditure of about 15lbs. of coke.
The engine now started to do the 70 miles for a continuance; but just as it had completed its second trip of three miles, when it was working at the rate of 15 miles an hour, the new cement of some of the flanges of the boiler, yielded to the high tomperature to which it was exposed,* and the spectators had again the mortification to hear it announced that it was under these circumstances, impossible the trial could go on.
[*The Liverpool correspondent of the Times states, in a comunication in Friday's paper, that "the pressure of the steam was too great for the boiler, which burst," and that this was the cause of the trial being put an end to. The real cause was litterally as we have stated it to be, the yielding of the cement; which secured several of the flanges, and next week we shall, by means of a diagram explain this more particularly. We were close to the engine when it stopped, and can state of our own knowledge that no bursting took place.]
Mr. Burstall's engine, "The Perseverance," which had met with an injurious accident on its way to Liverpool, but been since repaired, was now allowed to make some experimental trials. We left it returning from a third or fourth trip; but if we judge from the degree of speed which it then exhibited - not more, certainly, than five miles an hour - it had no chance.
We were informed that, early on Wednesday morning,before we reached the course, an experiment had been made with Mr. Stephenson's engine on part of the railway which runs with an inclination of 1 in 96, and that it drew up this plane a carriage containing 25 passengers, with great ease.
[This narrative brings the proceedings down to three o'clock on Wednesday last. The conclusion of them we hope to be able to give in our next.]
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