The story of rapid transit . at the appointedhour, in the presence of a great multitude, thetrain moved off at the rate of from ten to twelvemiles an hour, with a weight of eighty tons, withone engine—No. i--driven by George Ste-phenson himself; after it six wagons loadedwith coals and flour; then a covered coach, con-taining directors and proprietors ; next twenty-one coal wagons, fitted up for passengers, withwhich they were crammed; and lastly, six morewagons loaded with coals. The results of the opening of the Stocktonand Darlington line were in some respects sur-prising. Although the conv
The story of rapid transit . at the appointedhour, in the presence of a great multitude, thetrain moved off at the rate of from ten to twelvemiles an hour, with a weight of eighty tons, withone engine—No. i--driven by George Ste-phenson himself; after it six wagons loadedwith coals and flour; then a covered coach, con-taining directors and proprietors ; next twenty-one coal wagons, fitted up for passengers, withwhich they were crammed; and lastly, six morewagons loaded with coals. The results of the opening of the Stocktonand Darlington line were in some respects sur-prising. Although the conveyance of passen- THE FIRST RAILWAYS 37 gers had formed no part of the original scheme,yet, on the first day, as we have seen, many hun-dreds of persons made the excursion, and pas-sengers soon insisted upon being taken regu-larly. It therefore became necessary to providecarriages adapted to their requirements, andthus began the story of the railway passengertraffic of the world. The Liverpool and Manchester was the first. The Experiment, the First Railway PassengerCoach, 1825. railway of any magnitude that opened its linefor the carriage of passengers. It was openedto the public September 15, 1830, in the pres-ence of the Duke of Wellington and other celeb-rities, including Mr. Huskisson, who lost his lifethat day as the result of a melancholy to the opening, the directors, in doubtabout what form of traction to employ, offeredpublicly a premium of £500 for the best locomo-tive that could, under certain stipulations, be 38 THE STORY OF RAPID TRANSIT constructed. It was required of the competingengines:— 1. That they should consume their ownsmoke. 2. That if they weighed six tons each theyshould be capable of drawing a train of twentytons weight at a speed on the level of ten milesan hour. 3. That each should have two safety-valves—one beyond the control of the engine-driver. 4. That the height of the engine, includingchimney, should not exceed fifteen
Size: 1941px × 1288px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidstoryofrapid, bookyear1903
