In 1829 the first omnibus was started in London by Mr. Shillibeer, who some time previously had been a coachmaker in Paris. It was drawn by three horses, and carried twenty-two passengers, all inside. The fare was a shilling from the “Yorkshire Stingo,” in Marylebone Road, to the Bank. This vehicle was found too large for the streets of London, so a smaller one was started, drawn by two horses and carrying twelve passengers inside. In 1849 an outside seat was added along the centre of the roof, and by 1857 the omnibus had become pretty nearly the same form as we now know it. Our present omnibus is probably the lightest vehicle of its kind for carrying such a large number of passengers. Its average weight is about 25 cwt. The London General Omnibus Company have, on an average, 626 omnibuses running on week-days, and 6,935 horses to work them. They build their own vehicles, and each runs about sixty miles a day, at a speed of about six miles an hour, and nearly all are supplied with brake retarders, worked by the foot, which effect a great saving in the strain put upon the horses in stopping. CHAPTER II. PREPARATION OF THE DESIGN AND SETTING OUT THE FULL-SIZED DRAUGHT. In coach-building, as in building construction, the first thing to be done is to prepare a design of the vehicle proposed to be built according to the requirements of the customer. A scale of one inch to a foot is a very good one for the purpose, though the scale drawings are more often made to a scale of one and a half or two inches to a foot. These drawings (or draughts as they are technically termed), are prepared by specially trained draughtsmen, and it requires no mean skill to produce, on a small scale, a pictorial representation of the future vehicle, truly proportioned in all its parts, and a delicacy of touch in order that the parts may not look coarse. These drawings, if well made (and they generally are), give a very accurate picture of the carriage, and a purchaser is generally able from this to say what peculiar feature he requires, or where he thinks it should be altered; if he can do this it saves a great deal of trouble in the future, whilst the coach is being built.