Like many of the owners of that time Murray lived directly opposite his works and he installed in his house a steam heating apparatus which excited much wonder and which must have been one of the first in use. He built the first locomotive which was put to successful commercial use. Trevithick had invented a steam road-engine with a single steam cylinder and a large flywheel, which had attracted considerable attention, but was wholly impracticable. It was important, however, as it had one of the first high-pressure engines, working above atmospheric pressure. In 1811 Blenkinsop of Leeds, taking his idea from Trevithick, had a number of locomotives built to operate a railway from the Middletown collieries to Leeds, a distance of 3¹⁄₂ miles. Blenkinsop was not a mechanic and the work was designed and executed by Matthew Murray. Murray used two steam cylinders instead of one, driving onto the same shaft with cranks set at right angles, and therefore introduced one of the most important features of modern locomotive design. These engines were in daily use for many years and were inspected by George Stephenson when he began his development of the locomotive. Murray’s design formed the basis from which he started. The engines, however, were operated by a cog-wheel driving onto a continuous rack laid along the road bed. It was not until a number of years later that Hedley and Stephenson established the fact that the wheel friction of smooth drivers would furnish adequate tractive power. The old Blenkinsop engines, as they were called, hauled about thirty coal wagons at a speed of 3¹⁄₄ miles an hour. Murray’s most important inventions were connected with the flax industry and for these he obtained a gold medal from the Society of Arts. At the time they were developed, the flax trade was dying. Their effect was to establish the British linen trade on a permanent and secure foundation. All the machine tools used in his establishment were designed and built by himself and among these was the planer which was unquestionably one of the earliest built. He made similar articles for other firms and started a branch of engineering for which Leeds became famous. He was a frank, open-hearted man, and one who contributed greatly to the industrial supremacy of England.