The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson: Comprising Also a History of the Invention and Introduction of the Railway LocomotiveSmiles, Samuel
History
The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson: Comprising Also a History of the Invention and Introduction of the Railway Locomotive
The first arrangements as to passenger-traffic were of a very primitive
character, being mainly copied from the old stage-coach system. The
passengers were "booked" at the railway office, and their names were
entered in a way-bill which was given to the guard when the train
started. Though the usual stage-coach bugleman could not conveniently
accompany the passengers, the trains were at first played out of the
terminal stations by a lively tune performed by a trumpeter at the
end of the platform, and this continued to be done at the Manchester
Station until a comparatively recent date.
But the number of passengers carried by the Liverpool and Manchester
line was so unexpectedly great, that it was very soon found necessary
to remodel the entire system. Tickets were introduced, by which a
great saving of time was effected. More roomy and commodious carriages
were provided, the original first-class compartments being seated for
four passengers only. Every thing was found to have been in the first
instance made too light and too slight. The prize "Rocket," which
weighed only 4-1/2 tons when loaded with its coke and water, was found
quite unsuited for drawing the increasingly heavy loads of passengers.
There was also this essential difference between the old stage-coach
and the new railway train, that, whereas the former was "full" with
six inside and ten outside, the latter must be able to accommodate
whatever number of passengers came to be carried. Hence heavier and
more powerful engines, and larger and more substantial carriages, were
from time to time added to the carrying stock of the railway.
The speed of the trains was also increased. The first locomotives
used in hauling coal-trains ran at from four to six miles an hour.
On the Stockton and Darlington line the speed was increased to about
ten miles an hour; and on the Liverpool and Manchester line the first
passenger-trains were run at the average speed of seventeen miles an
hour, which at that time was considered very fast. But this was not
enough. When the London and Birmingham line was opened, the mail-trains
were run at twenty-three miles an hour; and gradually the speed went
up, until now the fast trains are run at from fifty to sixty miles an
hour--the pistons in the cylinders, at sixty miles, traveling at the
inconceivable rapidity of 800 feet per minute!
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