Had Mr. Brunel’s original plan been carried out, and had the broad-gauge companies taken possession of all the western portions of England, and avoided extensions into the north, the points of contact would no doubt have been so unimportant that no great inconvenience would have arisen, or a few miles of double gauge would have removed any difficulty; but, under the actual circumstances of the case, the Great Western Company were forced to yield. * * * * * The advantages of the broad gauge were so much appreciated by the districts it served, that its abandonment was viewed with considerable displeasure, particularly in the neighbourhood of Birmingham; but the inconvenience of double traffic arrangements far outweighed the advantages derivable from the use of the broad gauge, to the limited extent it could be applied on those outlying portions of the Great Western system. For these reasons the Company came to the determination to work their northern lines on the narrow gauge only. The broad gauge is therefore now confined to the district for which it was originally intended. Even in this district there are many points of contact with the narrow gauge; but the inconveniences of break of gauge are by no means so important as they were in the north, and do not, at present at least, menace the continued existence of Mr. Brunel’s design. CHAPTER VI. _THE ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEM._ A.D. 1840--1848. ÆTATIS 35--43. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS--THE SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY--DESCRIPTION OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEM--HISTORY OF ITS INTRODUCTION PRIOR TO 1844--REPORT BY MR. BRUNEL, RECOMMENDING ITS ADOPTION ON THE SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY (AUGUST 19, 1844)--EXAMINATION OF THIS REPORT--MR. BRUNEL’S EVIDENCE BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS, 1845--HISTORY OF THE APPLICATION OF THE SYSTEM ON THE SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY, 1844-1848--REPORT ON STATE OF WORKS (AUGUST 28, 1847)--REPORT ON CAUSES OF FAILURE (AUGUST 19, 1848)--ABANDONMENT OF THE SYSTEM, SEPTEMBER 1848--_NOTE_--COMPARISON OF STATIONARY AND LOCOMOTIVE POWER. In the year 1844 Mr. Brunel recommended the adoption of the Atmospheric System of propulsion on the South Devon Railway, a line of 52 miles in length, which he was then constructing between Exeter and Plymouth. This system had, under the management of Messrs. Clegg and Samuda, been in operation with success on the Dalkey line for some time before Mr. Brunel adopted their apparatus on the South Devon Railway. After it had been in use on the South Devon for about twelve months, it was abandoned, and the railway worked throughout by locomotives. * * * * * It is therefore as important as it is interesting to examine the causes of the failure of the Atmospheric System, and to consider the reasons which induced Mr. Brunel in the first instance to adopt it, and afterwards to recommend its abandonment.