"Monday afternoon an omnibus, worked by steam on a new and ingenious principle, was tried on the Paddington Road. The machine altogether does not exceed the space which an ordinary omnibus, with horses attached, would occupy, and the appearance is particularly neat. The body is capable of containing fourteen persons, the engine dividing that from the furnace in the rear. The passengers experience no inconvenience from heat, and, coke being the fuel employed, there is no annoyance from smoke. The engine works on a crank, not on an axle, and the propelling power is applied to the wheels by means of iron chains. The chief recommendation, that which timid persons will consider most, is that there can be no possibility of explosion. The propelling power is equal to fifteen or twenty miles an hour; but, even when the steam is raised to its very highest pressure, there is no risk, the water being deposited in several iron pipes, or what are termed chamber boilers, with a valve to carry off the superfluous steam. The guide, who sits in front, has complete control of the vehicle, and can arrest its progress instantaneously. It is intended to ply regularly from Paddington to the Bank." Captain Macirone's steam carriage was repeatedly noticed by the Press, and in 1834 there is an advertisement of a company to work Dr. Church's steam carriage; but all the schemes came to nought. When William IV. came to the throne there were practically no railways for passenger traffic; and it was during his reign that nearly all the main lines in England were projected. I now marvel at their having attained so rapid a popularity, for the travelling was very uncomfortable. The idea of a stage coach was very difficult to get rid of, and the carriages were subdivided so as to represent it as much as possible--even their outsides were modelled, as far as could be, to look like a coach, and to this day a train is, in railway _parlance_, made up of so many coaches. The first class were padded and cushioned, but were very stuffy, having small windows; the second class were of plain painted wood, narrow seats, no room for one's legs, and _very_ small windows; in the third class there were no seats, it was simply a cattle truck in which every one stood up, and as there was no roof, it was rather lively travelling in wet weather.