"I have always found the most perfect command in guiding these carriages. Suppose we were going at the rate of eight miles an hour, we could stop immediately. In case of emergency, we could instantly throw the steam on the reverse side of the piston, and stop within a few yards. The stop of the carriage is singular; it would be supposed that the momentum would carry it far forward, but it is not so; the steam brings it up gradually and safely, though rather suddenly—I would say within six or seven yards. On a declivity, we are well stored with apparatus: we have three different modes of dragging the carriage."
"You stated in your former evidence, that you anticipated that passengers would be carried at one-half the rate by your steam-carriages that they are by the common carriages; what difference in the ordinary expences of carriage would it make, if you had a paved road for this purpose?
"I think it would reduce the expense to one-half again."
"To what velocity could you increase your present rate of travelling with your engine?"
"I have stated that the velocity is limited by practical experience only; theoretically it is limited only by quantity of steam. Twelve miles, I think, we could keep up steadily, and run with great safety. The extreme rate that we have run, is between twenty and thirty miles an hour."
"What is the greatest number of passengers you have taken on that carriage?"
"Thirty-six passengers and their luggage. The greatest weight we could draw by that carriage, at the rate of ten miles an hour, is from forty to fifty hundred-weight. The greatest weight we ever drew on the common road, at a rate of from five to six miles an hour, was eleven tons. We made the experiment on the Bristol road. The weight of the drawing carriage was upwards of two tons; it drew five times its own weight. The eleven tons included the weight of the drawing carriage, and I did not consider that its maximum power."
In a very scientific and interesting Treatise on Locomotion, by Mr Alexander Gordon, a civil engineer of eminence, we find an account given of the trial of power alluded to by Mr Gurney. A pair of three feet wheels were used on the hind axle, and the engine drew with ease a large waggon loaded with cast-iron. After going about a mile and a quarter, a cart also loaded with cast-iron was attached to the waggon. The engine started with these loaded carriages, and returned to Gloucester. The additional weight made so little apparent difference to the engine, that on the way back several persons among the spectators got up and rode; the number altogether amounted to twenty-six. The united weight amounted to ten tons. Going into Gloucester, there is a rise of one foot in twenty, or twenty-five.
Two great objections were advanced by the opponents of the proposed innovation, which are most emphatically answered by the Report of the Committee of 1834. Even in 1831, the Committee reported as follows:—
"It has frequently been urged against these carriages, that wherever they may be introduced, they must effectually prevent all other travelling on the road, as no horse will bear the noise and smoke of the engine. The Committee believe that these statements are unfounded. Whatever noise may be complained of, arises from the present defective construction of the machinery, and will be corrected as the makers of such carriages gain greater experience. Admitting even that the present engines do work with some degree of noise, the effect on horses has been greatly exaggerated. All the witnesses accustomed to travel in these carriages, even in the crowded roads adjacent to the metropolis, have stated, that horses are very seldom frightened in passing."