=Source.=--_The Gentleman's Magazine_, Vol. 100, p. 552.
_Railway Carriages--June 14._
The directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway made their
first public exhibition upon the line, and the experiment proved
most successful. The Arrow steam engine drew a carriage with
twelve inside passengers, another with thirty outside, and seven
carriages loaded with thirty-four tons of rough stone. The journey
from Liverpool to Manchester (rather more than thirty miles) was
performed in two hours 23½ minutes, including stoppages for
water, which occupied 13½ minutes. They left Manchester again for
Liverpool about half-past four o'clock, at the rate of about 25
miles the hour, drawing two very large carriages with upwards of
fifty passengers, and performed the whole distance in one hour 46½
minutes, including 12 minutes watering and to set down a passenger.
The introduction of Railways is likely to be as beneficial
in improving the accommodation afforded to travellers, as in
increasing the expedition with which they will be conveyed. Some
of the carriages which have been made at the manufactory of the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, for the public conveyance
of passengers on the Railway, give quite a new idea of the ease
and luxury with which persons may in future travel. Most of the
carriages to be used as public coaches consist, like the French
diligences, of two or three bodies joined together. Some are
intended to accommodate four persons in each body, and others six.
Between the sittings is a rest for the arms, and each passenger has
a cushion to himself; the backs are padded and covered with fine
cloth, like a private carriage.
There are at present exhibiting in Edinburgh three large models,
accompanied with drawings of railways and their carriages, invented
by Mr. Dick, who has a patent. These railways are of a different
nature from those hitherto in use, inasmuch as they are not laid
along the surface of the ground, but elevated to such a height
as when necessary to pass over the tops of houses and trees. The
principal supports are of stone, and, being placed at considerable
distances, have cast iron pillars between them. The carriages are
to be dragged along with a velocity hitherto unparalleled, by means
of a rope drawn by a steam-engine, or other prime mover--a series
being placed at intervals along the railway. From the construction
of the railway and carriages the friction is very small.