The ordinary speed of George Stephenson's Killingworth engine, in 1814,
was four miles an hour. In 1825, Mr. Wood, in his work on Railways, took
the standard at six miles an hour, drawing 40 tons on a level; and so
confident was he that he gauged the power of the locomotive, that he
asserted--"nothing could do more harm towards the adoption of railways
than the promulgation of such nonsense as that we shall see locomotive
engines travelling at the rate of 12, 16, 18, and 20 miles an hour." The
promulgator of such nonsense was George Stephenson. In 1829, it was
estimated that, at 15 miles an hour, the gross load was 9-1/2 tons, and
the net load very little; and that, therefore, high speed, if
attainable, was perfectly useless. Before the end of that year, George
Stephenson got with "the Rocket" a speed of 29-1/2 miles an hour,
carrying a net load of 9-1/2 tons. In 1831, his engines were to draw 90
tons on a level, at 20 miles an hour.
When the speed of the locomotive was set beyond question, prejudice then
took the alarm about safety, and a very strong stand was from time to
time made for a limitation of speed. Even after the year 1849, the
London and Birmingham Directors considered that 20 miles an hour was
enough; but the vigour of the broad gauge advocates has tripled the
working power of the locomotive, and given us 60 miles an hour where we
might have been lingering at 20.
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