Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/172



Mr. Alexander Gordon. 17 August, 1831. drawn by horses, and that by a Carriage propelled by Steam?—I have seen the locomotive Engine travelling in the month of January, and also the ordinary Carriages, and I cannot see that the locomotive Engine has done any more injury than an ordinary Carriage. The destruction on the road after a frost is much greater than in other cases.

Have you made observation as to the effect on the road by each Carriage when the road was in the worst state?—I have seen them exactly at the same time and in the same circumstances. In the month of October, when there had been a considerable deal of rain, and the old road to Barnet, down by Stanmore, was very soft in consequence of the rain. I have seen the effect of a locomotive Engine, and the effect of the Hemel Hempstead Coach running along side of each other, and I consider that there was no difference at that time; I was then watching the action of Mr. Gurney's wheels, and particularly his driving wheel, with that view. I put the horses out of the case.

Was there any perceptible difference in the damage done?—None, that I perceived.

What are the effects on the wear of the road, by increasing the velocity of the Steam Carriage?—I have not observed that, but it must be less. Suppose you are carrying a weight on a road slowly after a frost, you will break the crust; but travelling at a greater rate over it, it will not have that effect; the frozen crust will remain unbroken.

Have you observed the effect on the road, by increasing the diameter of the wheels?—I cannot say that I have seen that.

In Mr. Gurney's Carriage, the wheels do not always follow in the same track?—Sometimes they do, and sometimes they do not.

Under those circumstances, supposing equal weights on the four wheels, it would be easy for you to observe whether the wear of the fore and hind wheels was the same?—I never observed any perceptible difference in the injury.

A considerable proportion of the wear of the road is