Page:Report from the Select Committee on Steam Carriages.pdf/87



John Farey, Esq. 10 August, 1831. because the change may be made without unloading, and discomposing the passengers; for common stage coaches these are strong motives to use a separate Carriage, and if it can be brought to bear in comparison with horses, that mode will probably be most generally adopted by the influence of the passengers, although the other mode will inevitably perform the best and attain the greatest speed of travelling.

Taking the two machines of Mr. Gurney and Mr. Hancock in their present state, do you think them entirely free from defects likely to prove dangerous to travellers?—I do not think the danger is at all considerable in either Mr. Gurney's or Mr. Hancock's; there are dangers in all travelling; but I do not think the amount of danger will be at all increased by substituting steam for horses, according to either of those plans.

The question refers to the peculiar danger from the nature of the propelling power?—I am not inclined to think that there is any peculiar danger which would he incurred by the change; and if the engines and passengers are not on the same Carriage, I think the ordinary danger would on the whole he diminished.

The question is with reference to the relative danger of travelling ten miles an hour when drawn by horses, and when propelled by steam at the same rate?—The danger of being run away with and overturned is greatly diminished in a steam coach. It is very difficult to control four such horses as can draw a heavy stage coach ten miles an hour in case they are frightened, or choose to run away, and for such quick travelling they must be kept in that state of courage that they are always inclined for running away, particularly down hill, and at sharp turns in the road. The steam power has very little corresponding danger, being perfectly controllable, and capable of exerting its power in reverse, to retard in going down hill; it must be carelessness that would occasion the overturning of a Steam Carriage, which carries the passengers in the same Carriage with the engines. The distinct Carriage I consider to be much less controllable, in turning corners and going down