The Sun.
London, England, 1829-10-09 00:00:00

GRAND MECHANICAL COMPETITION--

RAIL-ROAD RACE FOR 5001.

FURTHER ACCOUNT.
(From the Mechanics' Magazine.)

The great Rail-road. between Liverpool and
Manchester being now nearly completed, the
Directors of the undertaking some time ago an-
nounced that they would give a premium of 5001.
for the locomotive engine which should, at a
public trial to be made on the Ist of the present
month of October (afterwards postponed to the
6th), draw on the rail-way a given weight, with
the greatest speed, at the least expence. The
offer of so handsome a premium, and the bril-
liant professional prospects which the winning of
it presented to mechanical men, naturally exerted
a very lively spirit of competition among them.
In almost every quarter of the country engine-
makers and engine inventors set themselves to
work to secure the prize, and the result, we are
happy to say, has been such as to furnish a last-
ing example of the wisdom of calling into action
and giving fair play to the general talent of a
country, when any great public object has, as in
the present instance, to be accomplished.
At all hands the Directors of the Liverpool
and Manchester railway deserve thanks for their
conduct on this occasion : from their constitu-
ents, for the good sense and liberality which dic-
tated a competition by which the capability of
the railway to do all that was promised, and
much more, has been at once placed beyond all
doubt, and the chances of a profitable return for
the money invested in it increased at least ten-
fold ; from the owners of the competing engines,
for the liberal encouragement by which they
were induced to start for the plate, and the im•
partial spirit (divested of all local and personal
influences) in which the competition has been
conducted ; and from the nation at large, for the
powerful impulse which this demonstration of
the extraordinary celerity with which carriages
may be propelled on railways, must give to the
more extensive adoption of this mode of convey-
ance throughout the kingdom.
The principal conditions on which the prize
was offered were these :-Ist. That each engine
entered for the competition should weigh not
more than six tons, and be capable of drawing
after it, day by day, on a level plain, a train of
carriages of a gross weight equal to three times
the weight of the engine itself; at a rate of not
less than ten miles per hour, with a pressure of
steam in the boiler not exceeding 501 b. on the
square inch. 2. That the engine and boiler
should be supported on springs, and rest on six
wheels, and the height from the ground to the
top of the chimney should not exceed 15 feet.
3. That the engine should " effectually consume
its own smoke." 4. That there should be two
safety valves, one of which should be completely
cut of the reach of the engine-man's interference.

The gentlemen appointed by the Directors to
act as judges on the occasion were J. U. Ras-
trick, Esq., of Stourbridge, civil engineer ; Ni-
cholas Wood, Esq., of Killingworth, civil engi-
neer (author of the excellent work on railways) ;
And John Kennedy, Esq., of Manchester.

The portion of the railway chosen for the
" running ground" was on the Manchester side
of Rainhill-bridge, (about nine miles from Li-
verpool), where the railway runs for two or three
piles on a dead level.

Early on Tuesday, the day of competition,
great crowds of people were assembled from all
parts to witness the sight. There were many
individuals who had come hundreds of miles for
no other purpose ; and, as may readily be sup-
posed, these were not idle spectacle members,
but chiefly engineers and men of science, capable
of appreciating, in its full extent, the great im-
oortance of the exhibition.
A
TN number of competitors was at first reported
to be ten, and we have reason to know there was
at least as many engines as this in preparation.
In this new sort of race, however, as in others,
there were some withdrawn, and some prevented
by accidents from making their appearance ; and
the taumber was reduced- on the morning of trial
to five, who were thus described in the official
list of the running coaches :

No. 1. Messrs...Braithwaite and Erickson cf Lon-
don, " The Novelty," copper and blue; weight, 2
time, 15 ew-t.
No. 2. Mr, Ackworth, of Darlington, "'The Sans
Pareil," green, yellow, and black; weight, 4 tons, 8
cwt., 2 quarter!.
No. 3. Mr. Robert Stephenson, Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, " The Rocket," yellow and black, white
chimney ; weight, 4 tons, 3 cwt.
No. 4. Mr. Brandreth, of Liverpool, " The Cyclo-
pest ;" weight 3 tons ; worked by a horse.
No. 5. Mr. Burstall, of Edinburgh," The Persever-
ance," red wheels; weight, 2 tons, 17 cwt.
The engine which made the first trial was
" The Rocket" of Mr. Robert Stephenson (the
son, we believe, of Mr. George Stephenson, the
engineer of the railway). It is a large and
strongly-built engine, and went with a velocity
which, as long as the spectators had nothing to
it with, they thought it surprising enough.
contrlL't
It drew a w,•-•;qht of 12 tons 9 cwt. at the rate of
ti an hour (just exceeding the
10 miles 4 chains
stipulated maximum), endwhen the weight was
detached from it went at a 'peed of about IS
miles art hour. The faults mog perceptible in
this engine were a great inequality In its velocity,
and a 'very partial fulfilment of the cons; on that
it should " effectually consume its own smoke,"
The next engine that exhibited its powers was
" The Novelty.' of Messrs. Braithwaite and
Erickson. The great lightness of this engine (it
is about one-half lighter than Mr. Stephenson's)
its compactness, and its beautiful workmanship,
eacited universal admiration ; a seotitnetit speedily
changed into perfect wonder, by its truly mar-
vellous performances. It was resolved to try,
first, its speed merely ; that is, at what rate it
would go, carrying only its complement of coke
and water, with Messrs. Braithwaite and Erielt-
son to manage it. Almost at once it darted off,
at the amazing velocity of 28 miles an hour, and
it actually did one mile in the incredibly short
space of one minute and 53 seconds ! Neither
did we observe any appreciable falling off in the
rate of speed; it was uniform, steady, and con-
tinuous. Had the railway been completed, the
engine would, at this rate, have gone nearly the
whole way from Liverpool to Manchester within
the hour ; and Mr. Braithwaite has, indeed, pub.
licly offered to stake 1,0001. that, as soon as the
road is opened, he will perform the entire dis-
tance in that time. _

It was now proposed to make a trial of " The
Islovekv," with three times its weight attached
to it ; bui through some inattention as to the
supply of water and coke,. a great delay took
place in preparing it for its second trip, and by
the time all was ready the day was drawing so
near to a close, that the Directors thought it
proper to defer the. prosecution of. the competition
till the following-clay.

The preceding report brings the proceedings
of this interesting competition down to the. date
of the latest arrivals from Liverpool, previous to
the time of our weekly sheet going to press.