The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-10-08 00:00:00

NEW LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE.

Messrs. Peel, Williams, and Peel, of Soho Iron Works,
Ancoats, have recently turned their attention to the manu-
facture of locomotive engines, for railroads ; and on Wed-
nesday trial was made of their first engine, on the Liverpool
and Manchester line. It is appropriately named the " Soho,"
and in point of external finish and appearance, greatly excels
any we have previously seen. The dimensions of its princi-
pal parts are as follows :—diameter of working wheels, sft.
6 in.; ditto of cylinders, 11 in. ; length of stroke, 1 ft. 6 in. ;
number of tubes 85, and the other parts in proportion. The
general form and disposition of the parts of this engine
resemble those of the Liverpool and Manchester and Grand
Junction lines ; the only difference being in the mode of
working the valves. There are no eccentrics, but in place
of them two sur wheels of equal diameter placed immediately
over them, and running in a frame supported by the crank
axle, so as to preserve the distance between the centres con-
stantly the same and unaffected by the motion of the engine
on its springs. The wheels last mentioned are attached to
a short valve or shaft, carrying at each end a small crank
arm, which drives a connecting rod attached to the valve
spindle. There is likewise a very important and creditable
improvement in the construction of the striking lever for
reversing the motion, which we are unable to describe intel-
ligently without the aid of a drawing. The results of the
experiments on Wednesday, during a trip from Manchester
to Liverpool, with the nine A. As., first class train, consisting
of seven carriages, each weighing five tons, are thus re-
ported to Mr. Edward Woods, the superintendent engineer:
Weather very wet. A strong heachwind from the west-
ward.

Water in tender cold.
Consumption of coke
Ditto per ton per mile upon the load ......
Ditto per mile run
In this trip the consumption of coke is not extravagant,
but was increased by the adverse wind.

Time of performing the trip (30 miles)
Delays not included in the above.....

H. M. S.
0 58 28
0 10 42

Total time 1 9 10
Aeera9e Speed on Different Parts of the Line.
Miles per hour.
Eccles Cutting
Chat Moss
Kenyon Cutting..
Parr Moss
Sutton Incline Do. lin 89 .... 19
Rainhill Level
Whiston Incline Desc. lin 96 .... 30
Broad Green Embankment
On the same day, the engine also performed another ex-
perimental trip from Liverpool to Manchester with twenty-
five loaded waggons, weighing in the gross 133 tons 18 cwt.
2 qrs., which was considered by Mr. Woods to be equally sa-
tisfactory. Previous to this experiment, the " Soho" had
been running a fortnight with passengers on the Liverpool.
and Manchester line, and during that time Mr. Woods in-
forms us, " no fp-ilure has taken place, and the trains have
usually been-lAbught in before their time." These results
must be as satisfactory as they are creditable to Messrs.
Peel, and we are glad to find that their spirit and enterprise
have met with such distinguished success.—Manch. Courier.

HAYM &KING IN OCTOBER.—On a journey to the agricul-
tural meeting at Lytham, from Poulton, on Tuesday last, our
correspondent's attention was called to a few haymakers be-
tween Singleton and Weeton, who were busily engaged in
breaking out the cocks of hay grass, in a field, on the road-
side. We should think it unprecedented in this part of the
country, at so late a period of the year.—Prestou Pilot.

PROLIFIC ROOT OF POTATOES.—On Monday last one of
the servants of Mr. W. Bamber, of Grcat Eccleston, found
at one root the enormous quantity of 181 potatoes, and mea-
suring rather more than a bushel. They were grown in the
garden attached to Mr. Ember's house. The man states
that he had considerable difficulty in placing his fork in such
a position as to overturn the root in consequence of it extend-
ing over such a large space of ground.—lbid.

THE LOST CHILD ; A YOUTH OF MANY FISFORTUNES.—
On Saturday last, a little boy of the age of five years, acom-
partied his father, Mr. Richard Mawdesley, of Longton, to
Preston. On their arrival in town, the father left the son
in a grocer's shop, giving him strict injunctions not to stir
from the place till his return. It seems, however, that the
tempting stores of sugar and raisins, which on every hand
presented themselves to the little fellow's eyes, were not suf-
ficient to induce him to stay in the shop, and he, therefore,
began his tour in quest of further novelty. On the return
of the father his child was no where to be found, and after
many anxious inquiries and fruitless searches in almost every
part of Preston, the distressed parent returned home late in
the evening, with feelings which may be more easily imagined
than described. After a sleepless night, the father early on
Sunday morning set out to Preston, but no tidings could he
learnt of his lost one until the afternoon, when some attend-
ants on a funeral from Garstang, brought a letter to the
Bell-man. announcing that the little wanderer was safely en-
sconced at the Shovel and Broom in that town. A horse
and gig were quickly on the road, and in a short time Mr.
M. clasped the juvenile pilgrim to his heart. It appears that
the child had strolled down to the canal, and followed the
towing path. When two miles from Garstang, the master of
the packet boat heard his lamentations (for darkness was
fast closing upon him), and halting the fly-boat acquainted
them of the circumstance. They accordingly took him up
and brought him to Garstang, where he met with every kind-
ness and attention from the worthy people of the Shovel and
Broom. The life of this youth has hitherto been pregnant
with imminent peril and hair-breadth escapes. On a former
occasion, his restless and wandering propensity lost him to
his parents a day and a night, in Chorley ; he has had his
thigh broken ; and has been once all but drowned in a deep
ditch ; and he has scarcely recovered from being nearly
scalded to. death. He is after all his misfortunes sound
wind, limb, and eye sight, ready to encounter new disasters.
—Preston Chronicle.