The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-17

notice and 1t might be overlooked had not VI. R. Paley contributed an article on the subject to the current number of The Railroad Age-Gazette In part Mir. Paley says:
 The precise date on which Richard Trevithick's experiments with loco motive. drawing a common road car riage upon Hanged rails or plates, be- gan ts a matter of some uncsrtlinty' but there is every reason to suppose 1t was on Monday. August l, 1908
 The locality was somewhere In the angle formed by the Tottenham Court road. and the New road now called the Huston road. London. probably as near ly as possible at the north end of Tor rington Square, neighborhood well known to the many Americans who prefer boarding houses to hotels on their visits to London. Here, on what was then a piece of waste gronn l. Trevithick erected circular board q inclosure. charging five shillings Tor admission to see the performance or his engine.
 The trials seem to have proceeded d from a bet between Trevithick ana some person or persons unknown as to the relative capacities for work of a locomotive engine and of race horse. The affair was to be decided at Newmarket races in october, isOS. the London experiments being mad probably to ascertain what chance , engine might have.
 whether the untimeIy end of thes" the cost of laying a railway or plate way for the engine st Newmarket. and of getting it there, or the difficulty or arranging fair terms. rendered the bet void Is not known, but no trace can he found that anything was done at Newmarket in connection with the wager. contemporary account says that 1t was for the sum of SlO,OO0. that the engine was the favorite, the scheme being to see which could go farthest in twenty four hours. starting at the same time
 In those days the making of absurd bets upon every imaginable subject was very common, and Thevithicx, having previously won a smaller bet over his locomotive performance m South Wales, was the more likely to enter into another.
 The engine used was different one, apparently simply the boiler Of q pumping or dredging engine. mounted on four smooth wheels. with single vertical cylinder sunk in it. From T crossbeam at the top end of the pis- ton rod long connected rods worked the pair of wheels immediately below through pins in the latter
 The sort of boiler Trevithfck com -aoniy used had castiron shell about an inch thick. say five feet long, an three or four feet in diameter. One end was slightly convex. the other open. with an outside flange round the edge On this end was fitted wrought iron cover provided with u return flue of the same material Bars being laid in this to form grate, ano a funnel added to the other end out side the plate, the latter was boited to the fIange and made steam-tignt:
 Thus the heating arrangement could be taken out bodily permitting the most perfect examination or cleaning of the barrel.
 One of these boilers is at the south KensinEton museum. They were heavy of course, and not very trust worthy. though probably the numerous failures with them were largely due to ignorant management.
 lrevithick gave motive in the papers that the Racing Steafnengine" would commence it's performance on Tuesday, July 1g! 1908; at Il a. m. Probably U did begin then, but next day its pro prietor had to announce that 1t was put off till the 18th. "the ground unv der the faIlwa.X. on which 1t was to run. being too soft and spongy, requir- ing additional support of timber. However. he wrote to friend on l Thursday. July 2s that he had taken up the swhole<of the timber and iron and laid ballts; of from twelve to four =