But these, which are velocities obtained in the regular working of the engines for the transport of passengers and goods, are considerably inferior to the power of the present locomotives with respect to speed. I have made some experimental trips, in which more limited loads were placed upon the engines, by which I have ascertained that very considerably increased rates of motion are quite practicable. In one experiment I placed a carriage containing 36 persons upon an engine, with which I succeeded in obtaining the velocity of about 48 miles an hour, and I believe that an engine loaded only with its own tender has moved over 15 miles in 15 minutes.
It will then perhaps be asked, if the engines possess these great capabilities of speed, why they have not been brought into practical operation on the railroad, where, on the other hand, the average speed when actually in motion, does not exceed 25 miles an hour? In answer to this it may be stated, that the distance of 30 miles between Liverpool and Manchester is performed in an hour and a half, and that 10 trains of passengers pass daily between these places: the mail, also, is transmitted three times a day between them. It is obvious that any greater speed than this, in so short a distance, would be quite needless. When, however, more extended lines of road shall be completed, the circumstances will be otherwise, and the despatch of mails especially will demand attention. Full trains of passengers, commonly transported upon the Manchester railroad, weigh about 50 tons gross: with a lighter load, a lighter and more expeditious engine might be used. The expense of transport with such an engine would of course be increased; but for this the increased expedition there would be ample compensation. When, therefore, London shall have been connected with Liverpool, by a line of railroad through Birmingham, the commercial interest of these places will naturally direct attention to the greatest possible expedition of intercommunication. For the transmission of mails, doubtless, peculiar engines will be built, adapted to lighter loads and greater speed. With such engines, the mails, with a limited number of passengers, will be despatched; and, apart from any possible improvement which the engines may hereafter receive, and looking only at their present capabilities, I cannot hesitate to express my conviction that such a load may be transported at the rate of above 60 miles an hour. If we may indulge in expectations of what the probable improvements of locomotive steam engines may effect, I do not think that even double that speed is beyond the limits of mechanical probability. On the completion of the line of road from the metropolis to Liverpool we may, therefore, expect to witness the transport of mails and passengers in the short space of three hours. There will probably be about three posts a day between these and intermediate places.