cotton, and timber,--relying little upon passengers; whereas the
receipts derived from the conveyance of passengers far exceeded those
derived from merchandise of all kinds, which, for a time continued a
subordinate branch of the traffic.

For some time after the public opening of the line, Mr. Stephenson's
ingenuity continued to be employed in devising improved methods for
securing the safety and comfort of the travelling public. Few are aware
of the thousand minute details which have to be arranged--the forethought
and contrivance that have to be exercised--to enable the traveller by
railway to accomplish his journey in safety. After the difficulties of
constructing a level road over bogs, across valleys, and through deep
cuttings, have been overcome, the maintenance of the way has to be
provided for with continuous care. Every rail with its fastenings must
be complete, to prevent risk of accident; and the road must be kept
regularly ballasted up to the level, to diminish the jolting of vehicles
passing over it at high speeds. Then the stations must be protected by
signals observable from such a distance as to enable the train to be
stopped in event of an obstacle, such as a stopping or shunting train
being in the way. For some years the signals employed on the Liverpool
railway were entirely given by men with flags of different colours
stationed along the line; there were no fixed signals, nor electric
telegraphs; but the traffic was nevertheless worked quite as safely as
under the more elaborate and complicated system of telegraphing which has
since been established.

From an early period it became obvious that the iron road as originally
laid down was far too weak for the heavy traffic which it had to carry.
The line was at first laid with fish-bellied rails weighing thirty-five
pounds to the yard, calculated only for horse-traffic, or, at most, for
engines like the "Rocket," of very light weight. But as the power and
the weight of the locomotives were increased, it was found that such
rails were quite insufficient for the safe conduct of the traffic, and it
therefore became necessary to re-lay the road with heavier and stronger
rails at considerably increased expense.

The details of the carrying stock had in like manner to be settled by
experience. Everything had, as it were, to be begun from the beginning.
The coal-waggon, it is true, served in some degree as a model for the
railway-truck; but the rail