CHAPTER III.
THE LOCOMOTIVE AND ITS DRIVER.
BLUCHER said when he first visited London, “ My God, what a place to sack!" and if Denis Papin, Savery, Leopold, and a host of other engineers, Stephenson of course included, if they could make a visit to King's Cross, and see one of Patrick Stirling's magnificent "goers" and run a trip from London to Grantham, one hundred and five miles, with steam full on, they would say, "My God, Stirling, what an engine!"
It is a difficult matter to prophesy truly, but it may safely be said that we are not yet at the end of the im- provements that have been going on of late years. There will be a change, and that in the direction of speed; perhaps there will not be much change in the engine; but in a short time, one hundred miles in the hour will be attained.
The ultimate achievement of the locomotive has yet to come; what has been done has been well done, and it is simply an act of justice to recognise that the locomotive superintendents of the present day are the best mechanics that have ever placed an engine on the metals. Look at their plans, their progress, the speed, the consumption, the endurance of their locomotives!
