way passenger-carriage was an entirely novel
structure. It had to be mounted upon strong framing, of a peculiar kind,
supported on springs to prevent jolting. Then there was the necessity
for contriving some method of preventing hard bumping of the
carriage-ends when the train was pulled up; and hence the contrivance of
buffer-springs and spring frames. For the purpose of stopping the train,
brakes on an improved plan were also contrived, with new modes of
lubricating the carriage-axles, on which the wheels revolved at an
unusually high velocity. In all these arrangements, Mr. Stephenson's
inventiveness was kept constantly on the stretch; and though many
improvements in detail have been effected since his time, the foundations
were then laid by him of the present system of conducting railway
traffic. As an illustration of the inventive ingenuity which he
displayed in providing for the working of the Liverpool line, we may
mention his contrivance of the Self-acting Brake. He early entertained
the idea that the momentum of the running train might itself be made
available for the purpose of checking its speed. He proposed to fit each
carriage with a brake which should be called into action immediately on
the locomotive at the head of the train being pulled up. The impetus of
the carriages carrying them forward, the buffer-springs would be driven
home and, at the same time, by a simple arrangement of the mechanism, the
brakes would be called into simultaneous action; thus the wheels would be
brought into a state of sledge, and the train speedily stopped. This
plan was adopted by Mr. Stephenson before he left the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway, though it was afterwards discontinued; but it is a
remarkable fact, that this identical plan, with the addition of a
centrifugal apparatus, has quite recently been revived by M. Guerin, a
French engineer, and extensively employed on foreign railways, as the
best method of stopping railway trains in the most efficient manner and
in the shortest time.

Finally, Mr. Stephenson had to attend to the improvement of the power and
speed of the locomotive--always the grand object of his study,--with a
view to economy as well as regularity of working. In the "Planet"
engine, delivered upon the line immediately subsequent to the public
opening, all the improvements which had up to that time been contrived by
him and his son were introduced in combination--the blast-pipe, the
tubular