Note 68 — Chapter XII

Mr. Booth's Account, p. 70-1. While concurring with Mr. Rastrick in recommending "the stationary reciprocating system as the best" if it was the directors' intention to make the line complete at once, so as to accommodate the traffic expected by them, or a quantity approaching to it (i.e., 3750 tons of goods and passengers from Liverpool toward Manchester, and 3950 tons from Manchester toward Liverpool), Mr. Walker added, "but if any circumstances should induce the directors to proceed by degrees, and to proportion the power of conveyance to the demand, then we recommend locomotive engines upon the line generally; and two fixed engines upon Rainhill and Sutton planes, to draw up the locomotive engines as well as the goods and carriages;" and "if on any occasion the trade should get beyond the supply of locomotives, the horse might form a temporary substitute." As, however, it was the directors' determination, with a view to the success of their experiment, to open the line complete for working, they felt that it would be unadvisable to adopt this partial experiment; and it was still left for them to decide whether they would adopt or not the substantial recommendation of the reporting engineers in favor of the stationary-engine system for the complete accommodation of the expected traffic.