An Unknown LMR Carriage Emerges from the Press

[What About The Bee]

I have not seen this from any other research. Dawson does not mention it. Neither does Thomas. Both are respected researchers of the LMR, Dawson still active. 

The details of the report are so odd that I thought the reporter was making a satirical joke. But then I saw it being reported on again, and in a way that showed the reporting was in earnest.

The first report is in the Derby Mercury, dated 26 Aug 1829, over a year before Opening Day. It states: "Mr. Stephenson is about to try the experiment whether the strength of a man mounted on a velocipede can be advantageously applied to the propulsion of carriages on the railway. The velocipede will be attached to the carriage behind, and the rider will push himself and the carriage forward by the working of his legs"

As I mentioned, I thought this a prank. For those who do not know, a velocipede is a very early bicycle. Before 1860ish, they didn't even have pedals. Before 1817, the vehicle could not even be steered, two fixed wheels connected. Even if a velocipede was experimented with, it must have been quickly discarded, as a man on a velocipede will have difficulty driving a railway carriage forward. A silly experiment that should have gone nowhere. 

But then, I saw a report in the Bristol Mercury, dated 1 Sept 1829. Although the railway as a whole was not open, the Wapping Tunnel itself was. Tourists could walk in the tunnel. For the lucky, tourists were placed in a carriage at the top of the tunnel, and pushed over the brink. Although this article doesn't state it, a brakeman both modulated the speed and brought the carriage to a halt at the bottom. I like to think of it as roller coaster joy riding. I have noticed a few reports of this activity.

What makes this story authentic was the presence of notables.

MP Huskisson arrives for his joyride in a very specific carriage.  Open sides, with a cloth canopy. The canopy cloth, green. Described as "light". Two velocipede saddles affixed to the rear. Human propelled. Huskisson gets into a different waggon for the joyride but arrives in the velocipede carriage!  

Now I ask you, who had a velocipede powered carriage as an expected outcome? Not me, that's for certain.  Needless to say, no images exists.

Bee

[Rana Temporia]

Everything goes round in circles! There were plans to introduce pedal or sail powered buggies on the redundant standard gauge line out of Blaenau Ffestiniog towards Trawsfynydd and a group started to cut down vegetation to clear the line without permission. Presumably one way only as it’s single line and downhill from Blaenau Ffestiniog. I have walked part of the line around Manod and the cast chairs holding the rails are still marked GWR!

There were also plans at one point to resurrect it as a heritage railway connecting to the Ffestiniog narrow gauge railway, the line and infrastructure is still virtually intact.

[threelink]

I have never found a rail mounted velocipede, but many years ago I found the remains of a rail mounted motor cycle on the site of Market Harborough goods yard. It was buried in a savage array of sharp barbed brambles and difficult of access but was unmistakeably a motor cycle with flanged wheels and an outrigger bearing a small platform, presumably to carry some sort of small payload. It must have been fun to ride. I surmised that it was the creation of an inventive ganger keen to speed up transport to and from trackside workplaces.

[What About The Bee]

Hi ThreeLink

It is entirely possible that the small outrigger was to mount the third wheel. Those types of railway conveyances are known to exist. They suffer from the serious defect that the center of gravity can easily transition to outside of, instead of over, the rails. This in turn leads to nasty spills.

Bee

[Rana Temporia]

I don’t know if there is anything new here Bee. I came across these postcards while sorting through my late Father’s books and other information. They were with some other Rainhill150 articles and I suspect were produced for that event.

[What About The Bee]

Hello Rana

The two images on the left are derivatives of Bury (top) and Walker (bottom). That is, some other artist used those period pieces to create "new" art. All four do appear by the same artist.

There was a suggestion that it was Alan Fearnley, active in the 1970s, but I could not find a definitive match.

None are period art that I can attribute to a known source. I tried reverse image searching, but decided to stop. Plenty of folks using those images and none citing a source.

Would you mind photographing the rear. There may be a clue there we can use.

And thank you for posting them. You never know when we may get a lucky strike!

Bee

[threelink]

Hello, Bee. Yes, the outrigger had a flanged wheel at the outer end with the small load platform about half way along the outrigger.

[Rana Temporia]

Bee, info on the backs of them. The paintings are by J Petrie.

[What About The Bee]

Welp, it is clear I misunderstood your missive ThreeLink. Sorry about that!

Bee

[What About The Bee]

Thank you Rana. Mr Petrie was a founding member of the Guild of Railway Artists. It was quite fitting that he would illustrate those inspiring scenes

Bee

[What About The Bee]

Further research has revealed this carriage to make only the very briefest of appearances. We have notice that Stephenson was going to experiment with it, and one week later, reports of Huskisson's joy ride. That constitutes the entire record. The joy ride reports are not simply reprints, some do have different details. One report notes the proprietors caution regarding the 1¼ mile joy ride down through the Wapping Tunnel: "...lest an accident occur ... the waggons were not permitted to run at full speed, but the velocity was nevertheless great, the ride was performed in about 5 minutes". The maths work out to 15 mph. How they didn't explode into atoms from the incredible velocity is beyond me 😉.

There was also a 'famous' race horse named Velocipede during this same time frame, leading me down a series of false positives. Amusing to relate now, not so amusing during the search.

Bee