People then thought themselves most heroic in entrusting
their lives to a train that travelled with such terrific velocity
as the "Wild Irishman." It was to meet this acceleration that Mr.
Ramsbottom, the Locomotive Superintendent of the London and North-
Western Railway, devised a scheme for laying water-troughs between
the rails, by which the engine could pick up water through a scoop
whilst running. I have somewhere seen this claimed as an American
innovation, but the North-Western engines have been picking up
water daily now ever since 1861; nearly sixty years ago.
The greatest improvement, however, was effected in the cross-
Channel passage. To accomplish the sixty-five miles between
Holyhead and Kingstown in the contract time of four hours, the
City of Dublin Co. built four paddle-vessels, far exceeding any
cross-Channel steamer then afloat in tonnage, speed and
accommodation. They were over three hundred feet in length, of two
thousand tons burden, and had a speed of fifteen knots. Of these
the Munster, Connaught, and Ulster were built by Laird of
Birkenhead, while the Leinster was built in London by Samuda.
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