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Where, as in the first coal railways of Northumberland and Durham, the load was nearly all one way,—that is, from the colliery to the shipping-place,—it was an advantage to have an inclination in that direction. The strain on the powers of the locomotive was thus diminished, and it was easy for it to haul the empty waggons back to the colliery up even a pretty steep incline.
From this lake the water issues in many different streams, which terminate in two large branches, one whereof flows towards the north-east, and the other to the east; but these branches join at Kabra, which is one day's journey to the southward of Tombuctoo, and is the port or shipping-place of that city.
Besides attending to the underground arrangements, the improved transit of the coals above-ground from the pithead to the shipping-place, demanded an increasing share of his attention. Every day’s experience convinced him that the locomotive constructed by him after his patent of the year 1815, was far from perfect; though he continued to entertain confident hopes of its eventual success.
This engine proved more successful than the former one; and it was found capable of dragging eight or nine loaded waggons, though at the rate of little more than a mile an hour, from the colliery to the shipping-place. It sometimes took six hours to perform the journey of five miles. Its weight was found too great for the road, and the cast-iron plates were constantly breaking.
The Wylam waggon-way, one of the oldest in the North, was made of wooden rails down to 1807, and went to the shipping-place for coals on the Tyne. Each chaldron-waggon was originally drawn by a horse with a man in charge, only making two journeys in the one day and three on the following, the man being allowed sevenpence for each journey.
From this lake the water issues in many different streams, which terminate in two large branches, one whereof flows towards the north-east, and the other to the east; but these branches join at Kabra, which is one day's journey to the southward of Timbuctoo, and is the port or shipping-place of that city.
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