says of his model:  “I can say that it is a very fair representation of what the engine was before she was altered.”  Hitherto it has always been taken for granted that the alteration consisted mainly in reducing the angle at which the cylinders were set.  The Nasmyth drawing alters the whole aspect of the question, and we are now left to speculate as to what became of the original Rocket.  We are told that after “it” left the railway it was employed by Lord Dundonald to supply steam to a rotary engine; then it propelled a steamboat; next it drove small machinery in a shop in Manchester; then it was employed in a brickyard; eventually it was purchased as a curiosity by Mr. Thomson, of Kirkhouse, near Carlisle, who sent it to Messrs. Stephenson to take care of.  With them it remained for years.  Then Messrs. Stephenson put it into something like its original shape, and it went to South Kensington Museum, where “it” is now.  The question is, What engine is this?  Was it the Rocket of 1829 or the Rocket of 1830, or neither?  It could not be the last, as will be understood from Mr. Nasmyth’s drawing; if we bear in mind that the so-called fire-box on the South Kensington engine is only a sham made of thin sheet iron without water space, while the fire-box shown in Mr. Nasmyth’s engine is an integral part of the whole, which could not have been cut off.  That is to say, Messrs. Stephenson, in getting the engine put in order for the Patent Office Museum, certainly did not cut off the fire-box shown in Mr. Nasmyth’s sketch, and replace it with the sham box now on the boiler.  If our readers will turn to our impression for the 30th of June, 1876, they will find a very accurate engraving of the South Kensington engine, which they can compare with Mr. Nasmyth’s sketch, and not fail to perceive that the differences are radical.

In “Wood on Railroads,” second edition, 1832, page 377, we are told that “after those experiments”—­the Rainhill trials—­“were concluded, the Novelty underwent considerable alterations;” and on page 399, “Mr. Stephenson had also improved the working of the Rocket engine, and by applying the steam more powerfully in the chimney to increase the draught, was enabled to raise a much greater quantity of steam than before.”  Nothing is said as to where the new experiments took place, nor their precise date.  But it seems that the Meteor and the Arrow—­Stephenson engines—­were tried at the same time; and this is really the only hint Wood gives as to what was done to the Rocket between the 6th of October, 1829, and the 15th of September, 1830.

There are men still alive who no doubt could clear up the question at issue, and it is much to be hoped that they will do so.  As the matter now stands, it will be seen that we do not so much question that the Rocket in South Kensington Museum is, in part perhaps, the original Rocket of Rainhill celebrity, as that it ever ran in regular service on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.  Yet, if not, then we may