some are very extravagant in the use of fuel." As to the difficulties with the leather valve in extremes of weather, heat, frost and heavy rain, The same remedies apply to all three, keeping the leather of the valve oiled and varnished, and rendering it impervious to the water, which otherwise soaks through it in wet weather, or which freezes it in cold, rendering it too stiff to shut down; and the same precaution prevents the leather being dried up and shrivelled by the heat; for this, and not the melting of the composition, is the principal inconvenience resulting from heat. A little water spread on the valve from a tank in the piston carriage has also been found to be useful in very dry weather, showing that the dryness, and not the heat, was the cause of the leakage. But there was a much more serious problem: "A considerable extent of longitudinal valve failed by the tearing of the leather at the joints between the plates. The leather first partially cracked at these points, which caused a considerable leakage, particularly in dry weather. After a time it tears completely through." Maintenance of the traction pipe and the valve was Samuda's contractual responsibility, but Brunel indicated that he was blaming the company for careless storage, and for the fact that the valve had been installed for some time before being used by trains; Brunel declined to go into the liability question, alluding to possible palliative measures, but concluded: The cost of construction has far exceeded our expectations, and the difficulty of working a system so totally different from that to which everybody—traveller as well as workmen—is accustomed, have (sic) proved too great; and therefore, although, no doubt, after some further trial, great reductions may be made in the cost of working the portion now laid, I cannot anticipate the possibility of any inducement to continue the system beyond Newton. Huge hostility was generated among some shareholders, and Samuda, and Brunel in particular were heavily criticised, but the atmospheric system on the line was finished. Retention recommended Thomas Gill had been Chairman of the South Devon board and wished to continue with the atmospheric system. In order to press for this he resigned his position, and in November 1848, he published a pamphlet urging retention of the system. He created enough support for this that an Extraordinary General Meeting of the