As built the line was long, with two bidirectional tracks operated independently of each other. At the opening only one track was complete and the other was not brought into use until one month later. Each track had a double length of hemp rope, as an engine was winding in from one end an equivalent length of rope was being paid out at the other. Fourteen miles of rope, with metal swivels inserted at intervals to resist entanglements, were therefore required. On journeys from the terminus cars were dispatched in two groups: the first group of four cars for the three most distant stations (the terminus stations, as the most important, received two cars per trip) and the second group destined for the three nearest. Each rearmost car was released ("slipped") as the convoy passed through its destination station. When the extension to Fenchurch Street was brought into use the pair of cars for that station was slipped from the rope at Minories as before, but the brakes were not applied. Momentum carried them up the slight slope to the new platforms. "Slipping" and "pinning" (attaching) was controlled from an open platform at whichever end of a car was leading, using levers connected to iron grips (acting vertically against blocks beneath the carriage floor). First and second class accommodation was provided; seats were not thought necessary in second class because of the short journey times.