the first dynamometer car was probably one built in about 1838 by the "father of computing" charles babbage. working for the great western railway of great britain, he equipped a passenger carriage to be placed between an engine and train and record data on a continuously moving roll of paper. the recorded data included the pulling force of the engine, a plot of the path of the carriage and the vertical shake of the carriage. the work was undertaken to help support the position of the great western railway in the controversy over standardizing the british track gauge.